With organisations using artificial intelligence more and more for a whole host of tasks, businesses have begun incorporating AI into their work to benefit themselves and their clients across a wide range of industries.
AI has evolved at an extreme pace in a short space of time, with many organisations as yet unclear on whether AI managed services are right for them – or indeed how AI can benefit their business at all.
Read on to discover how using AI for business can be enhanced with the right MSP, determine the impact of AI on managed services, and uncover what is a managed service provider able to offer your organisation’s AI strategy.
How organisations are using AI for business
As our Director of Client Technology Value, Dan Coleby, recently described, AI is already leading to observable benefits in the workplace.
ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are two common artificial intelligence solutions which have impacted the way businesses operate, with Copilot in particular demonstrating how AI can benefit businesses, combining the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) with the extensive ecosystem of Microsoft apps and the data in your existing Microsoft 365 (M365) tenant.
Microsoft 365 Copilot offers users an revolutionary way of working, with Content+Cloud’s Product and Services Director, Chris O’Brien – who saw first-hand some of Copilot’s cutting-edge ability at Microsoft’s annual MVP summit – describing it as “slightly mind-blowing”. Operating across the entire M365 spectrum, Copilot responds to natural conversation and human interaction, working alongside users to unlock productivity, unleash innovation and “turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet.”
However, the world is yet to fully understand the untapped potential of AI, given the continuing progress and refinement from developers and users alike. With expectations and ability changing on a daily basis, organisations are exploring not only the benefits of using AI for business, but how engaging AI through their managed service providers can help to fully harness its maximum capabilities.
Why AI and managed services are becoming a must-have for businesses
The benefits of leveraging the power of AI are becoming clearer all the time. From creating more efficient and productive workflows to providing innovative processes which offer a greater competitive edge, many organisations are strategising on how using AI for business can enhance and increase their revenue and influence.
You may have similar thoughts about how to tap into the business benefits of AI that are such a hot topic, but these good ideas may face significant hurdles due to the many challenges that AI can bring. Despite their positive intent, many organisations get stuck at the ‘how to’ stage of the conversation when faced with the requirement to optimise for AI and the dual challenges of new and unfamiliar technology.
Skills shortages and gaps in expertise in new technology, a lack of high-quality data and the overall complexities of AI mean that many organisations are turning to third parties to oversee and simplify their artificial intelligence journey – which is where an experience Managed Services Provider comes in. Our Private ChatGPT for business, for example, offers the power and possibility of public AI solutions with bespoke functionality and essential security considerations built in.
An MSP with experience in AI can act as a specialist service, adding value to businesses looking to engage with AI but who lack the requisite internal experience when entering the sphere. Whether you have concerns about launching your first AI projects or are looking to use it for business in a more efficient manner, as the technology evolves from a niche tool to a fundamental part of modern business, you might find that the answers to many of your AI questions lies with an experienced MSP.
We have an internal IT team – what is a managed service provider going to do differently?
Our expectation of technology – and technology itself – is evolving and advancing at a pace that couldn’t have been imagined just a few years ago. As our recent survey highlighted, automation and cybersecurity are two issues that pose the biggest challenges for businesses, areas which have seen expansive growth in part due to the explosion of AI technology.
With even the most well-resourced companies struggling to stay up to date with the latest tools and the most recent upgrades to their systems, MSPs can help deliver the greatest value for your business.
From first-line support to bespoke management solutions for your infrastructure, and from a specific function to a broad level of oversight, managed services can be tailored to your exact needs.
Whether you want to focus on optimising your IT budget, which offers you the chance to streamline your costs and redirect crucial funding elsewhere, or you’re looking for the peace of mind that comes with 24/7 expert managed IT support, having an MSP in your corner allows your people to focus on the highest priorities that will drive the greatest revenue.
Crucially, as cyber security becomes critical in the face of an evolving threat landscape where attackers themselves are leveraging AI to exploit vulnerabilities, having an MSP with a holistic understanding of the technology and the growing risks could save you from catastrophe.
But the true value of an MSP goes beyond just offloading your IT requirements to an external team. A good MSP will become your partner, working hand in hand to understand your needs and goals. With AI managed services, this value becomes even greater as you rely on your chosen MSP to help you leverage AI for business in ways your own team may not even have considered.
As an organisation, with a close relationship to Microsoft built up over many years, Content+Cloud is at the forefront of evolving and developing technologies, meaning you’ll be working with a partner that knows the right time to invest in the right solutions.
With Microsoft technology, there are plenty of opportunities to leverage AI for better security and more efficient and innovative working. Here’s how we could help.
Having an MSP in your corner allows your people to focus on the highest priorities that will drive the greatest revenue.
Combining an MSP with AI for enhanced security
As we recently reported, cybersecurity continues to be a top priority for businesses and a concern which Microsoft is keen to address through evolving technology. Threat actors are making full use of the developments in AI to strengthen and embolden their efforts, making a strong defence a business-critical need.
However, the constant pace of evolution and the introduction of new tools into the marketplace can sometimes feel like it needs a full-time member of staff just to stay up to date with what’s available.
From Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services to a Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC), being protected by the latest tools available has never been more critical for organisations looking to secure their people and data. With this in mind, Microsoft Security Copilot and Microsoft Entra are just two of the newest solutions available to businesses which have begun to incorporate AI into their features.
Image of Microsoft Security Copilot analysing a potential security incident. Credit: Microsoft
Keeping up with not just the tools available but what the right tools are for your business is sometimes beyond even the most expert internal IT team. Understanding how one solution relates to another and, more importantly, how tomorrow’s technology landscape will impact today’s operations plays a huge part in assembling and optimising your security strategy.
With Content+Cloud, you could build a long-term strategy for security excellence with our MDR or CSOC services, combining the best of AI technology such as Security Copilot, with the experience and knowledge of our expert teams.
Using AI for business security together with our CSOC offers you cutting-edge benefits:
- An immediate overview of your organisation’s entire environment together with the threat potential from each user and device
- Greatly improved response times when risks are detected, with step-by-step guidance through a comprehensive threat response plan
- Real-time monitoring of your network and devices, removing wait-times in reporting to minimise the impact of any breaches that occur
- A future-proof security strategy which shuts down known threats and lessens the risk of future threats through security assessments and improved security posture
Cyber threats don’t stand still, and neither do we. They are continually evolving, and so are we.
Choosing Content+Cloud as your MSP for security (MSSP) means much more than offloading your IT security needs, though. It means gaining a partner with your interests at heart, a full Solutions Partner for Microsoft Cloud with one of the UK’s leading relationships with Microsoft, and a passion for leveraging AI to benefit our clients.
Furthermore, with our 24/7 managed helpdesk services offering you a separate but equally crucial safety net, you’ll be gaining an award-winning IT team that you can rely on. We hope you’ll never need it – but whenever you do, we’ll be ready.
Choosing Content+Cloud as your MSP for security (MSSP) means much more than offloading your IT security needs, though. It means gaining a partner with your interests at heart, a full Solutions Partner for Microsoft Cloud with one of the UK’s leading relationships with Microsoft, and a passion for leveraging AI to benefit our clients.
How an MSP can bring ChatGPT to life securely for your organisation
It’s almost impossible to discuss AI without considering the enormous impact that ChatGPT and other LLMs have had on the way we work.
But for all the excitement, there are a number of significant security risks inherent to public ChatGPT tools, and the concerns around engaging with them for confidential business use are now very real. Sensitive data entered into public LLMs becomes available for every user, and with thousands of employees using ChatGPT and similar tools every day, the danger to business is genuine.
If you are using a public AI tool for business and haven’t yet considered the risks, these concerns and solutions surrounding AI and confidential data use from Content+Cloud’s Head of Service Architecture Tristan Watkins is a great place to start.
Although educating your workforce about these dangers and how to use technology safely is a noble objective, you can’t rely on every user going through this process or retaining what they have learned. It’s why more and more organisations are moving away from granting access to public LLMs and looking for a safer option.
Content+Cloud offers a compelling alternative with our Private ChatGPT service, which offers all of the functionality and innovative features of the public tools, with none of the associated risks. By handing the complexities of Azure OpenAI and the challenge of creating an engaging user interface over to us, you can allow your people to focus on what really matters while letting your MSP handle your ChatGPT needs.
Employing our Private ChatGPT grants you many solutions that will keep you ahead of the competition and keep your security a top priority:
- Your own Private ChatGPT deserves your own organisation’s branding and colours, which is exactly what you’ll get – offering a far greater familiar experience for users and a better potential uptake rate from your people.
- Our solution is ready for real-world deployment, so you can hit the ground running from day one.
- Multiple front-end options and the ability to work with different environments mean your Private ChatGPT can integrate with your specific environment as you require
- Single sign-on access removes the need for additional ID and password combinations for users.
- Private ChatGPT runs on GPT 3.5 which provides the foundations for the publicly accessible Chat GPT. As Microsoft enables newer models, such as GPT-4, our solution will allow you to easily switch.
Image of a user engaging with Private ChatGPT. Credit: Content+Cloud
Most importantly, Private ChatGPT offers constant security. All your data remains secure in your own Azure environment, and – unlike the public solutions – is never used to train future GPT models.
While ChatGPT is the tool which most closely allows organisations to realise the benefits of AI for every user, only Private ChatGPT answers the call of how AI can benefit businesses in a safe and secure way.
Are AI managed services essential when using AI for business?
Although many organisations are dipping their toe into the waters of artificial intelligence without any external support, an MSP can offer expert guidance and support on how to optimise your workflow and your people to get the most from your technology.
As an organisation with Microsoft at heart and with experienced teams who work closely with AI, we can provide the security, governance and long-term strategy to get you started and ready for the future.
With our years of experience and as one of the UK’s leading and most awarded Microsoft partners, our experienced teams can take your AI vision and turn it into a reality without disrupting your day to day operations. With our significant investment in the Microsoft ecosystem, we can offer the benefits of our expertise and the foresight of what is coming down the technology pipeline to keep you ahead of the competition.
We can help you through your AI technologies journey, offering guidance and support no matter how your needs develop. Whether you want help with forming a long-term AI strategy or need to better manage your current solutions, our AI managed services team will ensure you aren’t left on your own.
