Optimizing Billing to Support SaaS Growth

Billing is a stumbling block for many SaaS-based software companies. Those who started as start-ups have often managed with some general invoicing software that does not sufficiently support the recurring business model and its variations. Companies that have been operating longer have gradually moved from one-time or annual invoicing of the license toward a genuine SaaS model, but billing has lagged behind a generation. Spreadsheets combined with a manual collection of what and how to invoice, seem still to be quite common tools instead of automation.

Here are a few perspectives on why a SaaS business needs a platform to get the right tools to manage various fixed and usage-based charges:

1. Scalability to support the SaaS growth

Every Saas company's goals will presumably and hopefully include growth. In practice, growth also means new services, perhaps new channel models, and in any case, growth requires a regular revision of the strategy. At the same time, it must be ensured that the ability to manage the pricing and ensure cash flow with billing is in order and there is no revenue leakage.

However, billing very commonly ends up in a situation where the produced services have to be manually assigned to the customer contract to ensure the correct invoice. In particular, various usage-related services lead to monthly excel spreadsheets when there are no tools for saving customer prices and contracts, and especially for automatically assigning usage data to contracts. Changes in subscriptions are difficult to manage manually and lead to incorrect invoices and revenue leakage.

Adding new services to offer often leads to further increased manual labor and economies of scale remain a dream. At worst, new services have to be produced under the terms of pricing and invoicing, not optimized according to business goals. This may also lead to revenue leakage and also churn when customers are not happy with what they get.

2. Correct invoice data ensures transparency of how business is developing

Manual work in billing often leads to errors, which in turn lowers customer satisfaction and weakens the visibility of the real business situation. The delay in the processes caused by manual work leads to a situation where changes in business situations may not be noticed in time. At worst, the business management makes conclusions based on insufficient information.

3. Right metrics for monitoring your business

Turnover, the development of recurring revenue on a monthly or annual basis, the number of new customers, churn and the value of new contracts is information that every Saas company's management should monitor. Quite often, following these is done by gathering information from here and there, instead of the information being available up-to-date.

Take us to the test

Good Sign is an expert in billing for ongoing services. Our software, which is produced as a cloud service, is used by Saas companies as well as by IT service companies that produce various data center or consulting services. And in many industries in XaaS service models!

So, if you feel your billing needs will outgrow your current recurring revenue billing solution, or if you are just curious to learn how Good Sign does things differently, feel free to take us to the test! We will gladly take on your challenge and prove to you it can be done, and that the new world lies beyond just subscriptions.

Read more about Good Sign for SaaS