Mach Speed: How AI is Rewriting the MSP and MSSP Playbook

If you feel like the technology landscape is moving faster than ever before, you aren’t imagining things. For Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), the last few years have not just been about evolution—they have been a revolution.

According to a timeline compiled by MSPSuccess.com, the release of ChatGPT-4 in 2023 “opened the floodgates,” transforming Generative AI from hype into a tool woven into the “very fabric of business”. What started as a mix of wariness and curiosity has exploded into an absolute necessity for survival.

Here is a look at the breakneck pace of AI adoption in our channel and how solutions like Tencyle.com are stepping in to solve the critical workforce shortages that this new era has exposed.

The Timeline of Acceleration

To understand where we are going, we have to look at how quickly we got here. Data from MSPSuccess.com illustrates a staggering rate of adoption:

• Mid-2023: The industry was hesitant. When MSP Success first covered Generative AI in July 2023, attitudes ranged from “wariness to adopt too early” to “enthusiastic invention”.

• Mid-2024: By June 2024, the sentiment had shifted dramatically. AI was no longer just an opportunity; it was deemed “critical to staying competitive.” The consensus was that MSPs who didn’t jump on the bandwagon “would be left in the dust” by competitors.

• Late 2025: Fast forward to October 2025, and the debate is effectively over. A survey revealed that the number of MSPs not using AI internally dropped to a mere 4%, with 72% of respondents deeming AI “very important” to their business strategy.

The shift is so profound that distributors and analysts are now suggesting a transition from MSPs to MIPs—Managed Intelligence Providers.

The Security Dilemma: Spy vs. Spy

While MSPs are automating internal help desks and marketing campaigns, the stakes are highest in cybersecurity. As predicted back in late 2023, AI has brought vulnerabilities, including “data privacy” issues and an increase in the prevalence of phishing attacks.

By May 2025, the industry had entered a “Spy vs. Spy” dynamic. Security vendors and MSSPs were forced to adopt a “fight fire with fire” approach to combat the rampant increase in AI-enhanced cyberattacks.

This escalation has created a massive pressure cooker for Security Operations Centers (SOCs). The volume and sophistication of attacks are outpacing human capacity, leading to two major crises: unfilled SOC analyst seats and severe analyst burnout.

Bridging the Gap: The Role of Tencyle.com

As the “AI vs. AI” war intensifies, human analysts are often caught in the crossfire, drowning in alerts. This is where platforms like Tencyle.com are becoming essential components of the modern MSSP stack.

Tencyle.com addresses the critical efficiency gaps that plague traditional SOCs. With the cybersecurity talent shortage leaving many analyst seats unfilled, Tencyle leverages advanced AI automation to act as a force multiplier for existing teams. Here is how it reshapes the business model:

1. Filling the “Empty Seat” Gap: Tencyle acts as an always-on digital analyst. By automating the triage and investigation of routine alerts, it effectively fills the labor gap, allowing MSSPs to scale their security monitoring without needing to hire a linear number of hard-to-find human analysts.

2. Combating Burnout: The primary cause of analyst burnout is “alert fatigue”—the endless sifting through false positives and low-level noise. Tencyle handles this high-volume, low-value work. This frees up human analysts to focus on complex threat hunting and strategic decision-making, significantly improving job satisfaction and retention.

3. Increasing Efficiency: In a market where AI revenue opportunities are outpacing cybersecurity growth, efficiency is king. Tencyle allows MSSPs to process threats at machine speed, ensuring that the “fight fire with fire” approach is actually effective.

The Autonomous Era

The trajectory is clear. Gartner analysts predict that we are moving toward the “autonomous era,” where the differentiator between businesses will be decision-making power provided by advanced AI agents.

For MSPs and MSSPs, the message from the data is simple: The time for experimentation is over. With AI capabilities ramping up and bad actors utilizing the same technology, leveraging force-multiplying platforms like Tencyle isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about staying viable in a market moving at Mach speed.