Agentic AI & the Future of Enterprise Software | Vista Equity Partners
Vista Equity Partners Founder, Chairman and CEO Robert F. Smith joined CNBC's Closing Bell at the Milken Conference to discuss agentic AI and the future of enterprise software.
Smith explains how he believes enterprise software is undergoing a fundamental shift — from software as a service to software as a worker. Rather than enabling the humans who do a job, AI agents now perform the job itself, operating inside customer workflows, processing data, and delivering measurable outcomes. Vista began building toward this future three years ago.
Central to that effort is Vista's Agentic Factory: a centralized capability that builds and deploys AI agents across Vista's portfolio of 90 enterprise software companies. As of April 2026, 54 of those companies have agentic products in market. As agentic software shifts pricing from seat-based licenses to outcome-based models, we believe the addressable market and terminal value of well-positioned enterprise software businesses could expand meaningfully.
Smith also addresses the broader implications for enterprise software valuation, exit markets, and how strategic buyers are already responding to the rise of agentic solutions.
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Vista Equity Partners (Vista) is a leading global technology investor specializing in software. Through its private market strategies — private equity and private credit — and tailored private wealth solutions, Vista seeks to deliver differentiated returns using a proprietary, disciplined approach. Over more than 25 years, the firm has built a diversified portfolio of mission-critical software companies serving millions worldwide. Vista’s private equity strategy actively partners with its portfolio to harness transformative technologies like generative AI, driving innovation and operational excellence at scale.