Monday.com CEO: AI Threatens to Make SaaS Obsolete
The rise of powerful AI agents is creating an existential crisis for the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry, according to Monday.com CEO Eran Zinman. In a podcast interview, he noted his company's valuation has plunged over 60% amid fears that AI will make traditional software platforms obsolete. Zinman is now pivoting his company for an 'agentic AI era' where customers will expect software to perform the majority of the work for them autonomously.
The broader software market is undergoing a significant correction as investors re-evaluate the defensibility of traditional SaaS business models against AI agents. Companies like Salesforce have seen their valuation multiples compress as the market questions the long-term viability of per-seat pricing when AI can automate the tasks previously performed by human users. This has led to what some are calling a "SaaSpocalypse," with billions wiped from enterprise software valuations. In response, Monday.com is rolling out its "Digital Workforce," a suite of AI agents designed to transition the platform from a work management tool to a system that actively performs tasks. The first of these agents are being deployed within Monday's CRM to handle sales development tasks like lead qualification and personalized outreach. Their roadmap includes a no-code "Agent Factory" that will allow any user to create custom AI agents for various business functions, from project analysis to resource management. This shift toward agentic AI is particularly relevant in industrial and robotic applications. Siemens, for example, is deploying "Industrial Copilots" and autonomous AI agents in its factories to automate entire workflows, from product design to production planning and maintenance. These agents can analyze real-time data from machinery, predict failures, and optimize processes without human intervention, with a goal of increasing productivity by up to 50%. For robotics and autonomous systems, agentic AI represents a move from pre-programmed robots to intelligent systems that can perceive, reason, and act autonomously. In automotive manufacturing, AI agents are being used to optimize assembly lines and in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) that can predict risks and adapt to road conditions in real-time. NVIDIA's Isaac platform is one example of a tool enabling the development of these more advanced robotic capabilities. This trend is set to reshape software and embedded engineering roles. The focus will shift from writing code to designing, training, and governing AI systems. For embedded systems engineers, AI agents can assist in generating and optimizing code, creating test cases, and managing complex hardware-software interactions. The demand will grow for engineers who can build the infrastructure for AI agents and ensure their safe and ethical operation in real-world applications.
