Managing enterprise-level billing is often a key area of focus for B2B organizations. To many, Billing would appear to be a simple, straight forward function. You figure out what you want to sell, add the terms of a contract, create an invoice and update all your financial systems. The challenge for Enterprises is that they have several billing needs that do not apply to general consumer billing. Unlike consumers, enterprises are also prioritized by volume duration, contractual terms and are not treated the same in the eyes of the B2B vendor.
The modern-day B2B enterprise must be equipped with the proper solution to effectively invoice and process payments for its enterprise clients. Without these systems in place, the vendor has the potential to lose thousands of dollars due to unforeseen billing inefficiencies or millions of dollars in lost opportunities because legacy billing systems can’t provide the sales and/or marketing function the flexibility the need to meet , or create, the bundles they need to win a deal The following variables are just a few topics that must be supported when implementing a agile enterprise billing system.
Wide range of Products and services
When businesses offer a large range of products of services from a singular vendor, it usually results in a discounted price for the buyer. While this a favorable situation for sellers due to the revenue it provides, there is typically no automated way to invoice this manually.
Larger Volume
Enterprises almost always order products and/or services in bulk, unlike the majority of consumer buyers. When combined with a wide selection of products and services, this mix can prove difficult to creating the bill.
Complex distribution
Multinational organizations will often times request distribution across the country, and sometimes the world. This introduces several issues to address, such as foreign currency conversions, tax rates across state and international lines, shipping rates to different countries and more.
Decentralized cost centers
Many companies take a decentralized approach to procuring products and services. This allows for individual departments within the overall organization to bill for costs they incur directly.Billing software for B2C will require the ability to handle very high volumes of accounts and transactions, but each transaction will typically contain fewer items. Conversely, product catalogs for businesses tend to be increasingly more complex, leading to a more sophisticated invoicing process.
Also, creating a secure online portal to handle highly sensitive account information, as well as allow for payment processing and charge allocation is also a solution that will undoubtedly be required within a proper enterprise billing system.
When these, and other variables are combined, the order-to-cash process becomes challenging for B2B vendors. These components create a complex and integrated environment for businesses looking to engage in enterprise billing. For the reasons listed above, invoicing clients based on hundreds of variables can be a challenge that usually requires flexible software to handle effectively.
As you can see, the perfect enterprise-level billing solution must consider common purchasing behaviors of enterprises and incorporate them into a streamlined, automated software program that fits the needs of the vendor. A proper enterprise billing solution does not simply cater to the vendor’s needs, however, but the buyer’s needs as well. Many enterprise pricing models are largely driven by the volume and are essential for the enterprise customer to be able to see how they are progressing towards the next discount tier.
At Kansys, we provide our clients with all the benefits of a powerful enterprise-level billing platform in a software and cloud integrator that specializes in efficiently managing B2B data. Our systems provide a best-in-class solution for B2B vendors looking to address complex monetization and other business trends present in their industry. Most importantly, the end solution is created in the way that each individual enterprise chooses to define, run and evolve their business.
Transform your billing support processes today. Introducing the Kansys Edge enterprise billing software.
