The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry has been turned upside down from the rise of automation to no-code platforms, shrinking the difference between what a 3rd party provider can offer and what someone can now build internally.  And now, SaaS providers may have prompted (get it?) 2025 to be the year of AI Agents. It turns out that SaaS and especially vertical specific SaaS largely laid out the framework and highlighted the opportunities for agents to fill the missing gaps in today’s offering and push far beyond.

This article examines two well-known SaaS products—one vulnerable to AI-driven disruption and another that is well-positioned to evolve with AI Agents.

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AI Agents as a Service (AIAaaS)

AI Agents are no longer simple chatbot assistants —they are transitioning into full-fledged service providers. This shift is giving rise to AI Agents as a Service (AIAaaS), where businesses no longer purchase software licenses but instead subscribe to AI-driven agents that autonomously handle complex tasks across industries.  We may even see the terms “hire” be associated with AI in 2025.

AIAaaS is set to impact multiple sectors, with an estimated $2.4 trillion in potential labor cost savings by 2030 as AI increasingly automates knowledge work (McKinsey, 2023). Additionally, Gartner predicts that by 2027, 50% of enterprises will use AI agents as their primary customer interaction layer, reducing the reliance on traditional SaaS customer support tools (Gartner, 2023).

Let’s explore how this shift is likely to impact two existing SaaS companies.

Zendesk

Why Zendesk is Vulnerable

Zendesk is a leading customer service SaaS platform, offering ticketing systems, automated responses, and self-service knowledge bases. While the company has incorporated AI for tasks like automated ticket sorting and chatbots, its core business model still relies on human agents for high-level decision-making.

This structure makes Zendesk vulnerable to Autonomous AI-Powered Customer Support platforms that can eliminate the need for manual intervention altogether.

How AI Agents Will Disrupt It

AI-powered customer support agents are evolving from automated responders to fully independent problem solvers. This trend is already evident in AI-native customer service platforms, such as:

• Forethought AI, which uses deep learning to automate issue resolution and reduce human escalation by up to 70% (Forbes, 2023).
• Cognigy, which integrates generative AI to handle complex customer inquiries without human oversight, improving resolution times by 50% (IDC, 2023).

By 2025, AI agents will:

• Interpret customer intent with contextual understanding, moving beyond simple keyword matching.
• Diagnose and resolve issues autonomously, reducing human workload.
• Predict customer concerns based on past behavior and resolve them proactively.
• Replace static knowledge bases with dynamically generated responses, eliminating the need for extensive manual documentation.

As AI-driven customer support solutions gain traction, traditional SaaS platforms like Zendesk that rely on dashboards for ticket management may struggle to justify their existence. Instead of logging into a help desk, businesses will simply deploy AI Agents that solve problems in real time.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, 75% of customer service interactions will be handled by AI agents, up from 25% in 2023. This shift could significantly erode Zendesk’s market position unless it fully pivots to an autonomous AI model (Gartner, 2023).

Notion

Why Notion is AI’s Playground

Unlike Zendesk, Notion is positioned to thrive in an AI-first world. Originally designed as a knowledge management tool, Notion has already integrated AI-driven summarization and search features, setting the stage for a more autonomous AI-powered workspace.

How AI Agents Will Supercharge Notion

Instead of being disrupted, Notion is well-positioned to become a Vertical AI Agent for knowledge work, leveraging AI for:

• Autonomous Workspaces – AI agents will manage, organize, and dynamically update content, eliminating the need for manual document management.
• AI-Powered Research Assistants – AI-driven research capabilities will enable users to find, analyze, and synthesize information across multiple sources without manual searches.
• Real-Time AI Project Managers – AI agents will track progress, assign tasks, and adapt workflows in response to changing priorities.

Notion’s AI features are already reducing administrative workload. According to a 2023 OpenAI case study, users integrating ChatGPT-powered research assistants into Notion saw a 40% reduction in time spent organizing notes and planning tasks. As these AI agents become more autonomous, Notion is poised to evolve into a self-managing digital workspace.

By 2025, expect Notion and similar platforms to move beyond knowledge management into fully autonomous productivity ecosystems where AI handles execution, not just organization.

What 2025 Looks Like for AI-Driven SaaS

Several key trends will shape the SaaS landscape in 2025:

• AI-Driven SaaS Solutions – AI agents will transition from optional add-ons to the primary interface for software interactions.
• Vertical AI Agents – Instead of one-size-fits-all SaaS tools, AI agents will be tailored for specific industries, such as finance, legal, and healthcare.
• AI-Powered Autonomous Workflows – AI will shift from assisting users to directly executing complex business processes, eliminating the need for dashboards.
• The AIAaaS Model – Instead of subscribing to static SaaS platforms, businesses will subscribe to AI agents that continuously adapt to changing needs.

IDC predicts that AI-driven SaaS solutions will represent 60% of new enterprise software purchases by 2026, further cementing the shift toward AI-first business models (IDC, 2023).

AI Agents Will Define SaaS Winners and Losers

As AI agents become more autonomous, SaaS companies face two paths:

1. Embrace AI Agents as Core Infrastructure – SaaS platforms that integrate AI-native workflows will evolve into intelligent digital ecosystems, much like Notion.
2. Be Disrupted by AI-First Competitors – SaaS platforms that fail to shift beyond automation to true autonomous AI workflows will lose relevance, much like Zendesk risks in the customer support domain.

McKinsey estimates that AI-powered automation will replace up to 30% of traditional SaaS workflows by 2027, forcing major changes across industries (McKinsey, 2023). The companies that fail to adapt will see their business models eroded by AI-native alternatives.

By 2026, AI Agents won’t just change the SaaS landscape—they will own it.

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