A new report finds service providers are offering AI governance solutions, but lack the resources and structures to implement them at scale.

Key Takeaways

• • 51% of managed service providers (MSPs) say governance/compliance is the top barrier to AI adoption for their clients.
  • 64% of MSPs include AI governance in their service offerings.
  • However, only 29% say they can fully implement AI governance frameworks for clients.
  • 40% cite the complexity of customer environments as a barrier to delivering automated governance/compliance solutions.
  • 63% of MSPs say better automation tools can close the service gap.

According to the report, The Road to AI Readiness: Unlocking the MSP AI Opportunity Through Governance, governance and compliance are the primary barriers to AI adoption, but the challenge is not a lack of intent. It is a gap in execution and capability, according to the study by Omdia and EvaPoint.

The report found that 51% of managed service providers (MSPs) identified governance and compliance as the top obstacle preventing their clients from fully integrating AI systems into their day-to-day businesses with proper protections and standard work policies. 

At the same time, 64% of MSPs said they already package AI governance and compliance services in their offerings. Despite this, only 29% of MSPs said they are capable of fully implementing governance frameworks for clients. This gap highlights a bottleneck between selling governance solutions and delivering them. Clients are seeing the value of governance solutions, but MSPs are struggling to deliver.

The report identifies several reasons for this disconnect. 

• 40% cite complexity of customer environments – i.e., the uniqueness of each business they serve and the lack of ability to standardize across companies. One respondent highlighted the problem succinctly – “We could build automations for every single one of our clients, but we’d have to do it 700 times.”
• 18% say it’s financial, citing a limited budget or competing priorities.
• 16% don’t have the skill set. They lack expertise and automation know-how to deliver to clients.
• 9% are unclear about who owns data governance and compliance tasks.

The report identifies several solutions to help MSPs close the gap. 

• Standardization – MSPs need baseline structures they can apply across clients.
• Multi-client visibility – MSPs need the ability to automatically monitor client compliance, detect drift, and enforce policy changes. 
• Systemic integration – Workflows should be integrated across policy enforcement, reporting, remediation, and documentation.
• Invest resources – MSPs have to invest both time and money to deliver the infrastructure to scale AI governance across their client base.

To close the service gap, MSPs identified better automation tools, improved integrations, and holistic solutions that integrate with current tools as what they need from outside vendors. 

The study included 333 global MSPs across North America, EMEA, and Asia & Oceania.