Companies continue to broaden their use of artificial intelligence even as security threats mount, according to new research published by Channel Insider that highlights how businesses are now deploying the technology with greater attention to oversight and protective measures. The findings suggest organizations aren't retreating from AI in the face of data exposure concerns and agentic risks, but instead are recalibrating how they roll out these systems while creating fresh business opportunities for managed service providers focused on governance and security frameworks.
Deloitte's Q2 2026 CFO Signals survey revealed that 93% of surveyed North American CFOs are already using AI across multiple key functions, while 59% identified finding the right balance between rapid deployment and potential risks as their top AI governance challenge. Cybersecurity emerged as the second-most-cited external AI concern among respondents, with 41% flagging it as a priority. Separate research from IANS Research and Artico Search, based on a survey of 113 CISOs conducted in April and May, found that 66% of organizations now have a dedicated AI policy in place. Yet technical vulnerabilities persist: 74% of enterprise AI environments already pull data from external sources, while only 29% of organizations have conducted adversarial testing of their AI systems. PwC's Global Digital Trust insights survey indicates that 84% of leaders expect their cybersecurity spending to increase over the next 12 months.
Peter Rodenhauser, president and CRO of Corsica Technologies, told Channel Insider his midmarket customers are following a similar trajectory, piloting AI implementations, measuring their value, and determining where to expand next rather than slowing adoption. "You're managing risk at the end of the day when you're deploying this," Rodenhauser said. "How much risk do you want to take on or have an appetite for? That's going to determine what policies you need to put in place." Rodenhauser noted that Corsica attempts to establish governance and policy foundations early in customer conversations, allowing those frameworks to evolve as organizations scale their AI use. Promevo CEO Karthik Kripapuri observed that "AI is not going to fix problems for you that humans could not have," adding that the technology will instead "shine a massive light on…inefficiencies and lack of proper process documentation and governance models."
The report explains that this tension between innovation and protection is reshaping the role of managed service providers, pushing them beyond traditional infrastructure security and into deeper strategic conversations about business processes and how customers can deploy AI safely at scale. For Rodenhauser, security concerns aren't arguments against AI adoption but rather prerequisites for expanding it responsibly. He emphasized that security will need to occupy a central position as agentic AI adoption accelerates and businesses shift from employee productivity tools toward AI agents capable of interacting with enterprise systems and data, noting the importance of protecting against unintended consequences. The policy development efforts haven't eliminated technical risks, but they reflect a strategic calculation: organizations view governance frameworks as enablers of expansion rather than barriers to entry.
Rodenhauser said Corsica's customer discussions have already progressed from fundamental questions about where to start toward increasing adoption, generating more value, and developing agents tailored to specific business processes—including conversations with HR departments about using agents to improve employee onboarding, discussions that infrastructure-focused MSPs might rarely have entered. "I believe MSPs are starting to go further up the value chain within an organization, because we are inherently having conversations more around business processes," he explained. The opportunity for channel partners isn't simply helping customers choose between AI innovation and security, but enabling them to achieve both simultaneously. "Continuing to balance that protection with governance, protecting the business, with advancing the business through this new technology, is just going to be key," Rodenhauser concluded. The shift signals a fundamental recalibration of vendor relationships as technical competence becomes table stakes and business acumen determines competitive advantage. Providers who master the language of risk appetite and process optimization will capture the advisory relationships that infrastructure expertise alone can no longer secure.