Graphic design is one of those SMB functions that’s been democratized. This evolutionary progression has involved a gradual march of digital tools like Adobe Illustrator, in-design, and the rest of the Creative Cloud. Canva has come along in the past few years to take that democratization principle to new levels.
Canva’s foothold in doing so is its simple web-based approach no-code tools. These lower adoption barriers few rungs further than Adobe when it comes to drag & drop functionality for SMB marketing and design work. It operates at SMB levels of competency and savvy to unlock pro graphic design work.
But though this SMB sweet spot exists for Canva – as well as professionals in brand marketing departments throughout the land – the product has always been primarily positioned as a tool for individuals. We’re talking about the creator-economy ranks of freelance artists and graphic designers.
Arms Race
That’s why Canva this week launched formal product packaging with an enterprise bow on it. After accommodating SMBs with features and pricing for 5-100 users, it’s now doing the same for teams of up to 5,000. Canva says such teams are already using it… so it’s simply a matter of following demand.
As for the features that are geared towards these larger-seat accounts, they include single-sign-on, functions for managing larger numbers of seats, and enhanced security. That last one speaks to IT departments, which are always a barrier to cross in any enterprise software sales scenario.
And of course, the enterprise version contains all of the AI features that Canva has been rolling out. Keeping pace with the AI arms race in design software (Adobe is blitzing the technology), Canva has done a lot – from generative AI design elements to assistant functions to streamline design workflows.
As for pricing, all the above will run for $300 per seat per year, with some negotiating wiggle room based on volume. This compares with the previous package available to smaller teams (sans enterprise security and other functions) which remains at $100 per seat per year with a minimum 3-seat commitment.
SMB Dynamics
Back to SMBs, Canva’s democratization principles align well, and they account for a large share of its users. But it’s also begun to penetrate further into non-technical folks within larger enterprises, such as marketing departments. These fiefdoms can mimic SMB dynamics and the latest move speaks to them.
One benefit that’s brought to these corporate personas is collaboration. For example, once a designer creates something, it can then be available in Canva’s cloud for other departments modify. That could be everything from business cards to marketing campaigns for departmental business partners.
Add up all of these headcounts across the Fortune 500 and Canva has a sizable large addressable market ahead of it. This could be further accelerated by its freemium model. Like Slack and others, this may draw in corporate users in with low commitment levels. Then it’s all about the upsell.
