Artificial intelligence has moved beyond experimentation. Customers are no longer asking whether they should adopt AI – they’re asking where to begin. For solution providers, the opportunity is helping them turn AI interest into measurable business outcomes.
For years, many managed services providers (MSPs) and VARs treated artificial intelligence as something that belonged to enterprise IT teams, software vendors, or hyperscale cloud providers. That’s no longer the case.
AI has entered the daily conversations solution providers already have with customers about productivity, security, customer experience, inventory, reporting, and labor efficiency. Retailers, restaurants, SMBs, and multi-location businesses may not always know which AI tools they need, but they’re increasingly aware that AI can help them work faster, reduce manual tasks, and make better decisions.
That shift creates a significant opportunity. According to Gartner, worldwide AI spending is forecast to reach $2.52 trillion in 2026, underscoring that AI is becoming a core business investment rather than an experimental technology. Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index also found that workers using AI are increasingly producing work they couldn’t have completed a year earlier. The message is clear: AI adoption is accelerating, but customers still need help turning interest into practical implementation.
For MSPs, VARs, and retail technology providers, the opportunity isn’t simply selling AI tools. It’s building services around AI strategy, integration, governance, and support.
Start with business problems, not AI tools
The biggest mistake solution providers can make is leading with the technology. Most customers don’t need another AI demo. They need help identifying where AI can solve real problems.
In retail, that might mean reducing time spent reconciling reports, improving demand forecasting, automating responses to common customer questions, or helping managers identify operational trends across multiple locations. The best AI opportunities begin with a simple question: Where is the customer losing time, margin or visibility? Once that answer is clear, AI becomes part of the solution instead of the sales pitch.
AI readiness assessments
One of the easiest entry points is an AI readiness assessment. Many businesses are interested in AI but have no clear picture of whether their data, processes, policies, or applications are ready to support it.
An assessment can evaluate several areas:
- Which workflows are highly manual or repetitive
- Which data sources are clean, accessible, and useful
- Which applications already include AI features
- Which risks need to be addressed before adoption
For retailers, this evaluation could include point-of-sale data, inventory systems, customer loyalty platforms, and workforce management applications. The outcome should be a prioritized roadmap that identifies quick wins, larger projects, and areas where the customer needs better data governance. This service positions the solution provider as a strategic advisor instead of a reseller reacting to customer requests.
AI-enabled productivity services
Many customers will begin their AI journey with productivity tools already embedded in platforms they use every day. For example, a regional retailer might use AI to summarize district manager meetings, draft employee communications, generate product descriptions or analyze customer feedback across multiple store locations.
Solution providers can help customers configure, secure, and train employees on AI features in productivity suites, CRM systems, and help desk tools. The real value isn’t activating a feature; it’s helping teams use it consistently and appropriately. These services can include user training, prompt libraries, acceptable-use policies, workflow design, and ongoing optimization.
AI for customer service and help desk automation
Customer service is another practical area where AI delivers value quickly. AI can help answer common questions, route requests, and summarize support history.
For solution providers, this can become a recurring service built around chatbot configuration, knowledge base development, ticket triage, and escalation workflows. Retailers can use AI to support store associates with product information, return policies, or troubleshooting steps. MSPs can also use AI internally to improve their own help desk operations, then package those lessons into customer-facing services.
AI data and reporting services
Many businesses already have valuable data but struggle to use it. AI can help turn that data into faster insights, but only if the underlying information is accurate and accessible.
This is where solution providers can build services around data cleanup, dashboard development, reporting automation, and AI-assisted analysis. For retailers, this may include sales trends, inventory performance, shrink indicators, and customer behavior. Customers aren’t buying AI; they’re buying faster answers, better decisions and measurable business outcomes.
AI governance and security
AI adoption also introduces risk. Employees may paste sensitive data into public tools, rely on inaccurate outputs, or use unauthorized applications without IT oversight.
Solution providers can help customers define which tools are approved, what data can be used, how outputs should be reviewed, and how AI activity should be monitored. They can also help secure AI-enabled applications, manage permissions, and protect sensitive business data. Governance shouldn’t slow adoption; it should make adoption safer and more sustainable.
The opportunity is advisory and recurring
AI won’t be a one-time project for most customers. Tools will change, use cases will expand, and data quality will remain an ongoing challenge.
That’s why AI services fit naturally into a recurring revenue model. AI readiness assessments naturally lead to implementation projects, which lead to user training, governance, optimization and recurring managed services. The solution providers that win won’t be the ones that claim to have the most advanced AI tools. They’ll be the ones that help customers make practical decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and turn AI into measurable improvement.
For RetailNOW attendees, the bigger lesson is this: AI is a service opportunity. Customers are already investing in AI. The solution providers that earn long-term loyalty won’t simply deploy the technology – they’ll become trusted advisors who help customers realize measurable business value from it, continuously refining AI strategies as business priorities evolve and helping customers confidently adapt to new technologies and emerging opportunities.
