Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat
Redefining Customer Experience Through Intelligent AI | Suveer Kothari, Sierra | RAISE 2026
- The technology sector is undergoing a rapid, weekly-to-monthly transition, with company adoption accelerating due to evolving business models and a shift from consumption-based to outcomes-based pricing.
- Tension between incumbents and startups creates market entry opportunities for new entrants who can leverage outcomes-based models to offer aggressive pricing and structurally superior cost structures based on resolution rates.
- Unlike traditional software transformations requiring two to three years for ROI, specific AI deployments are projected to deliver returns within 90 days.
- Future business models are expected to expand beyond customer support to include sales outcomes such as mortgage intake, driven by a forward-deployed engineering approach that requires deep, non-standardized understanding of customer workflows.
- AI agent capabilities are characterized by continuous improvement post-launch rather than static performance, meaning early deployment provides a competitive advantage through faster learning and iteration.
- Operational stability will depend on abstracting model iteration complexity by utilizing up to 15 simultaneous models to select optimal options for reasoning or fine-tuning, rather than relying on single foundation models that require frequent rebuilding due to weekly or monthly updates.
- The strategic mix of open versus closed source models remains fluid, influenced by geopolitical factors and the necessity of maintaining a bleeding-edge position.
- The market is anticipated to bifurcate, with foundation model companies focusing on selling tokens and infrastructure while application layers prioritize delivering specific customer outcomes.
- The human-AI interaction interface is transitioning from traditional clicks and dropdowns to natural conversation, where agents equipped with memory and context provide personalized experiences and evolve from one-way interactions into proactive, long-running systems.
- Proactive agents capable of managing state, outreach, and intelligence over time are already in early use and are expected to become fully realized in the near future.
- A distinct market role for application providers will persist alongside the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), as the practical challenges of deploying AI within specific organizational contexts remain separate from theoretical AGI capabilities.