MSPs are using AI. Stop hiding it.

About this episode

Ask an MSP whether it's using AI, and many will say not yet. Ask what's running behind their ticketing system, and the answer often changes. Matt Tomlinson, Senior Director of MSP Partnerships at Fixify, joined WIN to talk about that gap between what MSPs say in public and what's already running in production.

Matt has spent his career on the revenue side of the IT channel, most recently as CRO of CompassMSP, before joining Fixify. In his view, the MSPs already winning with AI aren't selling the technology at all.

"They're not actually selling that they're using AI. They're selling the outcome. 'Hey, we can solve your tickets 40, 50, 70% faster than the MSP down the street.'"

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So why do so many MSPs stay quiet? Many built their brands around a personal touch, and admitting that a model solved a ticket can feel like undercutting the thing they charge for. But Matt points out that most customers just want their ticket solved, and solved quickly. He learned this firsthand at a hotel in Las Vegas, where he spent 20 minutes on the phone before realizing he'd been talking to an AI agent, one that handed him to a person the moment it reached the edge of what it knew.

He doesn't dismiss the caution entirely. Customer retention is everything for an MSP, and adopting technology that isn't battle-tested is a real risk. But he's watched the same pattern play out with cloud, managed detection and response, and the rest of the security stack. Adoption starts slow and skeptical, until running without the technology becomes the riskier choice.

Matt expects investor-backed platforms, focused on protecting their margins, to be the first to claim an AI-driven price advantage in public. Once that happens, MSPs that said nothing will find themselves competing on price against a number they never helped define. His advice is to start talking now, and to focus on the business problem rather than the technology.

"Focus on real-world problems that people are running into. It's not always about the technology, right?"

He also shares where he thinks AI pricing and homegrown AI builds are headed, including his prediction for 2027.

What you'll learn in this episode

• Why many MSPs using AI won't say so publicly
• Why customers care more about the outcome than who solved their ticket
• How the "personal touch" pitch can hold MSPs back
• Why caution about new technology is real but not the whole story
• What past shifts like cloud and MDR reveal about AI adoption
• Why investor-backed platforms may claim the AI price advantage first
• What MSPs should publish about AI instead of generic explainers
• Where AI pricing and homegrown AI builds are headed

About Matt Tomlinson

Matt Tomlinson is Senior Director of MSP Partnerships at Fixify. He has spent his career on the revenue side of the IT channel, most recently as Chief Revenue Officer of CompassMSP, a managed service provider.

Resources mentioned

• Listen to the full conversation on WIN
• Connect with Matt Tomlinson on LinkedIn
• Learn how Fixify resolves tier-one tickets

About WIN

WIN is a weekly show hosted by Carrie and Ian Richardson, partners and serial entrepreneurs who specialize in strategic growth and exit planning for SMBs. Through their company, Fox & Crow Group, they help MSPs scale their sales teams with the MSP Sales Process. Each week, they ask business owners and sales leaders two questions: "What's important now?" and "How are you winning?"