Fenwick vs Robot
Could we play the 7 differences between these 2 images? Do an industrial paint robot and a Fenwick have anything in common?
If your answer is no, would it seem logical to you, if you were in a position to buy the paint robot, to compare its price with that of the Fenwick? And to use the price of the forklift as a bargaining point with the robot’s supplier?
Normally you should tell me: “that has nothing to do with it. The paint robot takes part in production, the Fenwick helps production.” One is a producer. The other is a commodity. Does that seem obvious to you?
The problem with comparing SaaS vs AI agent
Well, as soon as we sell AI, and in particular AI agents, at Coddity, this type of comparison invariably lands on the table. “We already pay 30€ per user for the license of {insert here your favorite improved excel, sorry, your favorite SaaS}, that’s an extra cost of XXk€ a year”
A SaaS used at the scale of a company will (probably) simplify, harmonize, and smooth the exchanges between teams. We could work without it, but we’re more effective with it. The SaaS will bring real productivity gains, but of what order? A few seconds/minutes per task?
But in the end it’s the same promise as AI, no? Bringing productivity gains. But if we go back to the Fenwick vs Robot analogy, are the productivity gains brought the same?
The real comparison: salary cost
If an AI agent knocks out in a few seconds a manager’s several hours of work, is it wise to compare its cost with the price of a SaaS license? The only comparison that’s worth anything is the comparison with salary cost.
When a factory deploys a robot, it’s to automate a process that was done by a human. Naturally, it will compare the cost of the robot (purchase, energy, maintenance) with the same work done without it. But certainly not with the cost of the Fenwick. That would be ridiculous.
For one of our agents, which I’ll tell you about soon, we calculated a cost gap by a factor of 250 versus the corresponding human work. Why compare it with the price of a {insert your SaaS} license? The only way is to compare the cost of an FTE, at a stretch equipped with the SaaS in question, but that’s the thickness of the line!
Two important objections
So, 2 important points before the objections start flying:
- The impact on employment
- We’ll always need a SaaS to smooth the exchanges
I’ll develop these 2 points later, but:
On employment, let’s stop telling people stories. The impact is going to be terrible and we have to prepare for it. There are going to be massive layoff plans and bankruptcies.
On the need for a SaaS, that’s thinking about an organization’s processes without AI. Does a member of the COMEX log onto Salesforce themselves to consolidate the quarterly results? Or some underling who will do it for him and put everything into a PowerPoint with the insights?
I’ll leave you with this question!