MSP Automation: Top 7 Benefits & Use Cases in 2025

54%¹ of MSPs say customer experience expectations have been the biggest drivers for change in their operational model. Popular capabilities that MSPs should offer to grow their business and improve CX include, but aren’t limited to:

1. Faster response time
2. Personalized services
3. Seamless interactions
4. 24/7 support 

Recent surveys and studies indicate that MSP automation (i.e., managed service providers using automation tools) allows service providers to: 

1. Offer better services to their clients 
2. Achieve a higher rate of customer satisfaction
3. Mitigate industry-specific challenges
4. Gain deeper automation expertise, thereby selling automation consulting services, like RPA consulting

What is MSP automation?

MSP (managed service providers) automation refers to managed service providers offering their services while using automation tools.

Recent findings show that MSP automation, as an operational strategy, is a must. In a survey² of 1,000 MSP leaders:

• 90% see automation as crucial to MSP scalability and operational efficiency, in the shape of handling more clients and increasing revenues.
• 90% see application integration as critical to their operations. Seamless data flows streamline processes, reduce duplicate efforts, and automate repetitive tasks such as data exchange

In terms of the specific MSP processes that are being automated the most, the survey shows that these are amongst the top ones:

• Endpoint management– managing and securing all devices connected to a network
• Endpoint monitoring– continuously observing the devices on a network to ensure they are functioning properly
• Endpoint patching– tracking, acquiring, testing, and deploying software updates to endpoints on a network
• Ticket resolution– prioritization and routing
• Cybersecurity– threat detection, patching

What are the benefits of MSP automation?

MSPs, globally, face the following challenges:

1. Signing more customers
2. Managing new security threats
3. Hiring new employees
4. IT-budget shrinkage
5. Retaining customers
6. Remote monitoring of external and internal processes
7. Reduced customers’ budgets

By using automation technologies, MSPs can mitigate these challenges and reap the following benefits: 

1. Efficiency

Automation tools perform mundane tasks more quickly and accurately than humans. These allow MSPs to achieve more with fewer resources.

Real-life example: Logically³ , a Portland-based MSP, adopted automation across various functions, from back office and sales and marketing automation, to front-line services. This automation journey led to leaner operations, lower costs, and enhanced service speed and quality.

2. Cost savings

By reducing the time spent on manual tasks, automation can help cut labor costs and allow MSPs to scale their operations without proportional increases in staffing.

Real-life example: Noctis IT⁴ is an American MSP that automated the steps of their client onboarding process, such as:

• Contract generation
• Updating CRM
• Cross-selling
• Internal reporting

As a result, they increased their:

• Onboarding revenue by 30% – the revenue earned from integrating new clients into their systems and services
• Profit margins because they avoid the sunk and opportunity costs of consistently managing the customer. They let the automation tool handle matters.

3. Improved service quality

Automated processes are consistent and less error-prone, leading to higher service quality. This enhances customer satisfaction and strengthens client relationships.

MSPs receive numerous service requests every day. Presidio⁵ , a NY-based digital solutions and service provider, used an automation technology – something perhaps NLP-based – to:

• Read the requests
• Assess them
• Prioritize their urgency

This increases the mean time to resolution. So, an MSP automation benefit is that it helps companies resolve issues faster, which leads to lower operating costs, more business goals, a happier client base, and higher client satisfaction.

4. Enhanced security

Cybersecurity automation technologies can help MSPs detect and respond to threats more quickly and effectively, thus improving security and compliance.

Use cases of automated security include:

• Automated threat detection
• Automated vulnerability scanning and patch management
• Automated incident responses
• Automated compliance reporting
• Automated user monitoring and management
• Phishing simulation and training

5. Scalability

Automation simplifies MSPs’ scaling their operations, because automated processes can be replicated at scale more easily than manual ones.

For example, some processes can be automated based on predefined criteria and help MSPs cater to a wider audience with no significant resource usage uptake. These include:

• Ticket creation
• Assignment
• Escalation
• Resolution

6. Data-Driven Decision Making

Automation helps MSP leaders make data-driven decisions by offering precise, timely, and extensive data. By quickly and accurately gathering and analyzing data volumes, leaders will gain insights into their operations, customer behavior, and network performance.

The implication is easier trend identification, preventing serious issues through proactive services, making informed decisions, and ensuring real-life cloud-based solutions and data flow. This gives MSPs a competitive advantage compared to their competitors.

Real-life example: Liongard⁶ , a global MSP automation platform, aids thousands of businesses worldwide by standardizing system information collection across clients. This standardization benefits the MSP client’s business team by saving time, reducing guesswork, ensuring quality, and enhancing productivity and morale. For the end-customers, it guarantees a consistent, excellent service experience right from the onset.

7. Proactive Issue Resolution

Automation tools equipped with AI and machine learning enable MSPs to monitor systems in real time, identify patterns, and predict potential issues before they escalate into critical problems. This shift from reactive troubleshooting to proactive problem-solving minimizes downtime and ensures uninterrupted client service.

Real-life example: Auvik, a network management automation platform, uses predictive analytics to alert MSPs about anomalies like bandwidth spikes or hardware failures. If a client’s server shows signs of overheating, Auvik automatically triggers alerts and suggests remediation steps. This proactive approach helped one MSP partner reduce client downtime by 25%, preventing revenue loss and reputational damage.

What are MSP automation tools?

1. Process automation tools 

MSPs can use RPA or other process automation tools to automate rule-based, routine tasks like: 

• Customer service requests
• Data backups and updates, commonly known as backup and disaster recovery (BDR)
• ETL
• Data aggregation
• Client onboarding

2. Remote monitoring & management (RMM) tools

RMM tools enable remote monitoring and management of clients’ networks, servers, and endpoints. They also enable MSPs to automate patch management and performance monitoring and integrate remote control capabilities with client needs.

Popular RMM tools include ConnectWise Automate, Datto RMM, Kaseya VSA, and SolarWinds N-central.

3. Professional service automation (PSA) tools

Professional Services Automation (PSA) tools are software systems designed to automate workflows, helping professionals (such as IT consultants and project managers) and service providers manage their projects and resource allocation more efficiently.

Use cases of PSA tools include: 

• Project management 
• Time tracking 
• Billing 
• Reporting 
• Configuration management
• Resource management 

Popular PSA tools include ConnectWise Manage, Autotask PSA, and Tigerpaw Software.

4. IT service management (ITSM) tools

ITSM tools automate processes related to service delivery, billing, and support processes, including:

• Incident management
• Change management
• Service request management

Examples of ITSM tools include ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, and Freshservice.

5. IT documentation tools

IT documentation is important for Managed Service Providers to effectively manage their clients’ information, streamline their IT infrastructure, and deliver better service.

Documentation tools help an MSP business record, organize, and manage data related to networks, software, systems, and procedures. Here are a few leading IT documentation tools: IT Glue, Hudu, and Passportal.

6. Security automation tools

Cybersecurity concerns related to adopting automation are getting to the forefront of MSP client needs. Some processes that could leverage automation include:

• Vulnerability scanning
• Threat detection and investigation
• Incident response
• Security updates

Examples of other users of security automation tools include Rapid7 Insight, Tenable.io, and Palo Alto Networks XSOAR.

7. Network management tools

Network management tools help managed services automate the general management of their clients’ networks, including tasks like: 

• Network mapping 
• Performance monitoring 
• Configuration management 
• Fault remediation

Popular network management tools include SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, Paessler PRTG Network Monitor, and ManageEngine OpManager.

External Links

• 1. We Are GTIA.
• 2. Kaseya’s 2023 MSP Benchmark Report Finds that Automation, Cybersecurity and Integration Top the List of Priorities for MSPs - Kaseya. Kaseya
• 3. 3 essential aspects of MSP automation | TechTarget. TechTarget
• 4. “Small MSP Wins More Clients and Increases Margins with Auvik.” Auvik. Retrieved on April 3, 2025.
• 5. 3 essential aspects of MSP automation | TechTarget. TechTarget
• 6. How MSPs Can Use Automation to Secure, Standardize and Scale - | ChannelE2E.