The agentic COGS stack
As head of AI R&D, I spend lots of time with architects and CTOs, and the dialog virtually all the time lands on a COGS breakdown that mirrors the agent’s structure:
- Mannequin inference: Tokens throughout planner/executor/verifier calls, often the biggest contributor to COGS of agentic software program
- Instruments and unintended effects: Paid APIs (e.g., internet search), per-record automation charges, retries and idempotent write safeguards.
- Orchestration runtime: Staff, queues, state storage and sandboxed execution for code and paperwork.
- Reminiscence and retrieval: Embeddings, vector storage, index refresh and context-building or summarization checkpoints.
- Governance and observability: Tracing, analysis suites, security filters and audit retention.
- People within the loop: Evaluate time, escalations and help load created by agent errors.
How does FinOps assist standardize unit economics when outcomes span actions, workflows and duties?
Gartner has cautioned that value stress can derail agentic packages, which makes unit economics a supply requirement.
With regards to most SaaS merchandise, prospects don’t purchase uncooked tokens; as a substitute, they purchase progress towards finishing their work, e.g., instances resolved, pipelines up to date, experiences produced or exceptions dealt with. Unit economics turns into actionable after we measure on the boundary the place that worth is delivered, and that boundary expands as your agentic SaaS matures: from solutions within the UI, to a single authorized operation, to a multi-step course of and ultimately to a recurring accountability the agent runs end-to-end. Within the following desk, we lay out this construction and the corresponding unit metric and final result to meter at every degree of scope.
