How Agentic AI Is Ending The DIY Drudgery In Enterprise

Forbes

a day ago

Gautam Mehra - CEO & Cofounder - consumr.ai powered by ProfitWheel.
As a cofounder and CTO of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, you may assume that I'd be the least likely to argue that traditional SaaS is dying. It's exactly because I'm an insider that I pen this. I think our industry is at a critical inflection point where, to survive and thrive, we must evolve further than we already have. And that evolution is the shift from "Do It Yourself" to "Done For You."
This isn't just a feeling; the numbers are staggering. I've seen some large enterprises juggling over 400 SaaS applications—a reality we, as SaaS builders, have contributed to, often with the best intentions. But the result is a productivity paradox. We've created an elaborate digital theater, forcing our users to spend more time managing tools than leveraging them. The "Do It Yourself" model, where we expect professionals to become experts on dozens of platforms, is showing its age. Frankly, it's exhausting.
What if the paradigm shifted? What if, instead of serving the software, we finally started to get served by it? That's not some utopian dream; it's real. Let me make one clear statement: SaaS solutions that expect users to conform are doomed to a very short future. Enter Agentic AI, unlike any of the chatbots from yesteryear. An agentic AI system actually is designed to understand a user's intent, formulate a multistep plan and carry out actions on its own across different applications.
As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has significantly proclaimed that the app is being replaced by the agent, and business logic is now moving into agents. The foundational data may still be in the SaaS cloud, but how that data is retrieved is about to change dramatically. Instead of clicking through endless menus, a user simply states their goal, and the agent takes care of "how."
The demand for agentic AI is expected to approach almost $200 billion by 2034, appropriately capturing the desire of workers for more effective and considerate ways of workplace interactions. Gartner's forecast that agentic AI will feature in one-third of enterprise software by 2028 has nothing to do with the speculation of investors but with providing solutions to difficulties identified in digital deployment. But the DFY revolution is much more than automating tasks. Picture this scenario: You step into your office, and before you've even had your coffee, your AI agent has already surveyed the market movements overnight, evaluated their implications on your brand and drawn up three strategic responses based on your particular role. It hasn't just done some tasks for you; it has planned ahead for you. This is where agentic AI gets really interesting: It transforms digital tools from mere reactive servants into proactive strategic partners.
As an individual from the Forbes Technology Council succinctly expressed, enterprise platforms will cease to be tools and become cognitive partners. The value for professionals and the organizations they support is pretty compelling. It starts with a radical efficiency, as repetitive tasks get handled seamlessly, freeing human talent to focus on the creative and strategic aspects of their roles for which they were hired. And this efficiency directly recaptures a strategic focus. No more constant context-switching and "tool-wrangling"— which suck up hundreds of hours each year—thus enabling time regained for making high-impact decisions rather than digital administration. This combination of speed and insight leads to increased agility in a dynamic business environment: Being able to have an agent rapidly implement a new strategy across multiple systems is quite the operational and competitive advantage.
Starting The 'Done For You' Journey
For leaders in the workplace who seek to make this kind of change without massive disruption, the advice is to start smart, not start over. The step is to converse with teams to uncover where their most painful points are—the processes that involve the most platform-hopping and repetitive work. When one has identified a high-value pain point, think in layers rather than rip-and-replace. One doesn't throw out the existing CRM or ERP; instead, pilot a project in which an AI agent works as an intelligent layer over your current systems. This approach decreases risk and quickly demonstrates value.
Of course, autonomy requires trust, which in turn implies that governance has to be in place from day one. As you start to pilot your initial agents, you need to establish a clear set of rules: Who is accountable for the actions of an agent? What information is available to it? Which decisions require human approval? These are the foundations upon which a scale can be built securely. Finally, this change has also got to be cultural. Shift to a culture of outcomes instead; let your teams focus on results-dimensions such as customer response times, and become better rather than just tracking some activity inside an application. That way, everybody's incentives are aligned with the real purpose of the DFY model: achieving results, rather than just using tools.
Why An SaaS CTO Would Champion A World That Seems To Diminish What We Built
The off-axis assumption: The future isn't about getting rid of SaaS; it's about raising it. At my company, this isn't a theoretical idea; it's at the heart of our roadmap. We're dedicated to a future in which technology serves human potential by making our powerful systems accessible through intelligent, conversational agents. It comes down to a core question of dignity: Are people supposed to adjust according to the shortcomings of their tools, or should those tools adapt to the incredible possibilities of human beings?
For over fifty years, this industry has primarily accepted the former. The "Done For You" revolution represents a shift in philosophy back toward technology that serves human goals rather than the opposite. Companies that will succeed are those with the courage to allow their people to focus on strategy, creativity and leadership while their agents manage operational complexities. Digital drudgery is over; as builders, we have to lead.
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