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Mar 11, 2020“Business growth strategies rely on new revenue streams, which necessitate new and agile pricing models that can adapt to changing market needs. Thanks to the web, consumers are demanding more pay-as-you-go and fee-based products and services, and businesses are necessarily adapting internal business processes to accommodate agile pricing strategies. Without the ability to pivot pricing strategies rapidly, companies will not be able to optimize or will miss out on new revenue opportunities.” - James Messer, Gotransverse CEO, in Forbes.
Gotransverse CEO James Messer was featured in Forbes recently, sharing insights as to how changing customer buying preferences are impacting business strategies and putting pressure on companies to rethink legacy technologies that may no longer support or spur growth. This need is particularly evident in billing, as companies seek solutions that enable them to shift their pricing strategies to meet customer expectations and maximize revenue opportunities.
However, Messer says, “Many companies tend to make business decisions based on the limitations of their legacy mindset or technology rather than customer needs.” Developing strategies based on what the current tech can do is short-sighted, and this limited mindset will ultimately stunt growth.
“As organizations become increasingly reliant on technology, legacy systems become a roadblock to adaptability and growth. […] Modifying your business platform to accommodate growth and new pricing models can be time-consuming and expensive. Still, without an agile platform that can change with business needs, you have limited options if you want to keep pace with the market.”
Messer recognizes — as we all do at Gotransverse — that the upfront costs of replacing a legacy billing system with a brand-new platform can seem daunting. The temptation to simply modify the legacy system, adding functions and capabilities one at a time, may seem to be a cost-saver, but between the maintenance costs and the missed opportunities due to development delays and inefficient processes, the long-term costs of limping along may be more than many businesses can afford.
“Instead of rip and replace, many organizations work to extend existing systems by adopting a legacy development strategy to make as few changes as possible. However, as more connections and integrations are cobbled together, the result is often a Rube Goldberg configuration, where any single failure will affect the entire infrastructure.”
Rather than making do with old technology, Messer recommends businesses strongly consider the upfront investment in platforms that are specifically designed to propel growth. Specifically, he suggests cloud-based alternatives to problematic legacy systems, citing their streamlined costs, ease of integration, agility, and scalability. “For example,” he says, “choosing to add more cloud services rather than expanding enterprise resources to create a hybrid approach can maximize pricing flexibility.” According to Messer, the cloud has enabled much of today’s business agility, and failure to embrace this technology could lead to missed revenue opportunities and the risk of obsolescence.
As businesses begin to grow, this push, it’s not uncommon to outgrow legacy systems — billing or otherwise. But getting the right systems in place can seem like an overwhelming task. Messer’s advice? Prioritize.
“As you plan for the future, take a hard look at your legacy systems, and identify those dead-end solutions that could hold you back. What parts of your workflow and billing infrastructure will prevent you from adding a new product or a new pricing model? It’s likely you already have a good idea which legacy systems will present problems. Assess their specific functionality and their role in the value chain, and then look for cloud-based alternatives that can perform the same functions, but without limiting business growth.”
Read Messer’s full article in Forbes.
At Gotransverse, we recognize the challenges businesses are facing not only to respond to the changing market but to anticipate its changes. As shifts in customer demand continue to drive pricing model evolutions, a la carte, pay-as-you-go, fee-based, and other pricing models will continue to become foundational to business success. And that’s just the start. If your business is laying the groundwork for growth — or if you’re already growing and need help getting your billing system up to speed — we encourage you to get in touch so we can discuss whether our platform is the right solution for your business. Get started by taking a tour of our platform, then, when you’re ready, contact us for a free, personalized demo.