Traditional billing platforms work fine for simple contracts, low-volume sales, and one-time payments, but many companies find it hard to make them fit their customers’ needs as they change quickly.

Agile billing is a cloud-based option that is flexible and made to fit the needs of bigger, more complicated businesses.

What is Agile Billing?

Agile billing is a flexible billing system that makes it easy for companies to quickly change their price models, handle complicated subscription plans, bill based on usage, and set up automatic recurring payments.

It’s different from traditional billing solutions from legacy ERP providers because it has many features that make it easier to keep track of customer activity across multiple channels, handle each customer’s payment plan, and make the user experience unique with custom fields and automated emails.

Some things about agile bills are:

• Automation: To save time and money, automate the billing process and payment plans.
• Flexible pricing models: You can easily change the pricing models to meet your customers’ needs.
• Smooth integration: Link to several outside platforms to simplify getting to data for front- and back-office work.
• Full reporting: Make reports on what customers do, how much they pay, and what services they have.

Better security steps are also built into agile billing to protect customers’ data and businesses’ finances. End-to-end encryption and authentication are built into cloud-native software, meaning private customer data is kept safe.

Synonyms

• Flexible Billing: A concept characterized by the ability to quickly and easily adapt to customers’ needs and payment plans.
• Usage-Based Billing: A billing system that charges customers for products or services based on usage rather than a one-time fee.
• Cloud-Based Billing: A billing platform hosted in the cloud and accessed over an internet connection.

The reason why businesses need agile billing

Around the world, more than 71% of businesses use Agile. The main places where agile functions come from are HR, finance, and administration, which includes billing tasks. Companies that use agile billing get a lot of perks, such as:

In Light of Data

With agile billing, businesses can see what their customers are doing, how they use their subscriptions, and when they pay in real-time. This lets them gather, access, and measure data, which helps them make better decisions and set more accurate prices.

Businesses can make better choices when they can see patterns in how customers use their products or services and where sales are going. This lets them change pricing models or payment plans to fit these needs.

Better experience for customers

More freedom and control over their billing experience is given to customers when they can choose how to pay, the subscription they want, or the usage-based plan they like.

This makes customers happier, keeps them returning, and eventually brings more business money.

Because agile billing systems keep track of what customers do and what they like, reminding customers about missed payments or expired subscriptions can be done automatically to make things easier for everyone.

Take charge of Complex ways of charging and billing.

Many businesses, including agencies, software companies, and large corporations, must deal with complicated pricing and payment systems. Agile billing makes it easy for them to change these systems based on how customers act, the state of the market, or other outside factors.

This makes it easier for companies to take advantage of new chances and keep accurate spending records.

Easy to use and expandable

Businesses change all the time, and when they add a new product, microservice, or access plan, they may need to change how they bill their customers in a big way.

In this case, companies need to be able to make changes quickly when they go from one-time billing to monthly billing.

Businesses can make quick changes without interrupting their billing cycle because flexible billing platforms can quickly grow to fit new needs.

Grow Cash Flow

Any business wants to make more money because that means more satisfied customers and better products. Businesses can change their pricing plans and how they bill customers with agile billing, which helps them make the most money possible.

Businesses can also make the most of their payment cycles by running sales or discounts at times when customers are likely to pay faster, more often, or for more money.

Because it automates many tedious billing tasks, like collecting, tracking, and handling payments, companies can put their team’s attention on growth-boosting projects instead of billing issues.

Safe Transactions

When most businesses think about their payment process, they think about how fast, correctly, and quickly it works. However, protection is also critical.

People trust that businesses will keep their payment information safe when they enter it. Private information that needs to be kept safe should be encrypted to avoid identity theft and scams.

Businesses should also use a PCI-compliant billing platform to ensure they follow credit card security guidelines set by the industry.

Built-in features in agile billing software make it easier to follow the rules and keep customer info safe.

Traditional Billing Models vs. Agile Billing Models

Traditional billing models are very different from agile billing in a few critical ways:

• There isn’t a single way to do billing in traditional models. Instead, agile billing is fluid and focuses on making customers happy.
• In standard billing, companies send bills for the usage in the previous month at the end of the month or at a set time. Businesses can bill customers at different times (monthly, yearly, etc.) depending on how much they use the service.
• Dynamic billing in agile billing gives you more value over time, while fixed-price plans usually require upfront payments or a one-time fee.
• Traditional billing is usually done by hand, but automated tools make the agile billing process faster.
• Businesses don’t know much about their customers or tastes when they use old-fashioned billing methods. Businesses can use the information that agile billing platforms gather to improve their goods, target their marketing efforts, and more.

Agile billing models work best for businesses that need to change their services often and give their customers various payment options.

Businesses with steady needs, little room for price negotiation, and known costs and results can still use traditional models.

Why an agile billing model is good

Because they are so much better than old systems, agile billing solutions are suitable for companies and their customers in many ways.

• It is easy and quick: Intelligent billing helps businesses handle their billing tasks with less work and fewer resources.
• Lower costs: Automation gets rid of the need to do things by hand, which saves time and money on things like software fees, labor, and mistakes made by people.
• Happier customers: Customers are billed based on their usage or preferences, so they only pay for what they need. 4. Clearer billing: During the billing cycle, agile solutions help customers understand and plan for their upcoming bills without any surprises, which is especially important in the service industry.
• Fewer customers leaving: A modern payment system ensures customers don’t have to deal with mistakes like being overcharged or charged for the wrong services. This builds trust and keeps things running smoothly in the relationship.

Agile billing opens up ways to make money.

Sophisticated billing methods do more than make things easier. They can also help you make more money by taking advantage of your customers’ different ways and tastes.

• Dynamic pricing: Charge customers differently depending on how much they use or what they like. For example, offer specific discounts or special deals when customers are likely to pay more quickly, often, or for more money.
• Subscription models: Let customers “subscribe” to your services regularly. This can increase the value of each customer over time and lower the number of people who leave your service.
• Pay-as-you-go models: Use pay-as-you-go models for customers who want to choose how much they pay for and when they pay for it.
• Missed revenue detection: Revenue leaks are often not noticed because of flaws within the company. Businesses can find and fix possible revenue problems with agile billing options before they become problems.
• Better ideas for how to make money: Businesses can tailor their offers to different groups of customers to make the most money by using analytics and data from customer payment times, values, and preferences.

Billing software that works quickly

Several different pieces of software are needed for agile billing changes to work well together.

Each company will use some or all of these options, depending on how they run their business:

• ERP: Enterprise resource planning systems handle many tasks, such as purchasing, keeping track of goods and inventory, finances, human resources and payroll, and more. ERP works with agile billing software to ensure vendors and sellers get the correct bills.
• Customer relationship management (CRM): CRM systems work with billing to ensure that data is correct and that customers are divided into groups based on how they pay, what they do, and the size of their group.
• E-commerce Platforms: Customers can buy things online and pay for them as they prefer with e-commerce shops. This can include pay-as-you-go billing, subscriptions, or one-time sales.
• Payment Gateways: These make handling payments easier and keep customer information safe.
• Billing and invoicing software: Modern invoicing solutions help service businesses, vendors, and retailers better handle their payments by automating the whole billing process.
• CPQ: CPQ software automates billing, lets you set up complex products, uses dynamic pricing, and has many other features that current billing systems need.