UpTrajectory Review

SAP's chief AI strategy officer, Sean Kask, delivered a stark ultimatum at the Wave by Vento conference in Turin: software companies that treat AI as a bolt-on feature are finished. The only path forward, in his framing, is a ground-up reconstruction of products around AI. This echoes the 'every company is a software company' mantra of the last decade, but with higher stakes—because the new layer isn't just digital, it's autonomous.

For a small-business operator, this isn't abstract industry drama. If you run your shop on SAP, Oracle, or similar enterprise stacks, your vendor's AI pivot will determine what your workflows look like in three years. The shift from 'software with AI features' to 'AI-native software' means your data entry, invoicing, and reporting could be automated—or your vendor could stumble, forcing a costly migration. This is a procurement and strategy signal, not just a headline.

What's genuinely new here is the absolutism. Kask isn't suggesting AI as a competitive advantage; he's framing it as existential. We agree with the direction—AI is reshaping software economics—but we're skeptical of the 'or perish' binary. Plenty of vertical software thrives on deep domain expertise and regulatory moats that AI alone won't breach. The risk for incumbents isn't just missing AI; it's rebuilding so aggressively they alienate their installed base.

The second-order effects cut both ways. If SAP and peers go all-in on AI, expect pricing shifts toward usage-based or outcome-based models, which could help or hurt your budget. Integration partners and consultants will scramble to reskill, potentially disrupting your support network. Meanwhile, AI-native startups get validation for their pitch that legacy vendors can't move fast enough—creating more options, but also more noise, in your evaluation process.

Watch how SAP's product roadmap evolves over the next two quarters: are they shipping AI that changes core workflows, or just copilots tacked onto old interfaces? If you're evaluating new software, ask vendors directly whether their AI is a wrapper or a foundation—and what their migration path looks like if they're wrong. Kask's warning is worth heeding, but the winners will be those who rebuild without breaking what already works.

“Like the famous quip that every company is becoming a software company, every software company has to become a AI company” — The Next Web

Takeaway: When your software vendor pivots to AI, ask if it's rebuilding core workflows or just adding a chatbot—your migration costs depend on the answer.