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The State of SaaS Sales In 2024

The software as a service (SaaS) industry has experienced explosive growth in the past few years. In fact, according to market research firm Gartner, global spending on SaaS solutions will exceed £630 billion in 2023. The UK is a major customer for SaaS, with the second largest IT spend per business headcount in the world, only beaten by the US (1).

With such rapid expansion in an industry that continues to see further innovation and development, it’s no surprise that more and more businesses are investing in SaaS solutions. This ‘State of SaaS Sales in 2023’ by Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment examines trends in the sector and predictions for the year ahead.

 

Key takeaways

Key SaaS Industry Takeaways

Why is the Software as a Service industry growing so aggressively?

The SaaS industry has experienced steady growth for years. This can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the convenience and ease of use of SaaS solutions, the fact that many businesses, especially SMEs, find it difficult to invest in and manage on-premise software solutions, and the shift towards more digital processes. SaaS solutions are also accessible from anywhere and can be scaled according to changing business needs. Another factor is that many SMEs find it difficult to invest in on-premise software and to manage it. Finally, for even the biggest budgets, SaaS can be easier to sign-off in a business, due to monthly retainers rather than large initial outlays.

 

Macro-economic outlook & SaaS

Despite the fact that 90% of IT leaders believe that the economy will slow down, technology spending is expected to rise at its third fastest rate in over 15 years, and most technology executives expect their budget to rise in 2023 (2). The same 2022 Nash Squared Digital Leadership reports that 52% of IT leaders in the UK believe their technology budget will grow and 56% of UK organisations expect to expand their technology workforce in 2023. Only a small number believe their budget will diminish.

Macroenvironmental SaaS Stats

With SaaS seemingly resistant to current market pressures, the outlook for expenditure in this sector looks strong:

 

UK SaaS Spending

 

UK SaaS Sales Prediction 2023

Rob Scott, Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment, Author Photo

Rob Scott

Managing Director at Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment

Despite macro-economic challenges, it’s clear that SaaS is here to stay in 2023. Pretty much every major organisation in the world is going through some sort of digital transformation with budgets often committed from initiatives started in previous years. With the challenges in developing in-house solutions, SaaS is pivotal to the execution of digital processes.

Sales professionals in the SaaS sector

The ONS report that the UK now has over 2,100 dedicated SaaS businesses, projected to grow to over 2,300 by the end of 2023. Extrapolation and market analysis by Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment suggests there are now over 7,000 people in B2B SaaS sales roles, expected to grow to around 8,000 by the end of the year.

Sales Professionals in the UK Sector

SaaS sales is a lucrative sector to work in with the highest flying in the city able to consistently take home over six-figures. From our experience, SaaS Sales roles can expect to take home the below:

Role Lower Range Higher range
Sales Director, SaaS £90,000 £200,000
Head of Sales, SaaS £65,000 £100,000
Business Development Manager, SaaS £50,000 £70,000
Account Director, SaaS £50,000 £65,000
Sales Development Representative, SaaS £40,000 £50,000
Customer Success Manager, SaaS £40,000 £50,000
Business Development Executive, SaaS £25,000 £40,000
Sales Executive, SaaS £25,000 £40,000

 

Everything as a service

Across the world, the “as-a-Service” model of technology servicing,  is gaining momentum. In B2C services like Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office, as well as B2B CRM, sales, and CMS solutions, the SaaS model is becoming the de facto method for users to obtain services and products.

Businesses are also offering more items in the same pay-as-you-go framework.

In 2023, the trend towards ‘as a service’ models continues to build traction, with many referring to the model now as XaaS (anything as a service).

 

SaaS vs. IaaS vs. PaaS

SaaS is one of the three main cloud technology types.

SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS are all cloud service models. All three models provide cloud providers with data centre capacity that they deliver over the internet. The fundamental difference between the models is the completeness of their products. SaaS products are finished, fully managed applications. IaaS provides data centre resources that are outsourced in addition to PaaS, which delivers a platform for development and other tools. Vendors handle maintenance, upgrades, support, security, and all other aspects of software management in SaaS applications. Users do not have to install or manage any existing IT infrastructure, nor do they have to deal with any aspect of the software management.

Using IaaS, enterprises can outsource their data centres and computer assets to a cloud company. Infrastructure resources such as servers, storage, networking hardware, and virtualisation services are all part of IaaS. When using IaaS services, customer organisations still must manage their data use, applications, and operating systems (OSes).

In contrast, PaaS is a platform that provides the resources required for in-house developers. PaaS lets them produce customised applications. Because the vendor manages the infrastructure elements that support the tools, customer organisations using PaaS services must manage their applications and data usage.

 

 

References

1) Gartner: IT Industry Forecasting, 2022

2) NashSquared Digital Leadership Report 2022

 

We welcome use of our data and content on other websites or publications. Please reference Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment and www.aaronwallis.co.uk

Date published: 27th November 2023

Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment is a national sales recruitment agency with dedicated recruitment consultants to tech sales recruitment and saas sales recruitment.

Aaron Wallis are a national specialist sales recruitment agency comfortable across many sectors, however more recently the majority of our clients utilise the below offerings:

Rob Scott, Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment, Author Photo

About the author

Rob Scott

Rob is the Managing Director of Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment, a national recruitment agency specialising in sourcing sales and marketing staff for businesses across a broad range of commercial sectors. Before setting up Aaron Wallis, Rob spent ten years at a specialist Sales and Marketing recruitment division of a £0.5BN recruitment group, leaving in 2007 as Marketing & Sales Director to establish Aaron Wallis.
 
With over 26 years of experience in sales recruitment, Rob is a History graduate with an MBA (Merit) and a PgCert in Management Practice.  In 2007, 2009 and 2013, Rob conducted the most extensive surveys of sales professionals in the UK and is a trusted authority in the sales industry. From guiding employers through the recruitment process to helping candidates find their dream job, Rob's advice has been quoted in leading publications such as the FT, Business Insider, Forbes and The Independent, as well as OnRec, which hosts The Online Recruitment Awards every year.