Subscription Quote-to-Cash, More Than Just Billing

When using TechTorch capabilities to deploy quote-to-cash processes for subscriptions, the first question that often comes to our customers’ minds is billing. While periodic billing and invoicing are vital for subscription offers, there’s more that should be put in place to provide a best-in-class transaction experience. Great subscription companies create a holistic customer engagement around the subscription, uncovering the full potential value for their customers. The good news is that capabilities, processes, systems, and tools are fully available for every company to unlock that value.

Customers’ motions and journey when transacting subscription offers is similar to the traditional quote-to-cash that has been in place for a while. First, customers are interested in an offer configuration and want to get an estimate of the pricing. The proposed quote gets agreed upon and approved. Next, the offer gets activated and provisioned—billing kicks in. Customer pays. Finally, the company recognizes the revenue in its financial systems.

While motions might be familiar, what truly changes in subscription transactions is the customer engagement throughout the process. Customers are interested in an offer after an immersive “try and buy” period. They want to configure the offers and get the associated price on a self-service model. There is limited patience for long lead times to receive quotes. Customers wish for high flexibility when choosing different rating and term plans. The attributes associated with the offers can be changed at any time via simple self-service mode. All purchased offers – subscriptions, add-ons, one-off purchases – must be consolidated and delivered into a single billing and invoicing experience. Real-time information about billing and usage needs to be accessible digitally. Payments must be made quickly and available globally in multiple currencies. Renewals should also be low friction.

On the other side of the equation, companies selling subscriptions want to create great customer experience while maximizing revenue during the transaction process by upgrading, cross-selling, and upselling related offers. Reducing churn (i.e.. having high renewal rates) is paramount to achieving superior subscription economics. And companies expect the systems and tools to generate intelligent insights via embedded analytics to do all that.