Dive Brief:

• Microsoft is the new Software as a Service overall leader, according to Q2 data released from Synergy Research Group. Overall, Synergy found the SaaS market "remains fragmented," with a different leader in each segment.
• Microsoft took the lead from Salesforce, though Salesforce continues to dominate the CRM segment.
• Other leading SaaS providers include SAP, Oracle, Adobe, ADP, IBM, Workday, Intuit and Cisco. Oracle grew the fastest in Q2, according to the report.

Dive Insight:

SaaS is the most mature as a Service segment, and still shows signs of strong growth, particularly because companies often choose to use vendors rather than creating solutions internally. Synergy data found the market grew 33% year over year in Q2, with more than $11 billion in quarterly revenues. Synergy forecasts the SaaS market will "more than triple in size over the next five years."

Collaboration, the largest SaaS segment, grew 37% in Q2. ERP grew 49%, according to Synergy, making it the fastest growing of all SaaS segments.

While some expect newer "born in the cloud" companies to blow older tech companies away in the SaaS arena, John Dinsdale, Chief Analyst and Research Director at Synergy Research Group, said traditional software vendors are more than holding their own.

"The traditional software vendors are growing their SaaS revenues more rapidly, helped by their huge base of on-premise software customers that can be aggressively targeted for conversion to a SaaS consumption model," said Dinsdale.