He added, “productivity is one piece of the equation, but to really drive value, you need to have personalization, predictive value that you don’t have today, performance, revenue-driving performance that you don’t have today.”
The AI landscape has changed in other ways as well, noted Keith Fitzpatrick, research director, enterprise software and digital workflows at The Futurum Group. He wrote in an analysis released Wednesday, “the enterprise software market shifted decisively from AI hype to embedded, operational agentic AI, with major vendors integrating intelligence directly into workflows, data layers, and multi-agent orchestration frameworks.”
AI progress comes from discipline, not drama
As deployments have scaled, he said, “the conversation moved beyond capabilities to focus on value realization, governance, interoperability, and evolving AI pricing models. Looking ahead to 2026, buyers will prioritize measurable business outcomes, rewarding vendors that can demonstrate AI-driven revenue gains, cost reductions, and operational scale enabled by unified data foundations and well-governed multi-agent architectures.”
