Case Study: A SaaS Company’s Billing Transformation
About the Company
Industry
For-Profit Education, High-Tech, Energy, Manufacturing
Growth Velocity
30 percent to 45 percent
year over year revenue
Situation
A SaaS company for the high-tech and education industry has provided operator qualification training and testing for more than thirty years. With more than fourteen hundred clients throughout North and South America, the company leverages its proprietary software to help its clients create a more qualified workforce.
The company used to have a very complex and unusual billing process. It involved a range of difficult calculations of prices, which differed from customer to customer depending on the contract terms. The billing system was also manual, which further decreased the efficiency and overall productivity of the accounting team.
Additionally, the accounting team needed to see the big picture when it came to creating and modifying invoices as well as producing accurate financial reports. The team tried a few different software platforms, but according to an account manager, “We couldn’t trust anything in the systems we were using.” The situation got so bad that the company’s CEO directed the accounting team to “get some help.” What was needed was a streamlined process that allowed for faster billing processing and easier contract maintenance.
“It’s been quite a journey, and the Coalescence team members were our partners throughout the process. Not only do I recommend them, but we have also initiated several new projects with them.”
Accounting Manager | SaaS Company for the Energy and Manufacturing Industry
Solution
Coalescence Cloud Consulting (Coalescence) seamlessly integrated the SaaS company’s accounting system with automated billing by way of utilizing and customizing its partnered platforms. The company’s CEO understood the impact automation would have on the company’s growth, most notably the ability to take on and support larger customers. Fortunately, the company formed a relationship with Coalescence.
Coalescence specializes in automation by restructuring and harmonizing business operations. Intelligent automation heightens the visibility of company assets, enables sales channels, and reduces wasteful processes to increase profitability and offer the best possible client experiences. By partnering with Salesforce, FinancialForce, and Conga, Coalescence was able to deliver on its promise to take a business-first and client-centric approach to digital transformation.
“When we brought Coalescence on board, we had big tasks ahead of us,” said the account manager. “Thankfully, the Coalescence team spent about a month at our offices learning our business and processes so that they could have a complete understanding of what we do and how we do it.”
Coalescence provided the company with automated billing that seamlessly integrated with the company’s accounting system by way of utilizing and customizing the aforementioned partnered platforms. This not only saves the accounting team time but also eliminates the possibility of user error. As an example, the accounting team previously had to manually track and create journals for invoices, but they now simply view a list of already created journals and post with one button.
The account manager was very satisfied with the Coalescence team’s work. She said, “The Coalescence team went above and beyond to completely understand our billing to build a solution that correctly invoices our customers, ensuring scalability as our organization grows and changes.”
Results and Benefits
Enhanced Contract
Maintenance Capabilities
With the click of a button, users
can easily handle contract renewals, revisions, and product additions mid-contract.
Integrated with Accounting System
If certain criteria are met, the accounting system performs actions such as creating journals and accounts receivable transaction records for the transfer of funds between accounts after an invoice is paid.
Automated Pricing Engine
The new billing system automatically calculates the prices for any product according to a customer’s master service agreement and pricing structure dictated by the quantity of certain product types within the existing contract. It also allows users to send quotes to the customer before the desired items are added to the contract.
Live Product Quantity Rollups
The new user interface allows for easy verification of records that have been automatically created. It also shows what has been billed and what has yet to be billed.
Automated Follow-Up Tasks
Specified actions trigger automated follow-up tasks, such as updating record statuses, creating journals, and sending notifications to the accounting team.
Summary
The SaaS company needed a streamlined process that allowed for faster billing processing and easier contract maintenance. Coalescence Cloud Consulting automated the company’s billing and accounting processes to improve customer experience, reduce calculation errors, and support growth.