IT Procurement Trends That Every SaaS and IT xSP Must Address

When first brought to market, cloud computing, social media, and mobile devices were heralded as game-changing technologies. However, with artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, and web3 looming near mainstream adoption, multiple IT procurement trends impact nearly every software as a service (SaaS) and IT service provider (IT xSP).

In this post, you’ll learn about emerging trends impacting B2B technology procurement and what IT companies should invest in now to address and capitalize on these generational changes.

The Consumer-Grade Customer Experience (CX) Driving IT Procurement Trends

B2B tech buyers from companies of all sizes (small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB), mid-market, and enterprise) research and make purchase decisions differently than they did five years ago. 

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, technology professionals saw a dramatic acceleration of work-from-home (WFH) and hybrid teams have made most tech buyers clamor for a consumer-like (B2C) purchase experience from their companies' vendors.

There’s a major problem that must be addressed:

Most SaaS and IT service providers still sell to tech buyers, not all that different from the previous decade.

Product-Led Growth Changes the Go-to-Market Playbook

Product-led growth (PLG) allows tech companies to deliver a fully-functional free version of their products as part of a concerted single-user, land-and-expand strategy.

Due to its radically disruptive friction-eliminating activation model, PLG will reshape most tech companies' go-to-market playbooks, upending decades of legacy IT procurement precedents and trends.

Product-led growth is just a no-brainer for any company leadership team trying to grow faster, provide a better customer experience, get better results from their account-based marketing (ABM) investments, and optimize unit economics. 

The divide between PLG- and non-PLG-enabled companies now exerts intense competitive pressure on product and engineering teams to reshape their core offerings to compete with a frictionless sales model.

What is your company doing to address emerging IT procurement trends and competitive pressures driven by the shift to product-led growth? Let me know in the comments section down below.

And if your SaaS or IT xSP company needs to update its go-to-market (GTM) to address how modern IT buyers research and make purchase decisions, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.