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Historically, large digital technology companies that provide internet-scale services to their customers have had to build specific digital infrastructures. With significant innovation efforts in the AI building and managing, there are huge opportunities to enable more efficient tools favoring businesses. The software industry has undergone a huge transformation over the last 20 years and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is the “new normal” for software delivery and consumption.
Background
Specific “Software-as-a-Service” (popularly, called SaaS) is a cloud computing service model in which providers offer application software to customers over the internet and manage all the physical and software resources. Unlike traditional software that requires local installation, SaaS applications are hosted by the provider and accessed through web browsers. This delivery model separates “the possession and ownership of software from its use” creating a rental-type arrangement rather than an ownership model.
SaaS can operate on a multi-tenant architecture where a single instance of the software serves multiple customers, though each customer’s data is segregated and secured. This shared infrastructure approach allows SaaS providers to achieve economies of scale while maintaining performance and security for individual users. By 2023 SaaS, had already become the main form of software application deployment, and the trend has shown sufficient increase in 2025.
From a technical perspective SaaS products run alongside other “rented AI tolls such as Infrastructure-as-a- service (IaaS) or Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) systems’ applications. These models include both hardware (and often operating systems), as well as middleware, enabling rapid scaling to accommodate usage spikes while maintaining continuous availability. For users this creates the illusion of unlimited computing resources while behind the scenes the economy of scale drives down costs.
SaaS is based on a broader cloud computing system (alongside IaaS and PaaS); while these three models serve different needs, they share the common characteristic of moving computing resources from on-premises to cloud based environments, creating more flexible and scalable digital technology’s infrastructures.
The SaaS market has grown exponentially world-wide: from $35.8 billion in 2015 to $250.8 billion in 2024, i.e. a 7x growth in less than a decade; the 2025 projections estimated the market to reach $390.50 billion with 19.38% annual growth until 2029, which is a clear indication of the market preference for SaaS model.
During last two years the corporate community has been heavily integrated into SaaS platforms: the digital tools and AIs models became the corporate community’s vital “operators”: the AIs have powered SaaS “automated processes”: e.g. in analyzing massive data in real-time, and providing predictive insights to improve decision making. Features like chatbots, virtual assistants and automated customer support are now standard in many SaaS offerings and deliver value that would be difficult for organizations to build on their own.
By 2025, SaaS has changed how businesses operate, collaborate and scale their technology infrastructure. This is not just a change in how software is distributed but a fundamental reimagining of the relationship between software providers and their customers. The widespread growth by the end of 2024, has shown that almost all businesses “were using at least one SaaS application”.
Source and citations from:
https://ttpsc.com/en/blog/the-rise-of-saas-how-software-as-a-service-is-transforming-business-in-2025/
SaaS facilities
Software as a Service (SaaS) and digital services power modern business agility, shifting value from rigid, on-premise software to cloud-native platforms. By removing manual updates and hardware costs, SaaS enables organizations of all sizes to access scalable, secure, and continuously evolving technology.
More in: https://www.deloitte.com/in/en/services/consulting/perspectives/ftware-and-that-future-is-now-cloud-adoption-software-as-a-service-erp-oracle-digital-transformation.html
SaaS has defined corporate computing means for already nearly two decades, representing a massive share (over 10%) of IT spending recently, and forming the backbone of digital transformation strategies worldwide. The rapid adoption of numerous digital and AIs applications has led to the SaaS extensive spread.
In order to effectively manage huge info-batta silos and involved physical/mental exhaustion, leading corporate entities are shifting toward AI-powered platforms and services. By utilizing conversational AI agents, employees can navigate tasks across multiple programs without ever leaving a centralized dashboard. For example, SaaS platforms act as the backbone of modern corporate communities, driving digital transformation by centralizing services, enabling seamless collaboration and boosting operational efficiency. By shifting from traditional software to scalable and cloud-based models, businesses can continuously innovate and deploy tools across the entire enterprise’s sectors.
Presently, most of the world’s leading software vendors are, in some form, the SaaS companies: among the ten most valuable software players, there are five leaders: including Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, SAP and Shopify, in which SaaS delivery models dominate. Enterprises have grown dependent on the SaaS digital systems, licensing countless applications to manage HR, payroll, CRM, expenses and vertical industry workflows.
However, the active expansion and the SaaS adoption has created complexity for business users. Employees navigate dozens of interfaces daily, shifting context between multiple systems that rarely communicate smoothly. Despite efforts to simplify workflows through integrations and APIs, SaaS remains a patchwork of interfaces and data silos, forcing users to adapt to the software “rather than the other way around” noted IDC at the end of 2025.
The main advantage has been that instead of navigating multiple dashboards, customers and users could interact with an agent-driven, conversational interfaces that perform numerous tasks across the corporate systems.
Companies optimizing AI agent development to reduce licensing costs will need to revisit their roadmaps as vendors adjust to these emerging pricing paradigms. Meanwhile, process owners may gain more flexibility, designing application-neutral operational efficiencies that transcend the limitations of current SaaS systems.
Besides, global employment’s shift to remote and hybrid work models has accelerated SaaS adoption as cloud-based applications to enable seamless collaboration regardless of physical location. SaaS tools that support distributed teams are now essential rather than optional for most businesses and organizations.
Source: https://www.idc.com/resource-center/blog/is-saas-dead-rethinking-the-future-of-software-in-the-age-of-ai/
Reinvention expected
AI models have created a vast new revenue opportunity for software firms: some already estimated that agentic AI adds $3 trillion to the global development and consumer’s markets. However, “seizing the new opportunities” require a fundamental and dramatic “reinvention” of both the product strategy and company operating models. Such new approaches are becoming significant and urgent: only quite a few companies/organizations are “vibe coding” to fully replace existing core platforms, still many would reduce their software spending to fund AI initiatives. For many software providers, the present transformation reflects numerous challenges.
More in: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2026/the-ai-first-saas-company-rethinking-the-playbook
By the end of this decade, according to International Data Corporation, IDC*), the enterprise technology landscape will look radically different. The AI agent will become a new enterprise SKU, purchased via marketplaces and powered by modular backend capabilities rather than monolithic SaaS platforms. User interfaces will still be critical to productivity but so will orchestration of more-or-less autonomous workflows.
SaaS is both growing and so-called “metamorphosing”, as the IDC notes: the software industry is entering a new chapter defined by AI, automation and outcome-based economics. For the corporate community it represents a fatal challenge to reinvent their business models; for buyers, “it is an invitation to rethink how software delivers value”, claims IDC and concludes: “either way, the next generation of enterprise technology will be less about screens and more about agents”.
*) About IDC: International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global market intelligence, data, and events provider for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC’s analysis and insight help IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based technology decisions and achieve their key business objectives.
Source: https://www.idc.com/about/?_gl=1*1gj1qcp*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDkwOTkxMjU0LjE3Nzk3MTA5NjQ.*_ga_Y7CNRMFF6J*czE3Nzk3MTA5NjQkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk3MTA5NjQkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_541ENG1F9X*czE3Nzk3MTA5NjQkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk3MTA5NjQkajYwJGwwJGgw
Cloud providers and SaaS
With SaaS, the cloud providers handle everything from application development to infrastructure provisioning and maintenance. Customers simply access the application using a web browser, without needing to install or maintain anything and without restrictions on device type or location. While the user can configure certain settings and manage permissions, the SaaS provider handles all aspects of maintenance, security and updates. SaaS applications are best suited for businesses seeking ready-to-use software applications that are reliable and require minimal setup. As soon as SaaS apps are easy to deploy and require no minimal setup, they remain a favorite for many enterprises and use cases.
Additionally, enterprises are increasingly adopting multi-cloud and hybrid cloud strategies, blending public and private cloud resources to take advantage of the benefits that each provides. Some experts (e.g. Gartner) predicted already in 2021, that by the end of 2025, more than 85% of organizations will have adopted hybrid or multi-cloud approaches; presently about 78% of businesses use multiple cloud providers.
Hybrid and multi-cloud environments enable IT teams to distribute workloads across on-premises infrastructure and public cloud platforms, in order to leverage the strengths of multiple providers (which helps preventing vendor’s lock-in). Hybrid and multi-cloud strategies can also increase the flexibility, resilience and scalability of IT systems/tools, and help businesses remain agile while digital technologies and customer needs are changing.
Sources and references: = The state of cloud cost in 2024, – CloudZero, January 2024; = Gartner’s opinion on cloud and new digital experiences, in: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mettel-named-a-leader-in-2021-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-managed-network-services-for-second-consecutive-year-301425375.html (November 2021); = Where the cloud goes from here: 8 trends to follow and what it could all cost, – ZDNet, May 2025.
The cloud’s opportunities
Thanks to the cloud, software engineers today can build applications more quickly, resiliently and efficiently: e.g. a new business idea can be proven out in a matter of weeks instead of months or years. The cloud also offers on-demand infrastructure and services that are easily accessible and have greatly increased capacity. If applications are written well and infrastructure is managed adequately, the pay-as-you-go model may even help reduce costs.
The rise of open-source software in the past decade has made dramatic transformations: open-sourced code can be used-as is or modified by anybody, and is now included in some commercially licensed products. As soon as more companies open-sourcing their software code and providing enterprise features as well as support, many enterprises nowadays intentionally seek software that has an established open-source base to take advantage of the innovation from the community at large.
Open-source platforms and systems like Kubernetes, Postgres and Kafka have become de-facto standards: e.g. these open-source innovations act like Lego blocks that can be used to build innovations faster.
SaaS evolution and digital services
In order to maximize value, businesses are advised to transition core processes to cloud-first platforms to achieve continuous compound innovation without the burden of manual maintenance. Thus, the evolution process includes, e.g. the following:
= AI-Driven Orchestration: rather than being replaced by artificial intelligence, SaaS is becoming the central “execution and control layer” for enterprise AI agents. Platforms now leverage generative AI to automate complex processes and predictive analytics to forecast business trends.
= Shift to “vertical SaaS”: the market is increasingly dominated by domain-specific or vertical SaaS vendors tailored to highly specific industries, moving away from generic, one-size-fits-all software.
= New pricing models: traditional subscription and seat-based pricing are evolving to include outcome-based and usage-based tiers, reflecting more flexible, digitally native consumption.
= The digital system’s integration: modern SaaS relies on connected systems with standardized interfaces, allowing seamless data flow and easier collaboration across different departments.
More in: https://softwareequity.com/blog/saas-ai
Additionally, in: https://www.idc.com/resource-center/blog/is-saas-dead-rethinking-the-future-of-software-in-the-age-of-ai/
It has to be added, that the AI models (including SaaS) are “quietly breaking the economics” and making this service vital for all national growth aspects. The whole business community is striving to make an “outcome-based and usage-based” approach” by using new software means as a main and efficient product. Tuus, connecting Connect Notion, Slack, and Loom in assisting a corporate unity to set up database automations to centralize knowledge and communication.
See, e.g. https://www.notion.com/sv/connections/slack
Example: SaaS in Denmark
Denmark hosts about 375 SaaS companies in 2026, generating $2.4B in revenue, employing over 17,000 people, and acting as a major pillar in the Nordic tech ecosystem. The industry is heavily concentrated in the Greater Copenhagen area. One of the biggest – Trustpilot – developing SaaS independent online review platform designed to make the Internet economy more transparent. The company’s online review platform connects businesses with customers by collecting reviews, automate a review collection process, gather and monitor customer feedback to resolve issues for “unhappy” customers, enabling consumers and businesses to build greater two-way trust online.
Note. In 2024, Trustpilot’s revenue reached $225.8 mln (the company reported $173.3 mln in 2023); since its launch in 2007, Trustpilot has shown consistent revenue growth. Source: https://getlatka.com/companies/trustpilot
Among notable Danish SaaS companies are: = Pleo: Denmark’s primary SaaS “unicorn”. Provides B2B smart company payment cards and automated expense management. = e-conomic: one of the most heavily trafficked cloud accounting and bookkeeping platforms in Denmark, originally pioneered in Copenhagen. = Dalux: a major player in the construction and facility management software space, widely used across Europe. = Monta: a rapidly growing vertical SaaS platform providing software solutions for EV (electric vehicle) charging station management. = Corti: an AI infrastructure and API SaaS platform tailored specifically for the healthcare and emergency response sectors. On some accounts (not verifies), the total number of companies used AI tools is over 72 thousand; and those using SaaS-type components in Denmark exceeds 7.800!
More in: https://bonzer.dk/blog/50-storste-danske-saas-virksomheder; as well as e.g. in SaaS directory at: https://getlatka.com/companies/directory?similar=a; and at: https://getlatka.com/saas-companies; https://bureau.dk/saas
Just a notable example, the so-called “B2B SaaS Pricing Architects”, a team of experts specialized in pricing and the end-to-end commercial transformations of complex recurring revenue businesses, which “are not willing to settle for small improvements”, as the company notes. Source and citation from: https://www.willingnesstopay.com/newsletter