Zuora Overhauls Platform For Subscription Services Business ERP

Zuora already provides a subscription relationship management solution designed for subscription services businesses, but reports this week said the company is taking another look at its approach.

Reports Wednesday (June 7) said Zuora has “re-architected” its platform to create a “post-ERP” solution. Specifically, the company is adding new products to its offering, including collections capabilities and revenue management.

The company announced the launch of Zuora Central, a new platform described as “the hub for the order-to-cash ecosystem.” The company said the portal is flexible to adjust according to market conditions, changing customer needs, subscribers’ needs and other factors. According to reports, the company reengineered its underlying technology and added five separate applications to operate on the platform: Billing, CPQ, RevPro, Insights and Collect.

Billing handles billing for recurring services, CPQ provides subscription-friendly configure-price-quote capabilities, RevPro provides revenue recognition automation and is a result of the company’s recent acquisition of Leeyo, Insights provides key financial metrics and analytics, and Collect, the newest of the apps, enables accounts receivable and invoice settlement management.

Revealing the new approach to the market, Zuora‘s CEO Tien Tzuo spoke at the annual Subscribed event in San Francisco held Wednesday (June 7), during which he argued many of its clients — which include Ford, Caterpillar, Symantec and GE Digital — are shifting toward the subscription economy and recurring revenue business models.

The recurring revenue business model relies on built-up, ongoing relationships between customer and service provider, meaning ERP and CRM solutions need to be flexible.

“Our customers see us as a critical and necessary component in their enterprise architecture,” said SVP of Product Tom Krackeler. “CRM is where the sales information is, and ERP is where the financials are. Zuora is where the business model is, and it owns the customer relationship.”

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