The first question we hear from prospective customers is: Why should I buy a billing system when we already have a billing module we built in-house? Our inevitable response: Billing is not a module! Just as accounting, CRM and even your database are not modules, neither is your billing system.

All ASPs (Application Service Providers) and other companies that offer a software service online must bill their customers. Unlike an order placed via a shopping cart, subscription-based / recurring billing happens automatically and is not initiated by a customer action. Typically, companies build a billing module as an afterthought. Their primary focus and core competency is the service they offer, not the billing module.

As your company grows, you quickly find that your billing needs become more sophisticated, such as:

• Customizable pricing based on volume discounts, customer loyalty, bundling, negotiated pricing, etc.
• Free trials for new customers or free trial of new features for existing customers.
• Trials and/or pricing that ends within a certain timeframe or after a designated amount of usage.
• Customer credits based on service disruptions, partial billing periods, or other reasons.
• Multiple payment methods required by customers, including invoicing, credit card processing, and bank ACH/echeck transactions.
• Customer reporting needs for usage by department for internal transfer pricing or financial reporting.

Can your billing module handle all of the invoicing, payment, custom pricing and reporting needs of both your company and your customers? Can it handle future needs that you have not even considered yet?

Your customers are interested in the features of the actual service you provide. How you bill them is just another feature. Your development team should focus on your core competency -- enhancing your actual service. To handle all of your billing requirements, your billing module can quickly become a major development effort of its own, diverting your development resources away from your actual service.

At Averum, we understand that you are not in the business of building a better billing module. However, you may not have realized that not only can billing help to differentiate your service from your competition, but it can also be the source of a competitive advantage. To learn more about how Averum's billing system can help you to increase revenue, reduce expenses, and increase customer satisfaction, read on.

>> Billing is not your company's core competency ...