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The Business of Tech Podcast
My Daily Podcast, The Business of Tech. 5 minutes of news and comments, asking “Why Do We Care?” for IT services companies
Vendors are rewriting the rules on MSPs faster than anyone can track — pricing, partner programs, liability, and now AI. Business of Tech is the daily MSP news briefing that tells you what changed and what it means for your business.
Every weekday, channel veteran Dave Sobel picks the MSP and IT services news that actually moves your margins, contracts, and risk, and answers the one question that matters: Why do we care? No vendor cheerleading and no press-release rewrites — independent analysis for managed service providers, IT services leaders, and the vendors who sell to them.
Short daily episodes keep you current in about 15 minutes. Longer interviews go deep with MSP owners, investors, analysts, and channel executives on where the managed services market is heading.
What this MSP podcast covers:
• AI for MSPs — AI pricing and consumption billing, AI liability and governance, and AI agents in the service desk
• MSP pricing and profitability — per-user vs. usage-based pricing, margins, service agreements, and vendor rebates
• MSP M&A and private equity — acquisitions, roll-ups, valuations, and what consolidation means for independent MSPs
• MSP vendors and partner programs — Microsoft, Kaseya, ConnectWise, N-able, Pax8, and how channel programs shift risk onto providers
• MSP cybersecurity and liability — cyber insurance, compliance, regulation, and the security-stack decisions that expose a managed service provider
• MSP operations — automation, PSA and RMM, hiring, and the operational maturity that separates growing MSPs from stalled ones
Questions we answer:
• How should an MSP price AI services when vendors move to consumption billing?
• Who carries the liability when AI acts inside a client environment?
• What does private equity consolidation mean for MSP valuations?
• Which vendor partner program changes quietly cut MSP margins?
• What do insurers and regulators now expect from managed service providers?
Business of Tech is produced by MSP Radio, the independent media company for the managed services and IT channel community. Hosted by Dave Sobel, MSP industry analyst and longtime channel veteran. Written versions of every episode, with full source links, at businessof.tech.
The episode identifies a structural shift: traditional patching is no longer sufficient protection as the act of releasing a patch now informs and accelerates attackers, particularly with the use of AI. When vendors publish fixes, attackers can promptly identify and exploit not-yet-patched systems at scale. Companies and data sources underlying this shift include OpenAI, Microsoft, CISA, and the Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report.
The most consequential development is Verizon’s finding that vulnerability exploitation now leads breach causes at 31%, overtaking credential theft and phishing. The percentage of fully remediated exploited flaws has declined to 26%, and the average time to fix has increased. Notably, 263,000 servers in the U.S. still run unsupported PHP, and coordinated AI-driven attacks have reduced attacker dwell time to hours in real-world incidents like the ConnectWise breach.
Vendor responses illustrate the risk landscape. N-able has launched AI-assisted patching to speed remediation and scale endpoint management, but its patching platform was itself compromised. Industry observers such as Krugman and Thompson foresee a move away from open internet-facing systems toward closed or gated platforms, accepting slower workflows as a tradeoff for reduced exposure.
For MSPs and IT service providers, the implication is clear: the key operational metric is not patching speed or compliance, but minimizing clients’ internet-exposed assets. Providers should classify all client-facing resources, move critical services into platforms with pre-release patching or behind access controls, and focus quarterly reporting on reducing the attackable surface. Patching remains a backstop, but accountability shifts to exposure reduction as both attackers and defenders automate.
00:00 We Can’t Patch All the Bugs
03:39 Every Fix Starts the Race
05:53 Run Faster or Leave the Race
09:33 Why Do We Care?
Supported by:
Mailprotector
CouchDrop.io(Oveka)
About Business of Tech: The daily MSP news and analysis podcast for managed service providers and IT services leaders. Host Dave Sobel covers AI for MSPs, MSP pricing and profitability, MSP M&A and private equity, vendor partner programs, MSP cybersecurity and liability, and MSP operations — and answers the question every story raises: Why do we care? Produced by MSP Radio.
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