The AI starter pack: What every modern MSP should have in place by 2026

Over the past year, AI has reshaped how the most competitive IT providers operate. However, with new AI tools popping up every day, it’s easy to get distracted instead of building a strong, practical AI foundation that delivers real value to your team and your clients.

So, what should a forward-thinking MSP have in place by 2026 to stay ahead? Here’s your AI starter pack — a practical checklist to help you get there.

1. The 3P methodology: Rethink your AI game plan

Allie Miller, CEO of Open Machine, shared the 3P Framework at Kaseya Connect 2025, and it’s become a guiding blueprint for AI-first businesses.

People, process, product. This simple model helps you build a balanced, realistic approach to adopting AI:

• People: Equip your team with AI-powered tools that boost productivity, reduce repetitive work and empower even junior technicians to deliver senior-level results.
• Process: Identify back-office and operational workflows that can be automated or streamlined, freeing up time for higher-value work.
• Product: Think bigger than bolt-ons. Look for ways to weave AI throughout how you deliver services and value to your clients.

A great first step is assigning someone in your team to actively track new AI tools, test them in real workflows, measure ROI and ensure they meet compliance and security standards. This “AI champion” can also train staff, gather feedback and make sure the tools you adopt don’t just sit idle but deliver measurable results for your business.

2. Smart relationship mapping

One of the biggest time drains for MSPs is building and maintaining accurate connections between clients’ devices, users, sites, documents and passwords. For many MSPs, creating and updating asset relationships can eat up hundreds of hours a year, especially when onboarding new clients or training new hires. Without an automated approach, your team risks missed connections that can derail troubleshooting and slow resolution times.

AI-powered relationship mapping tools can handle this heavy lift automatically, suggesting and updating links as your environment evolves. For example, tools like Smart Relate in IT Glue’s Cooper Copilot use AI to detect and suggest thousands of asset relationships, so your techs spend less time chasing data and more time solving problems.

3. AI-driven data summaries

AI tools can now generate structured, accurate documentation automatically, whether it’s creating asset templates, consolidating backup status or providing clear summaries of complex systems.

This ensures your team always has a clear view of the IT environment without wasting hours pulling together scattered info. A solution like Smart Create in IT Glue’s Cooper Copilot is a good example of how to automatically bring key information into one pane. With flexible assets that summarize key data like Wireless Network, Software Asset Tracker or Backup Health, you can turn your documentation into a proactive advantage powered by AI, rather than a time sink.

4. Automated clean-up and quality control

Documentation is only useful if it’s current. As your team grows, stale, duplicated or outdated assets can quickly pile up and slow everyone down. AI can help here too, flagging old items, suggesting bulk clean-ups and surfacing your most used, high-value information to keep everyone on track.

This means your documentation stays trustworthy without needing manual audits or endless admin work. Tools like Smart Assist in IT Glue’s Cooper Copilot makes decluttering documentation easy and quick, so your knowledge base remains clean and useful for the whole team.

5. SOP generation on autopilot

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) help teams deliver consistent, repeatable service, but manually writing them is tedious and often neglected. AI-driven SOP generators can track everything your techs do as they are working, converting every single click and action into clear, repeatable processes.

Imagine onboarding a new technician. Instead of spending days shadowing senior staff, they can access auto-generated SOPs built directly from real workflows. This means fewer mistakes, faster ramp-up and consistent service quality, no matter who’s on the job.

With capabilities like Cooper Copilot’s Smart SOP Generator in IT Glue, MSPs can scale knowledge creation and sharing, even as services and operations grow more complex.

Next steps: Your AI starter pack at a glance

Building an AI-first MSP doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The key is to start small, focus on practical wins and expand from there. Use this checklist as your roadmap to build momentum and future-proof your operations, one smart step at a time.

1. Assign an AI champion
2. Deploy smart mapping for asset relationships
3. Automate documentation creation
4. Use AI to keep knowledge clean and current
5. Generate SOPs automatically as you scale

Start with one and build from there. Your future self (and your clients) will thank you.

Ready to see how IT Glue’s AI-powered Cooper Copilot can help you check off your AI starter pack? Get a demo today.