Why Tech Vendors Are Getting Their AI Positioning So Wrong – And How To Correct It

Why Tech Vendors Are Getting Their AI Positioning So Wrong – And How To Correct It

In the past four years, the enterprise software market’s use of AI – both as part of product and in marketing – has flipped on its head. Less than five years ago, we saw very limited AI messaging across the enterprise SaaS landscape. Only a handful of major software firms were doing anything substantial with AI. Pioneering examples included Adobe’s Sensei, Salesforce’s Einstein and IBM’s watsonx.

At the end of the 2010s, communicating anything on AI was seemingly enough to differentiate product and dupe investors. In 2019, venture capital firm MMC found that 40% of European start-ups classified as AI-first vendors were not using AI in a material way. Fast forward to 2025 and everything has changed. Every (or nearly every) enterprise software vendor is communicating something on AI – much of it not very good. Verdantix AI analysts spend a huge amount of time crawling through enterprise software websites and discussing vendor positioning, here are key learnings vendors should be incorporating:

• Generic AI marketing language no longer cuts the mustard.
  Technology vendor websites and marketing material are plagued with vague AI claims; statements like ‘AI-powered’, ‘AI-first’, ‘embedded intelligence’, ‘cognitive search’ and myriad others are commonplace. In today’s marketplace, generic statements like these fade into the background, fail to differentiate your product and communicate no additional value for prospective buyers. In the worst case, they give the impression that AI is an afterthought, check-box exercise, rather than an intentional part of your product strategy. Vendors should use focused messaging that is tailored to the role, business function or industry. Check out vendors like C3 AI, Glean, HighByte and Writer that are producing targeted AI content.
  
  
• Marketing content should douse AI hype with reality and pragmatism.
  Enterprise buyer doubt and hesitancy regarding AI is well-founded – a core reason being rampant overpromising in marketing content. As enterprise software commoditization increases more generally, the vendors most likely to win out are those that deliver customer service excellence and cultivate trust. Verdantix vendor selection advisory services frequently find that software firms that are frank about product limitations through RFP discussions fair better than the vendors promising the world – it’s harder to pull the wool over buyers’ eyes than you may think. What are we not seeing enough of? Buyers want to know in specific terms what your AI agents can and (importantly) cannot do. Vendors can further ground AI in reality by using quantitative analysis to communicate actual performance or efficiency gains. A great example is Automation Anywhere’s broad portfolio of case studies that specify quantified business wins.
  
  
• Marketing content should comprise a mix of end-user material, technical insights and visual AI demos.
  Vendors need to build a content portfolio with an appropriate AI content mix. In 2025, any AI-related enterprise software procurement is likely to see strong IT involvement. Consequently, software firms need a strong mix of business-value-aligned AI content for end users, as well as more technical insights on AI governance, DataOps ontologies, security and compliance that speak to IT decision-makers. Vendors also tend to operate with a sense of secrecy around AI features, meaning AI is all talk with very little visual evidence. If you have strong features, our advice is to share it: make screenshots and short demos easily accessible. If it is value-add, the product will sell itself.

For more tailored recommendations to nail your AI positioning, reach out to us directly or watch our latest webinar that covers the content of this blog and much more. If you are interested in broader Verdantix AI Applied research, check out our website.