WatchGuard Technologies has introduced an innovative tool aimed at revolutionising how managed service providers (MSPs) handle security tasks.
The new AI-powered workforce, Rai™, was launched during the company's EMEA Impact Partner Conference. Meant to significantly enhance MSPs' capabilities, Rai autonomously manages cybersecurity responsibilities across client systems, allowing operations to run with reduced human intervention.
Round-the-clock security operations
Rai functions as an 'always-on' digital worker, seamlessly integrating into security teams to proactively identify and address threats across networks. This AI operates around the clock, performing tasks such as threat detection, threat correlation, and threat response in real-time. By doing so, Rai not only alleviates the operational load on human teams but also ensures more comprehensive coverage and quicker responses to potential cybersecurity threats.
Currently, Rai's capabilities in the Analyst role focus on continuous detection, investigation, and response across endpoints and network activities. Looking forward, the planned Auditor and Admin roles promise further utility. The Auditor will focus on bridging compliance gaps, identifying configuration issues, and maintaining detailed audit trails. Meanwhile, the Admin role will streamline operational tasks like patch management and maintainance schedules. By addressing these areas, Rai enables engineers to concentrate on strategic objectives such as client engagement and complex problem-solving.
Enhancing client experience
The decision-making abilities of Rai are fully transparent via the WatchGuard Insights Hub
Ben Oster, VP of Product Management at WatchGuard, highlighted the increasing complexity of cyber threats. "Cyber threats are increasing in both volume and complexity, and organisations need AI that is built to work continuously across every client," he said. Rai transforms security operations from a reactive to a predictive model, improving protection consistency. This model serves to enhance margins and elevate the customer experience across different portfolios by streamlining tasks and allowing MSPs to scale efficiently.
The decision-making abilities of Rai are fully transparent via the WatchGuard Insights Hub, which offers centralised dashboards for unified management. These tools allow MSPs to move seamlessly from a macro view to detailed, client-specific data. Additional features, such as the Daily Brief, provide concise status summaries, ensuring partners maintain control in a fast-paced, AI-driven environment.
Advancing AI capabilities
The introduction of Rai at the EMEA Impact 2026 event marks a pivotal advancement in WatchGuard's AI strategy, furthering its commitment to enabling MSP growth. With agentic AI as a central focus, future platform improvements are poised to include a natural-language, intent-driven interface. Joe Smolarski, CEO of WatchGuard Technologies, noted, "For too long, growth has been constrained by people – how many analysts you can hire, train, and retain. Rai changes that equation."
WatchGuard® Technologies, the pioneer in unified cybersecurity for MSPs, today redefined how managed service providers (MSPs) deliver security at scale with the launch of Rai™. Unveiled at the company’s EMEA Impact Partner Conference, Rai is a new agentic AI digital workforce built specifically for MSPs that proactively performs cybersecurity duties across client environments.
Rai is an always-on digital worker that operates as a true extension of the security team, detecting, correlating and responding to threats before human intervention is required. She continuously monitors environments, identifies threats and takes authorised action in real-time to reduce workload, speed response and provide more comprehensive coverage for partners and clients. Each action is transparent, measurable, and delivered in a single intelligence function.
More comprehensive coverage
Rai introduces a new kind of workforce for MSPs: one that operates continuously, scales on demand, and offloads the operational burden that consumes valuable team time. The Analyst role is available today, delivering always-on detection, investigation, and response across endpoint and network activity, acting as a first responder so partners aren’t managing alerts 24/7/365. Auditor and Admin roles are coming soon, extending Rai’s capabilities into compliance and operations.
The Auditor role will continuously identify compliance gaps, flag misconfigurations, and resolve issues such as firewall rule conflicts while maintaining audit trails. The Admin role will handle operational tasks like patch scheduling, certificate rotation, maintenance windows, and partner communications. By taking on the work that typically slows teams down, Rai frees engineers to focus on higher-value priorities like strengthening client relationships, solving complex problems, and driving business growth.
Improving customer experience
“Cyber threats are increasing in both volume and complexity, and organisations need AI that is built to work continuously across every client,” said Ben Oster, VP of Product Management at WatchGuard. “Rai shifts security operations from reactive to predictive, taking action instantly to deliver more consistent protection. This approach enables partners to scale faster, enhance margins and improve the customer experience across their entire portfolio.”
Rai’s decision-making process is fully visible through the new WatchGuard Insights Hub. The Insights Hub contains centralised dashboards that provide estate-wide context and the ability to shift from high-level MSP views to detailed, client-specific insights with just a single click.
Maintaining complete oversight
The built-in Daily Brief delivers a concise summary of actions taken, items requiring attention and the real-time protection status across all managed environments. The controls are highly-configurable to ensure partners maintain complete oversight while operating at AI-driven speed and scale.
“What stood out right away was how quickly everything came together in one place,” said Michael Ruffolo, Senior Cyber Security Engineer and Analyst, eSecurity Solutions. “Instead of jumping between tools or piecing things together, the experience made it easier to understand what was happening and what needed attention. That kind of clarity is what helps us make better decisions and deliver more consistent service to customers.”
Intent-driven interface
The introduction of Rai at EMEA Impact 2026 marks a major step forward in WatchGuard’s AI strategy and deepens its commitment to MSP success. By moving beyond assistive AI to autonomous execution, Rai allows MSPs to extend coverage, reduce operational burden and grow without adding headcount. As agentic capabilities continue to expand across the platform, future enhancements will include a natural-language, intent-driven interface that enables partners to interact directly with Rai.
“This is a fundamental shift in how cybersecurity gets done,” said Joe Smolarski, CEO at WatchGuard Technologies. “For too long, growth has been constrained by people – how many analysts you can hire, train, and retain. Rai changes that equation. It enables our partners to operate continuously, act instantly, and scale far beyond the limits of traditional security teams.”
