Classic SaaS economics are coming under pressure
According to Gartner, AI agents that perform tasks across multiple enterprise applications could reduce users’ direct interaction with traditional software interfaces. As a result, the long-established connection between actual software use and user-based licensing (seat-based licensing) would become increasingly less important.
Gartner therefore recommends that established software providers define their added value less in terms of user interfaces and more in terms of business outcomes. At the same time, they should integrate agent-based functions directly into business processes and ensure that customer-specific knowledge is retained.
AI-native start-ups and service providers alike could benefit from this. You have the opportunity to establish yourself as an orchestration layer that coordinates workflows across multiple enterprise applications.
“While this shift poses an existential threat to vendors clinging to legacy dashboards and user-based models, it also creates significant revenue opportunities for companies developing services and platforms for agent-driven, cross-functional workflows,” Brocklehurst said.
Governance must keep pace with autonomous systems
Gartner also advises CIOs to establish governance structures before autonomous AI agents become standard.
“Autonomy should never be given tacitly or inconsistently,” Brocklehurst emphasizes. Companies should treat agent autonomy as an explicit governance decision, specifying where agents can operate independently, who approves those decisions, and how frequently those permissions should be reviewed.
“Companies that develop these capabilities today will be able to act faster and more securely when the technology reaches the next level of maturity,” said the Gartner analyst.
Although Gartner describes the change as a redefinition of the “Saaspocalypse” that has been discussed for years, Brocklehurst does not expect the end of software-as-a-service.
“This is less of an apocalypse and more of a metamorphosis,” he explains. “SaaS will not disappear – it will just continue to exist in a different form.” (mb)
This article is based on one Posted by CIO.com.
