Could this newsletter be written by AI?

November 2022

Welcome to The Cirrostratus Group November newsletter.

No, this month's newsletter was not written by AI, however Generative AI tools are progressing rapidly in the fields of writing, art, computer gaming and other creative functions. So who knows maybe a future newsletter will be written by AI. I've included a lot more information on Generative AI later in the newsletter.

Gartner has released the Cloud Infrastructure Magic Quadrant available free from Microsoft. No surprise that AWS, Microsoft and Google are in the magic quadrant but it is surprising the distance between the three leaders and their competitors. Gartner has also released a market forecast for different segments of the public cloud market showing that SaaS is expected to be $195B in 2023 and the overall public cloud market is expected to be almost $600B in 2023.

Forrester has released the Wave Report on collaborative work tools, critical tools for managing projects and workflow for any SaaS business. I have been a user of Smartsheets for many years and it was good to see them as a leader. One tool that I was not familiar with is Wrike, also a leader. One of the things that caught my interest about Wrike is the high level of integration with Google tools. If you're a user of Google Workspace it fits directly into your environment and is very integrated with your email, calendar and documents.

Openview Partners has published the results of their SaaS Benchmark survey. There is lot's of great information particularly on how SaaS companies are adapting to an uncertain economic environment by focusing on efficient and profitable growth over pure growth. I also found the usage level of particular PLG tactics helpful, if shows what is table stakes versus differentiators.

I hope that all of the information in this newsletter gives you some ideas for adapting your SaaS business for the future.

Paul Ressler

The Cirrostratus Group

Generative AI

All of the above pictures are examples of artwork created by generative AI, illustrating the range of capabilities. They include a frame from an AI generated video, a realistic picture of a fictitious person and the dog picture which was generated from the phrase "A Shiba Inu dog wearing a beret and black turtleneck".

This Fast Company article has a good description of Generative AI and how it may impact how we work in the future. Harvard Business Review also describes how Generative AI is changing creative work. Some of the examples given include marketing applications for both graphic and written content.

I found this Andreessen Horowitz article interesting with their view of the pace of innovation for AI generated code versus AI generated graphics. Their view is that graphics and art are progressing much faster than AI generated code. Although I doubt that great art will all be AI generated in the future it does appear that there will likely be substantial impact on day to day graphics and artwork.

Computer gaming is another interesting application area and this article has a lot of information on the impact and future of AI graphics on the future of gaming.

If you think about the concept of automated written and visual content, including video, the future of many business applications for marketing, sales, training and others could be substantially impacted. This provides opportunities for SaaS providers in these areas.

Resources From The Cirrostratus Group

The Cirrostratus Group Services

Learn more about The Cirrostratus Group's services here.