2025 was a “loud” year. There’s really no other way to describe it. AI and automation showed up everywhere—on conference stages, in sales decks, in boardrooms, and in countless peer conversations.
But along with the excitement came a fair amount of tension. Most MSP leaders I spoke with weren’t debating whether AI mattered.
Instead, they were trying to figure out where to start, how much risk was acceptable, and how to move forward without breaking the systems and processes that already keep their businesses running.
At the same time, expectations on MSPs didn’t ease up. Faster resolution times, consistent service quality, better documentation, and tighter margins all remained table stakes.
AI felt increasingly necessary, but it also felt complicated.
A recent MIT-backed study showed that most AI initiatives never make it past the early experimentation stage. And that aligned closely with what we’re seeing across the market.
There was no shortage of AI interest or ambition. What was missing was a reliable way to turn those ideas into something that actually worked day to day.
That gap between ambition and execution defined much of 2025 for us.
As the year unfolded, it became clear that most MSPs didn’t need more big ideas about automation. They already had those.
What they were looking for was something far more practical: tools that fit naturally into the way their teams already work, didn’t take months to stand up, and could be trusted once they were live.
The desire wasn’t for complexity or novelty. It was for clarity, reliability, and momentum.
At Pia, those conversations shaped how we thought about our product and platform throughout the year. We spent less time chasing feature checklists and more time paying attention to how automation was actually being used.
Where did it stall? Where did it help? Where did it create more work instead of less?
Some of the most important progress we made in 2025 wasn’t immediately visible on the surface. Instead, it showed up in tighter execution, stronger foundations, and creating space for deeper technical work that will matter more over time than any single release.
One realization that kept coming up was that the best automation ideas rarely start on a roadmap. They come from partners dealing with real constraints, real customers, and real tradeoffs every day.
That thinking is what ultimately led us to invest more intentionally in community and in how we structure automation delivery. Not as a branding exercise, and not as a program for its own sake, but as a way to listen better and respond faster.
The idea is straightforward. Create clearer paths for partners to tell us what they want to automate, work with them to shape those workflows, and then bring those capabilities to life in a way that aligns with the tools they already use.
Our new Automation Hub gives us a place to build and deliver that work. Community gives us the feedback loop that keeps it grounded. Together, they reduce the distance between something being useful in theory and useful in practice.
We’ve taken a similar approach to how we think about vendor integrations.
Rather than guessing what might resonate, we work directly with partners who are already using specific platforms. In small group settings focused on very concrete use cases, we have honest conversations about what will actually save time or reduce friction.
From there, we build, and then we bring those workflows to market alongside the vendor. It’s not the fastest approach on paper, but it’s far more likely to result in something people actually use.
Looking ahead to 2026, it feels like the conversation around AI and automation is starting to shift.
If 2025 was about experimentation, next year is likely to be about judgment. Leaders are paying closer attention to ease of implementation, time to value, and whether solutions can grow with them rather than needing constant rework.
We’re also beginning to see early interest from MSP partners who want help navigating their own automation efforts. It’s still early, but it hints at how automation could evolve from an internal efficiency tool into something MSPs may increasingly offer as part of their services.
As we move into the new year, our focus remains fairly simple. Keep listening. Build what people actually ask for. Make automation easier to adopt, not harder. Stay honest about what works and what doesn’t.
There’s plenty of noise in this space already. We’re more interested in doing the work that holds up after the hype fades.