Atera’s Chris Lane says agentic AI marks the end of manual SaaS

Chris Lane, VP of brand at Atera, argues that agentic AI will not refine the SaaS model but end the version of it marketers have learned to work with. He describes the old approach as “software-as-a-straightjacket”.

“AI isn’t a threat to SaaS. It’s the end of it,” he writes. Software will not disappear, he says, but the era of ‘manual SaaS’ is finished. For years people have worked in passive tools that wait for input. With agentic AI, software behaves more like a digital employee than a dashboard.

Repetitive work most exposed

The parts of the stack most at risk are those built on repetition: audience segmentation, A/B testing, reporting, scheduling and moving data between platforms, the tasks that quietly consume hours.

AI agents are already taking over those workflows, he says, still following the rules but working faster and more reliably. “If your tool exists to move data, run a test or generate a report, it’s already under pressure.”

That does not make marketers less important, in his view, but makes it obvious where they add value. “I’m a better creative, writer, planner and marketer because of AI. Anyone who says otherwise is avoiding the reality of it,” he writes.

The advantage now comes from deciding what systems should do rather than operating them. “Strategy, judgment and creativity don’t go away. They become the work.”

Paying for resolution

Some parts of SaaS will hold firm. Lane says security, compliance and governance become more important, and platforms that store critical data, enforce standards and provide auditability will form the backbone. AI can orchestrate work, he writes, but needs guardrails, context and a solid foundation.

What changes is how value is delivered. “Traditional SaaS charges for access. The future charges for resolution,” he writes. That means a move from paying to use a system to paying for what it produces, with fewer seats and licences and more focus on problems solved.

As AI spreads through workflows, the stack becomes less visible. Lane expects marketers to stop switching between dashboards and stitching systems together, with agents handling execution, optimisation and reporting in the background, campaigns adjusting themselves and data moving without instruction.

In that world, he argues, the marketer’s role becomes clearer rather than smaller. “AI is very good at doing things right. It’s much less capable of deciding if they’re the right things to do. That’s still on us.”