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 offered, and the way all of us get work accomplished.
At G2, we’re seeing this firsthand with an explosion of AI classes, distributors, merchandise, and options in our market. In reality, we’ve added over 2,000 AI merchandise over the previous yr alone!
AI has disrupted the shopping for journey — beginning with analysis and discovery
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 Conduct Report, primarily based on survey responses from over 1,000 software program patrons globally, underscore this shift.
Take, for instance, how AI has modified the best way patrons conduct analysis. As of April 2025, practically 8 in 10 respondents stated AI search has modified how they conduct analysis, with 29% noting they now begin analysis by way of massive language fashions (LLMs) extra typically than Google. I believe these percentages have grown since then and can proceed to rise.
Nevertheless, AI search isn’t solely related for the analysis part. We additionally see it enjoying a vital function in influencing brief lists and buying choices. GenAI chatbots and peer evaluation websites are among the many most influential sources, rating above market analysis companies and vendor web sites.
5 keys to profitable within the age of AI
So, what does it take to win on this AI-first world? Primarily based on what we’re observing available in the market and the way AI is quickly evolving, I see 5 key areas the place companies must focus.
Corporations prioritizing these 5 core areas will thrive within the age of AI.
1. Guarantee your product is discoverable for patrons by way of conventional search engine optimisation and now GEO (AI-driven discovery)
As talked about earlier, patrons’ search strategies have modified. Along with exhibiting up with conventional search engine optimisation ways, it’s necessary to additionally optimize for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to point out up within the LLMs patrons are more and more beginning their searches on. We’re making this a precedence at G2, too – rating among the many high 10 sources on each ChatGPT and Perplexity, in keeping with a latest Profound research.
2. Allow purchaser self-service with AI assistants
We’ve lengthy seen the shift to the self-serve shopping for journey, the place patrons 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 evaluation 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 on your clients and your group.
3. Embed AI to streamline US and workflows throughout your product suites
Our analysis exhibits that half of enterprise patrons switched to software program with higher AI. With the rise of AI-first startups, patrons have extra choices than ever and can churn for higher AI performance. This implies extra competitors and a larger danger of buyer churn for present distributors. It additionally means there’s an enormous 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 can be leveraged for buyer onboarding, help, and success. By optimizing, and higher but, automating these necessary processes, you may speed up the worth clients get out of your software program. With rising competitors and the necessity to ship worth and ROI as rapidly 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 patrons count on AI to drive automation and brokers substitute human labor, clients need extra versatile fashions aligned with their ROI primarily based on their precise utilization and enterprise outcomes.
In line with our 2025 Purchaser Conduct Report findings, a couple of in three patrons now want variable pricing fashions. Some pay primarily based on API calls, others are billed by agentic actions, and a rising phase opts to pay strictly for measurable outcomes.
How G2 is main the best way
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 choices and go-to-market methods. Let’s discover a few of our AI-powered improvements serving to us understand this imaginative and prescient.
With the introduction of G2.ai, patrons 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 complicated analysis course of, facilitating simple collaboration amongst colleagues.
Following our acquisition of unSurvey, we launched a brand new AI-powered conversational evaluation assortment methodology, making leaving a evaluation as simple as any voice-to-text expertise — with an AI moderator guiding customers alongside the best way to share their genuine suggestions. For patrons, this implies entry to deeper, extra significant insights to tell buying choices. For sellers, this implies larger insights to enhance their product choices and expertise.
Additionally stemming from our unSurvey acquisition, AI-led customized market analysis will assist corporations achieve actionable insights by way of conversational AI-led interviews tailor-made to their particular wants, trade, purchaser persona, and extra. With this resolution, corporations can entry tailor-made, human-like insights in days—not months—with unique entry to respondent swimming pools of hundreds of thousands of G2 customers and exterior panels.
Our new AI-assisted evaluation assortment by way of buyer calls and conferences permits distributors to show buyer dialog transcripts into high-quality, pre-filled G2 opinions which might be prepared for evaluation, approval, and publication. This functionality eliminates the necessity for guide reviewer outreach whereas decreasing the time required to submit a evaluation, all whereas sustaining evaluation high quality and bettering submission charges and velocity.
As AI reshapes the B2B software program panorama, G2 is dedicated to empowering your entire expertise ecosystem with the info and data required to attain strategic success and sustainable progress. We’ll do that by providing a wealth of person insights and real-time information that not solely tackle the wants of as we speak’s patrons, sellers, buyers, and consultants but additionally anticipate the calls for of tomorrow.
Embracing what’s subsequent
For my part, the long run is one the place we’ve got shopping for brokers speaking to promoting brokers. Maybe someday, even a posh course of like selecting the right enterprise software program for your online business, and shopping for it, might be accomplished by brokers, virtually in actual time.
AI is actually reshaping operational foundations, erasing deep-seated limits which have constrained progress and affect for a whole lot of years. The way forward for software program is right here, and it’s powered by AI.
