The Enterprise Feature Checklist: 15 Things B2B Buyers Expect

Enterprise sales cycles fail in predictable ways. You pass technical review. The champion loves your product. Pricing is agreed. Then procurement sends a security questionnaire, IT asks about SSO, and legal wants to know about your SOC 2 report.

If you can't check these boxes, the deal dies. Not because your product isn't good, but because you can't be purchased.

Here are the 15 features enterprise buyers expect. Not having them isn't a product gap. It's a go-to-market ceiling.

1. Single Sign-On (SSO)

What they expect: SAML 2.0 and OIDC support for integration with their identity provider (Okta, Azure AD, Google Workspace).

Why it matters: Enterprise IT manages thousands of applications through centralized identity. If your product can't integrate, it either doesn't get bought or gets bought and ignored because employees won't create separate credentials.

The minimum: SAML 2.0 support with SP-initiated flow. Azure AD and Okta work out of the box. JIT (just-in-time) user provisioning so users don't need to be pre-created.

The bar is higher than you think: Many enterprises now expect OIDC in addition to SAML. Some want IdP-initiated SSO. All want it to just work without a support ticket.

Implementation note: Don't build this yourself. Auth0, WorkOS, and Clerk all provide SSO as a feature. The implementation time is days, not months.

2. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

What they expect: Granular permissions that map to their organizational structure. Admin, editor, viewer at minimum. Custom roles ideally.

Why it matters: Enterprises have complex org structures. The VP of Marketing should see different things than the content coordinator. Without RBAC, you're either too permissive (security risk) or too restrictive (unusable).

The minimum: Three to five predefined roles with clear permission sets. Role assignment at the user and team level.

What large enterprises want: Custom role creation. Attribute-based access control (ABAC) for fine-grained permissions. Role hierarchy with inheritance.

Implementation note: Design your permission model early. Retrofitting RBAC onto an application that assumed all users were equal is painful.

3. Audit Logs

What they expect: A searchable record of who did what, when. User actions, admin changes, data access.

Why it matters: Compliance, security investigations, and accountability. When the CISO asks "who exported that customer data," you need an answer.

The minimum: Timestamp, user, action, and resource for significant events. Retention for at least one year. Basic search and filter.

What large enterprises want: Real-time log streaming to their SIEM (Splunk, Datadog). Log completeness guarantees. Tamper-evident log storage.

Implementation note: Log events asynchronously so audit logging doesn't slow down your application. Use structured formats (JSON) from the start.

4. User Provisioning (SCIM)

What they expect: Automated user lifecycle management. When someone joins, leaves, or changes roles in their HR system, your application reflects it automatically.

Why it matters: Manual user management doesn't scale. An enterprise with 10,000 employees can't submit support tickets every time someone joins or leaves. More critically, failing to deprovision departed employees is a security risk.

The minimum: SCIM 2.0 support for user and group provisioning. Works with major identity providers.

What large enterprises want: Real-time sync, not batch. Group/team provisioning that maps to their organizational structure. Detailed provisioning logs for troubleshooting.

5. SOC 2 Type II Report

What they expect: Third-party attestation that you handle data securely. SOC 2 Type II is the standard ask.

Why it matters: It's a checkbox on every enterprise security review. Without it, you go through a lengthy custom security assessment, or you don't get bought.

The minimum: SOC 2 Type II report covering the Trust Service Criteria relevant to your service (usually Security, Availability, and Confidentiality). Current, meaning completed within the last year.

What large enterprises want: SOC 2 plus additional certifications depending on industry: HIPAA for healthcare, PCI DSS for payment handling, ISO 27001 for international enterprises.

Implementation note: SOC 2 takes 6-12 months to achieve from scratch. Start early. Use a compliance automation platform (Vanta, Drata, Secureframe) to reduce the burden.

6. Data Residency Options

What they expect: Control over where their data is stored geographically.

Why it matters: GDPR requires EU data to stay in the EU. Government contracts may require US-only storage. Some enterprises have internal policies about data location.

The minimum: Clarity on where data is stored. If you're US-only, say so upfront so EU-focused enterprises don't waste their time.

What large enterprises want: Region selection during onboarding. EU, US, and APAC options. Sometimes country-specific requirements (Germany, Australia).

Implementation note: Multi-region architecture is genuinely complex. For most early-stage SaaS, being honest about your current region and having a roadmap for expansion is sufficient.

7. SLA with Uptime Guarantee

What they expect: Contractual commitment to availability, usually 99.9% or higher, with credits for downtime.

Why it matters: Enterprises build business processes on your product. If you're down, they can't work. They need assurance and recourse.

The minimum: Published SLA with uptime percentage commitment. Status page showing historical availability. Defined process for reporting incidents.

What large enterprises want: 99.99% or higher. Financial credits for SLA breaches. Defined RTO/RPO for disaster recovery. Scheduled maintenance windows that don't disrupt business hours.

8. API Access

What they expect: Programmatic access to your functionality. REST or GraphQL API with comprehensive documentation.

Why it matters: Enterprises integrate everything. Your product needs to connect to their data warehouse, CRM, and internal tools. Without an API, you're a silo.

The minimum: REST API covering core functionality. Authentication via API keys or OAuth. API documentation that's accurate and complete. Rate limiting with clear limits documented.

What large enterprises want: Webhooks for real-time events. Bulk operations for data migration. Sandbox environment for development. API versioning with deprecation policy.

9. Custom Contracts and Invoicing

What they expect: Annual contracts with custom terms. Invoicing, not credit card billing. PO-based procurement.

Why it matters: Enterprise procurement doesn't put $100K/year on a credit card. They need net-30 invoices, PO numbers on invoices, and terms reviewed by legal.

The minimum: Ability to generate invoices. Annual contract option. Willingness to work with their paper (MSA, DPA, etc.).

What large enterprises want: Integration with their procurement system (Coupa, Ariba). Custom payment terms. Multi-year contracts with committed pricing.

Implementation note: This is operational, not technical, but it blocks deals just as effectively as missing features.

10. Data Export and Portability

What they expect: The ability to get their data out of your system in a standard format.

Why it matters: Vendor lock-in concerns. Compliance requirements. Backup and archival needs.

The minimum: Export to CSV or JSON for all user data. Reasonable timeframe (don't make them wait a week).

What large enterprises want: API-based export for automation. Scheduled exports. Integration with their data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery).

Legal requirement: GDPR mandates data portability. If you serve EU customers, this isn't optional.

11. Upfront Security Documentation

What they expect: Documented security practices available before they engage deeply in sales process.

Why it matters: Security teams want to review your practices before investing time in evaluation. If they have to ask for everything manually, you've already lost points.

The minimum: Security whitepaper or trust center page. Network architecture overview. Data handling practices. Subprocessor list.

What large enterprises want: Pre-filled CAIQ or SIG questionnaire. Penetration test results (executive summary). Bug bounty program.

Implementation note: Create a trust center page on your website with downloadable documents. Every enterprise asks the same questions. Answer them once.

12. Dedicated Support Channels

What they expect: Access to support that isn't a chatbot or a community forum. Named contacts. Phone support for critical issues.

Why it matters: When their business-critical system is down, they need a human who knows their account, not a ticket queue.

The minimum: Email support with guaranteed response times. Escalation path for critical issues.

What large enterprises want: Dedicated customer success manager. Slack channel with your team. Quarterly business reviews. 24/7 phone support for outages.

13. Admin Controls and Delegation

What they expect: Administrative controls that don't require your support team to operate.

Why it matters: IT admins manage hundreds of applications. They need self-service capabilities, not support tickets for routine tasks.

The minimum: Admin panel for user management. Ability to add/remove users, reset passwords, manage roles.

What large enterprises want: Domain-based user restriction (only @company.com emails). IP allowlisting. Session management (force logout). Usage analytics at the organization level.

14. Sandbox/Test Environments

What they expect: Non-production environment for testing and development.

Why it matters: Enterprises don't want to test new integrations against production data. They need a safe place to experiment.

The minimum: Separate test instance or environment. Test data that isn't mixed with production.

What large enterprises want: Multiple environments (dev, staging, production). Environment promotion workflows. API access parity across environments.

15. Compliance with Their Security Questionnaire

What they expect: Willingness and ability to complete lengthy security questionnaires.

Why it matters: It's not about whether the questionnaire is reasonable. It's about whether you'll engage with their process. Refusing to fill out a questionnaire is a disqualifier.

The minimum: Someone on your team who will complete questionnaires. Consistent answers (don't contradict yourself across deals). Reasonable turnaround time (not 6 weeks).

What large enterprises want: Pre-filled common frameworks (CAIQ, SIG). Fast turnaround. Willingness to hop on calls to explain answers.

Implementation note: Create a master document with answers to common questions. Update it quarterly. Use it to fill out every questionnaire consistently.

The Prioritization Problem

You can't build all 15 features before you have enterprise customers. But you can't get enterprise customers without certain features.

Must-have before first enterprise deal: - SSO (SAML at minimum) - Basic RBAC (admin/user roles) - Security documentation (trust center page) - Annual contract and invoicing capability

Must-have before scaling enterprise: - SOC 2 Type II - SCIM provisioning - Audit logs - API with documentation - SLA with uptime commitment

Can add as you grow: - Data residency options - Custom roles and ABAC - Multiple environments - 24/7 phone support

The honest conversation: If you're not ready for enterprise, be upfront about it. Selling to enterprises before you can support them creates churn and reputation damage. It's better to say "we'll have SSO in Q2" than to scramble after signing a contract you can't fulfill.

Ready to make your product enterprise-ready? [Let's talk about your roadmap](/contact).