The ultimate guide to enterprise billing for SaaS | 2024

As SaaS companies grow and start dealing with more customers, a common issue starts to emerge:

Billing starts to get out of hand, and costly errors become more common.

SaaS companies that work with enterprise-level clients simply can’t afford to make these mistakes, as a single invoice error could potentially mean losses of thousands of dollars. 

An enterprise billing system succeeds where traditional billing systems fail. When the old way of billing customers just doesn’t cut it anymore, pivoting to a new strategy is key.

In this guide, we’ll cover enterprise billing and show you when you should consider making the switch. 

We’ll go over:

• What is enterprise billing?
• What are the most common billing challenges for SaaS companies?
• The difference between standard billing software and enterprise billing software
• Features to look for in an enterprise billing software solution
• Reasons why your SaaS business needs enterprise billing
• Some handy tips for choosing the right enterprise billing system

Let’s get started.

What is enterprise billing?

Traditional billing systems manage simple transactions and fixed pricing for individual purchases. Enterprise billing is designed for the intricate needs of large organizations. 

These systems automate invoicing, payment processing, and subscription management across a wide range of products and services, all with adaptable pricing models.

The key difference lies in how these systems handle change. 

Standard billing falters when businesses introduce new pricing structures, expand internationally, or need to manage intricate compliance regulations. Enterprise billing thrives in this dynamic environment, scaling and adjusting alongside your growing business.

Common billing challenges for SaaS companies

SaaS companies have changed how we access software, but they also face a unique set of billing hurdles. Let's look at some of the most common challenges:

• Keeping up with customer plans: SaaS often involves subscription models with various tiers or usage-based pricing models. Managing this manually, especially as your customer base grows, becomes time-consuming and prone to errors.

• Global expansion: Selling internationally means handling multiple currencies, different payment methods, and constantly shifting tax regulations. Standard billing systems often struggle to keep up.

• Inaccurate billing: With so many variables in SaaS pricing, mistakes happen. These billing errors can lead to revenue loss, customer frustration, and even damage to your brand's reputation.
• Limited insights: It's hard to make informed decisions about pricing or promotions without accurate, real-time data on customer behavior and billing trends.

• High complexity: Managing the intricacies of subscriptions, renewals, upgrades/downgrades, and custom pricing models puts a strain on standard billing systems.

• Scalability issues: As your business grows, can your billing system handle the increased transaction volume and customer data without slowing down or requiring major overhauls?

• Regulatory compliance: Staying up-to-date with global tax requirements, data privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.), and financial reporting standards is difficult to manage manually and vital for avoiding costly fines.

What’s the difference between standard billing software vs. enterprise billing software?

Think of standard billing software as the right tool for handling simple, one-time transactions. It's fine for invoicing and basic payment processing, but when businesses get bigger or want more nuanced pricing structures, standard software runs into limitations:

• Limited support: Standard systems struggle with recurring billing, automatic adjustments for upgrades/downgrades, and handling multiple subscription plans at once. This leads to manual workarounds and a higher risk of billing errors.

• Pricing restrictions: Standard systems often lack the agility to handle usage-based charges, tiered pricing, custom bundles, or promotions. This limits your ability to tailor pricing to different markets or customer segments.

• Global constraints: Handling multiple currencies, regional taxes, and different payment gateways can overwhelm standard billing. This creates barriers to international expansion and a disjointed customer experience.

• Lack of accurate insights: Without in-depth reporting and analytics, you lack visibility into customer behavior, churn, and revenue trends. This makes it harder to identify areas for growth or optimize pricing for profitability.

On the other hand, enterprise billing software is built differently. It's designed for the scale and nuance of larger operations. Key features include:

• Adaptable pricing: Easily manage subscriptions, consumption-based billing, dynamic pricing adjustments, and more. This flexibility allows you to experiment with pricing strategies based on customer usage, market trends, and profitability goals.

• Automation: Enterprise billing systems automate a wide range of tasks, such as recurring invoice generation, payment processing, tax calculations, and revenue recognition. This saves significant time, reduces errors, and frees up your teams. 

• Global reach: Support for multiple currencies, seamless tax compliance management, and integrations with various payment gateways allow for smooth international expansion.

• Insights that matter: Robust reporting and analytics tools provide deep insights into customer behavior, preferences, and revenue patterns. This data is key for adapting pricing, preventing churn, spotting cross-selling possibilities, and boosting growth.

Here’s a handy comparison of the two at a glance:

Enterprise billing software features to look for

When evaluating enterprise billing solutions, standard features like basic invoicing aren't enough. Here's what sets enterprise-level systems apart:

• Adaptable pricing support: Look for the ability to manage subscriptions of various lengths, tiers, usage-based billing, promotions, and custom pricing. 

• Automated invoicing and collections: The system should automatically generate accurate invoices based on customer plans, handle renewals, and manage payment reminders. You’ll save time and significantly reduce errors. 

• Global tax and regulatory compliance: Automated tax calculations for multiple jurisdictions — along with compliance features for regulations like IFRS 15 and SOX, and data privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA) — are vital for operating at scale.

• Integrations (ERP, CRM, etc.): Direct integration with your existing systems is essential for avoiding data silos. Look for systems that connect with your accounting software, customer relationship management platform, and other key business tools.

• Dunning management: Automatic retries for failed payments, customizable dunning emails, and payment plan options can improve collection rates and prevent churn.

• Customer tracking: Enterprise systems should track customer usage and other key metrics. This data is essential for consumption-based billing and gaining insights into customer behavior.

• Robust reporting and analytics: Go beyond basic reports. Look for customizable views into revenue trends, churn, customer behavior, and insights that help you make strategic business decisions.

Why your SaaS business needs enterprise billing 

If your SaaS company is growing, the billing limitations of legacy systems will quickly become apparent. Enterprise billing is more than just an upgrade, it's an investment in your business's long-term success. Here's why:

• Conquer pricing complexity: Enterprise billing gives you the power to implement the pricing models that make sense for your business. Whether it's tiered subscriptions, usage-based fees, or custom bundles, you have the tools to tailor pricing to different customer segments and market demands.

• Boost quote-to-cash efficiency: Enterprise billing smooths the entire process, from customer inquiry to payment. Automated systems generate quotes, configure products, and process payments accurately, shortening sales cycles and getting revenue in the door faster.

• Gain data-driven insights: Enterprise billing systems provide detailed analytics on customer behavior, usage patterns, and revenue trends. These insights empower you to make smarter pricing decisions and identify key opportunities for upselling.

• Elevate customer experience: Self-service portals, instant invoices, and multiple payment options give customers more control and convenience. This builds loyalty and reduces the strain on your customer service team.

• Security and compliance you can trust: Protect your sensitive customer data with enterprise-grade encryption and adherence to industry standards like PCI DSS.  Automated tax compliance and audit trails give you peace of mind and help you avoid costly penalties.

How to choose the right enterprise billing system

Finding the ideal enterprise billing solution isn't one-size-fits-all. Make sure the system you choose aligns with your company's unique needs and goals by following this quick guide:

• Start with an honest needs assessment: Begin by outlining your specific billing pain points and future plans. 
  
  What type of products or services do you sell? How complex are your pricing models? Do you operate in multiple countries? This analysis will provide a baseline to compare systems against.

• Evaluate features carefully: Consider features beyond the basics. Look for advanced revenue recognition capabilities, support for usage-based billing (perhaps even a billing software specialized in it like Orb), and the ability to handle regional tax regulations specific to your industry.

• Prioritize scalability: Will the system grow alongside your business? Can it handle increased transaction volume, support new pricing models, and easily add more customer accounts? Ensure this is the case before making the last call. 

• Get a demo: Request a tailored demonstration or trial access to experience the system firsthand. Focus on the user interface and how easily your team could adapt.

• Check for integrations: Seamless integration with your CRM, ERP, CPQ, and other tools creates a unified financial ecosystem. Ask vendors for a list of supported integrations. For more data reliability, look for data warehouse-native options like Orb.

• Investigate vendor reputation: Research the vendor's track record. Read client testimonials, case studies, and independent reviews to gauge reliability and customer support quality. Though it may seem obvious, it’s easy to fall into a popularity bias. 

• Don't underestimate security and compliance: Prioritize systems with enterprise-grade security, data encryption, and adherence to industry standards like PCI DSS and SOC compliance.

• Factor in the total cost: Don't just compare upfront costs. Consider ongoing maintenance, implementation assistance, training, and potential customization needs to keep the software running within your business’s infrastructure.

Next steps

If you’ve read through our in-depth guide, it means you’ve probably outgrown your previous billing solution or want to start billing customers with an extra layer of precision. 

You need an enterprise-level solution that can handle the complexities of your growing SaaS company, whether that's subscription management, intricate pricing models, global operations, or all of the above.

That’s where Orb shines:

• End-to-end billing agility: Orb is an enterprise-level billing platform. It supports diverse pricing models — subscriptions, usage-based billing, tiered plans, and custom bundles. It lets you experiment and adapt your pricing with ease.
• Quick setup process: Start billing quickly with Orb's easy integration setup, flexible metric definition tools, and intuitive Plan Builder feature.

• Integration above all: Orb sits on top of your data warehouse, so you know it’s always getting accurate data. Plus, robust APIs and integrations with S3, Segment, and more ensure streamlined data flow with your CRM, ERP, and other business tools.

• Global expansion made easy: Orb simplifies tax compliance and integrates with various payment gateways, facilitating international growth.

• Data-driven insights: Orb's detailed analytics provide rich insights into customer behavior, usage patterns, and revenue trends. Orb’s powerful reporting features help you make sure you’re being transparent with your billing during the entire customer journey. 

• Customer-centric billing: Orb's self-service customer portals empower clients with real-time visibility into usage, invoices, and account settings. This builds trust, improves payment cycles, and reduces demands on your support team.

• Unmatched security and compliance: Orb's enterprise-level security features, adherence to industry standards, and detailed audit trails safeguard your customer data and ensure peace of mind.

• Scalability built-in: Orb grows alongside your business. It handles increasing volumes, complex pricing models, and the evolving needs of your expanding customer base without performance bottlenecks.

Still on the fence? Learn more about how Orb can solve enterprise billing for you.