Navigating the AI SaaSpocalypse as SaaS Managers

Thursday, October 01, 2026 | 3:15PM–4:15PM MT
Session Type: Poster Session
Delivery Format: Poster Session
AI is changing how SaaS products are built, priced, and evaluated. As models improve and become more widely available, many features that once differentiated products are becoming easier to replicate. This is starting to shift where real value lives across the SaaS stack. For higher education institutions, this is not a one-time disruption. It changes how teams should think about vendor selection, risk, and long-term sustainability. The key challenge is building a strategy that holds up as AI capabilities continue to advance. This session looks at how stronger AI models are affecting SaaS economics, vendor durability, and security risk. It focuses on patterns that are likely to persist, including instability at the application layer, increased use of multimodel approaches, and a changing boundary between vendor functionality and institution-owned capability. The goal is to provide decision frameworks that remain useful as both the technology and the market continue to evolve.

Presenters

  • Jon Hays

    Manager, Email & Collaboration Services, University of California, Berkeley

  • Jeffrey Williams

    Google Tech Lead, University of California, Berkeley