SaaS - A Trillion Dollar opportunity

In the recently conducted Channel leadership survey (CLS) by VARINDIA, it was found that Software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions are one of the key growing categories in the IT industry. The SaaS model operates on a subscription basis and is centrally located on a distant cloud network, gaining popularity among many enterprises using SaaS platforms to obtain a strategic and competitive edge over their competitors helping in driving the market growth.

Customers utilise the SaaS Platform to get fresh insights from enormous amounts of different data, including historical and contemporary data. This technology is appropriate for running algorithms and analysing vast amounts of data to discover meaningful links, entities, and insights. Secondly, consumers in India estimate 60% of their interactions with businesses to take place online.

Additionally, 71% of Indians expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives. As the world quickly moves to a cloud-based environment, there is increased adoption of SaaS in the market. Top Indian companies include ZoHo, Freshworks, PostMan, Uniphore, LeadSquared and are already in the Unicorn club.

Going forward, there are few more SaaS companies who are expected to turn unicorns soon including CleverTap, FarEye, Kissflow, Loginext and Yellow.ai and others in the race.

SaaS startups in India have still managed to attract meaningful funding. As per a recent report, SaaS was the second-ranked segment in terms of the number of funding during H1 2022 with more than 90 Indian SaaS startups mopping up $1.76 billion. Indian SaaS startups have traditionally been more capital-efficient than their global counterparts, as per the report of Saas Bhoomi.

As hybrid work environments are the norm now, and B2B buyer preferences have moved to a digital-first approach irrevocably. A major driver of this growth has been the secular trend towards digitalization triggered by the pandemic. SaaS now comprises $600 billion of the $3 trillion global enterprise IT and communications spending market, and is expected to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2030.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA