BANGALORE, India, Nov. 28, 2022 -- 2023 and the upcoming years will see major changes in the tech industry, driven by the maturation of AI-enabled tools, newer approaches to talent acquisition and consumers' increased understanding of how their data is handled by tech companies. Here is what Hiver foresees for the tech startup space in the new year:

Owned media to become a bigger part of SaaS product distribution

The SaaS industry has seen many waves in terms of distribution channels and growth funnels. While sales-led products drove the first wave, the industry also experienced conventions in distribution in terms of marketing-led products (inbound funnels), and the most recent product-led motion, wherein the product itself is becoming a vehicle of acquisition, activation and revenue.

Hiver foresees that the next trend in SaaS product distribution will come from community-led products where companies acquire/nurture media outlets and community publications, to directly connect with their target segments. HubSpot's acquisition of The Hustle, Zapier's acquisition of Makerpad, and Robinhood's acquisition of MarketSnacks are good examples of this upcoming wave.

However, just like the product-led motion does not replace the sales-led, or marketing-led motions and rather enhances them, this new wave of community-led products will also be an additional channel of growth and acquisition for forward-looking companies over and above their existing approaches.

Machine learning technologies will become a major force in the customer experience space

With the macroeconomic situation looking gloomy in 2023, customer acquisition efforts will become less successful. Businesses will begin shifting their focus more towards retaining and growing their existing customer base. To implement this strategy, companies across sectors will invest more in improving their customer experience approach, so that they are able to build loyalty. Hiver would also see the onset of more machine learning technologies in the customer experience space so that the businesses can personalise the experience for the customers as well as speed up the value delivery.

The industry will see a significant rise in freelancers

Companies slowing down hiring and conducting massive layoffs will create a large contractor/freelancer pool of highly skilled knowledge workers. Businesses will opt for contractual workers rather than recruiting full-time employees for their immediate needs. This would end up boosting the freelancer economy focussed platforms and business.

Data privacy to receive more priority in business strategy

Businesses who demonstrate how serious they are about data privacy and security will have an upper hand amongst their competitors, as the focus grows more among individuals and businesses alike on privacy and security. This Information Security vertical is going to see an increase in investment from most of the businesses.

About Hiver

Hiver is a customer service platform built for Google Workspace. It helps organisations worldwide manage customer communication across multiple channels such as email and live chat. Hiver offers the most intuitive capabilities for teams of all sizes as it is built natively within Gmail.

Backed by venture capital firms such as K1 Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kae Capital, and AngelList, Hiver is headquartered in San Jose, California, with most of its operations based out of Bangalore, India.

To know more, visit https://hiverhq.com/

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