Software as a Service

Subscription Commerce for Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software-as-a-Service can represent a quantum leap in terms of cost-effectiveness, efficiency and streamlined operations when compared to on-premise solutions. It can offer a true win-win for both the business and its customers with steady, predictable cash flow for the former and much reduced upfront costs for the latter.

However, to unlock the value of SaaS, operations much be automated and streamlined as much as possible. This can be a challenge, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses that experience growth. The right back office support leads to more efficient sales and operations, and helps a business maintain a product focus and leadership even through growth phases. Some of the issues faced by leading SaaS companies include implementing

• A seamless user experience
• Fast time to market
• Customer automation (signups, renewals, up/downgrades)
• Automatic and secure customer payment processing and billing
• Customer self-service

Case Study: 4-Tell

4-Tell helps merchants reach, connect and serve shoppers by demonstrating an understanding of what they want, no matter where they are or how they like to shop – by recommendations such as, “People also bought…” 4-Tell sells its products to customers in three different subscription packages that can be purchased and paid for online. The company has grown its customer base rapidly by integrating the 4-Tell recommendation technology as a plug-in for many of the top ecommerce shopping carts online. As a growing subscription-based company, 4-Tell had three challenges in managing subscription commerce and automating complex, recurring transactions such as subscription billing and payment, promotions and provisioning:

• Synchronizing billing with its customer relationship management software (CRM)
• Billing customers based upon usage
• Working with old billing software that had an outdated and dicult-to-use interface

4-Tell turned to Accumulus to automate the complete subscription commerce process and accelerate revenue opportunities, thus solving all three of the company’s issues with its previous subscription billing solution.Accumulus has enabled 4-Tell to easily manage its subscription commerce with its customers. For example, the solution’s dropdown menus of simple rules made it easy to link and synchronize Accumulus with 4-Tell’s existing CRM system. Now, when a client signs up and is taken live, the CRM system shows the proper billing price and status.