Reigniting Client Security Conversations Using AI Readiness

If there’s one lever MSPs should be pulling right now, it’s this: AI is your fast track to relevance in the C-suite and specialization in your services. For years, MSPs have struggled to break out of the cost center box. Security conversations are often dismissed unless there is a breach. Productivity talks get buried under tool fatigue. And ongoing improvement was hard to monetize. But AI just flipped the table.

The Door Has Reopened

AI is no longer a novelty, it’s becoming a necessity. But clients aren’t just asking if they should use AI… they’re wondering how to use it safely, strategically, and competitively. That’s where you come in.
 
You don’t need to be an AI expert. You need to be their AI guide. Someone who can align security, productivity, and governance with their business goals. And if you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to shift the conversation from “fix my IT” to “help us grow”, this is it. 

Real Client Story

A mid-sized fintech company approached me with a request:

“ Can you built an agent that can process our loan applications against underwriting criteria and create approvals or rejections?

The use case was straightforward and included a bundle of the following asks:

• Customer-facing chatbot to handle loan FAQs.
• Internal Copilot to assist loan officers with underwriting questions.
• AI assistant to triage loan requests by analyzing SharePoint documents.

It was innovative. It promised to reduce call center load, speed up processing, and give them a customer experience edge. They were spending 1 hour for every loan application and got around 20 a week.

But there was a problem…

The AI Security Gap

Before we built anything, we ran a quick security posture scan and uncovered:

• Over-permissioned SharePoint libraries with underwriting data mixed with customer FAQs.
• Unmanaged personal laptops accessing sensitive SharePoint data.
• No MFA, stale guest accounts, and no DLP in place.
• Five different unsanctioned AI tools already being used by employees—unsupervised.

In short: they were about to hand sensitive company data to AI systems without any guardrails.

When we showed this to the executive team, they understood the risk immediately. No scare tactics needed. No technical rabbit holes. Just a clear, business-aligned picture of exposure.

The Engagement Model That Followed

We didn’t sell a tool. We sold a roadmap. One rooted in specialization.
 
Phase 1: Quick Win (14 Days)

• Built an AI chatbot using isolated, clean FAQ content in Copilot Studio.

Phase 2: 90-Day Project Roadmap

• Cleaned up SharePoint environments.
• Implemented MFA, labeled sensitive data, and removed stale accounts.
• Created AI use policies and controls.
• Built a secure environment for internal Copilots to access curated content.

Phase 3: Ongoing Optimization

• Rolled out DLP, lifecycle governance, and sensitivity labels.
• Introduced data access policies and regular audits.
• Positioned ourselves as their AI security partner.
  
  

Why This Works

AI is the biggest wedge MSPs have had in years to revisit old security conversations. Here’s why:

1. AI Introduces New Risk Surfaces

• Data leaks into tools like ChatGPT.
• Shadow IT is back, but now it’s “Shadow AI.”
• AI phishing and BEC attacks are now human-like and hard to detect.

2. The C-Suite Finally Cares

• AI is seen as strategic, not optional.
• Security isn’t just IT’s problem. It’s the price of admission to AI adoption.
• Executives are asking questions like: “Is our data protected?”, “Can we control what Copilot sees?”, “How do we stop people from pasting sensitive data into Gemini?” 
  
  

What Clients Want to Talk About

Clients aren’t asking for technical jargon. They’re asking:

• “Where do we even start?”
• “How can AI reduce our workload?”
• “How do we stay ahead of the competition?”
• “What if someone pastes client data into ChatGPT?”
• “How do we prevent reputational damage from AI gone wrong?”

Your job is to bridge that curiosity into action.

The AI Enablement Ladder (4 Levels of Opportunity)

We break this into four levels:

Level 1 – Hygiene & Security

• Use AI to get clients to adopt security controls they’ve historically resisted (MFA, DLP, device management).
• Show how basic hygiene protects AI systems and data.

Level 2 – Projects

• Package short-term, fixed-scope projects like SharePoint cleanup or Copilot access controls.
• Build momentum with fast, visible wins.

Level 3 – Recurring Revenue

• Offer ongoing AI posture reviews, data governance, and monitoring.
• Productize continuous improvement—something most MSPs never figured out how to monetize.

Level 4 – Strategic Advisory

• Become the vCIO/vCISO for AI.
• Guide AI strategy, security, and innovation as part of your core offer.
• Update your agreement model to reflect this: base package + advisory retainer + projects.

Tactics for Getting Started

You don’t need to boil the ocean. Here’s how to begin:

Pick Your Entry Point

• • Security-first: “AI Readiness Scan”

  • Productivity-first: “AI Goals + Guardrails” Workshop

Build Your Starter Offer

• • Quick, 1-hour session or simple assessment template.

  • Identify risks or workflow automation wins.

Package Your First Project

• • Offer a 2–4 week fixed-scope “AI Enablement” project:

    • Acceptable use policy

    • Copilot configuration

    • SharePoint/OneDrive cleanup

Use the Results to Upsell

• • Each finding becomes a path to a new project or recurring service.

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