AIMPACT reports that a16z partners predict the record-keeping system dominated by Salesforce and HubSpot will disintegrate, and the value of enterprise software will shift toward intelligent scheduling layers, with CRM retreating to serve as the underlying interface for AI Agents. AI will fetch data and make decisions across calendars, email, Slack, and other platforms, turning the moat into scheduling capabilities. Two counterintuitive points: AI does not reduce human involvement; instead, it enhances sales achievement rates; CRM usage increases due to AI automatically generating notes. In the future, pure scheduling capabilities may be easily overshadowed by large models, and SaaS could transform into a central hub and execution platform for Agent operations.

MeNews

2026-05-23 01:39:22

Abstract generation in progress

AIMPACT News, May 15 (UTC+8), according to Beating Monitoring, multiple partners at a16z jointly published an article predicting that the record-keeping system dominated by Salesforce and HubSpot for the past twenty years is breaking down. The value focus of enterprise software is shifting towards intelligent systems, and traditional platforms like CRM will gradually lose their entry point status, downgrading to underlying API interfaces called by AI Agents. The article points out that in the past, the moat of enterprise software was the extremely high switching cost brought by data accumulation. But in the AI era, Agents no longer need traditional graphical interfaces; they can simultaneously fetch structured data across calendars, emails, Slack, and billing systems to make decisions. Therefore, the moat of software systems has shifted from data accumulation to scheduling capabilities. This is similar to how Facebook evolved from a friend relationship graph to a news feed; the graph still exists, but the algorithms responsible for recommendations are the ones truly controlling users and profits. This technological shift has led to two counterintuitive results. First, AI has not reduced the human budget of sales teams. With AI-assisted sales, achievement rates have significantly improved, and the high return on investment has actually led companies to increase human resources. Second, the actual usage of CRM has greatly increased because AI automatically listens to calls in the background and writes structured notes back into the system, making the previously dormant database extraordinarily rich. Although the article is very optimistic about the emerging intelligent scheduling layer, combined with a16z’s internal discussions at the same time, this power transfer is far more complex than it appears. Pure scheduling capabilities are easily flattened by iterations of large foundational models, and traditional SaaS, after stripping away graphical interfaces, is unlikely to be content with only low-value pipelines. They are very likely to leverage their years of accumulated business rules to transform into a central authority for managing all Agent operations and a platform for real-world execution. (Source: BlockBeats)

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ReorgPanicButton

· 23h ago

CRM switches to underlying interface, so how to handle the business model of selling licenses? Change the subscription fee to a commission based on call volume?

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GateUser-8ca669fd

· 05-23 02:03

History of enterprise software value migration: on-premise → cloud → AI scheduling layer, each time losing a batch

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GateUser-16838403

· 05-23 02:03

HubSpot users are ecstatic? Or will they eventually be swallowed by Agent?

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UnderTheWisteriaBridge

· 05-23 01:57

Pure scheduling ability is easily leveled out; SaaS transitioning to an agent hub, in simple terms, means you need to know how to build an ecosystem.

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NotificationSoundInMistyValley

· 05-23 01:56

The execution base that the agent runs on sounds like a serverless narrative replica similar to AWS Lambda.

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YieldKaraoke

· 05-23 01:56

a16z's prediction is pretty bold; will Salesforce's dominance be at risk?

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BluePeonyPlan

· 05-23 01:53

Automatically generated notes increase CRM call volume; I understand the logic, but who bears the storage costs?

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BlueChipSkeptic

· 05-23 01:43

The last sentence hits the hardest: Transform into the core, if you can't make the transition, you'll die.

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TheReflectionUnderTheNeon

· 05-23 01:43

Fetching data from cross-calendar email and Slack, privacy compliance seems to be about to blow up.

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a16z: Salesforce is being downgraded to an API, and the AI scheduling layer will take away the biggest profit in enterprise services for the next decade

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