Why is it important to have an intelligent cloud-based billing platform?
Particularly for advanced communications businesses, operating without an automated billing, payments, and customer management solution can inhibit growth.
In Rev.io’s 2017 survey, The Current State of Communications and IoT, 73% of companies said they’re seeing at least a 20% annual growth rate. If you’ve found the financial health of your own business suffering from revenue leakage or billing errors, then it’s time to consider other options.
When evaluating subscription billing platforms, there are several ways to separate the duds from the game-changers. To do this, look for a cloud-based billing platform that meets the following characteristics:
Adopting a new technology consumes one of your biggest resources – time. Before you make an investment, be sure to think about where your company is headed. Will you be adding a new offering? Expanding into a new market? Moving from an inside sales model to an agent model? Be sure to consider the scalability of the new software and your future company initiatives.
An intelligent cloud-based billing platform should eliminate manual processes and make it easier to grow. Look for a customizable telecommunications, Managed Services, and IoT billing platform with built-in inventory management, integrated tax calculation, and workflow automation capabilities. The leading software-as-a-service billing platforms allow you to consolidate multiple systems and provides a clear picture into your revenue and customers.
A good platform will not only meet your company’s needs but will also empower your customers. Complement your offering with a robust self-service customer portal for tracking usage, support tickets, locations, and new orders.
At Rev.io, we think of ourselves as your billing partner – rather than just another software vendor – and we’ve developed additional tools to help our clients improve satisfaction and reduce churn. By coupling our intelligent billing platform with self-enablement portals, our clients build lasting relationships with their customers and agents.
Subscription and pay-as-you-go pricing models have changed the way modern consumers and businesses interact. In order to stay current, telecommunications, Managed Services, and IoT businesses must incorporate usage-based offerings into their services. With the right technology, consumption-based billing becomes simple. Look for a billing, payments, and customer management platform with an established network of strategic partners and integrations; this will streamline manual processes by populating usage-rating and automating new orders, service suspensions, and disconnects. For additional usage-based billing tips, check out our 4 Considerations of Consumption-Based Pricing blog post!
In addition to facilitating usage-based pricing structures, you can identify a top-notch billing system by evaluating your billing partner’s development roadmap, ease of integration, and internal team.
Here are some questions to ask while you search for potential billing partners:
After spending the time to thoroughly vet a new software and deciding to implement the technology, the last thing you want is to fall short during the onboarding or training phase. Inquiring about the onboarding process can save you time and money (and possibly a huge headache). The best billing platforms have created a detailed implementation model and have knowledgeable, in-house onboarding and training teams.
When evaluating a billing partner, here are the best questions to ask about onboarding:
For more insight on this topic, contact our team! To learn more about our sophisticated billing, payments, and customer management platform, schedule a demo today. We look forward to hearing from you!