The Evolution of Software Business Models: From Box to Outcome
The software industry has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past four decades, which is now leading to a last leg of this evolution toward an outcome-based economy.
Indeed, not just in terms of technology and capabilities but fundamentally in how software is priced, distributed, and consumed.
This evolution reflects broader shifts in business models, customer expectations, and the very nature of value creation in the digital economy.
Many argue that as the cost of code goes to zero (AI writes most of it) so does the cost of software.
However, they miss a critical point, not only software will become more and more valuable, it’ll permeate pretty much anything, and everything that wasn’t possible in a pre-AI era.
Based on this premise, let’s see how we got here.
