Enterprise AIs future hinges on proprietary data moats, not commoditized models.
Traditional SaaS is crumbling under AIs weight—public software giants have seen growth plummet from 50% to single digits since 2022, saturated markets and agent alternatives squeezing budgets. But this isnt the end of enterprise software; its a pivot. Incumbents like Salesforce or Workday arent dying—theyre evolving into AI-native fortresses, layering intelligence on sticky hostages (customers trapped in systems of record). They charge premiums for AI upsells, like instant reference checks or automated ERP scaling, because displacing them is brutal while building greenfield AI from scratch unlocks explosive niches.
The real disruption? AI devouring labor markets, not just software. Humans avoid grunt work—24/7 support, multilingual ops, front-desk drudgery—but software can handle 90% at a fraction of the cost, flipping low-value tasks into high-margin vertical operating systems. Think Toast for restaurants or a $20K AI receptionist replacing a $47K human, while weaving in payments and lending for stickiness. This creates categories beyond SaaS, targeting the vast labor pool where software eats jobs no one wants, inverting costs to revenue through modes like inference-driven virality (agents becoming the ultimate sales engine).
Yet 95% of enterprise AI pilots flop—not a bug, but a feature for rapid experimentation in uncharted tech. Success stories shine when companies bolt AI onto proprietary data no one else has: RBCs agents crunch earnings into equity research in minutes, Merck predicts genomes for drug discovery, 7-Eleven automates hyper-targeted marketing. LLMs? Theyre gas stations—interchangeable commodities shifting leaders weekly. Value accrues to apps that govern unique datasets (your emails, contracts, processes), automating the n-squared chaos of meetings and Excel. Failures hit when chasing shiny demos without data strategy or engineering muscle; RPAs brittle rules flamed out, but AIs learning and generalization make it fundamental, even if models stay frozen for now.
Heres the unseen pattern: Enterprise isnt adopting AI—its liberating trapped data from cost centers into value engines. Big labs encroach on consumer plays, but enterprise moats compound as non-public info (medical journals, legal records, procurement contracts) feeds AI for 10x outputs, like automated analyst memos or negotiation leverage. Startups win by building walled gardens that turn raw veggies into finished meals, direct-to-consumer, while incumbents fortify. No more CRUD databases; future SaaS is proactive companions—ambient agents prepping meetings, forging knowledge graphs, erasing keyboards for voice-driven flows.
This data-first alchemy resolves the tension: AIs perpetual motion for mega-growth clashes with slow incumbents, but proprietary edges let both thrive, experimenting past failures to ambient automation. Venture? Bet on vertical OS eating labor with data hooks, not horizontal hype.
Thought: Spot your data moats early—theyre the invisible fuel for AIs enterprise takeover.
kenoodl.com | @kenoodl on X