AI usage is pushing CRM, UCaaS and CCaaS providers to move from traditional access-based pricing to consumption- or outcome-based models. This is causing unpredictability around ROI and budgeting. The following articles discuss this shift and the challenges that arise from it.
HubSpot brings outcome-based AI pricing to the “Wild West” of customer engagement
CRM platform Hubspot changed its AI pricing model to be based on outcomes rather than access. Traditional access pricing models are easy to manage, but they don’t reflect value like outcome-based models do.
As vendors add agentic AI to their products, the cost is in flux
Agentic AI costs are unpredictable and rising, causing UCaaS and CCaaS providers to consider hybrid and usage-based pricing models.
Buyers to AI vendors: Show us the ROI
Customers want to know more about the benefits of AI usage, especially when it comes to ROI.
How AI is reshaping UCaaS and CCaaS pricing
The cost of AI inference is changing UCaaS and CCaaS pricing to a consumption-based model because AI disrupts traditional models. This includes changes to how bundled pricing works.
Nobody knows how to budget for AI
Consumption-based pricing for AI affects traditional IT budgeting. Organizations don’t have data on how budgeting should work with hybrid models.
When AI agents change the unit of value, pricing has to follow
Outcome-based pricing creates challenges in how organizations are supposed to define and measure resolution across customer journeys, causing organizations to adopt hybrid pricing models.
