Vercel operates hundreds of AI agents across its marketing, support, and sales development teams, automating 96% of marketing tasks and 93% of support functions, according to Chief Product Officer Tom Occhino. The company has reabsorbed its entire SDR team by deploying these agents internally before offering the technology externally. Occhino shared these insights at the SaaStr AI Deploy conference this week, highlighting the scale and impact of AI in their operations.
Tom Occhino, who previously co-created React and React Native at Facebook, explained that Vercel built these AI agents on its own infrastructure first, focusing on eliminating what he calls 'undifferentiated heat loss'—the time and effort spent on configuring infrastructure and DevOps rather than product and customer growth. Vercel’s CTO Malte Ubl, a former Google principal engineer, contributed to developing the foundational tools that support these AI agents, enabling the company to automate key business functions efficiently.
This approach marks a significant shift in how B2B SaaS companies can leverage AI to reduce operational overhead and scale efficiently. By automating core functions like marketing and support with AI agents, Vercel demonstrates a model that could influence headcount and resource allocation strategies across the sector. The company’s internal use of AI agents before commercializing them underscores a practical path for AI adoption in SaaS businesses.
Vercel’s deployment of hundreds of AI agents internally sets a benchmark for AI integration in SaaS operations. Occhino’s presentation at SaaStr AI Deploy detailed these figures and operational lessons, providing a concrete example of AI’s role in transforming business processes at scale.