guavaHow can an MSP start selling AI services?
Start on your own service desk, then sell what works. Get your techs using Microsoft 365 Copilot, Claude or ChatGPT on your own tickets first. Then package what saves them time as client services: Copilot readiness, rollouts and AI governance. Guava’s Implementation & Offer Launch takes an MSP’s team there in 90 days for $35,000.
Four steps, in this order
- 1. Use it yourself Put AI on your own work first: ticket triage and first-draft replies, QBR prep from your PSA and RMM data, and alert summaries for the tech who picks them up. Measure hours back per tech per week in your PSA.
- 2. Get Microsoft 365 ready Copilot can surface anything a user can reach, so readiness comes before licenses: a tenant review, an oversharing and permissions cleanup plan, sensitivity labels, and a pilot group. The readiness checklist
- 3. Package what works Turn what your own team proved into services your clients buy alongside the IT you already run: Copilot Readiness, rollouts of Copilot, Claude or ChatGPT, and AI governance.
- 4. Keep it running Sell governance as a recurring service: an AI acceptable-use policy for each client, an inventory of the AI tools and agents in use (shadow AI), access and connector reviews, and a quarterly review. AI governance for MSPs
What happened at one firm
Most recently, as Chief AI Officer, I took an SF-based tech staffing company from placements to AI services it sold to the clients it already staffed. Its offer tiers: an Assessment, then an implementation, then ongoing support. Almost every one of its clients started with an Assessment. Two in three of those became larger implementations, and 80% of the implementations stayed on for ongoing support. That’s one firm, not a forecast for yours. See the track record
How Guava does it
- AI Rollout $25,000, 3–6 weeks. Where most MSPs start: Copilot Readiness, then 3–5 use cases with measured baselines, then team training and adoption tracking.
- Implementation & Offer Launch $35,000, 3 months: MSP to MIP in 90 days. Working AI inside your systems, your team trained to deliver AI services, and those services packaged and priced for your clients.
- Ongoing Optimization & Governance $4,000 a month, cancel anytime. Adoption, workflow upkeep and AI governance, with your team coached to offer governance to its own clients.
- AI Assessment $4,000, 2 weeks, if you’re not sure yet what’s worth building. Every workflow ranked Build, Pilot or Don’t build, with estimated hours back and tool costs. Credited in full toward a Rollout or Implementation.
Fixed fees, agreed in writing before work starts, and you own everything built. See the engagements
Which AI model?
I test models on MSP Bench, my private benchmark of how well an AI looks after a managed IT provider: 100 hidden problems and $1,000,000 at risk. As of , Claude Opus 5.5 leads it, protecting $883,722 on average across its runs. Which AI model is best for an MSP?
Questions MSP owners ask
What does MSP to MIP mean?
Going from managed service provider to Managed Intelligence Provider: your team delivers AI services, such as readiness, rollouts, and governance, to your clients alongside the IT services you already run.
Which platform should we start with?
Usually Microsoft 365 Copilot, because most MSPs and their clients already run on Microsoft 365. It’s also the riskiest to switch on unprepared, which is why readiness comes first. Claude Enterprise or ChatGPT Enterprise fit some teams better; I don’t resell any of them, so I’ll say which fits each team.
Will Guava deliver AI services to our clients for us?
No. I don’t white-label or deliver work for your clients. I coach your own team to deliver it, so by the end your people run it without me.
How long does it take?
An AI Rollout takes 3–6 weeks. Implementation & Offer Launch then takes your team from MSP to MIP in 3 months.
Where should we start?
Start with an AI Rollout on Copilot, as most MSPs do, then take your team from MSP to MIP. If you’re not sure yet what’s worth building, the $4,000 AI Assessment comes first and is credited in full toward the Rollout.
More questions MSP owners ask
Talk it through.
Twenty minutes on where AI would pay off on your service desk first. Prefer email? romeo@workwithguava.com