3/11/2026 | 6 Minute Read
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There is a lot of discussion in the industry about automation and AI. Most of it jumps straight to the promise; far less attention goes to the foundation required to make those promises real.
For most service providers, the challenge is not a lack of tools, it’s the operational complexity that builds over time when systems do not cooperate with each other. Data becomes fragmented, workflows become manual, and teams spend more time interpreting information than acting on it.
The conversation at IT Nation Connect™ Europe 2026 focused on how we are addressing that reality.
Managed services have changed significantly over the last decade. MSPs are no longer responsible only for endpoints and infrastructure. They now manage cloud platforms, identity systems, security monitoring, compliance requirements, and business continuity.
The result is predictable: more signals, more alerts, more tickets, and more operational decisions.
Ticket volumes continue to increase while teams do not scale at the same pace. That dynamic forces MSPs to rethink how work gets done.
Automation has helped, but automation alone does not solve the structural problem. When tools operate independently, automation often adds more layers of complexity instead of removing them.
This is where platform design starts to matter.
A significant portion of the work we completed over the past year happened inside engineering and product delivery.
ConnectWise introduced stronger architecture review processes, more disciplined planning, and clearer accountability for roadmap commitments. This work allowed our teams to deliver meaningful progress across several parts of the ConnectWise product suite over the past year.
These improvements may not be the most visible changes, yet they have a direct impact on partners because they improve the reliability of what we deliver and the pace at which we deliver them.
When engineering execution becomes repeatable and predictable, product innovation accelerates.
Many of our improvements focused on the workflows MSP teams rely on every day. These capabilities are being built and delivered on top of the ConnectWise Platform and a unified data layer, allowing our products to work together more consistently and share context across the MSP operating environment. This platform architecture creates the foundation for effective AI implementation because data is the oxygen for AI.
PSA software sits at the center of the MSP business. Improvements there ripple through account management, finance, service delivery, and reporting. Within ConnectWise PSA™, we continued improving how teams manage service delivery, projects, and operational visibility. Updates to ticket workflows, project views, and migration tools help providers manage customers and service operations with less friction while strengthening how service data flows across the platform..
For ConnectWise RMM™, the focus remained on expanding automation capabilities and improving endpoint management coverage. Updates to patch management and RPA give technicians more control over routine maintenance tasks while reducing manual effort.
Each of these updates matters individually. Their real value is realized when they operate together.
Historically, most IT tools focused on recording events. They captured alerts, ticket updates, system changes, and device status. Humans then interpreted that information and decided what to do next.
That model worked when environments were smaller and signals were manageable. Today, the scale of data and operational signals makes that approach harder to sustain.
The next phase of MSP tooling focuses on systems that interpret signals automatically and help drive the next action. That requires unified data, connected workflows, and systems designed to share context.
When data sits in isolated tools, automation becomes fragile and AI becomes unreliable. This is one of the reasons platform design matters so much.
Systems learn from patterns over time. They need context, history, and shared data models to make reliable decisions. Platforms built with common data structures across operations, finance, and service workflows create the conditions where automation and AI can work effectively.
This approach has shaped how we continue evolving the ConnectWise Platform.
A major step that strengthens this AI-driven action was our acquisition of zofiQ. This was not about adding another AI feature to the portfolio, it was about accelerating the transition from insight to action across MSP operations.
Agentic systems only work in environments that were designed for them. They rely on shared data, operational history, and consistent workflows. Without that structure, automation becomes guesswork.
The technology and expertise coming from zofiQ help turn that foundation into action by shortening the distance between what the system knows and what someone actually needs to do next.
Instead of generating more dashboards or alerts, the focus is on improving prioritization, reducing manual triage, and helping teams make decisions faster.
Security continues to be one of the most demanding areas for MSPs. Threat activity increases every year, and clients expect faster detection and response.
Automation plays an important role here.
By improving how signals are correlated across security tools, MSPs can accelerate initial triage and reduce incident response time. When these signals connect to operational systems, response actions can happen faster and with greater consistency.
Data protection is also a key part of resilience. Reliable backup and recovery capabilities give providers the ability to restore environments quickly when something goes wrong.
The combination of proactive security monitoring and dependable recovery workflows strengthens how MSPs protect their clients by providing an automated BCDR solution that is deeply integrated with security signals and events captured in the platform.
Product capabilities are only part of the equation. MSPs also need greater simplicity when adopting and operating new solutions.
We have been working to simplify packaging, onboarding, and partner enablement so providers can modernize their environments with less disruption.
This includes clearer solution bundles, expanded training and certification programs, and better migration support for partners moving onto the ConnectWise Platform.
Reducing operational friction helps MSPs adopt new capabilities faster.
The direction of our roadmap builds directly on the work discussed in the keynote.
Automation will continue expanding across the ConnectWise Platform. The focus is not on automation for its own sake; the focus is on reducing repetitive work so technicians can concentrate on exceptions and high-value decisions. They can shift from being part of the cost of service delivery to actively growing the business.
AI will increasingly operate inside workflows rather than sitting alongside them. The goal is to reduce cognitive load for technicians and help teams prioritize issues more effectively.
We are also continuing to strengthen platform integrations so operational data flows more freely across systems. Unified data is the prerequisite for meaningful automation.
This work moves the platform closer to a model where systems assist with operational decision-making instead of simply reporting what happened.
The managed services industry continues to grow, but growth brings complexity. MSPs that build operations on integrated systems and unified data will have a significant advantage as automation and AI become more practical.
The goal behind the work we discussed at IT Nation Connect Europe is straightforward: reduce operational friction, improve service outcomes, and build systems that help MSP teams act faster and smarter.
Technology will keep evolving. The foundation behind it will determine how useful it becomes.
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