B2B SaaS Market Leaders & Tech Trends 2022

B2B SaaS: Getting ahead in a surging and evolving landscape

Despite all the changes in the business world over the past two years, one thing remains the same: the demand for B2B Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions keeps growing.

Gartner predicts that global cloud spending will reach nearly $397.5B by the end of 2022. The B2B SaaS technology industry represents the majority of that spend, valued at more than $145B, with a remarkable 40% growth expected over the next two years.

While businesses continue to embrace B2B software due to its quick and easy deployment, remote cloud network flexibility, affordability, and scalability; the way businesses use B2B SaaS industry tech keeps evolving. The new realities of life after the pandemic have created a fresh set of business objectives, and solution providers are refining their technologies and creating innovative services and platforms to meet these emerging needs.

At the same time, new competitors continue to flood the B2B software industry, inspired by the success of others who have matured and prospered before them. The number of SaaS technology industry companies that launched initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2021 increased by 125% year-over-year according to BMC .

This B2B SaaS Market Leaders & Tech Trends 2022 report can help you keep up with the latest in B2B technology marketing so you can capture more market share and drive results. Our team at Conductor analyzed 18,000 non-branded B2B SaaS searches related to HR, martech, productivity, and general enterprise software. Then, we broke down the results into the top B2B SaaS trends for 2022.

Top 6 B2B tech trends to follow in 2022

1. General enterprise solutions

Lower costs and faster implementation are two common reasons why businesses are moving their enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to the cloud. Our research shows a 28% YoY increase in search demand for ERP software overall, with searches for “cloud ERP solutions” up 243% YoY in particular.

A deeper dive shows specific ERP interest in manufacturing, e-Commerce, finance, and supply chain. That shows opportunities for ERP vendors to get ahead by implementing a B2B SaaS marketing strategy geared toward explaining the value of ERPs for specific verticals.

One critical aspect of ERP solutions is their ability to handle compliance management, a task that’s taking on added importance. Searches for “compliance management system” are up an astonishing 3,671% YoY and 1,957% since February 2022, growing from an average of 480 searches per month to more than 20K searches in the past month alone.

Over the past three years, no-code platforms have gained popularity as a way to speed up time-to-market and free up IT teams’ workloads. Many business content publishers such as Forbes say no-code is the future . Yet, while non-branded searches for “no-code development platform” remain steady, our research shows that search demand has plateaued recently. It will be interesting to watch what happens with no-code in the coming months.

Other top trending B2B SaaS trends reveal interest in solutions that can help companies adjust to post-pandemic realities. A 122% YoY increase in “event management software” searches shows how businesses are seeking platforms that can help them manage and scale virtual, in-person, and hybrid events, a trend recently highlighted in a G2 article . YoY search volumeSearch Volume
Search volume refers to the number of search queries for a specific keyword in search engines such as Google.
Learn more Increases in logistics software (120%), fleet management software (85%), and warehouse management software (82%) underline the heightened interest in supply chain optimization.

2. Accounting is ready for the cloud

Although searches for non-cloud based accounting software are still trending, we’re seeing significant spikes in interest for cloud accounting-related terms. Overall searches in this category are up 30% YoY, with searches for “cloud accounting” in particular achieving a 1,300 MSV.

3. Business Intelligence and Analytics is valuable across departments

Businesses see Big Data—and their ability to act on it—as a key differentiator. That’s why interest in BI solutions continues to grow, with search volume increasing by 33% on average YoY. Top movers include “cloud business intelligence” (up 247% YoY), and “enterprise business intelligence” (up 136% YoY).

As more companies further their digital transformation journeys, they’re also exploring how they can gain visualization of data from Internet of Things (IoT) devices and how enterprise data warehouses may help them drive business results. Both “iot data visualization” and “edw data warehouse” show 129% YoY increases in search traffic.

4. Managing the experience for leads and customers is a priority

Satisfied customers = more sales. So, it’s no wonder why the customer experience (CX) is top-of-mind for all businesses. A 38% YoY increase in CRM-related searches show the staying power of this popular and evolving solution. CRMs are showing particular search interest in real estate (6,600 MSV) and insurance (2,400 MSV).

Our research also reveals a hot trending CRM-related keyword: “lead management solution.” We’ve seen a 91% increase in search volume for this topic, with “lead management system” searches yielding a 720 MSV—an impressive 177% YoY increase.

The new kid on the block when it comes to CX: customer experience management (CXM) solutions. They essentially take CRM data and use it to improve a company’s CX at every touch point. Businesses are taking notice, with CXM searches overall up 143% YoY. Searches for “customer experience management cloud” are up 1,600% YoY, with searches for “customer experience management in banking” up 1,300% YoY. We’ve even seen a new search termSearch Term
A search term is what users key into a search engine when they want to find something specific.
Learn more emerge: “global customer experience management market.”

5. The future of martech is automation

Conductor’s State of Organic Marketing 2022 report identified the increasing rate of implementation and bandwidth challenges as two top pain points. This is leading B2B technology marketing departments to explore martech automation as they seek greater efficiency.

Searches for “marketing intelligence tools” are up 2,300% YoY, while searches for “bulk mail sending software” are up 950% and queries for “white label marketing platform” and “omnichannel marketing automation” are up 600% apiece.

6. AI is making it in the HR industry

With more than 11.5 million U.S. job openings in March 2022 alone, finding quality talent has never been harder. Businesses are turning to B2B SaaS HR solutions and embracing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to make recruitment easier and more effective.

HR automation solutions bring high search volume, with searches for “healthcare recruitment software” up 1,600% YoY. That’s no surprise, considering that 25% of U.S. hospitals reported critical staffing shortages at the start of the year. To learn more about how healthcare organizations are also searching for travel nurses and staffing agencies, see our 2022 Healthcare Leaders & Digital Health Trends Report.

Outside of healthcare, we’re also seeing overall AI B2B SaaS trends emerge in HR, with “ai for talent acquisition” searches up 450% YoY and “applicant tracking software” searches up 54% YoY.

Who is leading the market for the evolving B2B tech industry?

Read on to discover the top B2B SaaS competitors most visible on Google and learn how new players are using winning B2B SaaS marketing strategies to steal market share from established brands.

Some of the top industry solutions we focus on include:

• Accounting & billing
• Business intelligence
• CRM
• ERP
• Email marketing
• Social media marketing
• HR Tech for hiring & employees
• Product management

Download the full report to stay on top of the latest B2B tech industry trends.