Category: Business

Top 5 SAP BRIM use-cases for subscription-based businesses

In today’s whirlwind of a digital economy, the business world is witnessing a tectonic shift towards subscription-based models. The shift is motivated by the need for recurring revenue, improved customer retention, and customized offerings. As a result, many companies are embracing advanced billing solutions such as SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (SAP BRIM) to effectively handle complex processes, boost productivity, and enhance the customer experience.

SAP BRIM provides a wide range of tools that automate billing, streamline financial processes, and ensure accurate revenue recognition. In this blog, we highlight the top five use cases of SAP BRIM for subscription-based businesses, shedding light on the industries that stand to gain the most from advanced solution.

1. Telecommunications: Managing High-Volume Subscriptions

Industry Overview

The telecommunications sector has been at the forefront in the adoption of subscription-based models, providing a diverse array of services like mobile data, broadband, and streaming services. Managing these offerings, which involve millions of subscribers and intricate pricing systems, requires a highly flexible and scalable billing system.

Use Case

SAP BRIM’s capability to handle high transaction volumes accurately and efficiently is advantageous for telecommunications companies. This solution automates the entire lifecycle of subscription services, encompassing order management, billing, and invoicing. It supports dynamic pricing models, including usage-based billing, prepaid and postpaid plans, and bundled services, enabling companies to customize offerings to align with customer demand.

SAP BRIM seamlessly integrates with customer management systems, allowing companies to improve the customer experience through in-depth insights into subscription usage, billing history, and service upgrades. This leads to increased customer satisfaction and decreased churn.

Key Benefits

High-volume transaction processing
Flexibility in billing models (prepaid, postpaid, bundled services)
Seamless integration with customer management systems
Improved customer satisfaction and retention

Reference to Realtime case study – https://www.acuitilabs.com/sap-brim-case-study-telecom-company/

2. Media and Entertainment: Flexible Pricing and Bundling

Industry Overview

The subscription-based offerings in the media and entertainment industry, particularly streaming services, have experienced significant growth. Companies in this space rely on subscription models to ensure consistent revenue while tailoring prices to suit different customer needs, whether it’s for video streaming, music platforms, or digital news subscriptions.

Use Case

SAP BRIM provides businesses in this sector with the tools to simplify the management of subscription plans, including options for flexible billing such as tiered pricing, pay-per-view, or usage-based pricing. For instance, a streaming service can offer a range of subscription tiers based on content access, quality, or the number of devices. With SAP BRIM, media companies can swiftly adapt pricing models in line with market trends or subscriber preferences without causing disruptions to their operations.

Furthermore, SAP BRIM offers in-depth analysis of customer behavior, enabling media companies to customize offerings, deliver precise promotions, and optimize customer lifetime value. This feature is particularly beneficial in a competitive industry where personalized experiences are crucial for retaining customers.

Key Benefits

Support for tiered, pay-per-use, and usage-based pricing
Flexible plan management and bundling
Advanced customer analytics for personalized services
Adaptable pricing adjustments

Reference to Realtime case study – https://www.acuitilabs.com/sap-brim-case-study-media-company/

3. Software as a Service (SaaS): Managing Recurring Revenue and Scalability

Industry Overview

SaaS businesses represent the ideal model for recurring payment services, delivering cloud-based software solutions with a subscription-based approach. As companies expand, the necessity for an effective and adaptable billing solution becomes essential in efficiently managing subscriptions and recurring revenue.

Use Case

SAP BRIM is highly suitable for SaaS enterprises requiring seamless handling of recurring payments, upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations. Its billing system enables the automation of intricate billing cycles, encompassing monthly or annual payments, pay-per-user pricing, and multi-currency billing. Furthermore, its subscription management features offer transparent insights into customer lifecycles, simplifying the management of renewals, trial periods, and promotional pricing.

SaaS companies often deal with frequent alterations to customer subscriptions, including upgrades or cancellations of plans. The flexible billing engine of SAP BRIM allows for immediate adjustments to guarantee precise invoicing and revenue recognition, reducing revenue loss. Additionally, its scalability guarantees that SaaS companies can manage expansion without compromising on operational effectiveness.

Key Benefits

Streamlined management of recurring revenue
Real-time billing updates for subscription changes
Multi-currency billing for global customers
Automated revenue recognition to prevent leakage

4. Utilities: Supporting Complex Pricing and Consumption-Based Billing

Industry Overview

Utility companies, including those in the energy, and water sectors, often adopt subscription-based or consumption-based pricing models to bill customers for their usage. Managing this type of billing can be difficult due to fluctuating consumption levels and the need for precise billing practices.

Use Case

SAP BRIM allows utility providers to accurately bill customers based on real-time consumption data by integrating with smart meters to capture usage details, ensuring that customers are billed accurately for the resources they consume. The system supports both flat-rate and consumption-based pricing, enabling companies to offer flexible subscription plans that match customer preferences.

In addition, SAP BRIM’s invoicing capabilities enable consolidated billing, which is particularly valuable when customers subscribe to multiple services such as gas, electricity, and water. This enhances the customer experience by providing clear, transparent invoices that reduce the likelihood of disputes or billing errors.

Key Benefits

Real-time consumption-based billing
Integration with IoT and smart devices for accurate usage data
Flexible pricing models for utility services
Consolidated invoicing for multiple services

5. Automotive: Managing Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Industry Overview

The rise of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is driving a significant transformation in the automotive industry, offering customers the option to subscribe to vehicle fleets, utilize car-sharing services, or pay for usage-based transportation instead of relying on traditional vehicle ownership.

Use Case

SAP BRIM is a crucial tool for companies entering the MaaS market as it effectively manages subscriptions and usage-based billing, handling complex pricing models that combine fixed fees such as monthly car-sharing subscriptions with usage-based charges like mileage or hourly rates. This level of flexibility allows companies to provide attractive pricing choices tailored to different customer segments, including frequent commuters and occasional drivers.

Furthermore, SAP BRIM’s capability to oversee the entire customer lifecycle, from onboarding and usage tracking to billing and payment collection, assures a seamless experience for customers and operational efficiency for providers. This comprehensive automation reduces manual errors and guarantees consistent revenue streams for automotive companies venturing into MaaS offerings.

Key Benefits

Support for fixed and usage-based pricing models
Full customer lifecycle management
Real-time tracking of service usage

Enhanced billing accuracy and revenue collection

Conclusion

SAP BRIM provides unmatched capabilities for subscription-based enterprises in various sectors, including telecommunications, media, SaaS, utilities, and automotive. Its adaptable billing structures, real-time data integration, and advanced revenue management tools enable businesses to expand efficiently, minimize revenue loss, and improve the overall customer journey.

For enterprises aiming to optimize their subscription models, SAP BRIM offers the agility and accuracy required to excel in today’s competitive environment. With its capacity to manage intricate billing scenarios and high transaction volumes, SAP BRIM ensures that businesses can concentrate on growth and customer satisfaction without being hindered by operational complexities.

Acuiti Labs has effectively worked for companies in telecommunication, media, ports, postal services, and various other sectors to integrate SAP BRIM for subscription-based business models. Our proficiency in providing tailored solutions has assisted these companies in simplifying their billing procedures and attaining long-term success. To learn more about how we’ve made an impact, explore the detailed success stories in our case study section – Click here

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24 SepBusinessSAPTechnology

Boosting ROI with CLM Software: The Strategic Advantage for Growing Businesses

In today’s highly competitive business environment, effective contract management can make the difference between staying still and experiencing substantial expansion. Contracts are more than just legal documents; they represent the backbone of business relationships, revenue, and compliance. Nonetheless, managing contracts manually or with inefficient systems can drain resources, lead to delays, and result in compliance issues.

Below listed are a few reasons why businesses find it difficult to manage contracts –

Contracts management take significant time to copy, file and store which businesses fail to give and thus the process becomes difficult for them.
There’s no streamlined process to keep a track of price and payments which creates revenue loopholes.
Lot of time consumption in approval process from various ends can put a wrong impression on the customers and can also make you less valuable in their eyes
If working without a proper CLM software, split management can result in incorrect and incomplete information or even overlook policy compliance.

Introducing SAP Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software, an advanced solution created to simplify and automate the entire contract management process. Choosing SAP CLM can be very helpful in overcoming all the problems that you might face and can also be helpful in improving cost savings and efficiency of your business. Businesses that adopt SAP CLM not only achieve greater oversight of their contracts but also significantly enhance their Return on Investment (ROI). In this blog, we will delve into how SAP CLM can function as a strategic instrument for growing businesses and how it helps organizations in optimizing their resources.

Benefits of Using CLM (contract lifecycle management) for your business

Here are certain ways through which you can understand the use of automation software and how it can benefit your business with contract lifecycle management (CLM):

1. Standardized and managed process right from start to end

Many businesses struggle with inconsistent handling of contracts, as they often go through different departments and systems from initial requests to approvals, negotiations, and post-execution. You need to first properly understand how the complete process of customer lifecycle management works. We can take an example of following steps that a CLM could involve:

The first step is ‘generating a quote’ with the help of CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) that you might be using.
Next, you will be sending over an e-sign document to bind the contract.
Further, you might have to carry out the operation of making the sale and supplying the product
Once all this is done, you will store your contract in a database
And at the last, you will book the contract using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and keep track of your contracts from there.

CLM, instead streamlines all contracts based on the business’s operations thus helping you in managing multiple applications like separate CRM and ERP software from the same place. By doing this, you will be able to manage all steps of all contracts in one single program, where the collaborating with your partner or client becomes faster and you can also easily manage and track different tasks.

CLM minimises your chances of missing any deadlines and also provides access to required information from any part of the process just with a few clicks.

Additionally, the transparency of a standardized process enables businesses to assess performance and identify bottlenecks in their contract management workflow.

2. Minimizes the Requirement and Dependency on Manual Tasks

Managing contracts manually consumes a lot of time, is prone to errors, and can result in expensive mistakes. Whether it involves keeping track of contract renewals, handling approvals, or staying compliant with regulations, manual processes place a heavy burden on legal and procurement teams. SAP CLM reduces the need for human involvement by automating routine tasks.

CLM is the best solution to automate the complete manual process and streamline it in the following ways:

An auto-generated contract sent to the customer to sign based on the quote that has been selected
Approval and renewal notifications are sent to the appropriate people and applications in charge of moving the contract along once the task is complete
Contract is automatically updated and stored in the database once it has been signed by the customer.

Automating activities like generating documents, approving contracts, and sending reminders for renewals or obligations not only cuts down the time spent on administrative work but also reduces the risks of human error. By shifting the focus from manual, repetitive tasks to more valuable activities such as negotiation and building relationships, businesses can boost productivity and improve the quality of contracts.

3. Automate everything between and after first and last step of the contract

The above two steps clearly signify how CLM can imitate the contract procedure and manage it smartly for you. Though, these steps are covering up the entire process of managing a contract, there are many businesses that need to be smart enough while taking care of a few little details that they might come across before and after the first and the last step of the contract.

For instance, the setup of workflows can automatically initiate contract approvals when specific conditions are fulfilled. Likewise, stakeholders can receive notifications as important contract milestones are nearing, guaranteeing that no crucial deadlines are overlooked. Automating post-execution tasks like performance tracking and contract audits also improves the effectiveness of contract management.

This degree of automation not only accelerates contract processing but also ensures that all tasks are completed on time, decreasing the chances of non-compliance and missed opportunities.

4. Streamlined Process of Personalizing Contracts

Customizing contracts to meet the distinct needs of the parties involved is crucial. However, manual customization of contracts can be burdensome, particularly for businesses managing a high volume of contracts. SAP CLM provides a simplified method for customizing contracts, allowing businesses to effortlessly adjust contract templates to match specific requirements.

Contract Lifecycle management software along with easy tracking options also offers advantages like:

Transparency: When using CLM, you don’t have to worry about where and by whom the contract has been drafted. The details of the contract will always remain easy to track so there is no pressure on manager of going back and forth to manage the contract.

Effectiveness: Using CLM increases efficiency as you and your customer will get alert notification about the latest drafts that are being used so that both the parties are not wasting time on the incorrect draft.

Accuracy: Stay more accurate as any manual or automatic change is always being tracked, documented and automatically stored along with all the previous versions.

5. Measure and stay updated about the Success of your contract

SAP CLM that you can use for the Contract Lifecycle management of your business comes with an analytics tool which will help you in having a 360-degree view of your success. It is very important to keep a track of how your contract is moving and how is the progress and this can be easily done with the help of SAP CLM Software. Here are a few ways how CLM software with the help of already installed analytical tool can help you in managing and tracking the whole process of contract signing or renewing:

The software can easily find out steps in the process that are taking too long for the approval and get them wrapped up quickly.
You can also check for step that require permanent changes in a pricing model.
You can also remain updated about any change that customer might want to make in the e-sign document that needs your attention.

The CLM software keeps you ahead in the race so that there is no delay from your end when it comes to signing the agreements of making very important changes in contract’s lifecycle early on. This makes it easy to verify whether or not that particular contract is helping your business to reach the planned goal. By this it will be easy for you to determine if there is any serious change that you have to make in the process or even you have to continue working on the project. This is very helpful at the time when your business is dealing with a large number of complicated contracts.

Reasons to Implement Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software for your Business

Saves money and Time: When you choose good CLM, there are less chances that your business will have to deal with issues like penalties for non-compliance, missing important opportunities from special terms and rebates, missed payments or other payment errors, incurring fees and other penalties. This is all handled in the right manner because of good contract administration thus saving a lot of money and valuable time for you. CLM helps in simplifying processes in the contract administration and thus saves a lot of time and cost.
Prevent any legal process from contract non-compliance: There are many contracts that deal with a major of compliance. If contractual commitments remain incomplete, the potential for legal action can be higher. Good CLM software prevents you from any such situation.
Deliver best to your customers: Being a business, what else would you need than fulfilling and exceeding your customer demands and expectations. This is only possible through a planned contract performance that can enhance any organization’s value and lead to better customer relationship.
Justifies the difference between the functionalities of contract managers contract administrators: Contract managers and contract administrators are different and are assigned to do different tasks. CLM software helps in letting them do their tasks the best, thus saving time and it also avoids any confusion that might occur.

How Acuiti Labs can help?

From contract drafting, it’s management, to its completion, SAP CLM software that we provide at Acuiti Labs is capable of supporting businesses to simplify their entire process of Contract Lifecycle. So, choose SAP CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) for your business today and see how it plays an important role in closing deals faster and growing your business. Contact us for more details about CLM and Acuiti Labs.

Our team works closely with you to tailor SAP CLM according to your workflows, ensuring that all aspects of your contract lifecycle are optimized for maximum ROI. We focus on automating manual processes and providing support to ensure that you can fully leverage the potential of SAP CLM software.

Why Choose Acuiti Labs?

Proven expertise in SAP solutions.
Tailored CLM implementations designed for your business.
Comprehensive support and training throughout your SAP CLM journey.
Focus on delivering measurable results and boosting ROI.

If you’re ready to take your contract management to the next level, reach out to Acuiti Labs today and discover how SAP CLM can transform your business operations.

27 AugBusinessSAP

Master SAP Subscription Billing & Revenue Management for Maximum Profitability

The subscription economy is booming. According to a report by Zuora, the subscription economy has grown by over 435% in the last decade. Businesses across various industries are shifting from traditional sales models to subscription-based offerings to build recurring revenue streams and foster long-term customer relationships. This shift is evident in the success stories of industries like media, telco, port, postal, who have revolutionized their industries with subscription models. The word subscription is not a new term when it comes to ease the business flow and offer your customers an option of recurring payment for any service or product could be taken with right combination of subscriptions, one-time fees, and usage-based charges.

Today, numerous industries have adopted the subscription-based model, while many others are considering offering their products and services through recurring payment plans.

However, with this shift comes the challenge of managing complex billing processes. Companies must navigate a labyrinth of pricing models, usage metrics, and compliance requirements. This is where SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management come into play.

Subscription Based Billing – Win-win for Customers and Business

The SAP Subscription Billing model benefits both businesses and customers. Customers gain the flexibility to select and purchase only what they need, while businesses enjoy a steady cash flow and the opportunity to build stronger, lasting relationships with their customers.

As growth persists, such companies have already started realizing that to maintain and support new and more creative subscription-based offerings, a stronger, more efficient, and flexible billing solution is required. Traditional ERP and CRM systems will not be enough. These systems lack the capability to manage diverse requirements, such as fulfilling recurring billing demands for customers or managing large volumes and real-time competencies linked with the hyper-connected world.

Although the internet can provide information on subscription billing, it is essential to have a proper understanding of the important features of subscription billing to benefit as a business.

Essential Features of a Subscription Billing System

Flexibility : The subscription billing model should be flexible and capable of being easily deployed in the cloud, on-premise, or in a hybrid manner to meet the varying requirements of customers.

Responsiveness :Given the rapidly changing billing requirements, agility is a crucial feature of any billing solution. Businesses require a responsive and powerful system capable of creating any imaginable type of pricing rules within hours or days, not months. The best subscription billing systems are those management.

Real-time and Centralised Pricing Model :An ideal billing system features a real-time and centralized pricing model. It should easily integrate with all systems that require access to pricing and customer information, typically in real-time. Additionally, it must be capable of supporting all subscription products and services offered by a company.

Scalability :In the early stages of adopting a subscription billing model for your business, managing the process may be straightforward due to a smaller customer base. However, as your business expands, the customer count will surge, necessitating a system that can accommodate a vast number of subscribers and handle billions of transactions in a single day. Therefore, scalability is a critical feature of any subscription billing system.

Usage metering :It’s important to recognize that the most basic subscription models typically rely on flat, recurring fees. However, numerous businesses require the ability to track customer usage to effectively manage pricing, discounts, and additional strategies such as upselling. Moreover, usage metering offers the benefits of improved reporting and revenue recognition.

Financials and reporting :  An effective billing solution offers comprehensive management of customer finances and integrates seamlessly with the Backend Accounting Module. Reporting and Business Intelligence should be utilized at real-time speed to monitor the company’s health and growth rate.

When managing the subscription billing process for your business to maximize benefits and growth, it’s essential to have a billing system that is fast, agile, flexible, convergent, scalable, and powerful. Selecting a billing system with these key features will not only guarantee that your business maximizes the benefits from this investment but will also enable you to offer your customers exciting new products and services, enhancing their experience.

Benefits of choosing SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (SAP BRIM)

Selecting the SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (SAP BRIM) solution for your business offers the benefit of agile monetization of subscription and usage-based business models. Enhanced with advanced features such as revenue management and recurring billing, SAP BRIM elevates business adaptability. It also improves transparency across the entire revenue management process, thanks to its dedicated, scalable, agile, and flexible software. The high level of automation provided by SAP BRIM streamlines billing, invoicing, and revenue management operations.

Here are the key benefits of using SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management:

1.   Facilitates High-Volume Transactions and Business Scaling : SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management enhances support for the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices, enabling high-volume, automated, and transparent handling of usage event and financial transactions.

2.    Simplifies the Transition from Product-Centric to Service-Oriented Offerings : Seamlessly shift from selling standalone products to offering comprehensive services, including outcomes-based subscriptions and real-time usage-based services that accommodate revenue-sharing models within your broader ecosystem.

3.    Offers Greater Flexibility in Executing Your Business Model : With SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management, you gain the versatility to implement various business models, from prepaid to pay-as-you-go arrangements, employing rules-based automation for precise invoicing and accounting operations.

4. Enables Efficient Partner Revenue Sharing : The SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management’s Partner Revenue Sharing feature aids partners in establishing a successful cloud operation with reduced liabilities and risks, ensuring maximum benefits.

Statistics Highlighting the Impact of SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management

According to a Gartner report, companies that implement automated billing solutions like SAP Subscription Billing can reduce billing errors by up to 90%.
Businesses using SAP’s revenue management tools have reported a 30% increase in operational efficiency and a 25% reduction in time spent on billing-related tasks.
A study by Forrester Consulting found that organizations leveraging SAP Subscription Billing experienced a 15% improvement in customer retention rates.

How SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management Supports Subscription-Based Order Management Management

Here are several key points that illustrate how SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management can assist companies seeking an efficient solution for managing their subscription billing processes:

The Automated Approach Guarantees Precision in Delivery and Billing: By systematically capturing and monitoring subscription orders, the automation within SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management assures accuracy in both delivery and billing processes.
Streamlines Management of Contract Modifications and Billing Cycles: The system swiftly and autonomously manages contract alterations, renewals, extensions, and billing cycles, thereby reducing the possibility of errors.
Simplifies Oversight of Master Agreements: SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management facilitates the management of master agreements, including invoicing hierarchies, bespoke catalogs, and collective credit arrangements.
Enhances Payment Processing Across All Channels: It offers an automated payment system that works seamlessly across diverse channels, coupled with an integrated framework for credit, collections, and dispute management.

Conclusion

In an era where subscription-based services are increasingly prevalent, companies require strong tools to efficiently handle their payment and income management. SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management provide an effective platform that not only makes billing easier but also improves customer satisfaction and boosts income. Through the use of this solution, companies can tackle the intricacies of the subscription market and secure their future prosperity.

07 AugBusinessSAP

Boost Your Bottom Line: 9 Proven Quote-to-Cash Strategies for Business Success

If you think about the most important business processes today, ‘Quote-to-Cash’ is certainly at the top because it is through the quote to cash process only that you can make driving revenue for your organization easy.

This end-to-end business process encompasses everything from creating a quote for a customer to collecting cash after the sale. You would never want to miss your potential customers by leaving any minor faults in the sales process as being a business, converting a prospect into a satisfied and happy customer is what really matters and this is followed by strong partnership and ongoing trust between you and your customers, right from sales to service. Implementing a robust QTC process can significantly improve various aspects of your business.

Here are the 9 aspects that can change the way you look at the business –

1. Pricing:

Pricing in ‘Quote-to-cash’ terminology, is understood as a set of rules that decides the most appropriate and suitable price of a deal. Not only the price, but this also includes deciding the right incentives to attract the customers. In today’s time, you cannot just limit to only deciding the correct price, but to drive revenue and win customers, you also have to identify the appropriate discounts, promotions and incentives. Once you understand that what pricing and promotion strategy is working right for your business, you can apply the same strategy for the future deals to win customers and maximise deal size.

Example: A software company adopts a subscription-based pricing model, adjusting rates based on user engagement and market trends. This approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also increases recurring revenue.

2. Configuration:

When you create the most appropriate combination of products and services, it is termed as configuration. Already with the increased product and deal complexity, it has become very difficult to identify the right combination of products and services to recommend to the customers in order to win deals. Automatically provide recommendations of best configuration to your sales reps to ensure that all your sales reps are now configuration experts – and can crack the best deals!

3. Quoting:

Once done with configuration and pricing, next comes Quoting. Based on the pricing and configuration, a quote is generated and approved which is further sent to the end customer. Quote is the first impression that you share with your customers and is considered as one of the most important stages of your sales cycle. Winning or losing a customer depends on the way you are presenting the quote. Presenting a precise, simple yet quick quote increases your chance to win a deal, while delayed, riddled and complicated quotes often end up losing your customers. So, its very important that the quote you present is error-free and is presented in no time. This creates great impression on your customers and increases your chance to have them onboard.

Example: A telecommunications company uses automated quoting software to provide instant quotes for various service packages. This efficiency leads to higher conversion rates and a better customer experience.

4. Contract Creation and Negotiation:

Without an agreement on the right set of terms and conditions, no deal can be closed. To avoid any situation that might impact your revenue streams, you have to be very careful about the agreement. These agreements usually come with hidden risks and thus to protect your business you should have even the minute details of the agreement. To ensure the security, you need to have experts who are well aware of the built-in clauses like renewal clause or termination clause during the time when contract is created.

After this comes contract negotiation where the terms and conditions can be redefined and altered based on the negotiations. As the agreement document undergoes through multiple iterations, it becomes difficult to keep a track the on-going changes.

5. Executing the Contract

The deal is considered final after it is approved and signed. It is recommended to enable an e-signing tool which is very helpful in reducing the time spent in finalising contracts. This tool also can also be a guideline for any existing roadblocks and parties that have yet to sign.

6. Order Accomplishment:

This process includes the complete order cycle; starting from receiving the order, its processing to the successful delivery. After the deal is done and the contract has been signed, the processing starts, and it’s taken into priority that the products are delivered on time and to the appropriate customers. The advantage of having a Quote to cash solution ensures that the end customer is has agreed on the quotes, pricing and other terms and conditions.

7. Billing and Invoicing:

Accurate billing is done where calculations of final charges is done, and a copy of invoice is sent to the customer. The otherwise critical billing process is made easy with the help of integrated Quote-to-Cash process. The ‘Quote-to-cash’ solutions ensure that the exact quotation and contract details are provided to the finance team so that the customer gets accurate billing.

Example: A subscription-based service provider uses automated invoicing to bill customers monthly. This reduces manual errors and ensures timely payments.

8. Revenue Recognition:

Revenue recognition helps in understanding that the cash from the customer’s end has been received. Here, you cannot afford to go wrong and thus the correct details of the contracting terms like quotes, pricing, payment modes, net payment terms and delivery calendars etc. is passed on to your finance team. ‘Quote-to-cash’ solution is the best way to recognise the revenue correctly.

9. Renewal:

While the revenue recognition is done, your next focus should be on the renewals. This helps in managing customers retention and also the recurring income. If it is the SaaS model, its sure that a huge percentage of revenue is derived in the form of repeated, already existing and subscribed customers. Quote-to-cash is the most important part of your business and will also help you in getting advances in big data and machine learning so that the sales reps are happy, and you can deliver more intelligent sales!

In conclusion, the Quote to Cash process is a powerful tool that can transform multiple facets of your business. By streamlining operations, enhancing customer experiences, ensuring accuracy, and providing valuable insights, Quote to Cash can help you drive efficiency, boost revenue, and maintain a competitive edge in the market. Embracing this holistic approach is not just about improving sales; it’s about creating a seamless, efficient, and agile business environment that is poised for sustainable growth.

At Acuiti Labs, we specialize in optimizing the Quote-to-Cash (Q2C) process to empower your business with seamless efficiency and enhanced revenue growth. By leveraging our advanced solutions, we streamline every stage—from dynamic pricing and precise configuration to automated quoting, contract management, and beyond. Our expertise ensures accurate billing, timely revenue recognition, and proactive renewals, all tailored to your unique needs. Partner with Acuiti Labs to transform your Q2C process, reduce operational complexities, and achieve a competitive edge in the market.

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24th October, 2024 | The Shard, London

16 AprBusiness

Navigating Billing Challenges in the Telecom Industry

If we all know how large the telecommunication industry is, we can estimate that the industry serves millions of customers all over the world, shaping the way we communicate and stay connected. However, the more customers/clients it has, the more challenges it is likely to face with respect to its capability of sending invoices to its customers/subscribers.

Telecommunication companies encounter a multitude of obstacles in their billing operations, ranging from managing diverse pricing plans to ensuring precise invoicing. To address these challenges, businesses need advanced telecom billing and invoicing solutions.

This blog will delve into the billing challenges encountered by the telecommunication industry and explore how automated billing solutions can effectively streamline their processes and overcome these obstacles.

Diverse Pricing Plans:

Telecom companies grapple with diverse models such as subscription-based services, usage-based charges, and flexible pricing structures. Effectively managing these scenarios proves to be a challenging task. Using traditional billing methods can increase the risk of errors, delays, disputes, and customer dissatisfaction.

Solution: Switching to automated billing systems can address this challenge. Automated billing solutions can manage diverse pricing plans seamlessly. By automating tariff configuration, rating, and billing calculations, businesses can ensure accurate invoicing while catering to various customer preferences.

Revenue Leakage:

Revenue leakage is another pressing issue in the telecom industry. The intricate nature of the business often leads to revenue loss. Detecting and addressing revenue leakage promptly becomes crucial for maintaining profitability.

Solution: Real-time monitoring and analytics capabilities provided by SAP BRIM assist in identifying and rectifying revenue leakage. By proactively taking measures to prevent revenue loss, telecom companies can optimize their revenue management.

Billing Errors and Disputes:

Even in the world of invoicing, where precision reigns supreme, the saying holds true: ‘Nothing is perfect’ – which applies to the invoices you generate daily and send to your customers. Billing inaccuracies can lead to customer dissatisfaction and damage their trust – leading to disputes that consume valuable resources to resolve. Identification and rectification of errors in manual billing systems can be time-consuming and prone to human error.

Solution: The automated billing solution, specially designed to manage a large number of customers, employs sophisticated algorithms and validation checks to minimize errors and discrepancies. It also identifies issues promptly and addresses them proactively, reducing the likelihood of disputes and improving customer satisfaction. Having a telecom billing solution that offers real-time monitoring and reconciliation capabilities is not less than a boon in such a critical situation.

Scalability and Growth:

As telecom businesses expand their offerings and customer base, relying on a slow or inefficient process to handle their customer data becomes almost impossible. In such situations, scalability becomes paramount. Furthermore, processes that rely on slow or manual methods to manage billing struggle to keep up with growing volumes and complexity, leading to inefficiencies and operational bottlenecks.

Solution: Choosing a usage-based billing system is a strategic move that allows businesses to capitalize on automation capabilities. By adopting such a system, telecom companies can effectively manage increased workloads and transaction volumes without sacrificing performance. This automation also grants the flexibility to scale resources up or down as required, providing valuable support for growth initiatives while maintaining operational efficiency.

Billing Software Integration:

Integrating various software systems within a telecom infrastructure often emerges as a primary challenge. Manual interventions often lead to inefficiencies and errors, hindering operational performance.

Solution: Telecom billing software integration can provide several benefits to businesses by not only enhancing operational efficiency but also fostering a unified customer experience, driving loyalty and retention. By using automated software telecom businesses can achieve real-time data synchronization, ensuring accurate billing information across all platforms.

In the highly competitive telecom industry, effectively addressing billing challenges is crucial for sustaining growth and profitability. Automated billing solutions such as SAP Subscription Billing offer a comprehensive approach to overcome these challenges by streamlining billing processes, improving accuracy, ensuring compliance, optimizing revenue management, and facilitating scalability. Embracing automation allows telecom businesses to improve operational efficiency, enhance customer satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge in the dynamic telecommunications market.

How Acuiti Labs can help the Telecom Industry to address their billing challenges?

Acuiti Labs, a London Based leading Quote-to-Cash solution provider, offers tailored solutions specifically designed to address the billing challenges prevalent in the telecom industry. Leveraging cutting-edge technology and industry expertise, Acuiti Labs provides automated billing solutions that streamline complex pricing structures, mitigate billing errors, optimize revenue management, and facilitate scalability.

With a focus on innovation and customer-centricity, Acuiti Labs collaborates closely with telecom businesses to understand their unique billing requirements and develop customized solutions that meet their needs effectively. By partnering with Acuiti Labs, telecom and postal businesses are already leveraging our BRIM-based advanced billing solutions and enhancing operational efficiency. Now it’s your turn to improve billing accuracy, minimize disputes, and ultimately, drive sustainable growth and profitability in the competitive telecom landscape. For details get in touch now.

195

15 FebBusinessSAP

Accelerating Business Growth and Revenue: The Impact of Digital Transformation and SAP BRIM Services

To fully appreciate digital transformation and why is it important for your business today, you need to understand how it is influencing & transforming your industry! Whether it’s about engaging with your customers smartly or innovating the workforce with new opportunities, digital transformation is being considered the best investment, for long-term business value.

As per recent studies – worldwide spending on the technologies and services that empower digital transformation will cross $2 trillion by the year 2022, with companies allocating 10% of their total revenue to enhance their digital strategies. This clearly signifies that digital transformation is becoming a fundamental aspect in growing a business. It is estimated that this year, hardware and services will account for more than 75% of all digital transformation spend.

Irrespective of what a company’s vision for future is, digital transformation has become an integral part of all the growing businesses today. An effective strategy can create new competencies by take advantage of existing and upcoming opportunities in latest technologies and also speed up the entire process.

What is Digital Transformation?

Integrating digital technology in all the areas of your business to mostly change the way you deal with your customers in terms of delivery, operations, experience, business models etc. is what digital transformation is all about. It helps you in finding new ways to deliver desired outcomes, generate revenue and increase the efficiency by using innovative and advanced technologies.

Catalyst for Growth: How Digital Transformation Propels Business Success

Learn how you can digitally transform your business models, processes, and the way your company deal with digital economy.

Innovative business models – Whether big or small, working on innovative business model and digitally transforming it should be a priority for every business owner.
New ways of working – With digital transformation you get a lot to explore and a lot to learn, as it offers several new methods and technologies on which you can directly work and experience the difference.
Redesign business processes – The latest digital processes improve customers experience, offerings and increases productivity by working on real-time and predictive insights.

The Critical Importance of Embracing Digital Transformation for Every Business

It is perfectly said by Myles Leach – “The digitalisation of business processes has proven to bring competitive advantage to the organisations who exploit them. Significant productivity gains arise when users can seamlessly communicate with colleagues, customers and business partners anytime, via multiple channels, from anywhere in the world. What was once considered futuristic thinking is part of the mainstream today”

Digitally transforming your company can help your business in moving at a faster pace and can take you towards total transformation of your business. With this you can reach and gain customers from all horizons.

A few reasons why to opt digital transformation –

1. Security for your business –

Being a business owner, it must be a real task for you to manage and secure all data. This is not only complicated, but also requires severe enforcement around access, data compliance and protection from cyber-attacks. Sometimes, even the strictest security measures turn out to be useless if a disappointing network force you to leave for flexibility or faster speeds and choose some other place. Let your business be adaptive towards the digital transformative approach and you can easily achieve the business goals to keep your data secured.

2. Increases employee’s participation and makes them more effective –

Choosing Digital transformation functionalities can provide a valued opportunity for core business roles, like in finance and HR departments. You can now drop working on manual processes and automate key areas like payroll and focus wider business opportunities.

3. Reinforce business partnerships –

Digital transformation is one of the easiest ways to create and strengthen business relationships. As the demand from customer side is increasing, the competition among the industries has also increased. This has led companies to work in collaboration with suppliers and distributors, sub-contractors and specialised consultants, so that the productivity can be increased, and the demands and interest of the customers can be fulfilled. Digital transformation is very important to manage these partners which otherwise could be exhausting. The early you opt for a digital process for your company, the easy it would to handle the entire process.

Essentials of a successful Digital Transformation –

Be ready to accept new technologies

If you think in practical terms, you might have to face technological concerns in digital transformation if your team is not updated with the latest technologies.

Be open to experiment and
expand

While you carry out several operations, you will have several new doors opening to digitally transform your business. You should always be ready to grab any opportunity to experiment and expand your business.

Lead smartly

A vision being executed under strong leadership will surely bring success for any organisation.

Strategies wisely before you choose technology

After leadership, another important aspect is to put the best strategy in place and execute it through digital transformation.

Why exactly do companies need digital transformation, and how can SAP BRIM services help them navigate this transformative journey?

Staying Competitive in the Digital Age: Companies that embrace digital transformation gain a competitive edge by leveraging technology to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and enhance customer experiences. With SAP BRIM services, companies can optimize their revenue management processes, accelerate time-to-market for new products and services, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences.

Meeting Evolving Customer Expectations: Today’s customers expect seamless and personalized experiences across every touchpoint, from initial engagement to post-sale support. Digital transformation allows companies to meet these expectations by leveraging data and analytics to understand customer needs and preferences better. SAP BRIM solutions enable companies to deliver personalized pricing and packaging options, flexible billing and invoicing solutions, and real-time customer engagement capabilities, helping them build stronger and more loyal customer relationships.

Unlocking New Revenue Streams: Digital transformation opens up a world of opportunities for companies to explore new revenue streams and business models. SAP BRIM provide the flexibility and scalability companies need to monetize their digital offerings effectively, whether through subscription-based pricing models, usage-based billing, or value-added services.

Driving Operational Efficiency and Cost Savings: Manual and outdated processes can hinder a company’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions and customer demands. Digital transformation allows companies to automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and eliminate inefficiencies, leading to significant cost savings and operational improvements. BRIM offer end-to-end revenue management solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing systems and processes, enabling companies to optimize their operations and drive sustainable growth.

Navigating Regulatory and Compliance Challenges: In today’s increasingly complex regulatory environment, companies must ensure compliance with a wide range of laws and regulations, from data privacy and security to taxation and accounting standards. BRIM offer robust compliance management features, including built-in controls, audit trails, and reporting capabilities, helping companies stay compliant and mitigate risk.

Based on a survey done on digital transformation by Constellation Research, 64% of respondents agreed to the fact that a great digital transformation strategy is essential to bring in profits for the organization. Going with the idea that only using latest technology would be enough to achieve the business goal for your organisation is not going to work. For or this, any business would need to have a well-planned strategy carried out by strong team. This will let you make the most out of this digital era by changing the way you deal with big and small challenges in the industry and allow you to think differently to bring out digital transformation into action.

While you have already chose to go on the path of digital transformation, you have to be ready for a few minor challenges including increased cost which is not going to be as high as you are thinking and will be worth each penny. With digital transformation you can fundamentally change the way your organisation work, and get things done more precisely and accurately!

Digital Transformation is no longer a choice but a necessity for companies looking to thrive in the digital age. By embracing SAP BRIM solutions by Acuiti Labs, companies can unlock new opportunities for growth, enhance customer experiences, drive operational efficiency, and stay ahead of the competition. With Acuiti Labs – right strategy and technology partner, your business can navigate the complexities of digital transformation and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever before.

235

05 FebBusinessSAP

Major Challenges faced by Postal Industries and how AcuitiPostal can help

Digitalization and technological advancements have led the Postal industry to change their traditional practices and adapt to the competition. The reasons for this shift are primarily extensive growth in the E-commerce industry & preference of the customers towards digital communication and paperless billing and invoices. Inevitably, the shift, along with its solutions, brought new challenges to the Postal Industry and we at Acuiti Labs have developed a one stop solution to tackle them- AcuitiPostal

Major Disruptions in the Postal Industry:

E-Substitution and Digital Disruption: The rise of electronic alternatives to traditional mail, such as electronic billing and online communication, leads to e-substitution. Postal services must adapt their billing processes to account for the shift to digital platforms.
Parcel Pricing Complexity: The growth of e-commerce has increased parcel volumes, requiring postal services to manage complex pricing structures based on factors like size, weight, destination, and delivery speed.
Diverse Service Offerings: Postal services offer a variety of services beyond traditional mail, including parcel delivery, express services, and logistics solutions. Billing for these diverse services with different pricing models can be complex.
Technology Integration: The integration of new billing technologies, such as electronic invoicing systems, automated billing processes, and secure payment gateways, requires significant investment and adaptability from postal services.
Customer Billing Preferences: Addressing the diverse preferences of customers regarding billing methods (e.g., paper vs. electronic invoices) and payment options requires flexibility and customization in billing systems.
Customer Communication and Education: Communicating billing changes effectively and educating customers about new billing methods or pricing structures is essential to maintain customer satisfaction and transparency.

In the agile market today, it has become crucial for the postal industry to move past these hurdles to ensure market sustainability. These problems can be addressed by enabling digitalization and adopting technological expertise. Practices such as E-billing, subscription offers, efficient pricing mechanics, etc. could prove to be the game changers for the postal industries. Tackling these disruptions will help the businesses adapt to the new trends and streamline their business practice in a way that favors the business and customers.

Here is when AcuitPostal- a BRIM accelerator designed by AcuitiLabs comes into action.

AcuitiPostal- At a Glance:

Built on BRIM technology, AcuitiPostal is a product dedicated solely for the Postal Industry to cater to its various necessities may it be operational excellence, launching new services or enhancing the customer experience. AcuitiPostal helps the businesses in the Postal industry to deal with disruptions that they are facing currently.

Transforming postal ops with AcuitPostal for business growth and customer delight:

Capitalize on evolving market opportunities by instantly changing client prices and partner revenue sharing models: It’s evident for the client prices to change with respect to the changing operational costs. AcuitiPostal enables the businesses to swiftly adapt to the situation and change the price while also being competitive in the market.

Introduce customer-focused subscription offers that set you apart from your competitors. With AcuitiPostal, businesses can enable subscription offers that are structured according to the customers’ needs and demands.

Increase efficiency to integrate the quote-to-cash process and offer low TCO (total cost of ownership).
Increase visibility from customer management to revenue recognition.
Electronic documentation: Since AcuitiPostal is a BRIM accelerator, it provides paperless solutions and enables the postal industry businesses to provide E-billing solutions hence enabling a practice of electronic documentation. Electronic documentation has become very useful for the businesses in the postal industry due to the ease of customs clearance.

BRIM Capabilities:

The billing software, BRIM effectively maps usage-based or recurring pricing modules for personalized offers and the possibility of real-time pricing. With BRIM at its core, AcuitiPostal can help the business of the postal industry to reduce underbilling and adapt to the way customers use the services. The business can be assisted in being at the forefront of the competition by offering prices that are attractive and reach the customers faster. BRIM also helps businesses in transforming the business model as a result of its flexible invoicing process.

At Acuiti Labs, we strive to make business practices faster, simpler and more efficient. We help you achieve the competitive advantage you need for your business to set yourself apart with our various industry specific efforts. AcuitiPostal is one such effort with an intent to revolutionize the Postal Industry.

Make the best of AcuitiPostal– A BRIM accelerator by Acuiti Labs now!

243

09 JunBusinessSAP

Driving growth with SAP subscription based business models

In today’s digital economy, many businesses are shifting towards subscription-based models to offer their products and services. Whether you sell products or services, subscription billing makes it feasible for your customers to make choices based on their convenience and budget thus allowing them to utilize your services in a much better way. One of the greatest benefits of choosing Subscription billing for your business is the ease that it gives to the customers so that they do not have any trouble in coming to a decision of what to buy when to buy and how are they going to manage the budget for it. Well, when your customer buys any of your service or product and go for a subscription-based plan, they will have a choice of paying through a recurring payment method which is the most feasible and budgeted way to own anything that they are looking for.

With its robust features and capabilities, SAP Subscription Billing Services helps businesses streamline their billing processes, enhance customer experience, and drive revenue growth.

Why SAP Subscription Billing?

One of the greatest advantages of choosing SAP Subscription Billing solution for your business is the effectiveness with which it handles the entire billing and invoicing process for your customers. This billing solution is crafted to grow your business in all directions and provide a simplified, automated approach to billing and ordering processes. It can successfully handle your customer’s end-to-end subscription billing life cycle which makes it the most commonly used subscription billing platform today that is transparent, effective, customer-friendly, and economical all at the same time.

Following are a few reasons why you should get rid of the traditional way of creating and sending manual bills and invoices to your customers and opt for the innovative way through SAP Subscription billing:

Meet the needs of the outcome economy with the advanced subscription billing solution likes the one offered by SAP that allows you to plan, innovate, and adapt your business model with speed and agility.

The market is constantly evolving, and staying up-to-date with the latest trends is crucial to remaining competitive. Here are the top 5 benefits of SAP subscription billing that make it the perfect solution for businesses:

Deliver Exceptional and Accurate Results to your customers

Most customers prioritize accuracy and perfection when deciding to purchase a product or service. By utilizing SAP subscription billing, your business can enhance customer satisfaction and retention through the implementation of a dependable and automated order-to-cash process.

Give your business the capability to deliver superior results to your valuable end customers by choosing the SAP Subscription Billing option and integrating it into your current billing and invoicing system. Most businesses have already integrated this into their existing billing system and are significantly delivering better and more accurate results along with great customer satisfaction.

Helps in creating new business model

Subscription billing is all about offering the flexibility of getting a service or product on a subscription basis and to pay for it accordingly. As technology is growing and evolving at a faster pace, most customers are inclined towards taking the subscription for the required time instead of completely owning it and this is only going to increase in the coming years.

Streamline Sales and Billing

Faster delivery and more effective experience for your customers with SAP subscription Billing! It simplifies and harmonizes sales and payment processes in a way that the entire flow turns out to be seamless and time-saving. Automation and streamlining of the billing and invoicing process not only saves your customers time but also gives them the flexibility to understand the complete flow. Preciseness, accuracy, and timely delivery are a few attributes every customer looks for in the product or service they are buying.

The desire of customers for personalized experiences is rapidly increasing over time. In the upcoming years, it will be crucial for businesses to thoroughly analyze customer requirements and develop a plan that is fully aligned with their needs.

Rapid Innovations and Continuous Evolution

Change the way you deal with the billing and invoicing process in your organization and start enhancing your business with one of the most efficient and fastest-growing business models – ‘The SAP Subscription-based Billing Model’. Get the privilege of delivering the right mix of subscriptions, charge based on the usage and periodic fees and enable product bundling and service bundling to create personalised offers for your customers.

SAP Subscription billing allows your business to remain upgraded with the latest billing tools and tactics and provides your customers with the most updated version of the billing system. This not only retains your old customers for your business but also builds trust for the new customers to come on board and experience the best billing and invoicing that you are going to offer to them.

Simple yet effective order-to-cash cycles for consistent growth

Get the feasibility of creating and editing orders instantly as and when required with the right mix of subscription services and products. Also, you can easily automate order fulfilment processes throughout the different systems. Easily monitor all the order arrangements, right from the initial stage to the activation of the subscriptions. Customers have become too smart and are continually evolving with every passing year.

In current times, customers believe and follow the mantra – “The simpler, the better.” Businesses are looking for simple yet very effective systems to deal with their billing requirements. And this is the reason a lot of emphasis is being given to the SAP Subscription Billing system. This is the complete package for modern-day billing and will surely be the best choice to deliver complete customer satisfaction efficiently.

Agile billing system – An added advantage to Enhance customer experiences

SAP Subscription billing is an agile billing system that gives an added advantage of improving the overall experience of your customers. We cannot ignore the fact that the billing solution of any business is highly responsible to provide a rich opportunity in delivering a positive customer experience and gather valuable insight. According to a new Forrester study, billing and revenue management solutions are the basic requirements to project digital transformation and superior customer experience. In its report “Transform Your Business To Deliver Superior Customer Outcomes With An Agile Billing Solution, an October 2018 commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of SAP,” Forrester has clearly explained how most of the organizations are planning to move away from highly customized, on-premise billing systems to modern SaaS billing and revenue management platforms. This study provides invaluable insight into:

Why the market is tipping towards Subscription billing solutions
How Subscription billing solutions help you build better customer connections and deliver superior outcomes.
Why billing needs to be a part of your overall customer experience strategy

Why Choose Acuiti Labs for SAP Subscription Billing?

Acuiti Labs is a UK-based organization and an SAP Silver partner offering a wide range of SAP solutions to its clients from around the Globe. Among these solutions is the SAP subscription billing solution, which is designed to help businesses streamline their billing processes and improve customer satisfaction. By leveraging this solution, businesses can automate their billing processes, reduce errors, and gain greater visibility into their revenue streams. Acuiti Labs is committed to helping businesses achieve their goals by providing them with the latest SAP solutions and exceptional service.

Industry Experience: We have vast experience working with clients from various industries including telecommunications, media, utilities, and more. Our industry-specific knowledge and customizable products allow us to tailor SAP Subscription Billing Services to meet your business’s unique needs and requirements.

Proven Track Record: Acuiti Labs has an impressive history of delivering successful implementations and satisfying clients. Our expertise and the positive outcomes we have achieved for other organizations can be demonstrated through references and case studies.

End-to-End Solution: The SAP Subscription Billing solution offered at Acuiti Labs is flexible and can meet changing business needs with speed, and agility.

Customization and Flexibility: No matter how big or small your business is, Acuiti Labs can provide a complete billing solution based on your requirement. The solutions offered here are personalized for individual user, enabling companies to successfully build, maintain and promote customer loyalty.

By choosing Acuiti Labs as your partner for SAP Subscription Billing Services, you can be assured that you are collaborating with a proficient and well-experienced team. We can assist you in efficiently implementing and optimizing SAP BRIM solutions to simplify your subscription billing processes

Contact us to learn more about one of the most scalable solutions for a subscription-based business model that can easily be integrated with other Cloud solutions such as SAP Sales Cloud. Acuiti Labs can also help your business by providing other sap solutions like SAP BRIM, SAP Sales Cloud, SAP Commissions and more. Explore the website to have a proper understanding of the services and solutions offered here.

283

15 DecBusinessSAP

The economics behind digital business models and how they have evolved in recent times

The world as we know it today is continuously changing, and one of the fundamental drivers is digital transformation. Across industries, new digital business models have emerged—many in response to the pandemic as companies are forced to innovate their ways to meet customer demands. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, many digital-based subscription business models fared well due to their promise of convenience and strong business continuity. Organizations now more than ever feel the pressure to leverage digital investments to innovate with existing or add new monetization models.

According to Gartner’s predictions, digital business models (such as subscription-based business models) will continue to evolve for competitive advantage. Gartner also proclaims that organizations can turn continuous change into an asset if they sharpen their vision. Now, what does it mean? To put it plainly, digital business models are here to stay and have tremendous potential to grow in the years to come. These predictions bring us to our next BIG question.

How big is a digital transformation market?

A recent report from Grand View Research evaluated the global digital transformation market size at USD 608.72 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.1% from 2022 to 2030. Similar projections were made by Fortune Business Insights in their report. They predict that the global digital transformation market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.1% from 2021 to 2028.

Looking at these figures, it is abundantly clear that digitally driven industries are growing faster than any other industry globally. Companies across industries are adopting different monetization models either to stay relevant in the market (survival) or to uncover new revenue streams (growth). One of the best examples is Kahoot!, the Norwegian educational gaming company founded in 2013 and now valued at roughly USD 2.2 billion. The company was born as a free platform for social learning, targeting particularly the education industry. It then changed its model and started to also target businesses with a commercial subscription offering that provides customers with premium features such as the number of participants.

According to IDC’s Digital Monetization Models report, 55% of organizations globally will focus on the digitalization of their products, services, and customer experiences. The key focus area for 2022 will be the revenue engine – in other words, how companies can leverage digital technologies to create new revenue streams and new monetization opportunities. This includes:

Enhancing the customer experience by leveraging new digital interfaces
Creating new ways to charge and monetize, such as subscription and usage-based models

Types of Digital Business Models

On a broad level, digital business models can be classified under four major heads. These are:

Free (ad-supported) or Freemium business models are business models where users get free access to a basic version of the product for free (ad-supported). If users want to use premium features, then they can upgrade to the premium version by paying service fees. A great example would be Spotify, LinkedIn, etc.
Subscription-based business models are business models in which a customer pays a recurring fee on a regular interval period for using products and/or services. Examples like Netflix, Office 365, Salesforce, etc. are moving from transacting with customers to building long-term relationships and recurring revenues.
Usage-based business models are the new business models in which customers pay according to the usage of resources. In contrast to the subscription-based pricing model, the consumption-based pricing model charges customers based on the per-unit usage of the resources rather than a fixed price. Examples like AWS, Abertis, AXA, Uber, etc.
E-Commerce or Marketplace business model is a business model where a seller and a buyer use a third-party platform to trade their goods and services. Examples include Zalando, Amazon, Facebook, etc.

These heads can be further classified into sub-heads such as On-Demand business models (examples like Uber), Access-over-ownership models (examples like Airbnb) etc., depending on the digital offerings.

Among all the different digital business models, the e-Commerce subscription business model is the largest in terms of annual revenue and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25% from 2022 to 2025, as per the UBS Wealth Management report, followed by streaming services (18.74% CAGR) and cloud computing services (17.9% CAGR).

How do Acuiti Labs fit in this economy?

The boom in the digital business model economy over the past decade has also led to the growth of businesses supporting those models. Major players like SAP, Salesforce Cloud, Zoura, Stripe, Nami ML, etc. have seen tremendous growth in recent years. Further, digitally driven innovative consulting firms like Acuiti Labs, Deloitte Consulting, PwC Advisory, etc., are not far behind. Acuiti Labs, being a specialist consulting firm in the field of “Consume-to-Cash” or “Quote-to-Cash” business processes, is uniquely placed with expertise to deliver business technology and digital transformation by deploying subscription and billing management tools such as SAP BRIM on S/4HANA, SAP CPQ, SAP Subscription Billing and Entitlement Management. With a proven track record in delivering the most complex business use cases with 100% efficiency, it has helped organizations globally to transform their manual or semi-manual billing environments into the fully automated billing process. Considering the current growth trajectory of the digital transformation market, Acuiti Labs can be hugely benefited from its expertise and experience in providing technical support and digital transformation for B2B and B2C customers. Currently, the company caters to multiple industries, from shipping to media, from SaaS to postal services, etc., and has also developed different industry-specific accelerators (for example, AcuitiMobi for public transport; AcuitiPay for connected vehicles; Acuiti Subscription Manager for subscription management; AcuitiPort for seaports; AcuitiMedia for media and entertainment; and AcuitiAirport for automating aeronautical and non-aeronautical billing) to meet the industry’s needs.

Author, Amit Kumar Shaw SAP Specialist, Acuiti Lab

359

06 DecBusinessSAPTechnology

Benefits of Switching from Manual Billing to Automated Billing. Why Choose SAP BRIM for Billing Automation?

Automated billing software not only helps businesses in streamlining their invoicing process, but it eliminates errors that manual billing causes and helps in deriving valuable business insights that you can leverage for your overall growth.

Handling larger volumes of recurring customers through a manual billing process can be tedious, time-consuming, and might require extra resources. The manual billing process is also susceptible to inaccuracies and is not quite recommended for businesses handling a large volume of data to avoid errors. When a business offers subscription-based services, the processes including billing, invoicing, payments, and revenue recognition are almost impossible if are being carried out manually.

Businesses that offer usage-based or subscription-based services should definitely choose to go with recurring billing software to update and automate their billing systems. This will not only streamline the complete billing procedure but will also fully eradicate the probability of manual errors.

A lot of subscription-based businesses are already leveraging the benefits of their shift from manual billing to fully automated billing software. And it is certainly important and recommended for all the businesses dealing with a large volume of customer data that are still using the conventional billing software.

The points below may help you to clearly understand the importance of automated billing software –

1. Saves additional time and effort:

You lose a lot of time and effort if you look at each customer manually to determine its subscription plan and deploy its bill accordingly. Manual billing can further complicate the process for you and your customers when there is some change in the existing plans where you will have to track each new add-on, product removal, and customer update manually. In simple terms, working with more customers and continuing to use the manual invoicing system is not practical.

An automated billing software saves you precious time that you spend needlessly sending bills to customers and collecting payments on a recurring basis. Billing automation is the best option to go within these modern times. When you use this, you put instructions in place in advance and save your billing team a great deal of time and effort.

When you opt for an automated, self-serve system for your company’s billing requirements, you provide your customers the freedom of altering their preferences whenever they wish to. They can review their bills and make the payments themselves, saving your team time and effort.

2. Improve accuracy and eliminate errors

Recurring manual billing and invoicing processes increase the risk of human error and can result in several errors and inaccuracies in customers’ invoices. The more repetitive the manual activities are, the greater will be the risk of inaccuracies in the end results. Aside from the fact that errors are expensive, there are also long-term costs associated with declined customer satisfaction.

With the billing automation process, customer information or subscription plans are required to be entered into the system only once. This means that any time you update a new subscription, the information will always be accurate every time a customer is billed, no matter what number of customers you are serving.

Automation is about being able to drive and grow your business with confidence.

3. Improved understanding of the Major Subscription measures.

Each business must have a complete understanding of what is going on behind the scenes and what the data suggests. For SaaS (Software as a Service) and other subscription-based businesses, access to relevant reports is a critical component in monitoring business health.

The reporting features offered in the automated billing system can provide you with significant business information to project future revenues. You get to access reports that allow you to see what’s working and what isn’t and quickly fix it. This will assist businesses in making informed strategic decisions going forward.

4. Automated billing system can simplify the way payment collection is done.

Payment collection is easy when you use a modern recurring billing software like SAP BRIM. This is because it automates the entire invoicing and collections process for your business. It also helps small and large businesses in identifying and flagging customers that have due payments and sends out past due notices automatically. Once you start using a system that automates these processes, you will immediately get an idea about the customers’ payments that have not been received, so you can easily identify which clients you need to pay attention to.

Using traditional billing solutions can make it difficult for your company in handling partial payments and payments in various currencies. Tracking partially outstanding payments and converting international payments to your local currency will take up your time and energy if the number of customers you are handling is huge. Automated billing software like SAP BRIM can automate similar activities, saving your significant time and efforts and making payment collection a hassle-free task for you.

5. Improved relationships with customers.

Easy access to client accounts resulted in a better understanding of client behaviour, which resulted in the identification of turnover risks.

Recurring or r automated billing software is much more advanced, sending automated email notifications to the customers once payments are received, which is yet another way to that adds to your relationship with your customer.

No matter how much money a bill is for customers still enjoy receiving this little thank you from your company. As a matter of fact, a simple ‘Thank you’ note can increase your chances of being paid more.

6. Offers Improved security

Automated billing adds an extra layer of security and where certain tasks could only be allowed to certain people within the organization. When an automated billing system is used, it gives you total control over who can do what on your billing platform.

Most businesses have security as one of the major concern when looking for an automated billing system. SAP BRIM solution for Billing automation assures safety for its customers and is the best choice to go with if looking for an automated invoicing billing system.

SAP BRIM for Billing Automation:

Below are SAP BRIM advantages of the on-premise solution –

Conclusion –

Manual billing processes are comparatively slow, inaccurate, and prone to errors, and they do not offer the agility needed to innovate and compete. In order to position your large-scale business that offers subscription or usage-based services and succeed in this increasingly competitive landscape, having an automated billing system is crucial. Automated billing software is an often-overlooked component of a complete digital transformation. And unfortunately, a lot of businesses do not think of improving their billing procedure until some of their pain points have already appeared. But, as a business, it is important for you to maintain a healthy cash flow and keep your business performing at its best in terms of efficiency, security, and customer satisfaction. Go for SAP BRIM automated invoicing system as it is an essential development for your organisation to grow.

Acuiti Labs can help you Switch from Manual Billing to Automated Billing

Automated billing increases accuracy and reduces costs. With an automated billing system, you can save time and streamline your billing process. Acuiti Labs’ team of experts can help you make the transition from manual billing to automated billing with ease, providing direct support for all questions and issues as well as recommendations for upgrades or new systems.

How can we help?

Assessment and Analysis: Acuiti Labs can conduct a thorough assessment of your current billing process to identify areas for improvement and determine the best approach for automating your billing process. We customize the process to fit your business needs, implementing any necessary changes to ensure high-quality oversight throughout the process.
Implementation: Let Acuiti Labs implement a comprehensive, automated billing system that is tailored to your specific business needs. It can include configuring the software, integrating it with other systems, and training your staff on how to use it.
Customization: Acuiti Labs can customize the automated billing system to meet your unique business requirements. This can include customizing the user interface, adding new features and functionalities, and integrating with other systems.
Integration: Acuiti Labs can help to integrate the automated billing system with other systems, such as SAP, Oracle, or Microsoft Dynamics, and integrate with third-party systems. This can help to ensure that your billing process is seamlessly integrated with your other business processes and systems.
Ongoing Support: Once you have your automated billing system in place, Acuiti Labs can provide ongoing support and maintenance for your automated billing system, helping to ensure that it runs smoothly and that any issues are quickly resolved when they do emerge. Our team of experts is available to discuss options and answer questions, so you can be sure you’re getting the most out of your billing system.

Overall, Acuiti Labs can make the transition from manual to automated billing smooth and efficient, and with minimal disruptions to your business. With its expertise in billing automation, Acuiti Labs can ensure that your new billing system is effective, and it is tailored to fit your specific needs.

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Category: Business

1. Telecommunications: Managing High-Volume Subscriptions

2. Media and Entertainment: Flexible Pricing and Bundling

3. Software as a Service (SaaS): Managing Recurring Revenue and Scalability

4. Utilities: Supporting Complex Pricing and Consumption-Based Billing

5. Automotive: Managing Mobility as a Service (MaaS)

Upcoming Events

Join us for the

Quote-to-Cash Summit 2024

24th October, 2024 | The Shard, London

Below listed are a few reasons why businesses find it difficult to manage contracts –

Benefits of Using CLM (contract lifecycle management) for your business

1. Standardized and managed process right from start to end

2. Minimizes the Requirement and Dependency on Manual Tasks

3. Automate everything between and after first and last step of the contract

4. Streamlined Process of Personalizing Contracts

5. Measure and stay updated about the Success of your contract

Reasons to Implement Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) Software for your Business

How Acuiti Labs can help?

Why Choose Acuiti Labs?

Subscription Based Billing – Win-win for Customers and Business

Essential Features of a Subscription Billing System

Benefits of choosing SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (SAP BRIM)

Here are the key benefits of using SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management:

Statistics Highlighting the Impact of SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management

How SAP Subscription Billing and Revenue Management Supports Subscription-Based Order Management Management

Here are the 9 aspects that can change the way you look at the business –

1. Pricing:

2. Configuration:

3. Quoting:

4. Contract Creation and Negotiation:

5. Executing the Contract

6. Order Accomplishment:

7. Billing and Invoicing:

8. Revenue Recognition:

9. Renewal:

Upcoming Events

Join us for the

Quote-to-Cash Summit 2024

24th October, 2024 | The Shard, London

Diverse Pricing Plans:

Revenue Leakage:

Billing Errors and Disputes:

Scalability and Growth:

Billing Software Integration:

How Acuiti Labs can help the Telecom Industry to address their billing challenges?

Be ready to accept new technologies

Be open to experiment and expand

Lead smartly

Strategies wisely before you choose technology

Why SAP Subscription Billing?

Agile billing system – An added advantage to Enhance customer experiences

Why Choose Acuiti Labs for SAP Subscription Billing?

How do Acuiti Labs fit in this economy?

Most Awaited BRIM Event 2022

Acuiti Labs is the PLATINUM SPONSOR for the BRIM International Conference, happening in Chicago

26 - 27 October 2022

REQUEST A DEMO

Benefits of choosing SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (SAP BRIM)

Be open to experiment and
expand