Top 6 SaaS Trends That Are Disrupting The Market in 2022

“Businesses can’t afford to react to what their customers want, they need to anticipate their needs” - Parker Harris, Co-Founder of Salesforce.

This need of businesses as stated by Mr. Parker Harris is why SaaS (Software as a service) has become a highly profitable choice for businesses looking for easier accessibility and versatility in a highly competitive business environment.

SaaS is the new hotshot in the cloud computing market. Experts have predicted that the service concentrated cloud app industry will be valued at 143.7 Billion Dollars by 2022.

SaaS is basically a highly affordable and agile software distribution model that has become an increasingly popular and reliable model for a number of businesses in various industries. It has also gained a lot of popularity due to its simple usability, security, high accessibility, and vast connectivity. So, SaaS platforms help businesses to attain maximum efficiency at the most cost-effective pricing. In today’s time, a lot of companies are transitioning to SaaS tools to increase their efficiency and gain results.

The year 2020 was huge for the SaaS world due to the various breakthroughs achieved in this industry. In this article, we will be going through the 7 SaaS trends that are disrupting the market in 2021! But before that let us analyze the key characteristics of the SaaS Model.

The Key Characteristics of The SaaS Model

SaaS is not only technological development but is a working business model and here are the characteristics that define this model at length.

Dynamic Payment Options: SaaS helps businesses to avoid the expenses of buying software and hardware. SaaS instead provides them the option to utilize different payment structures. The flexible payment model attracts many organizations in today’s time as the SaaS models allow users to pay only for what they need for their business.

Greater Scalability: SaaS model makes it easier for businesses to expand their operations due to its high scalability. Companies may choose the type of features they want to incorporate into their model
Regular Updates: The SaaS providers handle all the required software updates from time to time and develop new features as well over time so that the client businesses do not have to invest a lot of time in this area of their operations.

Enterprise Level Security: SaaS models are famous for their high level of security which is a better approach to security compared to centralized or on-premise solutions. In the SaaS model data recovery protocols are already in place to handle any possible system failures.

Easier Access: SaaS platforms are easier to use and more user-friendly. They also allow users to access applications for any device and location making it very simple for mobile platforms to access.

As many organizations rely on innovative data tools and tech to scale their business and productivity and as many new and advanced SaaS trends continue to rise, this pathbreaking industry is only set to reach greater heights.

All the forecasts by experts from Bloomberg, BetterBuys, and Gartner point only to one thing that the SaaS industry is set to only get bigger and better. The industry is set to grow at an extensive rate and this year is going to see the rise of many SaaS trends in this industry.  Of all the developments that are going on in the SaaS industry, we have shortlisted the top 6 trends that are most important and are disrupting the market in 2021!

Top 6 SaaS Trends Of 2021

As we have now covered the main characteristics of a software-as-a-service application, let’s discuss the top 7 trends that have disrupted the market this year and that has shaped the SaaS industry as we know it.

1. Artificial intelligence (AI)

The trend making the top of our list is of the autonomous kind, Artificial Intelligence which is now engraved deep into the roots of our current society. AI has made some serious waves this year. The self-learning AI has spread across multiple industries and is projected to have a market of 733.7 Billion Dollars in 2027!

Artificial Intelligence is used to optimize tasks, increase efficiency and productivity by automating regular tasks and supporting the capabilities of humans.

AI integrated SaaS trends have provided a high degree of responsiveness and interaction between the business and its customers which have taken them to a whole new level this year.

Current software providers have developed many features based on artificial intelligence like data alerts that learn from regular patterns and alert you when something important takes place, online reporting tools to help you keep track of KPIs, and have a safe eye on your data to send out alerts there is some fluctuation in data.

AI is set to disrupt the SaaS industry in a lot of ways. Artificial intelligence when integrated with SaaS enables businesses to supplement human efforts, make better use of data to make decisions, automate their services and improve security.

Artificial intelligence is playing a crucial role in making the future of SaaS shine due to its key advantages like higher personalization to cater to clients’ needs, increasing speed of processes increasing the responsiveness of a business, and enhanced security with built-in self-recovery and pattern recognition.

2. Analytics Centralization

As digital transformation across various industries has accelerated, businesses across various sectors have started looking towards analytics-driven SaaS solutions to streamline their organization while gaining deeper insights into their customers or users.

Industry experts expect a 23% increase in the investment and value of data-driven and analytics-driven SaaS in 2022. Analytics has become a central component of many SaaS platforms making business intelligence and data-based decisions even more powerful for businesses to get ahead of their competitors.

Centralize analytical software allows users to use their data and look at its singular point of truth and helps them to discover insights by utilizing modern analytical solutions such as performance dashboards and also with the easy accessibility of SaaS solutions the data can be accessed from any device and vital business information is available to all members of the team.

3. Machine Learning (ML)

Machine learning is a subset of Artificial Intelligence and is used in Software-as-a-Service platforms for the automation of response in customer service reports, for example, live chatbots with AI integrated chat operations.  Machine Learning enables businesses to automate significant amounts of internal operations along with customer service and experience as it is based on the autonomous operation model.

Machine Learning has enabled SaaS offerings to automatically improve, gaining a level of intelligence and efficiency that are driving a number of industries forward.

Machine learning has become one of the fastest-growing software segments and has become a very important part of AI-based Software-as-a-Service. Netflix’s personalized content suggestions are an example of Machine learning in SaaS-type models. Machine Learning is set to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of automation.

4. White Label SaaS

White-label SaaS has become highly popular in 2021. SaaS white labeling is a process where a particular company creates a fully developed and finalized platform and sells it to another company that then customizes and sells it under their branding.

These white label solutions are very valuable to startups aiming to gain market share quickly and with lesser logistical and financial costs. Startups are able to focus more on value propositions, strategy, and branding rather than starting from scratch with the help of these developed and ready frameworks.

Businesses selling their white label SaaS solutions are also able to increase their revenue streams by selling their frameworks to other startups and brands. Many brands have started to develop their own payment and loyalty programs applications and sell them to other brands as well to market and promote this platform as their own.

5. Micro SaaS

Micro SaaS businesses are run and managed by a small team and sometimes even by one or two people. They are generally add-ons to existing platforms developed with the aim of improving or adding a missing feature in an existing SaaS product.

As in any invaluable industry that is emerging, many payers begin to enter the industry and begin saturating the market to intensify the competition. As the SaaS industry has become highly competitive, we see many micro SaaS innovations on the rise.

These highly niche-specific SaaS products have become very valuable to businesses across multiple industries and there are a host of new micro SaaS innovations coming up very often.

6. Vertical SaaS

Vertical SaaS is totally customizable, targeting clients in particular industries and sectors. Some popular examples are healthcare analytics software, logistics software, retail analytics software. Vertical SaaS is a very cost-effective and industry-focused option for companies who want to benefit from specialization to refine their processes and certain features.

This kind of Software-as-a-Service has the ability to adapt to features according to the client demand and the industry of the company and efficiently addresses the needs of customers within their niche. This gives higher flexibility and upselling opportunities with lower customer acquisition costs for companies.

Wrapping Up

As data has become the driving force for many small business strategies in a tech-dependent world, SaaS platforms have become an increasingly convenient and cost-effective option across many industries. By adapting these SaaS trends, trusting the product you have created, and keeping track of your industry, you can get the ball rolling by enjoying great success, growth, and gaining access to highly valuable insights.