Businesses today are looking to provide maximum value to their customers and increase their revenue potential through complex pricing models, streamlined billing processes, and the capability to manage high volumes of transactions from across the globe. To achieve all this - while staying competitive in this rapidly changing, disruption-prone, consumer-centric market - the savviest businesses are shifting from on-premise to cloud-based billing. In fact, the widespread adoption of cloud-based billing is staggering, with the market growing at a 22% CAGR as it leaps from $5.92 billion in 2021 to a projected $7.21 billion this year—and $15.21 billion by 2026—according to The Business Research Company.

So what’s driving this billing migration to the cloud? According to the same report, “The change in the cloud-based billing market growth trend is mainly due to the growing demand for cloud billing owing to its lower operating costs.” That’s absolutely a significant factor, but it’s not the only driver. Let’s take a look at a few of the many benefits of cloud-based billing versus the traditional, on-premises approach.

No More Hardware Maintenance

The first (and most essential) benefit of switching from on-premises billing to a cloud-based vendor eliminates the hardware burden. While on-premise billing software is hosted locally on company-owned computers and servers, cloud-based billing software is hosted by the software vendor and accessed via web browser. With on-premise systems, the business is responsible for the cost (in both money and time) of purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading the servers as the business grows. With cloud-based systems, that burden falls to the vendor instead.

Flexible Configurations

Cloud-based billing offers much more flexibility than on-premises solutions. An on-premise billing system may effectively support business needs at the time of implementation, but the reality is that it just isn’t designed for change. The moment there's a new pricing model in place or a new geographic market or product offering, the on-premise solution starts to lag. Every modification requires expert intervention to get back up to speed. These changes can take anywhere from days and weeks to a full year to implement, putting companies at risk of missing their opportunities to serve customers in new and innovative ways.

Cloud-based systems, however, are designed to empower growth and change. They’re easy to configure (and reconfigure), and they’re agile enough to allow companies to respond quickly to customer needs, capitalizing on new opportunities in the market.

Scale—Up or Down—with Ease

Scalability is a vital piece of the billing puzzle for businesses whose plans include growth—in the volume of customers, international markets, etc. But as the pandemic showed us all, it's just as important to be able to scale back in slow times (expected or unprecedented) as it is to be able to scale up as business takes off. While on-premises systems require companies to purchase and install new servers to support growth (and leave them paying for unused capacity when demand dips), cloud-based systems offer elasticity. Real-time demand fluctuations make it easy to add or remove capacity at a marginal cost. This means there’s no boundary to growth—and no more wasting money on unused volume.

Learn more about scalability with cloud-based billing in our recent blog post.

Seamless Systems Integration

Finally, the billing platform is just one piece of the technology ecosystem that powers a thriving business. These billing systems must work seamlessly together to optimize performance and power growth. Again, on-premise solutions present an obstacle, as they require significant manual intervention—another drain on time and budget—to integrate with other, off-platform solutions. Because of this, they often lead to logjams such as gaps or inconsistencies in data or stalled workflows between departments. On the other hand, cloud-based solutions are built to work in tandem with a wide range of other systems, including CRMs, ERPs, tax payment gateways, CPQs, and more. These platforms will integrate smoothly, enabling automated workflows and seamless data transfer.

All of these benefits of cloud-based billing platforms add up to the significantly lower operating costs cited in the Business Research Company report. Still, they also add happier customers, serious competitive advantages, and higher revenue. With the right cloud-based billing platform in place, businesses are empowered to achieve and exceed every goal, and Gotransverse is proud to be a leader in this market. Our native cloud-based billing solution helps our clients streamline operations, introduce new products, and create rapid growth. If your business is looking to shift away from on-premise billing, we invite you to take a tour of our platform today. Then, when you’re ready, contact us to schedule your complimentary, personalized demo.