Gotransverse
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Nov 30, 2020Last month, Gotransverse’s president, Michael Beamer, and Forrester senior analyst Lily Varon gave a webinar about the benefits of billing software that’s designed and built specifically to support recurring revenue. According to Varon (author of the Forrester Wave: Saas Billing Solutions Report), more than one third of firms are currently looking to invest in new financial software from vendors other than the ones they currently use. In response, she and Beamer encouraged firms to look for software solutions that were built, from the ground up, to support the recurring revenue models that are so critical for success in today’s business world.
Their recommendation was based on five key benefits that this kind of software provides.
Growth through Adaptability
Adaptability, said Varon, has been both the promise and the result of the digital transformation, and she borrowed a definition from Gary Hamel at the London Business School:
“[The adaptive enterprise has] the capacity to reconfigure its underlying business concept, by dramatically rethinking its core mission, its primary value proposition, its core competencies, the markets or industries in which it competes, [and] its end customer.”
From adopting new revenue models to launching new business channels to scaling capacity quickly, adaptability is the foundation of any change companies may need to make in favor of serving their customers’ needs, and recurring revenue billing systems support that adaptability in five ways:
- Launching new products easily
- Pricing and bundling in new ways
- Iterating and experimenting more effectively
- Expanding globally
- Managing customer lifecycle changes
To see an example of a company that used Gotransverse’s recurring revenue billing system to achieve the adaptability they needed to launch a new business segment, read our QSC Case Study here.
Faster Time to Cash
When billing goes right, Varon reminded listeners in the webinar, nobody cares. But when it goes wrong, it can quickly become an emotionally fraught moment that erodes the trusting relationship between customer and business.
Recurring revenue billing systems improve the billing and cash flow process by enabling faster billing cycles, automating dunning and collections methods and renewal-focused communication, and offering company’s a way to more effectively use customer data.
Not only does this mean faster, more accurate processing, but it also means more customized billing interactions with customers, which, Beamer reminded us, is critical to maintaining relationships and continuing to grow revenue. The high configurability of these systems means companies can apply different dunning methods to different customer segments based on their needs and preferences, and the data applications allow sales teams to offer relevant upgrades and add-ons at the time of renewal — offering more value to customers and opening new revenue doors.
Our YTEL Case Study shows the power of faster time to cash as YTEL moved from an organic billing system that required significant manual intervention to the Gotransverse platform, which enabled them to automate their process and ensure fast, accurate billing.
Shortened Time to Value
The incredible configurability — not only of the dunning and collections engines but of each feature of these billing systems — means that every workflow, every customized communication, and every automated task is designed to provide more value to customers in a shorter amount of time.
The architecture of these systems is especially modular, designed for configuration, and equipped to run rules-based automations set up by the users. This means that every feature is decoupled — catalog entries, prices and bundles work separately from each other, as does customer account information like billing ownership and payment responsibility. This provides not only serious customization for customers, but also serious flexibility for the business, enabling individual teams to move quickly when needed, untethered by other teams’ differing priorities and needs.
“Highly coupled is a curse,” said Beamer in his remarks about time to value. When everybody’s tasks are tightly interwoven and dependent on others’ participation, that can cause serious organizational delays and challenges. A bridge designed to withstand high wind has to have some give and flexibility in it or else it will snap — and billing systems are the same way. Their flexibility makes them stronger and more durable for the long haul.
Of course, Varon reminded webinar attendees, all that flexibility doesn’t — and shouldn’t — mean teams are working in silos, disconnected from what each other is doing. The tight integrations recurring revenue billing systems enable mean every system, every team, can work in lockstep to move processes and workflows forward accurately and efficiently.
Scale with Business
Twenty years ago, scaling a business with technology was possible, but it was costly and time consuming. Today, SaaS billing solutions can manage enormous volumes and exponential growth, empowering companies to scale economically and efficiently.
StarzPlay is one Gotransverse client that has leveraged the platform to power enormous growth, and you can read the full case study here. But it’s important to note that scaling doesn’t strictly refer to continuous upward growth. It can also refer to managing fluctuating demand during holidays or, say, a global pandemic.
Varon recommended that, when vetting potential billing vendors, companies not only ask about scalability in the abstract, but also request hard numbers indicating the capacity of their highest-volume accounts, largest peaks, fastest growth, and more. That way, you can make sure the vendor you’re considering is capable of handling your volume needs(and projected volume needs) specifically.
Improve Affordability
All of these key benefits culminate in dramatically improved affordability for businesses. When you can move and change fast, automate mundane tasks, and streamline every workflow, that means two things:
First, it means the business needs far less staff to accommodate billing. Configurability means there’s no need to rely on (or pay for) subject matter experts every time a change is required, and all the automation means less staff is required to process billing, distribute invoices, and collect and report revenue. This case study shows how Ethoca was able to save money by reducing billing staff after switching to the Gotransverse platform.
Second, it means existing human resources hours can be repurposed into more strategic initiatives. All that time spent manually shepherding invoices can now be used for higher-level work that truly drives growth and change.
When it comes to recurring revenue billing systems, these benefits are just the tip of the iceberg. For more information on its benefits, including recommendations for finding the right vendor for your organization, we encourage you to watch the full webinar with Forrester’s Lily Varon and Gotransverse’s Michael Beamer. Then, to meet the key players in the billing marketplace, download the latest Forrester Wave: SaaS Billing Solutions Report. And finally, when you’re ready, we invite you to request a demo today, and one of our experts will get in touch to discuss how the Gotransverse platform can help you transform your billing and your business.