Orion’s decision to charge technology providers for API access has raised concerns about who will bear the cost. According to the report, Salesforce will also meter AI agent calls at an undisclosed rate. The issue at hand is how these costs will be distributed among vendors and their clients.
Vendor A, for instance, may receive an invoice for connecting to a platform from Vendor B, which its clients already pay for. The vendor has a few options: pass the cost on to the client, discontinue the integration, or absorb the cost itself. Each option has its drawbacks, and the client may ultimately see diminishing value.
A possible solution could be for vendors to shift to alternative providers. However, this approach comes with its own set of costs, including licensing fees, project costs, and lost productivity. The report notes that openness has been successful in the past, citing examples such as Nils Bohlin’s three-point safety belt design, which was shared with competitors by Volvo.
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Merck’s decision to give away Mectizan, a medication used to treat river blindness, is another example of openness leading to positive outcomes. In the technology industry, Anthropic’s publication of MCP, a free and open standard, has become a widely adopted standard for connections. These companies have not been diminished by their decisions to give away their products or services.
According to industry surveys, the lack of quality integration has been a major obstacle for advisors. While progress has been made in recent years, the latest announcements from Orion and Salesforce may be pulling in the opposite direction. The report suggests that instead of hiding costs in integrations and opaque consumption charges, vendors should charge transparently for the value they deliver and let clients decide if the value justifies the fee.
As the industry continues to evolve, vendors will find ways to balance their need for revenue with the need for transparency and openness. For instance, Practifi, a vendor mentioned in the report, does not charge integration fees or consumption costs for its products. This approach could become a model for other vendors to follow, leading to greater openness and cooperation in the industry. They may adopt similar strategies, which could have a positive impact on the industry as a whole.