Pia CEO David Schwartz<\/a> said the tool captures context up front, resolves some issues in seconds and escalates the rest to technicians with the details already attached.<\/p>\nAnd for Tampa, Fla.-based Pia, which is on CRN\u2019s 2026 AI 100 list, consolidating all processes, from intake to resolution, in one familiar interface improves the experience for MSPs and end customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about how people actually work, they\u2019re already living in Teams messaging, jumping on calls, collaborating,\u201d Schwartz told CRN in an exclusive interview. \u201cSo instead of saying, \u2018Go learn a new portal,\u2019 we wanted to meet them where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inside Teams, the assistant collects details, routes users to the right SmartForm and can trigger \u201czero-touch\u201d resolution. That closes some tickets in seconds and escalates complex requests to a tech.<\/p>\n
Early users have reported lower ticket volume and faster resolution times, according to the CEO, with techs spending less time searching for information.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fired up about this because it tackles the part that bogs teams down, communication drag,\u201d Donald McArthur, chief AI officer at Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Real IT Solutions, told CRN in a statement. \u201cIf Pia Chat keeps clients in the loop and helps resolve repeat follow-ups, we\u2019ll spend less time hand-holding and more time getting ahead of problems before they become emergencies.\u201d<\/p>\n
When a message comes in, the system checks whether it belongs to an existing ticket or creates a new one, then collects the most important details through a short set of prompts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe balance is really important,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cYou need enough information to actually solve the problem, but you don\u2019t want to tax the user with 15 questions. We\u2019ve been deliberate about asking just the right amount to understand the request and move forward with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen something does get escalated, the technician isn\u2019t starting from scratch,\u201d he added. \u201cThey already have the details, the context and often some initial triage completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal, he said, is to reduce unnecessary work, not replace the MSP\u2019s relationship-driven support model.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at a really interesting point in the world of AI and automation,\u201d he said. \u201cTechnology is evolving really fast, but we\u2019re also seeing vendor fatigue again. Companies went from wanting one platform to do everything, to adopting a lot of tools and now they\u2019re starting to pull back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, he said MSPs should focus on practical, incremental adoption that delivers immediate value.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need solutions that can be rolled out in stages, not something that forces a massive transformation on day one,\u201d he said. \u201cThe technology has to grow with your team and the way they actually work.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t go run a marathon tomorrow,\u201d he added. \u201cStart with a mile, build momentum and grow from there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new Teams-native chat workflow from Pia shrinks MSP ticket queues by automating the repetitive requests that dominate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[24,25,420,7829,401,320,7828,417],"class_list":{"0":"post-18321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-microsoft","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-azure","11":"tag-azure-ai","12":"tag-managed-service-providers","13":"tag-microsoft","14":"tag-microsoft-ai","15":"tag-microsoft-solutions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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