SaaScon PH 2024: Sprout Returns with Biggest Conference Yet

Last April 17, 2024, Sprout Solutions staged the second run of SaaScon PH, the biggest annual B2B SaaS conference in the Philippines. Over 1,300 participants gathered at the Marriott Grand Ballroom to learn about B2B SaaS trends and the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Attendees could pre-register in the weeks leading up to the event. But that didn’t stop the venue from filling up as early as 7:30 a.m. with participants eager to hear from renowned experts in the fields of tech and B2B SaaS and to network with leading Filipino startup founders and professionals.

We’re excited to share with you some of the most important takeaways from SaaScon PH 2024, so you can keep up with the latest trends in SaaS even if you missed the event!

Patrick Gentry, CEO and co-founder of Sprout, welcomed participants at the start of the day. He recalled Sprout’s North Star, “To impact the life of every Filipino by improving business in the Philippines.” SaaScon, he said, contributed to this goal by giving local startup founders opportunities to learn from established business leaders and eventually secure funding. In fact, Sprout included networking sessions in the event’s schedule and hosted an executive mixer at the end of the day’s program.

The conference was packed with keynote addresses, panel discussions, and breakout sessions, each featuring the greatest minds in B2B SaaS and opportunities to engage with them through Q&A segments after each session.

UnionBank was facing stiff competition in 2016 as several fintech firms had entered the Philippine market. This shifting landscape served as a wake-up call for Ana Aboitiz Delgado, the bank’s Chief Digital Channels Officer. Recognizing the need to adapt and evolve or face irrelevance, UnionBank embarked on an ambitious digital transformation journey.

Delgado’s advice to companies seeking transformation? Adopt a holistic, customer-centric approach.

She said, “Anyone that has capital can purchase and subscribe to tech, but that’s not going to be what makes you successful…We needed to start with what business objectives we are trying to deliver and work backwards into what tech we needed to deliver that.”

UnionBank’s agile strategy enabled them to pivot when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, swiftly addressing the changing needs of Filipino consumers. The payoff has been substantial – today, UnionBank boasts the second-largest retail customer base in the Philippines and claims the country’s most downloaded banking app.

The spotlight then turned to Anthony Oundjian, Managing Director of the Boston Consulting Group, who offered a forward-looking perspective on the SaaS industry in 2024 and beyond. Oundjian identified six emerging trends poised to reshape the sector in the coming years, underscoring the rapidly evolving landscape that SaaS companies must navigate.

• Massive adoption of artificial intelligence
• Focus on SaaS security and compliance
• Market consolidation
• Multi-integration of SaaS applications
• Segment specific SaaS products
• Rise of low-code solutions

To thrive amidst this accelerating pace of change, Oundjian presented four strategic imperatives: embrace AI at scale, bring customer centricity and personalization to the next level, prioritize security and compliance, and stay flexible and agile.

The day’s first panel session welcomed a powerful trio of founders and CEOs – Aaron Lim, Jana Marlé-Zizková, and Ben Stein – who flew in from Singapore to share their growth hacking insights with SaaScon attendees. They offered a candid look at their respective journeys, from the inception of their SaaS companies to their present-day operations. The trio also delved into the hard-earned lessons of fundraising and their unique approaches to building profitable businesses.

Patrick Gentry, back in the role of moderator after his opening remarks, synthesized a key takeaway: A SaaS company’s existing clients are its lifeblood. This echoed Stein’s earlier point that growing revenue from current customers is 25 times easier than acquiring new leads. The discussion further revealed how the business climate in Southeast Asia enables nimble startups to provide services to major regional institutions, provided their product delivers.

The panel painted a vivid picture of the opportunities and challenges facing today’s SaaS entrepreneurs, offering invaluable insights for attendees seeking to blaze their own trail.

The fourth panel featured Philippine industry leaders Clarry Herrera of AGENIX Digital, Edmund Daniel P. Martinez of Seedbox Securities, and Neelam Gopwani of House of Branded Lifestyle, Inc. (HoBLI), who shared their companies’ compelling growth stories powered by SaaS adoption.

Herrera recounted how SaaS was initially limited to mission-critical activities when he founded his marketing services company with a lean team. As AGENIX expanded and aimed for scale, project management tools and software became integral. Now, the company has pivoted to provide SaaS solutions for SEO campaigns alongside its core offerings.

Martinez admitted that Seedbox’s very existence hinged on SaaS, which enabled the firm to meet investor expectations and outpace established competitors through cost reduction and agility.

Meanwhile, HoBLI, traditionally a retail player, has undergone a digital metamorphosis into an omnichannel company driven by technology. Gopwani shared how digitizing their point-of-sale and HR software using SaaS kickstarted this evolution.

The panelists also identified three primary hurdles: gaining user adoption, ensuring seamless integration, and navigating solutions with intense competition, which can be a double-edged sword for cost and quality.

Kislay Chandra, Sprout’s COO and the panel’s moderator, tempered audience members’ expectations about SaaS adoption in the Philippines. “The average company in the US uses 150 SaaS solutions,” he said.

“And I would say that the average company in the Philippines uses around 5 to 10. Now, this is not a contest. The goal is not to get the maximum or most number of SaaS solutions; it’s to make sure that you have the right technology to support the growth at the stage you are in.”

The AI panel brought together Ralph Regalado of Senti AI, Barts Bartido of Thinking Machines Data Science, Arup Maity of BlastAsia Inc., and Dave Overton of Symph, who shared their perspectives on the role and impact of AI in the Philippine business landscape.

Bartido highlighted how AI has transcended its previous confinement within IT departments or data groups, now permeating various organizational functions such as HR and finance. Maity noted that while the mainstream adoption of ChatGPT two years ago accelerated the hype cycle for generative AI, companies must remain grounded, focusing on their core value proposition and how their AI solutions tangibly benefit other businesses.

Overton cautioned against the temptation of merely adding AI services to pitch decks without first validating the product’s viability and value proposition. He cited Symph’s tool that transforms sales call transcripts into estimations as an example of a practical, valuable AI product.

Regalado identified the challenge of communicating with customers possessing varying levels of AI familiarity, advocating for greater flexibility and patience when introducing and explaining these complex solutions.

Participants then split into two groups for a  pair of breakout sessions. The first tackled the topic of delivering tailored customer experiences through a fusion of data and genuine human connection. Panelists Patty Paderes from Globe Telecom, Ferdie Saputil from Google, Guray Ozturk of Infobip, Miguel Warren of Aspire, and Nas Arcayan from Mothership Global shared their respective strategies for truly understanding their customers.

When asked how companies can retain empathy amidst data-driven solutions, one panelist emphasized the human element behind the data, ready to deliver personalized services. Another highlighted empowering customers with smoother self-service experiences for independent problem-solving. The consensus: customer data holds vast potential for curating personalized journeys.

The second session featured insights from business leaders who navigated the transition from Southeast Asian startups to global players, which was moderated by Fiona Gurtiza, Content Marketing Officer at Sprout. SG-based founders Aaron Lim, Jana Marlé-Zizková, and Ben Stein returned to discuss the challenges they encountered. They noted the relative ease of founding startups in SEA compared to Europe and the USA due to differences in tax regimes and registration procedures.

However, they also noted that regional expansion demands thorough research, particularly into data legislation and cultural norms. Culture is an underestimated factor in operations, as localizing apps and software extends beyond simple UI translation. The panelists’ experiences offered attendees a roadmap for scaling their businesses internationally while mitigating potential pitfalls.

After an eventful day, the conference wrapped up with the members of the Impact ‘24 cohort making their pitches. This included presentations from Polka.ph, Hati Health, GetHired, Bonanza Benefits, and Impak.

SaaScon PH 2024 was made possible through the cooperation of our sponsors: AWS, DoiT, Globe Business, Google Cloud, Gold, Infobip, Agenix Digital, Aspire, KMC, Cypher Learning, Hive Health, Netbank, Disprz, Mynavi, Payoneer, Crayon, and Asia CEO Events.

For more information about this year’s conference, please visit SaaScon’s website. You can also find on-demand videos of each session here. Sprout will soon be gearing up for the third edition of SaasCon PH, so stay tuned for further updates and keep an eye out for our upcoming on-demand webinars!