Three primary reasons are driving this change.

• Both vendors and enterprise customers are realizing that AI is enabling work to be completed more quickly and efficiently than ever before, and paying for a full-seat license is both inefficient and also lacks a direct connection to business results.
• Moreover, the results of a January 2025 study conducted by Kearney and The Futurum Group of more than 200 CEOs operating globally across diverse industries such as finance, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare with more than $1 billion USD in annual revenue found that incumbent organizations (those with operating histories of 10+ years) are more focused on aligning AI initiatives with recognized industry standards (49%) and achieving tangible ROI (49%).

• As AI agents proliferate, we expect a strong shift to outcome-based pricing models in 2025, as these CEOs are prioritizing tangible and visible ROI from their AI investments. This outcome-based approach to pricing ensures that customers are not paying for software that is not delivering promised results, which can be contrasted with a consumption-based model that does not incorporate any type of ROI guarantee.