Shield Technology Partners has introduced Forge, an AI operating system designed to automate managed IT service operations through specialized AI agents. The platform can autonomously resolve eligible helpdesk tickets, support account strategy, assist with IT projects and allow providers to build custom automations, positioning agentic AI as an operational layer for managed service providers.
Managed service providers have traditionally scaled by adding technicians, account managers and project resources as customer demand grows. Shield Technology Partners is taking a different approach: use autonomous AI agents to increase the amount of work existing IT teams can handle.
The company has launched Forge, which it describes as a frontier AI operating system for IT services. The platform currently supports agentic service delivery, account strategy and project execution, while also allowing providers to create custom skills, agents and runbooks.
Shield says its providers collectively serve more than 3,750 businesses.
The company has also announced its 20th partnership, with Miami-based managed IT provider Nerds Support. The partnership gives Shield another operating environment through which Forge can be deployed and refined, according to the company.
AI agents move into IT operations
Forge is designed around specialized agents rather than a single general-purpose chatbot.
Its AI Engineer handles eligible helpdesk tickets from intake through resolution and can hand work to technicians when human judgment is required.
An AI Account Manager analyzes service history, open opportunities and account risks to help account teams anticipate customer needs.
An AI Project Engineer supports IT projects from scoping through completion, with human approvals built into the workflow.
The platform also includes a Build with Forge capability, allowing teams to create custom skills, agents and runbooks for recurring operational tasks.
That architecture places Forge closer to an agentic automation platform than a conventional generative AI assistant. The system is intended to perform multi-step work inside an operational environment rather than simply generate information for a human to act on.
Helpdesk automation is the initial proof point
Shield’s reported performance metrics focus heavily on ticket resolution.
The company says Forge currently resolves half of all actionable helpdesk tickets. Of those resolutions, 92% involve neither human approval nor logged technician time.
For comparable ticket categories, Shield reports that Forge-resolved tickets close 25 times faster than technician-resolved tickets, with a median resolution time of 16 minutes.
These figures are company-reported performance metrics, rather than independently verified benchmarks. Their relevance will ultimately depend on ticket mix, complexity, customer environment and the types of work considered eligible for autonomous resolution.
Still, the numbers illustrate the operational model Shield is pursuing: reserve human technicians for work that requires judgment while allowing AI agents to handle repetitive, well-defined requests.
That distinction is important for agentic AI adoption. Autonomous systems do not need to replace every human workflow to generate value. Automating a subset of predictable work can instead increase the amount of complex work a team can handle.
From ticket resolution to account intelligence
Forge extends beyond IT support.
Shield says account teams using its AI Account Manager are engaging 10% more customers than they were in July. The agent uses service history, opportunities and account risks to identify potential customer needs.
That shifts AI from reactive support into proactive account management.
For an MSP, the same data generated through service operations can reveal broader patterns. Recurring support requests may indicate an infrastructure problem, an upcoming technology requirement or an opportunity to recommend a change.
An AI system capable of connecting those signals can potentially turn operational data into account-level recommendations.
The distinction is that the agent is not simply summarizing the account. It is intended to help determine what the team should do next.
Human approval remains part of the architecture
Despite its emphasis on autonomous execution, Forge does not position every workflow as fully automated.
The AI Engineer can hand tickets to technicians when judgment is required, while project workflows incorporate explicit human approvals.
That design reflects an important requirement for enterprise agentic systems: autonomy needs boundaries.
An IT agent may be permitted to reset a password, install approved software or resolve a known configuration issue automatically. A decision involving a major infrastructure change, security incident or business-critical application may require human authorization.
Agentic AI platforms therefore need more than capable models. They require permissions, workflow logic, escalation paths and mechanisms for determining when an action is appropriate.
Forge’s architecture is built around those operational boundaries.
A shared learning model across MSPs
Shield is also using its provider network as part of the platform strategy.
The company says Forge draws on the experience of technicians and operators across Shield’s companies. New partners contribute additional operational expertise, which can help shape capabilities used across the provider network.
That creates a potentially valuable data and workflow feedback loop.
Instead of each MSP developing its own automation for common support problems, a shared platform can potentially standardize successful workflows and make them available across multiple providers.
The model resembles a network effect, although the company has not independently demonstrated how much performance improvement comes specifically from cross-provider learning.
Building an AI operating layer for MSPs
The broader significance of Forge is its attempt to turn agentic AI into an operating layer for a traditionally labor-intensive technology business.
Managed service providers already have structured workflows, ticketing systems, monitoring platforms, customer records and recurring operational procedures. Those characteristics make the sector a natural environment for task-oriented AI agents.
The opportunity extends beyond reducing ticket volume.
AI agents could potentially connect support activity with account management, project delivery and proactive technology planning, allowing providers to move from responding to problems toward anticipating them.
Shield says one provider using Forge unlocked an estimated 25% more client capacity with its existing team, while another reduced technician time spent on ticket resolution by roughly 70%. Again, those are company-reported results from individual providers, not broad industry benchmarks.
The larger question is whether agentic systems can maintain reliability as they encounter increasingly complex customer environments.
For MSPs, that means the next stage of AI adoption may not be another chatbot layered onto the helpdesk. It may be an interconnected set of specialized agents that can investigate, execute, escalate and coordinate work across the entire service lifecycle.
Forge is Shield’s attempt to build that system specifically for IT services.
Market Landscape
Managed service providers are increasingly evaluating AI for ticket triage, service-desk automation, knowledge retrieval, monitoring and customer engagement. The emergence of agentic AI expands the opportunity from assisting technicians to executing portions of IT workflows.
The technology challenge is more complex than adding a generative AI interface. Agents need access to operational systems, defined permissions, reliable context, workflow controls and escalation mechanisms.
Platforms such as Forge are consequently moving toward an AI operating layer model in which multiple specialized agents coordinate work across service delivery, account management and projects.
The competitive landscape includes IT service-management vendors, RMM and PSA platforms, AI-native service-desk products and MSPs developing proprietary automation. Differentiation will increasingly depend on the breadth of workflows agents can safely execute and the ability to demonstrate measurable operational outcomes.
Top Insights
- Shield’s Forge is an AI operating platform built specifically around autonomous IT service workflows rather than a general-purpose enterprise chatbot.
- Specialized AI agents handle helpdesk, account strategy and project workflows while escalating tasks requiring human judgment.
- Shield reports that Forge resolves half of all actionable helpdesk tickets, with 92% of those resolutions requiring neither approval nor logged technician time.
- The platform allows managed service providers to create custom AI skills, agents and runbooks for recurring operational processes.
- Shield is using experience from its provider network to shape Forge capabilities across multiple managed IT environments.
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