Analyst(s): Keith Kirkpatrick
Publication Date: October 27, 2025
OpenAI’s recent launch of AI-native SaaS applications—such as the Inbound Sales Assistant, GTM Assistant, and Contract Assistant—marks its direct entry into the enterprise software market, positioning it as a potential disruptor to established vendors such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and DocuSign. These applications exemplify a new class of AI-native software, where AI is embedded as a core function rather than an add-on, signaling a potential shift in how enterprise workflows are designed and priced.
Key Points:
- OpenAI launched a suite of AI-native SaaS applications targeting sales, marketing, and back-office workflows. This marks a major strategic shift from model provider to direct enterprise software competitor.
- OpenAI’s approach emphasizes “AI-native” software, where AI is integral to application functionality rather than an added feature.
- While OpenAI’s entry may disrupt traditional SaaS boundaries, it is more likely to serve as a catalyst for incumbent innovation rather than an existential threat.
- The SaaS market is expected to evolve toward a “co-opetitive” model, where AI-native upstarts and traditional SaaS players interoperate via open agents and data standards.
Overview:
OpenAI is making a bold move into the enterprise software market, expanding beyond its foundation as an AI model provider to offer full-fledged SaaS applications. In late September and early October 2025, the company unveiled a suite of AI-powered business tools, including the Inbound Sales Assistant, GTM (Go-to-Market) Assistant, and Contract Assistant. Each solution is designed to automate core business workflows: the Inbound Sales Assistant qualifies leads, responds to inquiries, and schedules meetings; the GTM Assistant provides real-time customer insights and product information to improve sales and marketing effectiveness; and the Contract Assistant streamlines contract drafting, review, and management to ensure compliance and accelerate deal cycles. OpenAI also introduced a set of internally developed tools for front-, middle-, and back-office operations, spanning sales enablement, customer support, product analytics, finance, and inbound marketing.
These offerings position OpenAI as a direct competitor to major SaaS vendors such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and DocuSign. More broadly, they signal a potential paradigm shift toward “AI-native” software—applications that rely on AI as an essential operational layer rather than as an optional enhancement. According to Futurum Group’s 1H 2025 Enterprise Software Decision Makers Survey (n=865), roughly 30% of vendors now price software using models that embed AI capabilities directly into core licenses, rather than charging separately. OpenAI’s approach underscores this evolution, suggesting that future enterprise applications may increasingly depend on AI to execute, optimize, and reason through workflows, effectively bringing data and processes closer together while minimizing redundant infrastructure and cost.
However, the entry of OpenAI into enterprise SaaS should not be interpreted as the end of traditional platforms. In the near and mid-term, OpenAI’s arrival will likely serve as a catalyst for incumbent innovation rather than a direct existential threat. Established vendors—such as SAP, ServiceNow, Oracle, Microsoft, and Salesforce—retain significant advantages in governance, scalability, and customer trust, particularly within large, regulated enterprises. Moreover, the notion of using AI for every workflow may not be efficient or cost-effective. As seen with Salesforce’s “Agent Script” approach, some processes still benefit from deterministic decisioning, avoiding the overhead of full AI reasoning where it offers minimal incremental value.
OpenAI’s applications may, in fact, serve as complementary overlays to existing SaaS systems, especially in hybrid enterprise environments. Through their chat-based interfaces and agentic capabilities, these tools could span multiple platforms, helping organizations unify experiences across ecosystems without being locked into a single vendor’s AI framework. Nonetheless, while OpenAI’s technology is likely to impress technically, enterprise adoption could be tempered by concerns around integration, security, and long-term support.
Ultimately, OpenAI’s move represents the beginning of a new phase in the evolution of enterprise software. The SaaS market is shifting toward co-opetition, where traditional vendors and AI-native entrants coexist and interoperate via open standards for data, agents, and workflows. In this emerging landscape, success will depend not on who has the most AI agents, but on who can deliver trusted, efficient, and differentiated outcomes that align with customer needs and enterprise realities.
The full report is available via subscription to Futurum Intelligence’s Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows IQ service—click here for inquiry and access.
See the related blog posts at OpenAI, covering sales and marketing, finance, and merchants on the company’s website.
Futurum clients can read about it in the Futurum Intelligence Platform, and non-clients can learn more here: Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows Practice.
About the Futurum Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows Practice
The Futurum Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows Practice provides actionable, objective insights for market leaders and their teams so they can respond to emerging opportunities and innovate. Public access to our coverage can be seen here. Follow news and updates from the Futurum Practice on LinkedIn and X. Visit the Futurum Newsroom for more information and insights.
Author Information
Keith Kirkpatrick is Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
