以人工智能为中心的当务之急：驾驭下一代软件前沿

Technology, Media & Telecommunications PracticeThe AI-centric imperative: Navigating the nextsoftware frontier With AI-native upstarts redefining speed and scale, software incumbentshoping to remain competitive must fully embrace the new technology toreinvent their value proposition and internal operations. This article is a collaborative effort by Jeremy Schneider, Joshan Abraham, Matt Linderman, and Naveen Sastry,with Mónica Perestrelo and Shayan Salam, representing views from McKinsey’s Technology, Media &Telecommunications Practice. The software industryis entering a new era—and it may yet prove even more disruptive thanthe software-as-a-service (SaaS) revolution that preceded it. The emergence of gen AI and,more recently, agentic AI is not just another technology wave; it is a foundational shift redefiningwhat software is, who builds it, who uses it, and how companies are organized and operate. Gen AI alone is projected to unlock $4.4 trillion or more in annual value across the globaleconomy, with software companies poised to capture 10 to 15 percent of that total—and agenticAI may well accelerate the speed at which this value is realized. But capturing it is far fromguaranteed, and incumbent companies will face heightened competitive intensity and complexnew challenges. Some may not survive. Recent moves by AI players such as OpenAI underscorethis urgency. By embedding their own AI-powered sales, support, and contract tools directlyinto workplace processes, these companies could end up competing with the very SaaS playersthey have been enabling—a shift that may further upend industry dynamics and intensify thepressure on those incumbents. Gen AI and agentic AI may start by creating new ways for users to engage with software, but thetechnology should ultimately have a much greater impact. That may lie in enabling customers totailor software that can act autonomously, make decisions, and interact with different users,software, and systems across workflows traditionally unsupported by legacy tools. Theseadvances could usher in an era marked by equally large shifts in the competitive landscape,including an acceleration of vendor switching and customer churn, a realignment of usersegments and value pools, and an increase in corporate in-house or “citizen” development ofsoftware. New risks will need to be addressed, from algorithmic bias and data quality toexplainability, IP infringement, and newfangled security threats. As software companies navigate this AI-centric transformation, they face two fundamentalparadigms: rethinking their value proposition holistically, from products to business models togo-to-market approaches; and reimagining operations end to end, spanning sales, customersuccess, support functions, and the infrastructure stack. AI-native disruptors architected from day one around the technology are already making theirpresence felt. Start-ups such as Anysphere (developer of Cursor), Gamma, and Lovable areredefining speed and scale, achieving product–market fit in record time and scaling to hundredsof millions in annual recurring revenue (ARR) with teams of fewer than 100. These companiesaren’t layering AI into legacy workflows; they’re rebuilding the entire software organizationaround AI-centric principles. Meanwhile, incumbents are racing to catch up with large investments and company-wideimperatives. Salesforce, for instance, has launched Agentforce, declaring its ambition to becomeAI-centric and embedding AI into its development and operational backbone. Atlassian haslaunched a suite of intelligent agents while committing to organization-wide AI integration. For incumbent software companies, the imperative is clear: becoming AI-centric is no longeroptional—it is essential to remain competitive. Those that can successfully adapt and thrive willhelp define the next era of software. This article explores why this transformation is so critical, what it means to become truly AI-centric, and the essential steps for software companies to achieve that goal. Among the sourcesinforming this article is a recent survey of top executives from across the software landscape—including large enterprises, mid-size firms, and start-ups from around theworld—offering a broad perspective of how industry leaders are navigating this shift. What it means, and takes, to be an ‘AI-centric’ software company Becoming AI-centric doesn’t happen overnight or with incremental improvements. It is afoundational transformation across seven key shifts that span both sides of the dual paradigm,comprehensively reshaping how a software company operates and the organization required todrive it. Software executives increasingly recognize the urgency and scale of this change. In our mostrecent survey, more than 60 percent of top industry executives identified these seven shifts as atop strategic priority. And the potential upside is compelling: 40 percent of software leadersexpect AI to unlock more than 20 percent re