5 Methods Software program Firms Can Win within the Age of AI

The B2B software program world is altering quick, and AI is on the heart of all of it. It’s reshaping how companies function, how software program is purchased and bought, and the way all of us get work executed. 

At G2, we’re seeing this firsthand with an explosion of AI classes, distributors, merchandise, and options in our market. The truth is, we’ve added over 2,000 AI merchandise over the previous 12 months alone! 

However AI isn’t simply affecting innovation. It’s disrupting each stage of the software program shopping for journey, together with the best way companies go to market to adapt to new shopping for behaviors and preferences. Findings from our G2’s 2025 Purchaser Habits Report, based mostly on survey responses from over 1,000 software program consumers globally, underscore this shift. 

Take, for instance, how AI has modified the best way consumers conduct analysis. As of April 2025, practically 8 in 10 respondents mentioned AI search has modified how they conduct analysis, with 29% noting they now begin analysis by way of massive language fashions (LLMs) extra usually than Google. I believe these percentages have grown since then and can proceed to rise. 

Nonetheless, AI search isn’t solely related for the analysis part. We additionally see it enjoying an important position in influencing quick lists and buying selections. GenAI chatbots and peer evaluate websites are among the many most influential sources, rating above market analysis corporations and vendor web sites. 

As talked about earlier, consumers’ search strategies have modified. Along with exhibiting up with conventional website positioning techniques, it’s essential to additionally optimize for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to indicate up within the LLMs consumers are more and more beginning their searches on. We’re making this a precedence at G2, too – rating among the many prime 10 sources on each ChatGPT and Perplexity, in accordance with a current Profound examine.

2. Allow purchaser self-service with AI assistants

We’ve lengthy seen the shift to the self-serve shopping for journey, the place consumers conduct analysis on their very own accord and arrive at a choice earlier than they’ve even engaged a salesman. Whereas distributors ought to already be enabling this by way of customer-voice-led content material on evaluate websites like G2, they will take it a step additional with AI. Automating elements of the client journey can foster a extra streamlined expertise, whereas creating efficiencies to your clients and your group.

3. Embed AI to streamline US and workflows throughout your product suites

Our analysis exhibits that half of enterprise consumers switched to software program with higher AI. With the rise of AI-first startups, consumers have extra choices than ever and can churn for higher AI performance. This implies extra competitors and a higher danger of buyer churn for present distributors. It additionally means there’s a giant alternative to infuse AI into your options — enhancing present merchandise by making them sooner, extra real-time, and extra environment friendly. 

4. Ship sooner ROI with AI help

AI isn’t only for innovating your merchandise, it will also be leveraged for buyer onboarding, help, and success. By optimizing, and higher but, automating these essential processes, you possibly can speed up the worth clients get out of your software program. With rising competitors and the necessity to ship worth and ROI as shortly as potential, inserting AI into these buyer processes to eradicate friction is a no brainer. 

5. Embrace utilization and outcome-based pricing for AI

Generative and agentic AI are reshaping pricing fashions, difficult the standard SaaS paradigm of seat and module-based annual subscriptions. As consumers count on AI to drive automation and brokers change human labor, clients need extra versatile fashions aligned with their ROI based mostly on their precise utilization and enterprise outcomes.

In accordance with our 2025 Purchaser Habits Report findings, multiple in three consumers now favor variable pricing fashions. Some pay based mostly on API calls, others are billed by agentic actions, and a rising phase opts to pay strictly for measurable outcomes. 

Because the world’s largest software program market, G2 goals to be probably the most trusted information supply within the age of AI for informing software program shopping for selections and go-to-market methods. Let’s discover a few of our AI-powered improvements serving to us notice this imaginative and prescient.

With the introduction of G2.ai, consumers can start their software program search with a pure language immediate and uncover the most effective match by way of an AI prompt-driven alternate. This strategy accelerates the usually tedious and sophisticated analysis course of, facilitating simple collaboration amongst colleagues.

Following our acquisition of unSurvey, we launched a brand new AI-powered conversational evaluate assortment methodology, making leaving a evaluate as simple as any voice-to-text expertise — with an AI moderator guiding customers alongside the best way to share their genuine suggestions. For consumers, this implies entry to deeper, extra significant insights to tell buying selections. For sellers, this implies higher insights to enhance their product choices and expertise. 

Additionally stemming from our unSurvey acquisition, AI-led customized market analysis will assist firms acquire actionable insights by way of conversational AI-led interviews tailor-made to their particular wants, trade, purchaser persona, and extra. With this resolution, firms can entry tailor-made, human-like insights in days—not months—with unique entry to respondent swimming pools of thousands and thousands of G2 customers and exterior panels.

Our new AI-assisted evaluate assortment through buyer calls and conferences allows distributors to show buyer dialog transcripts into high-quality, pre-filled G2 evaluations which are prepared for evaluate, approval, and publication. This functionality eliminates the necessity for guide reviewer outreach whereas decreasing the time required to submit a evaluate, all whereas sustaining evaluate high quality and bettering submission charges and pace.

As AI reshapes the B2B software program panorama, G2 is dedicated to empowering your complete know-how ecosystem with the information and information required to attain strategic success and sustainable development. We’ll do that by providing a wealth of consumer insights and real-time information that not solely tackle the wants of at present’s consumers, sellers, traders, and consultants but additionally anticipate the calls for of tomorrow.