Learn from the SaaS choices of OneOffice™ leaders. Part four—productivity or collaboration tools

The Situation: Enterprises valuing OneOffice™ outcomes are most likely to create business value through their software choices. They want their SaaS (software as a service) to deliver improved customer and employee experience, and they want to see how it makes outsourcing business processes easier. As part of our SaaS XXV research, we identified the SaaS choices made by these OneOffice enterprise leaders and compared them with those made by less-mature tactical laggards. The focus in this instance is on productivity or collaboration tools.

How we identified the leaders and the laggards

We asked enterprise decision makers how SaaS is changing their business. We identified OneOffice leaders as those who agree or strongly agree with survey statements indicating SaaS improves employee experience, improves customer experience, and makes outsourcing business processes easier. These responses indicate the realization of outcomes indicative of greater maturity in the adoption and use of SaaS, thus a tighter alignment to the HFS OneOffice mindset.

In contrast, tactical laggards agree or strongly agree SaaS is changing how their business operates by improving the flow of information across the business, improving data and information access, improving security, encouraging the business to bypass IT, and making it harder to budget. These responses we identify as indicative of an enterprise that has not yet moved beyond the technical functionality of SaaS solutions and is missing how SaaS creates real-time “connections” between the company and its customers. We analyzed 411 responses and compared the strength of preference for the use of particular technologies by either leaders or laggards.

OneOffice leaders use more productivity and collaboration tools than laggards, and Microsoft is used most; DocuSign, Zoom, and Google lead the chasing pack

Our data—an enterprise customer subset of the overall SaaS XXV responses—shows the gap between leaders and laggards in Exhibit 1 is at its greatest for Dropbox (with leaders 80% more likely to be using it than laggards). OneOffice leaders are working with Microsoft productivity and collaboration tools in 47% of our surveyed group, compared to 33% of laggards. The average increase in the likeliness of a leader selecting specific productivity and collaboration tools versus a laggard was 48%. After Dropbox, Google and DocuSign stand out with 55% and 53% greater likelihood, respectively.

Exhibit 1:  Leaders are 80% more likely than laggards to use Dropbox

Sample: N=411 responses from enterprise leaders, January 2022 SaaS XXV survey
Source: HFS Research, 2022

Overall, OneOffice leaders are most likely to be using Microsoft, DocuSign, and Zoom. Laggards are making the same choices, but in Exhibit 2, we can see they aren’t committing to the same level.

Exhibit 2: OneOffice leaders are working with Microsoft productivity and collaboration tools in 47% of our surveyed group, compared to 33% of laggards

Sample: N=411 responses from enterprise leaders, January 2022 SaaS XXV survey. The total is more than 100% because there are enterprises where multiple productivity and collaboration tools are in use. Respondents were asked to select all that applied.
Source: HFS Research, 2022

OneOffice leaders in Exhibit 3 reserve their highest NPS (net promoter scores) for Microsoft and Google. In our graphics, net promoter scores range from -1.00 to +1.00, where 1.00 = 100%. Anything higher than 0.70 (70%) is usually regarded as outstanding, .50 to .69 (50%–69%) as strong, and .49 or lower as needing improvement. The average NPS across the productivity and collaboration tools category in our survey was 0.47 (47%), the highest score earned from enterprise leaders in our survey for a software category; for comparison, the enterprise benchmark in the process intelligence category is 0.07 (7%).

OneOffice leaders rated Microsoft and Google first and second, with Slack and Dropbox tied for third in the top three, all with scores that place them in the “strong” NPS category. Laggards are even happier calling out a top three of Dropbox, Zoom, and Google with strong scores for Zoom and Google and an “outstanding” score for Dropbox. Adobe barely makes it into positive NPS territory with our respondents.

Exhibit 3: Productivity and collaboration vendors should target scores higher than 0.7; they average 0.47, the highest NPS awarded by enterprises in all our SaaS XXV categories

Sample: N=411 responses from enterprise leaders, January 2022 SaaS XXV survey
Source: HFS Research, 2022

In the data provided by enterprise leaders for this OneOffice-focused part of the SaaS XXV survey, Microsoft is the clear winner when it comes to spending plans for the next 12 months in Exhibit 4. Just less than 25% of OneOffice leaders are ready to increase their investment with Microsoft productivity and collaboration tools in the next year, and 16% of laggards plan to follow suit. The gap between the groups is only likely to expand because fewer laggards are ready to extend their investment. That is the case across tools, with the percentage of those planning to invest more only on an equal footing for Google and Adobe.

Exhibit 4: OneOffice leaders are increasing their investment in leading productivity and collaboration tools faster than laggards, suggesting the gap between leaders and laggards is likely to widen

Sample: N=411 responses from enterprise leaders, January 2022 SaaS XXV survey. Only those with significant data are shown.
Source: HFS Research, 2022

The Bottom Line: The stars of the pandemic have had their moment. OneOffice enterprise leaders place Microsoft-powered productivity and collaboration at the center of their post-pandemic plans.

DocuSign and Zoom enjoyed a moment of glory during the worst of the pandemic. As we emerge from the curse of COVID, OneOffice leaders are planning additional spending on Microsoft as part of their new normal, and that is likely to comprise Teams taking a chunk of Zoom’s lunch as IT teams move out of “get it done” mode and start thinking about rationalizing their estates. The pandemic established digital contract signing as a new normal that few see much point in rolling back now. But how defensible is DocuSign’s position when a Microsoft, Google, or Adobe can bundle in some of its core capabilities?

Read the results of our broader SaaS XXV survey, here, and watch out for a series of SaaS XXV-based Snapshots coming soon.