There’s a lot of talk right now about the ‘SaaPocalypse,’ and for good reason. Companies are already replacing software vendors and IT services with AI-powered versions of vibe code. As AI lowers the barriers to building customized tools and the per-seat SaaS model begins to show its limits, vendors are reevaluating which platforms find their place in the stack.
Unfortunately, there is one area where the instinct to treat technology as a self-service solution always backfires: interest. Despite an average return of 12 to 15 times spent, many companies still treat affiliate marketing as a set-it-and-forget-it channel.
According to Gartner, companies are using less than half of their martech stack capabilities on average. Sales teams that use interactive systems only as technology platforms risk this fate.
The reason?
An embassy is not a station. It is a portfolio of strategic partnerships that requires continuous measurement, expert strategy, and hands-on management to seize fast-moving market opportunities. Software alone cannot do this, and systems that rely on SaaS will lose out in the AI race while value-adding platforms will be those that enable faster decision-making and greater efficiency in the hands of experts.
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Partnership programs are complex activities. They span the entire customer journey, from awareness to sale, and require simultaneous optimization for all loyalty partners, coupon and deal sites, content publishers, review sites, influencer relations, technology partners, and search engines.
Each type of publisher works differently, works differently for every campaign and audience, requires a different approach to engagement, activation, and optimization. The commission structure that works for a big name review site falls down on a niche editorial content site. A well-timed promotion for one publisher fails for another.
That’s why our partner analysts, or sub-fields and customer service teams, are so important. They have deep, diverse knowledge of each publisher and can use it in real time, giving brands a competitive edge. That’s not something a collaborative technology stack can come up with on its own. It is the result of decades of experience and relationship building, and increasingly includes affiliate managers, agency partners, and field experts working together.
Publishers are not just names on a dashboard
Publishers power the affiliate ecosystem, and many are true innovators. They are the first to test new models, technologies, and strategies to drive traffic. Their content includes LLM-driven commercial startups and AI-enabled product discovery. They also have valuable first-party consumer data to negotiate profitable strategies and products.
Whether it’s a discount site with higher volume than usual during the holidays or a review site that adapts differently to mobile – these are strategic partners with their own audiences, strengths, and ways of doing business. That information stays with the people who manage the relationship.
The same wave of AI that is putting the brakes on SaaS is also making human expertise in collaborative strategies even more important. You can’t sell intelligence and understanding.
AI tools can identify which publishers appear in a search query. They can’t judge whether that placement is worth scrapping, competing playbooks, or open partnerships and engage with campaign performance data to drive meaningful impact.
An important point
The SaaSpocalypse is an important time of reflection and reckoning. In dealing with them, you don’t have to abandon the platform. It recognizes that the platform was not the perfect answer in the first place. Success depends on combining human expertise with technology that scales well.
