AvePoint shared new research conducted by Omdia on AI readiness challenges among managed service providers (MSPs). The global study, “The Road to AI Readiness: Unlocking the MSP AI Opportunity Through Governance,” highlights major gaps in end-customer readiness, even as AI adoption continues to scale.
With Omdia forecasting the global partner opportunity tied to AI services will reach $276 billion by 2030, the stakes for MSPs have never been higher, yet new research shows that governance and compliance remain the primary barrier preventing customers from getting there.
“Governance has become the primary barrier preventing customer AI adoption,” said Scott Sacket, SVP, Global Partner Strategy, AvePoint. “MSPs need unified data protection platforms that standardize governance across multi-tenant environments, transforming manual work into automated, repeatable services. Those who operationalize governance will capture significant market opportunity.”
Governance Emerges as Primary AI Adoption Barrier
The research identifies governance and compliance as the most frequently cited barrier to AI adoption for MSP customers, with 51% of providers pointing to these challenges as the primary obstacle. This surpasses technical concerns including data and security management (14%), value realization (14%), and technical expertise gaps (13%), underscoring that AI readiness challenges are fundamentally operational rather than technological.
MSPs Want Better Integration for Stronger Data Protection and Governance
The market continues to move away from point solutions as MSPs search for and adopt frameworks that can address end-customer needs comprehensively.
According to the The Road to AI Readiness study, nearly half (49%) of MSPs want a complete platform integrated with other core tools, while 91% say that integrating data backup and disaster recovery delivers stronger data governance than offering them separately. As AI adoption grows, end-customer governance issues are becoming more urgent, which is driving demand for better-integrated partner-facing and customer-facing technology.
The Intent-Execution Gap in AI Readiness
While 94% of MSPs indicate commitment to automation around AI data readiness and compliance services, only 43% report having reached high maturity in delivering AI-ready data environments to customers, meaning that more than half are unable to deliver these services at scale. This disparity reveals that governance is being priced and positioned as a recurring capability, but operational execution remains inconsistent across the MSP market, creating challenges for effective data protection at scale.
Multi-Tenant Complexity Constrains Automation at Scale
For MSPs that have not fully automated customer data protection and compliance services, operational complexity across environments is the leading barrier to implementing automation (40% of this group listed operational complexity as the top barrier). The research reveals that each customer tenant introduces configuration differences, policy drift, and integration challenges that limit the effectiveness of standardized workflows. As one MSP executive noted in qualitative interviews, “We could build automations for every single one of our clients, but we’d have to do it 700 times.”
Compliance Services Growth Projected at 21% for 2026
Despite execution challenges, the commercial case for governance and data protection services remains robust. Omdia projects that compliance services will grow 21% for MSPs in 2026, driven by regulatory requirements, audit cycles, and customer expectations for continuous compliance.
“The message from this research is clear: one of the bottlenecks for end-customer AI adoption today is the operational burden of data governance and compliance, which has become more complex and essential as AI continues to spread,” said Robin Ody, Practice Leader, MSP Analysis, Omdia. “With the global managed security services market projected to reach $106 billion this year, MSPs are increasingly involved in breaking these bottlenecks. This report shows there is still a lot of untapped opportunity in this section of the market. MSPs that adopt business solution and vertical-specific approaches to governance and compliance are going to excel at capturing this demand.”
Operational Imperatives for Scaling AI Readiness
The research identifies three operational imperatives for MSPs seeking to close the intent-execution gap:
- Standardization: Repeatable governance frameworks and shared policy baselines reduce variability at the source, enabling consistent data protection delivery and compliance across customer environments.
- Multi-Tenant Visibility: Centralized oversight allows MSPs to detect drift, enforce policy changes, and monitor compliance posture without manual intervention per tenant.
- Unified Data Protection Controls: As shadow AI accelerates risk, MSPs must move beyond isolated point solutions to integrated platforms that connect policy enforcement, reporting, remediation, and documentation across the governance lifecycle.
To access the full “The Road to AI Readiness: Unlocking the MSP AI Opportunity Through Governance,” report, visit the website here.
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Methodology
The research combines quantitative survey data from 333 global MSPs across North America, EMEA, and APAC with qualitative interviews of MSP executives and operational leaders. The study assessed governance and compliance service packaging, automation maturity, scaling challenges, and vendor enablement needs.
