Business of Tech: Daily 10-Minute IT Services Insights

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intensifying workloads rather than alleviating them, leading to increased burnout and declining decision quality, according to findings published in the Harvard Business Review and cited by Dave Sobel. The episode underscores that AI lowers the cost of producing outputs such as drafts and summaries but raises throughput targets and introduces new verification burdens. Economic gains from AI remain co...

OpenAI’s twin initiatives to monetize ChatGPT’s free tier through ads and launch the Frontier enterprise agent platform represent a shift in the AI provider’s business model, with substantial implications for compliance and operational governance. Free and low-cost ChatGPT users will now see sponsored links unless they opt to reduce daily usage; only customers paying $20 or more per month retain an ad-free experience. OpenAI is con...

IT spending continues to expand, with North America projected to lead a 12.6% increase to $2.6 trillion, primarily due to hyperscaler investments in AI infrastructure. However, the proportion of technology spending funneled through channel partners is declining, now at 61% compared to over 70% four years ago, according to a survey by Omnia. This shift signals that while the market is growing, traditional margin and resale opportuni...

AI pilot programs are consistently failing to deliver measurable business value, with a primary cause identified as a lack of clearly defined problem statements guiding these initiatives. Ashwin Mehta, an AI strategist with experience leading enterprise transformations, emphasized that many organizations initiate AI pilots without specific objectives, resulting in projects that struggle to demonstrate impact or justify further inve...

OpenAI’s direct investment and technical involvement with Thrive Holdings, specifically through its partnership with SHIELD Technology Partners, presents a new precedent for AI’s integration into the managed service provider (MSP) space. Unlike prior private equity roll-ups or traditional organic growth, this move involves embedding OpenAI's models and engineers directly within SHIELD’s platform, an entity that has rapidly acquired...

A PwC survey of over 4,400 CEOs across 105 countries found that 56% report artificial intelligence has not delivered meaningful revenue growth or cost savings in the past year. Only one in eight organizations saw both benefits. The core issue, as highlighted by Dave Sobel, lies in poor integration—largely due to data quality challenges and legacy systems—leaving many businesses stuck in what PwC terms “experimentation purgatory.” D...

The primary development centers on the shift toward smaller, task-specific AI models within enterprises and how this shift is primarily about transferring liability from AI vendors to operators. Dave Sobel notes that while narrower AI models are being marketed as safer and easier to govern, the reality is that they shift the burden of control, oversight, and risk directly onto the organizations deploying them. Hidden costs—particul...

The episode focuses on current security risks and limitations in industry intelligence, highlighting that CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog often lags by years in tagging vulnerabilities exploited by ransomware. One cited vulnerability sat in the catalog for 1,353 days before being flagged as ransomware-exploited, illustrating a significant delay in actionable intelligence. This gap raises concerns for MSPs whose...

The episode centers on the expanding adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools among workers alongside a notable decline in confidence. According to a Manpower Group study cited by Dave Sobel, AI confidence among workers decreased by 18% even as usage increased by 13% over the past year. This divergence highlights a governance and operational gap for MSPs, as enterprise clients confront both the potential and the risks of AI-e...

The episode centers on the structural shift in managed services driven by the adoption of autonomous AI agents and the resulting accountability challenges for IT service providers. According to Dave Sobel, 22% of employees in Token Security’s surveyed organizations are independently running AI agents such as OpenClaw with terminal and browser command capabilities, without formal IT oversight. This widespread shadow automation creat...

The appointment of Mike Riggs as Chief Product Officer at Empath signifies the company's transition from founder-led intuition to formalized product governance. According to Wes Spencer, Empath reached over 500 MSP customers and now requires more disciplined processes as it moves from early-stage, high-velocity development to operational maturity. Mike Riggs described his role as systematizing elements that were previously managed ...

The episode centers on practical approaches for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and IT leaders assessing artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, with David Espindola detailing the crucial distinction between “maker,” “shaper,” and “taker” strategies. David Espindola emphasizes that organizations must intentionally decide their role in AI development and use—whether building proprietary systems, shaping solutions atop existing model...

The current wave of managed service provider (MSP) consolidation and rollups is being distinguished by the integration of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) expertise, particularly among entities such as SHIELD and Titan. As discussed by Rich Freeman and Jessica Davis, these newer rollups are acquiring not just MSPs but also Silicon Valley AI talent and developing proprietary AI-driven services, a marked shift from earlier priva...

The emergence of Moltbot, an open source AI agent designed to operate across various messaging platforms and automate tasks through local device execution, is creating new risk vectors for MSPs and IT providers. Functioning with admin-level access and connecting to services like OpenAI and Google, Moltbot’s deployment has raised direct concerns around authority delegation without sufficient governance. Security researchers identifi...

France’s decision to discontinue American collaboration platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams for government use—replacing them with the domestically developed Vizio platform—signals a shift toward digital sovereignty and data control within regulated jurisdictions. This move, formalized as part of France’s Suite Numerique and to be implemented by 2027, highlights the increasing fragmentation of technology policy where nationa...

Global channel sales in IT are projected to exceed $4 trillion this year, with two-thirds of total spending driven by partner-led deals, according to Omdia research. However, managed service providers (MSPs) continue to encounter significant integration failures following mergers and acquisitions, leading to operational inefficiencies and diminished client trust. The Business of Tech analysis highlights that stacking acquisitions w...

AI adoption within organizations is increasingly polarized, with Gallup data cited showing that while 77% of technology professionals use AI at work, overall workplace adoption rose only marginally from 45% to 46% in late 2025. This stagnation is attributed not to employee reluctance, but to aggressive uptake by leadership without corresponding redesign of roles and workflows at lower organizational levels. In the UK, research pres...

Global managed services contracts are experiencing reduced momentum as buyers display notable hesitation to commit to long-term agreements during a period defined by organizational pivots toward artificial intelligence. The Information Services Group reported only a 1.2% quarter-over-quarter increase in large managed services contracts in late 2025, totaling $10.9 billion, with full-year growth barely above 1%. While U.S. activity ...

This Business of Tech episode delves into the critical alignment of technology with how people work, emphasizing the strategic advantage for businesses, particularly those leveraging Apple ecosystems and remote teams. Rob Calvert, President of Second Son Consulting, highlights common misconceptions in IT, where decisions are often made in a vacuum without considering company culture or workflows. This disconnect leads to daily fric...