Report: Business Software Buyers Want More AI Features, Quick Results

The global annual software buyer behavior survey “The Value-Driven Buyer”released in June by G2, research and software marketplace firm, shows that businesses see a positive outlook among global companies buying software this year.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the entire software landscape as buyers turn to AI to extract more value from their software purchases. That will drive legal teams to be increasingly involved in software purchases.

Companies are continuing to invest in technology to grow their businesses.

A key finding of the report is that 86% of buyers leave InfoSec teams out of the purchasing processes citing pressure to deliver results quickly.

This latest software buying report shows little change in buyers’ spending outlook from last year despite the economic environment. Sellers face challenges as buyer expectations and scrutiny grow.

Top 3 software buying trends 2023-2024 are as follows.

• 49% of Buyers predict increased software and technology spending despite an uncertain economic environment.
• The outlook for software spending in 2024 is even brighter. More than half (55%) said spending will increase.
• Software buyers trust AI tech and prioritize its functionality in their software purchases. 81% of respondents said it is important or very important that the software they purchase moving forward has AI functionality.

Some experts tend to think that AI capabilities are driving more aggressive software spending. Whereas the report makes clear that buyers trust AI-powered solutions, giving a competitive advantage to any AI-powered product and intend to increase their AI spending by 60% next year.

We can anticipate the explosive growth of AI software products in 2024 beyond what we have already seen this year. Any software vendor building AI functionality into their offerings will have a competitive advantage going forward.

Moreover, with AI seen as the new software selling point, legal teams will increasingly be involved in business software purchases. 84% of respondents said their IT department is responsible for security or privacy assessments when it comes to evaluating software.

40 % of respondents say their legal department is involved, and experts expect this to spike in the coming months and years as businesses will be wary of how their data is used and the accountability for the output of generative AI solutions.

Unofficial IT practices will happen as well. Software buyers stick to business processes but the pressure to deliver results causes shadow IT.

Value, scalability, and ease are top considerations for software buyers. The survey found that small businesses tend to prioritize ease of use and ease of implementation. Enterprise and medium-sized companies focus on solutions that will keep up with their growth and rank scalability as the third most important criterion when selecting new software.

Business value is at the heart of software buyer decisions. Ease of integration is being prioritized over the cost of software. The survey of global software buyers confirmed that buyers are still opening their budgets for software investments that they feel can help create value for their businesses.