Clouded Judgement: Systems of Record and the Battle for the AI Front Door

The article argues that legacy enterprise systems of record (Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow) will remain important but may lose control of the primary user interface as AI agents create a new front door, similar to how Online Travel Agencies captured value from Global Distribution Systems while relying on their underlying infrastructure. The critical question is whether legacy SaaS vendors can innovate to own the agentic interface or whether they become lower-margin infrastructure layers beneath new platforms.