Overview
This analysis examines GetApp's 2019 Category Leaders rankings across 29 business software categories to understand integrations' role in SaaS success.
Key Highlights
- GetApp evaluated over 4,000 SaaS products across 29 categories
- 383 products ranked as Category Leaders; 29 crowned overall winners
- Integration scored equally with four other factors (20 points each from 100-point total)
- Products' integrations comprised 75% of the Integration factor score
- High variance in Integration scores suggests competitive differentiation opportunity
- Some categories require high Integration scores as table stakes for Top 15 inclusion
Methodology Critique
GetApp's scoring framework includes five equal factors:
- Security (20 points) - Authors note 80 products scored zero, suggesting methodology flaws
- User Reviews (20 points)
- Integrations (20 points)
- Mobile (20 points)
- Functionality (20 points)
Integration Factor Breakdown: Five points for open API presence; up to 15 points based on integration assessment. Authors emphasize: "an API is no longer enough" given market expectations for no-code, self-serve solutions.
Methodology Concerns Identified:
- Functionality shouldn't equal other factors; should rank foremost
- Mobile shouldn't be independent factor; belongs within Functionality
- Security scoring appears invalid with 18.5% receiving zeros
Statistical Analysis
Chart 1 Analysis: Variance Distribution
Authors calculated standard deviation and category averages for each factor across 29 categories, excluding Security due to validity concerns.
Key Finding: Integration demonstrates "high variance" pattern—red diamonds showing standard deviations exceeding 3 in 23 of 29 categories. Time & Expenses category exemplifies extremes with Integration scores ranging 0-20.
Comparison: Functionality and Reviews show lower, tighter variance. Mobile shows variance similar to Integration.
Chart 2: Integration as Differentiation
High Integration variance (red box) indicates products with slightly above-average Functionality and Reviews scores can distinguish themselves through superior integrations.
Employee Scheduling Example: Deputy (Category Winner) scored perfect 20 on Integration—double the category average—despite not winning Functionality or Reviews. Tight clustering around high averages meant Deputy's above-average scores in other factors combined with integration strength to secure victory.
Two Key Observations
Observation #1: Integration=Impactful Differentiation
High variance pattern suggests integrations provide meaningful competitive distinction. However, prioritize Functionality and Reviews first if lagging; excellence in all three matters most.
Mobile factor follows similar patterns with less statistical strength. Authors note: "integration matters for most B2B software use cases, while a robust mobile app matters for some business use cases."
Observation #2: Integration as Table Stakes
Three categories (Email Marketing, Project Management, Live Chat) show high average scores with low variance. Perfect 20 Integration scores tie across multiple competitors:
- Email Marketing: 6-way tie; average 19.5
- Project Management: 11-way tie; average 19.5
- Live Chat: 12-way tie; average 19.2
These categories effectively require maximum Integration scores for Category Leader consideration.
"Brute Force" Integration Impact Test
Removing Integration scores from overall rankings showed:
- 6 of 29 Category Winners would lose crowns (5 dropping to second)
- 16 of 87 Top 3 products would fall off podium
- 22 of 145 Top 5 products would lose Top 5 status
- Average rank loss: -2.2 positions for 150 affected products
Results suggest Integration matters but isn't determinative—lacking integrations doesn't guarantee failure.
Conclusions
Despite GetApp's methodology limitations, analysis reveals: "high variance in most categories suggests that there is an opportunity to leverage more/better integrations to distinguish yourself from the competition."
Primary Insight: Integrations serve as meaningful differentiation lever, particularly for products with competitive Functionality and Reviews scores.
Honest Assessment: Results provide "a little" concrete evidence about Integration's relative SaaS importance, though dataset quality concerns limit definitive conclusions.
Future Research Directions
Authors seek:
- Competitor datasets (G2, similar platforms) for correlation
- SaaS partners to document integration impact on business success
- Financial performance data correlated with integration offerings
- Alternative broad datasets for comparative analysis