Will Agentic AI Disrupt Enterprise Software? Maybe the Better Question is "How Much?"

What is the future of enterprise software as artificial intelligence continues to advance, now perhaps shifting into additional roles within enterprise software value chains?

The proximate cause is OpenAI making a direct foray into the application software market, perhaps shifting OpenAI from model provider to a direct competitor in applications including customer relationship management, marketing automation, and sales enablement.

OpenAI now offers its own suite of SaaS applications, including the "Inbound Sales Assistant" and the "GTM Assistant" (Go-To-Market Assistant). Other tools covering front office, middle office, and back office software categories are coming, supporting sales enablement, inbound marketing assistance, customer support, product analytics and finance applications.

All of those efforts, and others certain to come, are part of the evolution of generative AI from chatbot to agent. 

The key issue is how well OpenAI's AI models might enable entities to "build their own custom CRM" or integrate AI into existing CRM systems.

At a high level, this is an example of OpenAI moving into additional roles across a value chain, or “up the stack” in terms of functions. 

Such “AI-native” enterprise software obviously poses a threat to current enterprise software leaders. 

source: Bain

 

At a high level, some argue that, at some point, it might not be necessary to use a specific application at all to accomplish a business task. Think of the concept as AI becoming the "gateway to business knowledge."

It is highly possible the enterprise software industry is in a shift from traditional software applications to a model where AI agents handle routine, end-to-end tasks autonomously, essentially bypassing the need to use specific enterprise software for such purposes. 

Among other practical impacts, such mechanisms call into question the traditional license-based enterprise software models, in terms of magnitude if not role elimination. 

source: Bain

Whether there is an AI “financial bubble” or not, the reason for the investment is obvious. AI might be the most-impactful new technology since the internet, with equally-disruptive effects on many industries and firms. 

Enterprise software is but one example of the process at work.