5 Steps to Building Your B2B Subscription Billing Strategy
Building a successful B2B subscription business requires more than a great product or service. It requires an effective billing strategy that automates recurring billing and revenue recognition while providing deep operational insights. As one of the first SaaS accounting applications built for the cloud, Sage Intacct knows something about subscription billing. Sage recently published a helpful infographic, Five Steps to Building your B2B Subscription Billing Strategy. We’ll share the highlights here.
Step One – Integrate for 30% More Efficiency
When you can integrate the quote-to-cash cycle, eliminating manual touchpoints, you elevate efficiency, productivity, and accuracy — freeing resources to scale the business. Subscription businesses have an added layer of complexity stemming from revenue recognition compliance mandates, so having the right applications for the task is essential. With best-of-breed CRM integration and integrated contract management, billing schedules, revenue schedules, and payment processing, Sage Intacct customers can boost efficiencies by 30% or more.
Step Two — Incorporate Flexible Billing for a 20% Cash Flow Increase
Many companies have incorporated a subscription offering into their lineup while continuing to sell other products and services under a more traditional, order-centric model. It’s also not uncommon for these different billing approaches to be included on a single invoice. While the customer contract may detail the billing structure, producing accurate contract-based customer invoices can be a time-consuming, error-prone task. Sage Intacct automates subscription billing (and fully supports order-based billing as well), improving accuracy and accelerating cash flow. As a result, many Sage Intacct customers have increased cash flow by 20%.
Step Three — Automate Revenue Recognition for a 50% Faster Close
Compliance with ASC 606/IFRS 15 rules surrounding revenue recognition can be a complex, cumbersome process. Sage Intacct was designed to simplify revenue management with automated revenue recognition and expense amortization. As a result, many Sage Intacct customers have reduced their monthly close time by up to 50%.
Step Four — Deliver Real-Time Metrics and Reduce Churn by 2%
Subscription businesses launched a whole new world of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics. From churn rates, contracted monthly recurring revenue (CMRR), customer count analyses to customer acquisition costs, successful subscription businesses need real-time insight into the health of their operation. Sage Intacct is optimized for SaaS companies, delivering real-time SaaS metrics through graphical dashboards that illustrate trends and highlight opportunities. Customers leveraging this data can reduce revenue churn by up to 2%.
Step Five — Forecast the Future to Increase Revenue by 15%
Preparing your subscription business for what’s next is impossible without accurate, data-backed forecasts. Insights into billing, payments, and revenues can help you capitalize on opportunities and avoid surprises. Sage Intacct helps subscription businesses improve performance with data insights across Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Configure, Price, and Quote (CPQ), and financial applications. As a result, companies leveraging Sage Intacct’s forecasting capabilities have been able to increase the revenue-per-transaction by up to 15%.
Unified Platform for Subscription Success
Succeeding in the B2B subscription space requires a combination of the right products and services, a robust, automated subscription billing and revenue recognition platform, and deep insight into operations. Sage Intacct removes the complexities surrounding contract and subscription billing, providing a unified platform for scalable subscription success. Check out the Five Steps to Building your B2B Subscription Billing Strategy infographic, or contact a member of our Sage Intacct consulting team to learn more.