In this edition of Insider Interviews, Elizabeth Cholawsky, CEO of HG Insights, explains why it’s essential for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) businesses to use Technology Intelligence to out-market, out-sell, and outgrow the competition, erasing any advantage they might have – a compelling reason why SaaS companies need to be data-driven.
SaaS is one of IT’s fastest-growing markets, expected to reach a value of $720.44B by 2028 [1]. Already, individual companies worldwide use an average of 110 SaaS applications [2].
On both the buying and selling side, the arrival of cloud computing forever changed the IT market. This new software distribution model was so groundbreaking because it negated the need to buy, install and update software on an annual basis or pay for expensive on-prem storage solutions and computing costs.
It democratizes access to software—all you need is an internet connection to join the SaaS revolution. That’s why, over the last seven years, the SaaS industry increased in size by around 500% [3]. By 2025, 85% of business apps will be SaaS-based [4].
The Role of Technology Intelligence in SaaS Companies
Technological advances played a huge role in establishing the “First SaaS Revolution.” Now “Technology Intelligence” is a critical piece to ushering in the “Second SaaS Revolution.”
Every day we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data—a billion billion [5]. So, businesses need to be able to constantly ingest, monitor and draw insights from all available data to keep optimizing, changing, and growing [6].
SaaS companies have unique access to high quality data. They produce it, can easily access it, and, thanks to the prevalence of SaaS companies, there’s much more data available to us all. Data-driven insights are used to identify prospects with the highest propensity to buy and keep customers engaged and happy [7]. For example, if you have quality data on the technologies your prospects have installed, what they spend on them, and if they are looking to buy so they can be engaged with early in their purchase journey—this is Technology Intelligence.
Today, you need to leverage Technology Intelligence data, and data-driven insights, to up your game. Your competitors are.
SaaS companies live and die by their ability to understand their customers, analyze adoption and usage of their products, and, like any other business, find new markets, court new prospects, and minimize costs while maximizing revenue. The only way to do this is with access to accurate, quality data and the ability to derive Technology Intelligence from it. Technology Intelligence is crucial for SaaS companies for these reasons outlined, as well as its ability to mitigate against changes in the market due to:
- Increased competition in the market
- The diminishing costs of switching between SaaS providers
- The increasing costs of customer acquisition
Technology Intelligence is sourced to give your business a competitive advantage by telling you the technology applications prospects are using, how much they are paying competitors for it, whether they are buying more of the application or winding down their investment, and when the licensing period is up for renewal. These insights are the keys to state-of-the-art sales, marketing, and planning, but there are still many companies yet to discover Technology Intelligence.
Why SaaS Companies, and Customers, Need Technology Intelligence
Yet even with a SaaS solution that’s capable of ingesting and analyzing all this data, the insights you glean are only as good as the data that informs them. Technology Intelligence is critical to understanding the SaaS landscape for buyers and sellers by enabling them to:
Understand customer pain points, deliverables, and other business needs
- Connect with customers and use feedback to improve future product interactions
- Provide insights and statistics about your customers so you can track product usage and engagement, which can lead to user experience improvements and product offering enhancements
Uncover new opportunities in the market, new prospects, and drive new revenue streams
Compete in mass markets against larger businesses
- In keeping with the democratizing mission previously mentioned, SaaS has, in some ways, lowered barriers to entry and leveled the playing field
- Technology Intelligence helps companies leverage their corner of the SaaS industry and carve out their niche
- SaaS allows mundane process automation and decreases marketing, sales, product, and operational teams lift, thus lowering enterprise-level competitor’s competitive advantage
Retain customers, cut expenditures, and preserve revenue
- SaaS businesses use churn or market shift data to take preventive measures
- Laser focus on the right accounts
Innovate and iterate on new products and regularly test fresh ideas
- In the fast-moving world of emerging tech, it pays to take advantage of new tools available to you. The competition is constantly changing their offerings, so SaaS companies need to use Technology Intelligence to change services and release a new iteration
- Allows businesses to increase the scope of continuous improvement
With quality Technology Intelligence you can out-market, out-sell, and outgrow your competition, erasing any advantage they might have—yet another reason SaaS businesses need to be data-driven.
The Next SaaS Revolution
With the Technology Intelligence that comes from accurate, quality data, businesses can anticipate the future to predict customer needs, movements in the market, and deliver predictable growth.
Businesses that bring data into their company and derive impactful insights, can then better empower their customers. By investing in a customer’s success, their success becomes your success. It creates an efficient, sustainable revenue growth ecosystem.
The fastest-growing SaaS companies are increasingly turning to Technology Intelligence in order to plan their GTM strategy, allocate resources, and maximize revenue by cross-referencing install, spend, contract, and intent signals, alongside core spend, firmographic data, and technology installations. Using Technology Intelligence in this way delivers the most accurate, and actionable, insights available in today’s market. And with these insights, SaaS companies can make the best business decisions.
HG Insights: The Authority in Technology Intelligence
As pioneers of the Technology Intelligence space, HG Insights provides intelligence on 120 million installed technologies across more than 1.5 million global organizations and 32,000 IT software and services contracts. We have helped our customers optimize their business practices by improving the:
- Percentage of sales reps that met or exceeded quota in the prior year
This can be further divided by account size, product, geography, etc. - Average ramp time for AEs/SDRs
- Average deal size
- Expansion rates in existing accounts, which can be measured in different ways, such as geographic or product expansion
- Number of touches to book a meeting
- Number of touchpoints before an account is put into the pipeline as an opportunity
- Sales rep attrition rate
- Impact of HG Insights sourced accounts
To maximize growth, businesses need to make sure they are making decisions based on Technology Intelligence derived from quality data. In this market, and frankly any market, organizations cannot leave money on the table. Identifying and addressing all unexploited revenue process opportunities and gaps is critical to faster growth.
HG Insights provides business decision-makers with Technology Intelligence so they can identify and prioritize their best prospects and opportunities. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help support you and your organization.
This article was originally published by The SaaS Awards on June 1, 2023.
