The point about AI native companies pricing on outcomes from Day 1 is the quiet killer here. ServiceNow is trying to bolt consumption pricing onto a seat-based architecture, and the awkward part is the consumption layer has real variable costs, inference and hyperscaler compute, that the seat model never had. So even if they successfully pivot the pricing model, the margin profile downgrades from "zero marginal cost" to "sharing economics with Azure and Anthropic at two layers." That's the structural question the market is actually repricing.
The 'Death of SaaS' framing feels premature but the pain is real. I've been tracking who's actually winning in this shift - and it's not 'AI kills software,' it's 'value moves to orchestration layers.'
What I found: the SaaS companies dying are point solutions. The ones winning are platforms that integrate into agent workflows seamlessly. I looked at 20+ enterprise deployments last week and the pattern is consistent.
The infrastructure spend numbers ($700B from Big Tech) tell the real story - this isn't about killing software, it's about who captures the agent orchestration layer.
Do you think one high level takeaway would be in the wash of this demand for inference does not stop growing, the cost of that inference will continue to go down, so you get more from software and it costs less, the more that happens the more compute we will use.
Terrific summary. The pace of the transition from “SaaS eats the world” top “SaaS is dead” has been remarkable. I would argue this is just another wave in the longer SaaSacre cycle. 1) Cannibalization of forward growth during COVID pulled forward future returns 2) Enterprise fear of a pending recession froze IT budgets 3) Enterprise panic around developing an AI strategy post the “Chat GPT moment” elongated that pause 4) SaaS is dead narrative starts in the app layer and has / is now penetrating vertical and cyber.
Will agents need software licenses to operate? I built 6 agents to automate a business process using 1 copilot license. It works well. I will pay Microsoft more to keep the new process in place if they ask.
The point about AI native companies pricing on outcomes from Day 1 is the quiet killer here. ServiceNow is trying to bolt consumption pricing onto a seat-based architecture, and the awkward part is the consumption layer has real variable costs, inference and hyperscaler compute, that the seat model never had. So even if they successfully pivot the pricing model, the margin profile downgrades from "zero marginal cost" to "sharing economics with Azure and Anthropic at two layers." That's the structural question the market is actually repricing.
The 'Death of SaaS' framing feels premature but the pain is real. I've been tracking who's actually winning in this shift - and it's not 'AI kills software,' it's 'value moves to orchestration layers.'
What I found: the SaaS companies dying are point solutions. The ones winning are platforms that integrate into agent workflows seamlessly. I looked at 20+ enterprise deployments last week and the pattern is consistent.
My analysis of which software categories are actually at risk vs. which are positioning to capture the coordination layer: https://thoughts.jock.pl/p/ai-agent-landscape-feb-2026-data
The infrastructure spend numbers ($700B from Big Tech) tell the real story - this isn't about killing software, it's about who captures the agent orchestration layer.
Do you think one high level takeaway would be in the wash of this demand for inference does not stop growing, the cost of that inference will continue to go down, so you get more from software and it costs less, the more that happens the more compute we will use.
Terrific summary. The pace of the transition from “SaaS eats the world” top “SaaS is dead” has been remarkable. I would argue this is just another wave in the longer SaaSacre cycle. 1) Cannibalization of forward growth during COVID pulled forward future returns 2) Enterprise fear of a pending recession froze IT budgets 3) Enterprise panic around developing an AI strategy post the “Chat GPT moment” elongated that pause 4) SaaS is dead narrative starts in the app layer and has / is now penetrating vertical and cyber.
Great points
Epic piece
Will agents need software licenses to operate? I built 6 agents to automate a business process using 1 copilot license. It works well. I will pay Microsoft more to keep the new process in place if they ask.