Founder, ReadyStack | We provide a UX, CX, and affiliate commerce wrapper for workflow ecosystems. ReadyStacks make it easy to preview, onboard, and run flows. All participants - Creators, Providers, and Users earn MRR.
Jacco van der Kooij shares a clear and thoughtful perspective on the evolution of enterprise software. His post creates a much-needed framework to help us think critically about the shifts we're in and where they may lead. I’m aligned with the take that SaaS isn’t dead— but it’s evolving and merging into a new product class. BPaaS. One challenge AI will have to overcome is the trust gap in customer-facing GTM. As Jon Miller noted, buyers are making decisions earlier, with 80% choosing a vendor before contacting sales. AI’s role, then, has to help brands build trust earlier in the buyer journey. Emerging voices like Adem Manderovic and George Coudounaris at Chief Revenue School are blowing the dust off traditional relationship building tactics - like how to start CX-driven conversations at the awareness stage. AI’s greatest potential there lies in helping sellers insert themselves into meaningful conversations earlier, where trust and authority are built. Scott Martinis groundswell guidance on big-ticket enterprise deals tells us we still depend on rapport and credibility in complex B2B environments. Elizabeth Italiano has her 5 models of cold customer engagement that can leverage ChatGPT but keeps it in the background. BPaaS as a Complement BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) could complement your vision. BPaaS aligns closely with PPX models, blending AI and human-led CX to deliver recurring impact in a scalable, customer-centric way. As Georgiana Laudi has pointed out, the funnel is an outdated relic in some arenas. Successful sellers will need systems that focus on presence and adjacency of long-term value rather than transactional outcomes. As you're a CX pro Jacco van der Kooij - I assume that hits a sweet spot for you too. A Thought on Martech’s Evolution I’d love to see a deeper dive into how funnel and martech efficacy have shifted over time. Mapping this onto your diagram could add even more clarity of where we are and when the problems of the attention economy and disruptive marketing began its skid. Your post really pushes the growth and CX conversation forward in a meaningful way, Jacco. Thanks you for putting so much thought and value into this.
Working with customers opened my eyes and changed my life | Being kind and assuming positive intent will help you see the world from a different perspective
"Where is AI taking us?" "Is SaaS dead?" and "Will there even be a need for software?" I hope this post puts all the changes we are experiencing into context so we can navigate (and shape) this innovation landscape together. Having sold software for 30 years, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing the journey from on-premises software and data centers to cloud-based SaaS and now toward AI-based systems. This journey reveals a remarkably consistent theme: - Innovation reacts to inefficiency, - it is triggered by drastic changes in the market and - It proceeds at a very high pace, which is uncomfortable for most of us. To explore AI's revolution and anticipated impact, I’ve created a chart that maps the transformation of enterprise software, from the rise of servers and virtualization to the emergence of AI-agent marketplaces. Please trace the journey with your eyes (or finger), and you will see three trends emerge that will likely shape the future of GTM: i) Sustainable SaaS ii) AI-Led GTM iii) Consumption-Based Pricing As a side note, at Winning by Design, we have started using the term "PPX" as a shorthand to describe the various forms of consumption-based pricing, e.g., Pay Per Action, Pay Per Use, and Pay Per Outcome. It allows us to simplify the shift as SaaS --> PPX. Having said that, the next chapter in GTM appears to belong to autonomous GTM systems. These systems are AI-powered to enable durable growth from the get-go, and they are driven by PPX-based business models that will accelerate customer adoption. This is no different than subscription models did for SaaS over a decade ago vs. paying upfront perpetual software. In this, durable growth reflects a combination of GTM Efficiency and high GRR/NRR. The latter is governed by a new First Principle known to all 3,500 Revenue Architects out there (say it with me :-): Recurring Revenue is the result of Recurring Impact. Okay.. so where does that leave us? Well, let’s be clear: SaaS isn’t over—not even close! Many SaaS Scaleups and Grownups will simply evolve, powered by AI, into Sustainable SaaS Scaleups and Grownups. Some will fail, some will succeed. Meanwhile, Startups can choose to either pick Sustainable SaaS or embrace a PPX pricing strategy. And as they go to market, they can now opt for Product-Led Growth (low), AI-led growth (mid), or Human-Led Growth (high-end). Furthermore, AI-enabled GTM motions will democratize GTM, allowing companies from across the globe to compete with the existing SaaS juggernauts. These startups must show up with innovation, as today's buyers are more likely to side with a trusted brand. Simply put, there's something for everyone this holiday season. 💙 💙 💙 👉 What do you think will define the future of software?
Backwards to go forwards. We are at the crossroads. The crossroads. - Acceptance that Sales Led Growth has caused commercial downstream repercussions and sellers, marketers, and C Suites now realise they don't know as much as they thought they did. Versus - what to do and where to turn to provide the guard rails to get back to common sense. George Coudounaris and I have spent the best part of this year combining how end to end service delivery across industry sector looks, and is plug and play with feedback loops across the funnel. Combining The B2B Playbook marketing master class, with my original Closed Circuit Selling, creating Chief Revenue School. The curriculum on marketing, sales & customer success. The ONE end to end program, that has everything you need to get started, and better understand what end to end service delivery looks like. Then, take that further in our cohort QnA's. 🚀
This is kinda like "SaaS end-game"; wasn't it always meant to make it easy to use and change vendors? Consumption based pricing has been on the table for years, and very much lends itself to the trend we've all seen of the "democratisation of software selection". I've worked with some massive enterprises across all industries, and many of them opt to let individual development teams choose the tooling that works for them. Yes, they provide the overall strategy and "guardrails" for consumption, but ultimately, it makes sense to let people choose the tools that work for them, and as the CFO of a massive bank, you don't want to be paying enterprise contracts for all of these tools your team are picking, you want to pay for what you're using. So in that sense I suppose it's only a matter of time before we start to see a shift towards AI augmented (not sure it's good enough for led tbf, and depends on the situation) GTM. Tech stacks will continue to diversify, driven by the people using and choosing the tools, and we'll all have to adapt to make sure all users find value, not just the white-glove ones paying the big bucks. That'll be AI-augmented too.
Great insights, Jay! Your perspective on how AI can bridge the trust gap in customer-facing GTM is spot on. BPaaS indeed seems like a promising direction, merging AI with human-led interactions to drive scalable impact. 🚀
Go-To-Market and Revenue Leader | Named Top 100 B2B GTM Female Leader 2024 by SalesIntel | Voted Top 100 Customer Success Thought Leader 2024 & 2023 | Top 50 CS Thought Leader in North America 2024 & 2023.
2wSaaS is definitely not dead. It’s revolving. Partly because of AI, partly because some SaaS is now a commodity because it’s easier than ever to create SaaS products and partly because buyer behaviours have changed. Gone are the days of sellers being in control with their self centered linear sales processes. I’m bullish on AI being a co-pilot to humans and exponentially increasing what we can accomplish. Those that see it that way I predict will win. Those that treat AI as an easy button will lose. This is where we will see who gets to the intersection of Efficiency AND Effectiveness the fastest. I’m not so bullish on PLG for B2B as a sustainable model in the long term. As a VC I spoke with a few weeks back said “it’s not attractive any more because it’s easy come, easy go. The churn rates are through the roof.” Landing with PLG is ok, but you have to have some additional approach to make it stick and to expand. This is where true CX comes in and having an awareness and willingness to execute on actually delivering CX and going beyond lip service.