Internal culture changes on budget cycles, and right now, most companies are being pushed by investors to adopt AI. Have your sales team ask about AI budgeting vs. SaaS budgeting. I think you'll find that AI budget is available and conventional SaaS/IT budget isn't. Most managers are looking for a way to "adopt ai" so I think we're in a unique time.
> people deeply integrated into physical infrastructure move 10x slower than you'd expect.
My experience is yes, to move everyone. To do a pilot and prove the value? That's doable quickly, and if the pilot succeeds, the rest is fast.
Buyer pressure will eventually force process updates, but it is a slow burn. The bottleneck is rarely the tech or the partner, it's the internal culture. The software moves fast, but the people deeply integrated into physical infrastructure move 10x slower than you'd expect.