Table of Contents
Finding the right billing software
Finding the right billing software for your business
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05 Minute Read
Narrowing the field
When selecting a modern billing software solution, one of the most critical factors to consider is the provider’s proven expertise. A strong track record in the industry not only showcases the provider’s reliability and capabilities but also offers peace of mind that they can effectively support your business and monetization needs.
In this chapter, we’ll help you sift through all the available solutions in the market to narrow your options and find the right billing software for your business.
Consult the latest analyst reports
Awards and industry recognitions are external validations of a provider’s quality and innovation. They also indicate that the provider is actively engaged in staying ahead of industry trends.
Check if the provider has received any awards or recognitions from reputable industry organizations. This can further bolster their credibility and reassure you of their leadership in the space.
Tip
See what leading analysts
have to say
- Gartner: Zuora named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Recurring Billing
- ISG (Ventana): Zuora is ranked #1 in the ISG Research Subscription Management Buyers Guides
- MGI: Zuora Revenue Ranks #1 in Product and Strategy in Automated Revenue Management
Gather recommendations from peers and partners
A provider with a robust network of partners often signals a well-rounded and flexible solution. Partnerships with other technology vendors, system integrators, and consulting firms can enhance the software’s capabilities and ensure smoother implementations.
Look for providers with established partnerships in your industry. A strong partner ecosystem indicates that the software can integrate seamlessly with other tools you’re using and that there’s a broad base of expertise to support your implementation and ongoing needs.
Consult peers and partners for vendor and solution recommendations and reviews. Consider the provider’s history — how long they’ve been in business, their growth trajectory, and their investment in research and development. Providers with a proven history are less likely to disappear from the market, leaving you without support or updates.
Tip
Gain insights from sector-specific trends
The latest edition of the annual Subscription Economy Index™ (SEI) analyzes the growth and resilience of businesses across multiple industries.
Read the report to learn how SEI companies in the SaaS, Media, and Manufacturing sectors drive recurring growth with customer-centric, future-proof billing software designed to support a mix of monetization models.
Identify your buying committee and stakeholder requirements
As we’ll discuss more in the next chapter, clearly knowing and understanding the goals and objectives of your buying committee and stakeholders is key for a successful billing project.
As you embark on this project, there are several steps you’ll need to take:
- Align on the scope and goals of the project first
- Understand the pain points and value from the perspective of your stakeholders
- Highlight several key benefits and improvements provided by a new solution
- Build a persuasive and targeted business case
Define your requirements and compile an RFP
How are things being done now and how would you like to see them change? To find the right technology for your growing business use cases, start by documenting them or creating examples in a spreadsheet.
Be inclusive of all billing use cases to allow for a flexible system design and end-to-end automation. If you’re striving for a complete solution, even the edge cases need to be documented. If you have many occurrences of a pattern, make sure you have a use case and an example for it. This is the only way you will be able to determine which solution will most closely meet your needs.
Gather end-user feedback
It is rare that one solution will solve every one of your team’s concerns, so it is imperative to sift out the best solution for the needs of the team that will be using the technology. List out the risks and costs associated with the current process.
Define your technical requirements
Once you’ve spoken with impacted stakeholders, end users, and documented current and future use cases, it’s time to work with IT to understand how the solution will work with your existing tech stack and corporate requirements.
Compile a list of must-have billing capabilities that your team will require from a new solution. These may include automated features like flexible pricing tools, support for usage metering, e-invoicing, or built-in connectors.
For a longer list of modern billing software requirements, see What key capabilities should you look for?
Review customer case studies
Testimonials and case studies provide concrete evidence of a provider’s ability to deliver results. They also offer insight into how the provider has overcome challenges similar to those your business might face.
Review customer success stories that detail how the provider’s billing solution has helped businesses like yours. Pay attention to the outcomes achieved, such as improved efficiency, reduced costs, or enhanced customer satisfaction.
Reach out to shortlisted vendors for evaluation
Once you’ve identified solutions that may meet your requirements, it’s time to test and evaluate those vendor offerings.
Make your vendors explain how they will handle your use cases and demo the key capabilities you need. If possible, use real contract data to prototype and test each solution — this makes it easier to compare and contrast results.
Determine how you will validate the system for completeness and accuracy. Ask vendors for customer references, particularly businesses with similar requirements. For best results, use the same demo script for every vendor, this way, you can test and evaluate each solution against the same list of capabilities and use cases.
What are some key questions to ask?
- Can you dedicate expert resources focused on billing, such as engineering, support, customer success?
- What percentage of use cases are handled with standard functionality?
- Does the product provide a workflow/business process management solution to take care of processes such as provisioning, dunning, and approvals?
- How will the system integrate with your other products in my quote-to-revenue process?
- What prebuilt connectors are provided for back-office systems (e.g., ERP, eCommerce, General Ledger, Revenue Recognition and CRM)?
- What makes your product especially extensible (e.g. custom fields, reusability, data model extension, marketplaces, etc.)?
- Is mixed model billing of multiple charge models (e.g. one-time, recurring, and usage) fully supported?
- How well does the product support multiple currencies, foreign currency exchange, product pricing tiers, product price lists, languages, product configurations, payment types, fraud rules, currency settlement and market-level reporting?
- How well does the solution manage customer accounts with complex parent-child account hierarchies (e.g. reseller or distributors in addition to direct-to-consumer)?
- What security and/or security process certifications has the product received?
- Can you provide examples of customer success stories and a list of references?
Making the decision and planning next steps
After you’ve evaluated findings from testing, research, and references, it’s time to make a decision:
- Summarize and compare evaluation results for all the vendors
- If necessary, remind everyone of the goals of the project and review requirements
- Exclude solutions that don’t meet high-level requirements
- Build your business case, making a recommendation and documenting why you’ve chosen this solution
- Present your business case to executives
- Plan for the time and resource commitment required to get the job done right, the first time
Learn more about billing software
Now that you’ve evaluated and selected the right billing software for your organization, it’s time to get buy-in and approval from your executive team or buying committee.
Keep reading to learn how to build a powerful business case for your billing project.
