AI Agents to Reshape SaaS Models: Industry Leaders Forecast Evolution

The narrative that AI agents will democratize software creation to the point of making traditional Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) obsolete met significant pushback from the world’s leading technology executives this week. At the AI Impact Summit 2026, leaders from Salesforce, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and Infosys presented a unified front: while the "how" of software development is undergoing a radical transformation, the "why"—solving complex business problems within a governed framework—remains the exclusive domain of robust SaaS architectures. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India, pointedly noted that "vibe coding" or the mere ability to generate an application via prompt does not equate to a sustainable business model. For the enterprise, the value proposition of SaaS has always extended beyond the user interface to include critical back-end requirements such as observability, auditability, and rigorous governance.

This shift represents a transition from a "seat-based" economy to a "value-based" or "outcome-based" economy, though the transition is likely to be more additive than destructive. Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys, highlighted a staggering $300 billion opportunity in AI services, suggesting that the complexity of integrating foundation models with specialized agents will require more, not less, professional intervention. This contradicts the "death of the developer" trope, suggesting instead that the industry is moving toward an orchestration-heavy model where the primary challenge is no longer writing the code, but ensuring that disparate AI agents can work together to unlock measurable business value. Through orchestration platforms, enterprises can now integrate foundation models with specialized agents, turning previously "impossible" tasks into economically viable solutions.

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Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys, highlighted a staggering $300 billion opportunity in AI services, suggesting that the complexity of integrating foundation models with specialized agents will require more, not less, professional intervention.

Furthermore, the role of the software engineer is being redefined rather than eliminated. K. Krithivasan, CEO of TCS, argued that we are entering an era where engineers will function primarily as high-level architects and validators. The bottleneck for enterprise AI adoption is not the lack of models, but the state of enterprise data. Without data rationalization and application modernization—tasks that require deep domain expertise—AI agents remain untethered from the reality of the business. Krithivasan’s vision is one of "massive explosion" in the volume of software produced, implying that as the cost of creation drops, the demand for complex, solved problems will scale proportionally. The sector is not shrinking; it is expanding to solve problems that were previously too complex or expensive to address.

However, a note of caution was struck regarding the current state of the technology. C Vijayakumar, CEO and Managing Director of HCL Technologies, identified a persistent gap between the raw capabilities of large language models and the requirements for enterprise-grade performance. This "last mile" of reliability is where traditional SaaS providers and IT service firms currently hold the advantage. Until foundation models can be applied with the same efficiency and predictability as legacy systems, the wholesale replacement of SaaS platforms remains a theoretical exercise rather than a market reality. The consensus suggests that the future of SaaS is not a disappearance, but an evolution into an intelligent substrate that manages the lifecycle of AI agents while maintaining the security and compliance standards that enterprises demand.

The long-term sustainability of these models will depend on delivering real customer value rather than just technological novelty. As the industry moves forward, the focus will shift from the tools of creation to the outcomes of implementation. The SaaS model of the future will likely be characterized by its ability to provide the "connective tissue" between various AI agents, ensuring that they operate within the bounds of corporate policy and regulatory requirements. For investors and stakeholders, the message is clear: the AI revolution is not an extinction event for SaaS, but a catalyst for its most significant expansion since the move to the cloud.