Navigating the Future of SaaS : Key GTM Predictions for 2025

The SaaS industry is entering a transformative period with the rise of AI, evolving customer expectations with businesses demanding tangible outcomes and measurable value from their technology investments. In 2024, IC-level productivity was a north star metric with business focusing on responsible growth and post-sales value realization.

To understand what’s on the horizon, we reached out to CROs and CMOs globally (India & US) to gather their insights and predictions for 2025. This post highlights key themes shaping the GTM landscape, from the growing focus on customer retention to the rise of verticalized AI solutions and the shift towards prescriptive GTM.?

1. AI’s Impact on GTM Strategies: Verticalization and Practicality

AI continues to disrupt enterprise software, with Agentic AI leading the charge. In 2025, verticalized AI solutions will dominate, targeting specific industries and use cases where immediate ROI can be demonstrated.?

GTM teams leveraging AI are starting to experiment in areas like personalized account-based marketing (ABM), automated outbound targeting, and AI-enhanced CRM systems. However buyers will scrutinize the true value of AI products.?

Given companies are focused on achieving greater output with fewer resources, AI will be leveraged as mentioned above to optimize GTM motions, scale operations, and raise productivity metrics, including quotas.

‘Will be critical to automate as much of our GTM efforts as we effectively can and reserve time and focus for those areas that AI cannot automate or augment’ Kevin K. President Airia?

‘AI will take larger buckets of investment’ Anand Subbaraman COO Icertis

‘Email outbound is saturated. Use of AI for more specific targeting and relevant messaging’ Todd Gracon CRO Timescale

‘More AI-driven personalized ABM Marketing’ Raj Sarkar CMO Cloudbees

‘AI will disrupt enterprise software as Agents become easier to use and implement. The moat companies provide must be more than features’? Andrew Conley , SVP Revenue Guideline

2. Customer Retention Becomes the North Star

The continued macro uncertainty and rise in value churn, driven by AI adoption, have placed customer retention above new logo acquisition. SaaS providers are reevaluating their value delivery models, focusing on net revenue retention (NRR) as a critical metric. Success hinges on making the buyer journey seamless with higher focus on value realization vs just education, onboarding, deployment, engagement.?

Simultaneously, the role of customer-facing teams like Customer Success is being redefined, with heightened expectations to achieve more with fewer resources. Companies are emphasizing value realization and ensuring their solutions remain indispensable to customers, a strategy necessary to counter the increasing commoditization of software.

'More pressure on CSM organizations to do more with less. Redefining the CSM role and tying directly to NRR' Ian Steward CRO Tricentis?

'More focus on customer retention vs new logos as macro situation continues to be dull' Arun Pattabhiraman CMO Sprinklr?

?3. Tech Stack Consolidation and CRM Reinvention

The SaaS landscape is witnessing a massive consolidation of tech stacks. Overpriced add-ons and fragmented tools are being replaced by more cohesive, AI-driven solutions. Legacy CRM systems are under pressure to evolve, as businesses seek lightweight, AI-first platforms that streamline workflows and reduce complexity.

‘Trend will start around removal of stale CRM systems in favor of more lightweight systems with AI at their core along with massive consolidation of all the overpriced "add-ons" people need to buy to make CRM work’ Chris De Vylder CRO Sentry

‘Consolidation will continue in tech stacks and throughout industries via M&A. Struggling enterprise software will need to partner with tangential competitors to create a stronger more wholistic offering.’ Andrew Conley SVP Revenue Guideline

4. The Rise of Prescriptive GTM Teams

As AI accelerates the pace of change, successful GTM teams will focus on making the buying journey easier and more prescriptive. Buyers are looking for partners who can guide them through learning, purchasing, deploying, and realizing value with minimal friction. The end of the COVID era has brought renewed scrutiny to sales teams. A generation of sales professionals must adapt to new demands or risk obsolescence. Also rewarding and retaining top performers is critical in this challenging environment.

Companies that master educational, deep-dive content and align their messaging with evolving buyer needs will gain a competitive edge. Marketing teams must also adapt to the changing dynamics of search engine marketing (SEM) forcing CMOs to explore alternative channels for engagement.?

‘We need to be extremely prescriptive in the buying process’. Richard Terry-Lloyd CRO Netlify

‘Pressure will be on. Covid is over. A whole generation of salespeople will need to start pulling up their socks or get out of the business.’ Chris De Vylder CRO Sentry

‘GTM teams who focus on "how do we make this easier" will win. Also marketing teams who do not figure out alternatives to search are going to struggle. AI has changed SEM for good. Educational content still reigns supreme. The question of length will remain, but I think buyers are in massive learning mode, and GTM teams need to be useful for all types of learners. That means high quality, great content delivered via video series, podcasts, eBooks, white papers.’ Cate Lochead CMO Snorkel

‘Organic search led discovery to ChatGPT response led discovery’ Yash Reddy CRO, MoEngage

5. Outcome-Based and Usage-Based Pricing Models to gain traction

Traditional seat-based pricing is losing relevance as companies demand greater alignment between costs and value delivered. Outcome-based and usage-based pricing models are emerging as preferred alternatives, incentivizing SaaS providers to focus on delivering results. This shift aligns with customer-centricity and ensures that vendors share accountability for success.

‘Pricing that provides a hybrid model (usage + subscription tiers).’ Mike Cabot , CRO Binarly

‘More Saas companies will pivot to outcome and usage-based pricing models vs users/seats-based pricing’. Arun Pattabhiraman CMO Sprinklr?

2025 is set to be a transformative year for SaaS GTM strategies. If there are other trends shaping GTM that we haven’t covered, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Feel free to share your perspectives and join the conversation!