According to Gartner, Inc., a leading business and technology insights firm, by 2028, more than 50% of companies are expected to shift away from paying for assistive intelligence solutions, like smart advisors and copilots. Instead, they will prioritize platforms that ensure workflow outcomes.
In this evolving landscape, human roles will transition from executing tasks using procedural software to overseeing intelligent systems that perform tasks autonomously. The key difference lies not in whether AI is a feature but in whether it has the delegated authority to initiate actions across enterprise systems, all while adhering to established policy and identity guidelines.
“In this environment, execution authority is not simply a product feature but rather an architectural stance that encompasses control over identity, permissions, policy enforcement, access to systems of record, and audit capability,” explained Alastair Woolcock, VP Analyst at Gartner. “Vendors who integrate AI within this control framework will define workflow execution. In contrast, those who regard AI merely as an enhancement may risk becoming obsolete.”
The first significant changes will impact approval-heavy and timing-sensitive workflows, where AI reduces decision-making delays and reallocates authority to agents restricted by policy.
As execution gradually shifts away from conventional interfaces, it will increasingly take place within platforms that handle enterprise context and safely delegate responsibilities. Human roles will evolve, with individuals becoming “Agent Stewards” who oversee outcomes rather than performing routine tasks.
These shifts in the market will compel both enterprises and independent software vendors to make critical structural decisions: adapt to accommodate delegated execution and control frameworks, or risk being sidelined as mere interface layers. In this new era, mastering enterprise context will equate to economic leverage.
Consequently, Gartner predicts that by 2030, software companies that simply overlay AI onto legacy applications, rather than redesigning for agentic execution, may face profit margin reductions of up to 80%.
Enterprise Context: The Central Framework for AI Execution
Successful vendors will go beyond merely tacking on AI to their offerings. They will integrate agent orchestration within systems of record, provide policy-aware execution APIs, and enforce identity, permissions, and auditing at the control level to secure a competitive edge. While established players may hold inherent advantages, they must convert control of context into delegated execution authority to maintain relevance. Legacy SaaS providers might try to restrict access to systems of record to maintain their dominance, but true, lasting advantages will come from enabling controlled openness. Those that rely on limitations risk being superseded by orchestration layers that organizations trust more (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Near-Term Disruption Winner and Loser Markets
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Source: Gartner (April 2026)
“These dynamics do not operate in isolation,” added Woolcock. “Each market demonstrates structural vulnerabilities based on its capacity to transition from assistive AI to delegated execution.”
Gartner clients can find additional insights in the Tech FutureSight: Structural Winners and Markets at Risk in the AI Execution Shift.
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