Edition sponsored by

Welcome executives and professionals. As agentic AI transforms tech services demand, providers must ask not if revenue pools will evolve, but how fast their portfolios can adapt to capture new sources of growth.

Since the previous edition, we have reviewed hundreds of the latest insights in agentic and generative AI, spanning best practices, case studies, market dynamics, and innovations.

This briefing outlines what is driving material value — and why it’s important.

In today’s briefing:

• The $200 billion agentic AI opportunity.

• Agentic AI B2B SaaS disruption.

• Measuring AI agent autonomy.

• Agent lifecycle management.

• Transformation and technology in the news.

• Insights for Executive+ members.

• Career opportunities & events.

Read time: 4 minutes.

MARKET INSIGHT

The $200 billion agentic AI opportunity

Brief: BCG drew on two complementary surveys, over 115 enterprise executives and 75+ technology services leaders, to show how autonomy is transforming delivery economics and unlocking new growth pathways.

Breakdown:

• Agentic AI presents both disruption and growth for providers, as autonomous systems alter delivery models and business outcomes.

• Efficiency gains may compress some traditional services, but BCG estimates up to $200B in net new value pools over five years.

• One-third of enterprises are already scaling agentic AI, while two-thirds expect technology services providers to build and run priority use cases.

• Providers see rising demand, yet report readiness gaps across enterprise priorities, efficiency commitments, and commercial models.

Why it’s important: Together, these perspectives reveal a market in transition. Providers that act decisively, reshaping portfolios, delivery models, and talent, can capture the next wave of value creation. Those that delay risk losing relevance as enterprises accelerate agentic adoption.

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SOFTWARE STRATEGY

Agentic AI B2B SaaS disruption

Brief: Cathay Capital examined the agentic AI B2B software opportunity, outlining what is being disrupted, why Systems of Record remain foundational to agentic architectures, and where incumbents hold structural advantages.

Breakdown:

• SaaS is a subscription business model, not a product category or technical architecture, and that distinction is central to the debate.

• The disruption targets UI-first design, seat pricing and feature-led releases, not the recurring revenue model itself.

• Agents require structured data, permissions and compliance frameworks housed in core Systems of Record (ERP, CRM etc.)

• Cathay outlines a three-layer agentic SaaS architecture: System of Record, Context, and Agentic, to capture value and the user relationship.

Why it’s important: Established B2B SaaS providers that own strong Systems of Record and deep domain expertise are not automatic casualties of the agentic shift. They are positioned to benefit, if they evolve their product architecture, pricing models and culture.

MARKET INSIGHT

Measuring AI agent autonomy

Brief: Anthropic analyzed millions of human–agent interactions across Claude Code and its public API to examine how much autonomy users grant agents, how this evolves with experience, and whether agent actions are risky.

Breakdown:

• Among the longest sessions, Claude Code’s autonomous run time has nearly doubled in three months, from under 25 to over 45 minutes.

• As users gain experience, full auto-approve rises from about 20% of sessions to more than 40%, with fewer step-by-step reviews.

• On complex tasks, Claude Code pauses for clarification more than twice as often as humans interrupt it.

• Most API activity remains low-risk and reversible, led by software engineering, with emerging use in healthcare, finance, and cybersecurity.

Why it’s important: Anthropic concludes that effective oversight of agents will require new forms of post-deployment monitoring infrastructure and new human-AI interaction paradigms that help both humans and AI manage autonomy and risk together.

BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT

Agent lifecycle management

Brief: Salesforce released a 26-page guide outlining five essential stages of Agent and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). It provides practical guidance to help teams build, deploy and continuously improve AI agents.

Breakdown:

• Traditional ALM approaches were not built to manage the complexity, data sensitivity and rapid iteration cycles introduced by AI.

• Many IT teams face bottlenecks caused by technical debt, unrealistic testing conditions, unsecured data, and fragmented governance.

• The framework spans Ideate & Plan, Build, Test, Deploy and Observe, with checklists and customer examples supporting each stage.

• It aligns developers, admins, QA testers and architects around a single, structured workflow, improving cross-functional coordination.

Why it’s important: Business leaders are pushing for faster innovation through AI agents, while IT must maintain security, compliance and scalability. Speed alone is no longer enough, AI initiatives must scale in a controlled way, without introducing unnecessary risk or complexity.

McKinsey published The State of Organizations 2026, a 72-page report exploring performance amid tech innovation, disruption and workforce shifts.

MIT explained agentic AI, its current enterprise use cases and key considerations for leaders adopting AI agents.

Harvard examined how boards can lead in an AI-driven world by transforming oversight, engaging management and staying current.

PwC explored AI observability to understand system behavior, strengthen governance and improve performance, cost control and value.

Oracle released 17 pages on AI trends in cloud infrastructure for 2026, covering architecture, frameworks, business value and adoption.

OECD reported that AI firms drew 61% of global VC in 2025, USD 258.7B of USD 427.1B total, more than double 2022’s 30% share.

Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro, delivering major reasoning gains, benchmark-leading performance, and SOTA results at unchanged API pricing.

Anthropic launched Claude Code Security, a new capability built into Claude Code on the web, is now available in a limited research preview.

OpenAI is reportedly nearing a $100B+ funding round backed by Amazon, SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft, valuing it above $850B.

ElevenLabs secured the first insurance policy for AI voice agents, enabling enterprises to insure certified agent actions.

Perplexity is reportedly removing ads from its platform, with executives arguing sponsored content erodes trust in AI answers.

OpenAI acqui-hired enterprise AI search startup Nerve, integrating its team to enhance ChatGPT’s search capabilities.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

OpenAI - Partner Director, Global BCG Alliance

Databricks - AI Go-To-Market Leader

Accenture - Global CFO, Google Cloud Platform

EVENTS

OpenAI - Introduction to Codex - February 28, 2026

Enterprise AI Summit - March 16-17, 2026

Agents of Transformation - March 24, 2026

Reach enterprise AI decision-makers:

• 66% of readers are C-level executives or VP and Director-level leaders.

• 63.2% of the audience is based in the U.S., EU, UK, ANZ, and Singapore.

• Read by leaders at Microsoft, Deloitte, the Fortune 500, and more.

Standard and custom sponsorship packages available, with post-send performance reporting.

Conceived as a practical communication for executives Lewis Walker has worked with, this briefing has become a trusted resource for thousands of senior decision-makers shaping the future of enterprise AI.

We welcome your feedback.