• My number of daily steps plummeted when I moved out of a walkable city and began working from home.
• I bought a walking pad nearly two years ago to try to get my steps back up, and I use it every day
• My walking pad is easy to set up and put away, and I like challenging myself to get more steps in.

For nearly eight years, I didn't have a car and lived in super walkable cities, like New York City, which meant I often got close to 10,000 steps a day just by commuting to work and doing daily tasks like grabbing coffee or groceries.

When I moved from NYC to North Carolina, my steps plummeted. I started working from home, and most days I was clocking less than 1,000 steps in a day.

I started feeling sluggish and gross for moving so little throughout the week and decided to look into getting a walking pad.

It's been almost two years since I got mine, and I still use it to get between 8,000 to 10,000 steps (or sometimes more) a day. A few things have helped keep me motivated to stick with it.

I knew I wouldn't use a walking pad that wasn't easy to set up and put away

I knew I wouldn't be likely to use a walking pad regularly if I had to put in a bunch of effort to set it up, so I researched options that fold in half.

My walking pad folds to just under 3 feet long, so when I'm not using it, I push it underneath my desk.

With my current setup, I can also leave my walking pad plugged in all the time, so I just have to move my chair and unfold it when I'm ready to walk.

Since it's been so accessible, it's been easy to incorporate the walking pad into my daily routine.

I don't try to get all of my steps at once

I can easily go from sitting to walking and back, so I get my steps in over the course of the day instead of all in one session.

I typically try to walk for one and a half or two hours throughout the day, which I usually split into either a morning and afternoon session or a morning, midday, and afternoon session.

If I'm really not feeling like walking one day, I'll aim to do it for the length of one meeting, usually 30 minutes, and then switch to sitting for a bit before walking again.

Breaking up my steps also breaks up my day and gives me a bit of a change of pace throughout, which has been good for my mental health, too.

I'm always trying to match or beat my step count

I am competitive by nature and always enjoy a challenge. So, on most days, I check my number of steps on the Health app on my iPhone to see how I'm doing compared to my past self.

My target is to hit at least 8,000 steps a day, so I'll look at my app periodically to make sure I'm on track.

I also like to see how many steps I was averaging this same time last year. If I'm behind, I feel motivated to catch up. If I'm ahead, I feel empowered to stay that way.

Sometimes, I also have external accountability. My neighbor bought the same walking pad, so we occasionally text to see how many steps the other is taking.

Above all, I like the way using my walking pad makes me feel

Probably one of the biggest reasons I've continued using my walking pad for so long is that it makes me feel better during the day.

When I start to feel like I'm in a slump, walking for even a few minutes gets me out of it. Daily movement like this is good for my health and helps me feel more energized.

Plus, I've found it can help meetings — especially ones where I'm more of just a listener than a participant — go by more quickly.

When I'm walking, I feel more locked in on whatever task is at hand, and it's harder to step away from my desk and get distracted by something else.

All in all, my walking pad has been a game changer for getting my steps in and for helping me be more productive at work. I can't see a world where I ever stop using it.

• Generative AI is reshaping enterprise software, challenging traditional SaaS models.
• AI agents are evolving from assistants to core applications, impacting mid-market companies.
• Mid-size SaaS vendors face pressure from AI-native startups and tech giants like Microsoft, AlixPartners says.

A foundational shift is underway in enterprise software, and it's being driven by generative AI.

The rise of reasoning models and AI agents is beginning to erode the core assumptions that have defined the software-as-a-service business model for decades, according to a new study released on Monday by AlixPartners.

The consulting firm warned that this is squeezing more than 100 mid-market software companies, which are stuck in the midst of a powerful trend.

These companies are caught in a "big squeeze," pressured on one side by nimble, AI-native entrants that can replicate applications at a fraction of the cost and on the other side by tech behemoths, such as Microsoft and Salesforce, that are pouring billions of dollars into the AI arms race, AlixPartners said.

"We believe many mid-size enterprise software companies will face threats to their survival over the next 24 months," the firm added ominously. It declined to identify specific companies, given the sensitive nature of its findings.

AI: the new foundation, not just a feature

The most mature uses of AI in enterprise software today include copilots for software coding, such as GitHub Copilot from Microsoft, and support chatbots like Zendesk's Answer Bot. But these could be just the beginning. Generative AI is advancing from narrow use cases to the broader "logic and presentation layers" of software, the very foundation that traditional SaaS tools are built on, AlixPartners explained in the study.

This means AI agents are no longer just assistants within applications; they are becoming the applications themselves. These agents are capable of handling complex tasks, such as scheduling meetings, analyzing reports, and creating code, with little need for a graphical interface or structured workflow. And because they can run across various data types without needing extensive data normalization, they could render some traditional SaaS layers redundant.

"This shift could eliminate the need for many enterprise software companies that thrived in the traditional SaaS architecture," AlixPartners said.

A new threat from both sides

This puts mid-size SaaS vendors in a tricky position, the firm explained, citing a recent analysis it conducted of 122 publicly listed enterprise software companies with annual revenue below $10 billion.

It found that sales growth has slowed considerably lately. For instance, the percentage of high-growth companies in this group decreased from 57% in 2023 to 39% in 2024. This year, industry analysts are expecting further declines, indicating that only 27% of companies will be in the high-growth category.

AlixPartners also highlighted that software customers are moving around more than before. The median net dollar retention rate of enterprise software companies dropped from 120% in 2021 to 108% in the third quarter of 2024, the firm noted, citing data from Bank of America. (NDR is a common way to measure customer stickiness. When it's above 100%, that indicates revenue from existing customers is growing, while an NDR below 100% suggests revenue is declining from these sources.)

Many of these companies are now being undercut by AI-powered challengers with lower costs and faster iteration cycles. Simultaneously, larger players are integrating AI into their broader platforms, offering bundled functionality at lower price points through economies of scale, according to the consulting firm.

Klarna's recent decision to drop Salesforce and Workday in favor of smaller AI-powered vendors and in-house agents is a sign of where this trend may be headed, AlixPartners noted.

The SaaS model: ripe for reinvention

Traditional SaaS depends heavily on the user interface, structured data workflows, and seat-based pricing. But AI agents don't need dashboards, and they can function without rigid data hierarchies. This calls into question the relevance of the SaaS model itself, according to AlixPartners.

Some companies are already pivoting. Salesforce and ServiceNow have begun experimenting with outcome-based pricing for AI agents, where fees are tied to results, not user counts.

Among those 122 mid-sized software companies, AlixPartners found that half expect significant changes to business models in the next year.

At the same time, the compute costs associated with running AI agents can be significantly higher than for classic SaaS tools, making profit margin compression a potential threat. Software providers may need to rethink infrastructure strategies, possibly shifting to more efficient inference architectures, industry experts have warned recently.

Meanwhile, higher interest rates and tightening capital markets in recent years have put the onus on SaaS profitability, not just growth. Software companies have responded by cutting costs, optimizing portfolios, and rethinking pricing strategies.

According to the AlixPartners report, more than 60% of executives are now focused on AI as a growth driver. Unlocking that growth requires more than just product tweaks, it may require transformation across operations, go-to-market models, and customer relationships, the consulting firm suggested.

How to survive: a new playbook

So what's the path forward? The report discusses several strategic imperatives. Here are a few:

• Build AI agents: Not as bolt-on features, but as core products.
• Transform the business model: Move beyond a seat-based fee structure to usage- or outcome-based pricing.
• Streamline and focus: Shed low-growth products and reallocate R&D to AI development.
• Lean into M&A: For some, the best route may be to get acquired or consolidate.

In a world where generative AI tools can write or replicate software pretty well, differentiation must come from speed, relevance, and efficiency, not UI design or legacy feature sets.

The software era isn't ending. But the SaaS era, as we know it, is evolving. The next generation of enterprise tools may not be applications, they could be agents. And only the most adaptable companies will make the leap, according to AlixPartners.

• I bought a mouse pad from Temu for $2.74.
• It started oozing gel after a few weeks.
• Please don't laugh at me. I've suffered enough!

I have some important news: I recently purchased an item from Temu that turned out to be poor quality. I know, I know. You're not shocked. In fact, you're probably getting angry right now that I'm even saying this and that this article exists, taking up space on the internet and ultimately existing as words to feed back into AI model training.

But here we are. And it's important I tell you this.

About a month ago, I noticed the mouse pad at my desk was starting to wear out. I got it from Amazon two or three years ago, and the cloth covering was starting to lift from the base. Eventually, gel goo started oozing out.

I considered purchasing an identical replacement from Amazon — which was about $14 — but then I decided to check Temu, the Chinese e-commerce site. Temu offered what appeared to be a similar mouse pad for much less: $2.74. Perfect, I thought. Sold!

The timing of my purchase turned out to be fraught. I placed the order just a few days before President Donald Trump temporarily closed the "de minimis" exemption — the policy that allows for duty-free shipping on merchandise under $80 coming directly from, in this case, China.

For a few days, I wasn't sure whether my order would process, or if I'd have to pay extra fees.

Luckily for me, the mouse pad ended up arriving on time with no hassle or additional payment needed.

The mouse pad was a bit of a disappointment from the start. It was smaller than I expected — about 2 inches narrower than my previous pad. Sure, the dimensions were on the product listing, but I hadn't closely examined them. The fabric cover was also rougher than my previous, Amazon-bought one, and the wrist pad gel was less ergonomically sproingy than the old one's.

But whatever. It got the job done. I tossed the old mouse pad and started using the new one.

Then, a week or so ago, I started growing resentful of the mouse pad. I felt tricked and cheated. I got mad enough to write a review of the product on Temu, with a photo, warning people it was small and rough. Temu didn't immediately return my request for comment.

On Wednesday, my miserly karma came back to bite me. The fabric separated from the base of the mouse pad, exposing the oozing gel inside. This is the same thing that happened with my last mouse pad, but instead of taking two years to explode, this one lasted two weeks.

Temu has a generous return policy, and I was able to get a complete refund with a few clicks — without having to email customer service or mail back the defective item.

Here's where the only person to blame is myself. The gel started leaking on Wednesday. And while I went so far as to order a replacement mouse pad from Amazon, I didn't throw out the decomposing Temu mouse pad.

Instead, I kept using it on Thursday — ooze and all.

Until I saw that the gel goo had smeared all over my desk, and even onto the sleeve of my sweatshirt. The goo was slick and hard to wipe off my desk (it still even feels a little sticky). The fate of the sweatshirt — a ratty old one I got as free corporate logo swag years ago that's probably reached retirement age — is up in the air. Hopefully, the Temu goo comes out in the wash.

Honestly, I deserve this. I really, really deserve this. I have no one to blame here — not Temu, not Trump, not God — but myself.

Anyway, what did we learn here? Well, "learn" is a funny term, isn't it? I already knew that a $2.74 Temu mouse pad might be of inferior quality compared with a more expensive one. A few dollars more for something I use every day seems like a reasonable and smart investment.

So will I stop buying cheap, discount stuff direct from China just to save a few bucks? No, no I won't. Sometimes, despite the lessons I learn in my head, I still follow my heart. And my heart craves cheap consumer goods.

As the chief product officer for AI customer service startup Talkdesk, Charanya “CK” Kannan said that enterprises often say they want to automate different workflows but that it’s really hard to implement AI. Enterprises are dealing with clunky, legacy software that often doesn’t have APIs, creating a daunting task their IT departments weren’t prioritizing. “Every […]

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To give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved — and overdue — time in the spotlight, TechCrunch has been publishing a series of interviews focusing on remarkable women who’ve contributed to the AI revolution. Raji Arasu, the CTO of Autodesk, said that she’s been using AI for “multiple decades” to solve software-related challenges. “When traditional […]

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Talk to many architects, and they’ll likely tell you that Autodesk’s software, including AutoCAD and Revit, has been indispensable to their work for decades. But despite their widespread use, Autodesk’s former co-CEO and chief product officer Amar Hanspal says that the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is using 20th century tools to design 21st […]

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• Ad industry M&A activity is expected to surge in 2025.
• Key areas of interest include retail media, streaming TV, influencer marketing, and AI.
• Insiders think companies like Accenture, AppLovin, and The Trade Desk could be active acquirers.

Bankers and M&A advisors say advertising and marketing acquisition deal flow picked up in the second half of 2024 after a slow start, and they're expecting a flurry of activity in the new year.

"It feels like the tide has turned," said William Ritchie, the managing director of the M&A advisory firm WY Partners.

Some in the industry told Business Insider they thought Omnicom's planned $13.25 billion deal to buy Interpublic Group would be a lightning rod for further ad industry M&A in 2025.

Key areas of buyer interest include the fast-growing retail media and streaming TV sectors, influencer marketing, and the implementation of data and AI. Industry insiders said private-equity buyers would also most likely remain active.

"Everyone is looking for the glue that ties together some of the components," said Charles Ping, a managing director of the Winterberry Group management consultancy.

BI talked to about a dozen advertising, marketing, and adtech industry executives, investors, bankers, and advisors, who speculated about the deals they think could happen in 2025 and beyond. Some of the people were granted anonymity to protect business relationships; their identities are known to BI.

Accenture could go revenge shopping

Matt Lacey, a partner at the M&A advisory group Waypoint Partners, said the combination of Omnicom and IPG may leave Accenture feeling vulnerable. Its Accenture Song creative marketing group could look to acquire a new asset in areas like data and media, "where it has limited capabilities," he said.

Brian Wieser, an analyst at Madison and Wall, wrote in a recent note to clients that Accenture Song was arguably the "world's largest marketing services business" — at least until Omnicom and IPG come together. Wieser noted that it marked "high single-digit growth" in its most recent quarter, faster growth than its agency-holding-company peers.

Accenture has been a consistently active acquirer of advertising and marketing businesses in recent years. In April it acquired the customer-engagement agency Unlimited to boost its customer-relationship-management offering. In June it bought the Brazilian creative agency Soko.

Another area of interest for Accenture Song is experiential marketing, a person familiar with its strategy told BI.

"Experiential is going to be hot in 2025," this person said. "The sheer fact that people are coming out and younger generations don't just want to be in a digital world, they want social connections. You can do a significant amount of innovation in the integration between tech and real-world settings."

AppLovin could swoop in for deals while its stock is riding high

"Everyone is looking at AppLovin," said Alex Iosilevich, a partner at Alignment Growth, which invests in media and entertainment companies. "The expectation is they'll be acquisitive."

AppLovin's stock has been soaring, and it's been trading at a market value above $100 billion. Investors have been wowed by its move into e-commerce, which has opened up a new and lucrative pool of advertisers beyond its mobile-gaming roots.

While AppLovin's executives have said M&A isn't part of the company's near-term growth strategy, that hasn't stopped industry insiders from speculating about its next move.

"I think they should buy someone like Snapchat and get a foothold in the social space," said Alex Merutka, a former early AppLovin employee who's now the CEO of the adtech company Craftsman+.

Other ad industry insiders said AppLovin could further expand into connected TV, adding to its 2022 acquisition of Wurl, a company that helps publishers distribute and monetize their video content on TV screens.

Connected TV presents a "massive area to unlock SMB budgets to play in TV ads," said Tom Triscari, the CEO of the programmatic-advertising advisory firm Lemonade Projects.

Criteo could be bought or go shopping itself — or both

Criteo has long been the subject of takeover speculation. Reuters reported in early 2023 that the company had appointed the investment bank Evercore to explore its strategic options.

News that Criteo's CEO, Megan Clarken, plans to exit the company next year also fueled rumors that a sale could be in the cards. Digiday listed The Trade Desk, Microsoft, Walmart, Publicis Groupe, and WPP's GroupM as logical suitors.

Triscari said it could be equally possible that Criteo itself makes a transformative acquisition.

"Criteo has retail media, the second-best shopper dataset to Amazon, and better adtech than Amazon," Triscari said. "All they need is an access point to CTV inventory. Very doable with some creative options out there."

Criteo might also want to double down on retail-media tech. Digiday reported this summer that Criteo had been in talks to acquire Skai, a marketing platform that specializes in retail search advertising, among other things. The Israeli news site Calcalist reported this month that Skai recently laid off 80 employees, which could signal that the company is preparing for a sale.

Havas listing could spur deals

The French advertising group Havas listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam this month, separating from its parent company, Vivendi.

Havas has said it will continue taking a "disciplined approach to acquisitions," with a plan to target high-growth markets and areas like data analytics, digital transformation, and AI.

"They look at everything right now," Ritchie, of WY Partners, said.

Havas had a busy 2024 with the acquisitions of the data firm DMPG, the B2B marketing company Ledger Bennett, the Australian media agency Hotglue, and the social-media agency Wilderness, among others.

IAS could get taken private

BI reported last month that KKR and other private-equity buyers were weighing a deal to acquire the publicly traded ad-verification firm Integral Ad Science. KKR and IAS declined to comment at the time.

Bloomberg first reported that IAS had appointed the investment bank Jefferies to explore its options after receiving inbound takeover interest.

A take-private deal could help IAS grow further without the quarterly Wall Street scrutiny.

Speaking generally about the adtech industry, Ping, of Winterberry, said, "There are many companies that don't have access to the capital that they imagined they would when they listed, and it's hampering their growth, particularly if they have a global outlook."

He added that take-private deals could unlock new capital while offering some value back to shareholders. Ping pointed to Mediaocean's $500 million acquisition of the CTV advertising and analytics firm Innovid and to the advanced-TV ad company Cadent's $324 million acquisition of the performance marketing company AdTheorent as recent examples of this trend.

PE-backed independent agency groups could make big moves

Jay Pattisall, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, said the consolidation of Omnicom and IPG could open up more opportunities for private-equity-backed independent ad agencies like Dept, Horizon Media, PMG, Tinuiti, and Wpromote.

"Anticipate more growth in independents' innovation investments and more focus in their proposition to compete with the global consolidation of marketing scale at Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP," Pattisall wrote in a recent blog post.

According to the advisory firm SI Partners, private-equity and private-equity-backed transactions were responsible for about a third of deal volume in the agencies, consultancies, and technology-service-provider sectors in the year to mid-November.

Some might seek new investors, given where they are in their private-equity investment life cycles.

Dept, which sold a majority stake to Carlyle Group in 2020, is expected to be in the market for a new investor next year, industry sources told BI.

The US media agency Horizon Media could also be in play, since Temasek, the investment firm that bought a minority share in 2021, will want an exit at some point, said Dave Morgan, the executive chairman of the TV-ad-buying company Simulmedia. Last month Horizon added a full-service creative agency to its ranks, hinting at ambitions to become a bigger global network.

Talent agencies like CAA, Wasserman, and UTA will be jockeying for influencer experts

M&A insiders said talent agencies were gearing up to make deals to broaden their offerings beyond traditional talent management.

Influencer specialists are at the top of their shopping lists, these people said.

"You have this melding — where does influencer live in the context of things like TikTok Shop or Instagram?" said Bob Morris, a managing partner of the M&A advisory firm Bravery Group. "We hear over and over that talent agencies are looking for different models and sets of mechanics."

Talent agencies are also looking to become more data-centric to identify which influencers drive sales, Morris said. Adobe Analytics said influencers and other affiliate marketers drove about 20% of US Cyber Monday e-commerce revenue this year.

There are plenty of interesting targets on the market. In 2024, 17 creator-focused startups raised at least $10 million in new funding, totaling over $900 million.

Could The Trade Desk buy Roku?

The Trade Desk this year announced a coming connected-TV operating system called Ventura, which it said was designed to make the buying and selling of streaming TV ads more efficient.

Ahead of the launch, The Trade Desk's CEO, Jeff Green, batted off speculation that it planned to rival Roku, saying it wanted to continue to partner and not compete with the TV platform.

In separate notes to investors, analysts at Guggenheim and Needham said they thought it was likely that The Trade Desk could eventually acquire Roku to advance its TV ambitions.

"It's almost impossible to build these" TV platforms now, the Needham analyst Laura Martin said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. Roku has 85 million homes watching four hours of TV a day on average, which would open up a large engaged audience and lots of first-party data to The Trade Desk's advertisers.

All eyes are on WPP's next move

WPP was already licking its wounds after Publicis Groupe hired Snoop Dogg to help promote that it had become the world's largest advertising holding company. The coming together of the third- and fourth-biggest firms, Omnicom and IPG, is set to push WPP further down the pile.

"It will put even more pressure on Mark Read," WPP's CEO, said David Jones, the CEO of a rival ad firm, The Brandtech Group. "And it will bring renewed interest from the investor community."

WPP insiders and observers had speculated for more than a year that the company might be taken private by a private-equity firm or that it might announce its own merger with another holding company.

But some industry insiders now think it's more likely that divestitures are in the cards.

"I think WPP is too big of a buy to go private, but I think they will have a divestiture plan that they are going to execute on in areas that are not high performing and not sexy enough for the public markets," said Andreas Roell, the CEO of Evros Group, which advises on media deals. Case in point: WPP in August sold its majority stake in FGS Global to the private-equity firm KKR in a deal that valued the public-affairs and communications group at $1.7 billion.

AdAge reported that in a recent memo to employees, Read described the Omnicom-IPG deal as "good news" for WPP, adding that WPP would double down on its strategy around creativity, data, AI, and tech "while our peers are distracted and turning inward."