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It’s no secret - IT Services is a tricky industry to negotiate. In fact, it’s pretty full-on. There’s tons of competition, customer demands change and increases constantly, and tech becomes obsolete in the blink of an eye. And at the center of all this is you - the Chief Revenue Officer. You’re the linchpin of financial success and you’ve got a lot of plates to spin. Handling diverse revenue streams. Ensuring an efficient billing process. Optimizing financial operations. It’s a lot of pressure. When things don’t work, the buck stops with you- you’re the one who has to walk into the boardroom and answer questions about why things are the way they are. And your teams will struggle, and their morale will plummet, negatively impacting performance in the future. We work with many CROs in IT Services, and we’ve found that one of the biggest challenges they have is invoice errors. To someone on the outside, these errors can look like small inaccuracies. But they cause HUGE problems. So let’s talk about where they come from, why they’re such a problem, and what can be done to solve it. Understanding Invoice Errors Invoice errors are really disruptive. So where do they come from? Mistakes: We’re all human, so we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to input something wrong or overlook something. Especially if things are really busy. But the impact can be really serious - mistakes cause invoice errors including the wrong client IDs, incorrect dates, or misplaced decimal points. No oversight: This isn’t about blame. Most of the time when there’s no oversight it’s because everyone is so busy that some things will slip through the cracks. Without robust checks and balances, invoice errors are going to happen. And the larger your business, the bigger the problem, because chances are your invoicing involves multiple departments and personnel. Complex billing: Using billing systems that are not remotely streamlined is a common problem. But the more complex something is, the harder it can be to use with accuracy. Invoicing systems must be user-friendly, and they must prevent misunderstood functionalities, misused features, or lack of navigation. Otherwise, you’ll get errors. Ineffective communication: If teams and departments don’t keep accurate and real-time communication, there will be invoicing errors. For example, if sales offer new customers a discount, or existing customers a package deal for upgrades, but doesn’t tell the billing department every time, there will be inaccurate invoices. Again, it’s no one’s fault per se- most teams are so busy, that constant communication is virtually impossible. Scaling with no support: Of course great to scale! But when a company grows quickly, the operations and processes have to accommodate it. If they don’t, mistakes are going to be inevitable. How Invoice Errors Damage the CRO and the Business  These errors can cause a lot of damage. Some of it unfixable. And this damage extends across both your business and you. Do any of these sound familiar? Crediting and wasted efforts: Invoice errors force you to issue credits. You lose money, pure and simple. You also waste valuable resources because you have to take the time to find the error, inform your customer about it, and process the credit. Plummeting morale and productivity: No one likes to be screamed at on the phone. Or receive angry emails. Dealing with that day in and day out is going to be bad for morale. And it’s frustrating for you. All of you get stuck in a loop of trying harder, working longer hours, and yet seeing no change. That’s a terrible environment for you to work in. Damaged reputation: Making mistakes in your invoicing over and over will harm your reputation, which has a knock-on effect on your reputation personally. People will question your company’s reliability and competency. You lose business opportunities. You lose your standing in the industry. And you lose investors. Inefficient operations: When you and your teams are busy finding and solving invoice mistakes, you don’t have the time for a forward-thinking strategy, tasks, and campaigns. That puts your company at a disadvantage compared with your competition because IT Services is all about constant innovation. Customer churn: Customers simply won’t stick around if they have to deal with frustrating invoice mistakes. That means less money for you. Actionable Steps to Mitigate the Problem    When you’re a proactive CRO who wants to perform in the best way possible for the company, you want to solve problems as fast as possible.   So, how can a proactive CRO turn the tide against these issues? Here are some actionable steps you can take to stop the problem of invoice errors and get rid of the chaos that those errors cause:  Give your staff training: When staff are trained and updated on your billing, they are far less likely to make errors. Training sessions shouldn’t be a one-off, they should be regular events to keep your staff fresh, ready and aware of what to do to avoid mistakes.  Bring in the quality control your processes requires: Integrating a review system that works across all the tiers and teams involved in sales and billing will stop errors before they become a problem.  Give your teams realistic expectations: Teams get busy and overworked and that’s when errors can be their worst. Giving teams the resources they need, understanding that scaling puts extra pressure on everyone, and adjusting expectations to be more realistic will help cut down those errors.  Eliminate information silos between teams: When teams and departments get the information they need, they’ll be able to act with accuracy. Make sure that operating systems enable good communication so that misunderstandings are prevented and all relevant information is included in invoices.  Scale processes along with the customer base: When your company grows, your processes will have to grow so your teams can keep up. Ensuring your systems scale as much as possible will help prevent operational inefficiencies and invoice errors.  Bring in end-to-end automation: End-to-end automation is the ultimate solution to invoice errors. It really is! Automation cuts down on those errors because it streamlines the invoicing process.   It does this by combining all the previous steps - it enforces quality control by checking for errors, reduces the need for extensive training as the system handles most tasks, completely smashes silos and provides real-time information to flow between teams, ensures all data is incorporated correctly, and scales easily no matter how much or how fast.   And - bonus - the best platforms can make things easier for your sales and invoicing teams by designing the best pricing systems, funneling opportunities, using customer data to create offerings they want, and automatically raising invoices.   This means not only are those pesky common errors gone, but your teams are less stressed, have time to get involved in value-adding activities and boost your revenue.   That’s the kind of result you’ll be happy to take to the boardroom.   You Can End Invoice Problems For Good Invoicing errors don’t have to be a business inevitability. Neither does having crushed spirits thanks to all the damage control and bad morale! You as the CRO can tackle this issue head-on by knowing the causes, recognizing their impact, and taking proactive steps to prevent them. And you can have end-to-end automation take care of everything for you. This pain point can be transformed into a stepping stone towards more efficient and effective operations. Why wait any longer? Why not take the steps to eliminate those errors? You have nothing to gain except more revenue, happier customers, and better performance.

So, picture this.   You’re a COO in IT Services.   You’re got your hot cup of coffee, and you fire up the electronic device of your choice, hoping for a few moments of catching up before tackling your usual workload.   But then it becomes crystal clear that this isn’t going to be a calm day because you’re facing what is now a landslide of invoice errors and all the nightmare problems they bring. You get that sinking feeling like this is going to take weeks and who knows how much money to sort, if can be sorted at all.   Sound familiar?   The sad thing is you probably have had multiple times like this. Because the way things are set up makes it impossible to avoid these problems.   And when you’re in the middle of it, one thing’s for sure- you’re not going to have the time to enjoy that coffee while it’s hot.   That’s why we’re here to help. There are things you can do to get rid of these problems for good, save time and money, and get your time back.   The Extreme Pain of Invoice Errors and Wasted Resources   Invoice errors are no joke because they can do untold damage if they go unchecked. We’ve had conversations with IT Services COOs about this specific problem, and here’s what they said about the 5 of the most common pain points they face:   Wasted resources: Invoice errors create a lot of waste. Because exceptionally busy employees have to manually enter everything and then reconcile and rectify everything across siloed teams, that means wasted time, effort, and resources. This is not only expensive, but it steals resources that could be used for more strategic and revenue-generating initiatives and tasks.  Revenue leakage: This is a tough one, because your company might not even know how much revenue leakage you’ve got. But the invoicing process can underbill and even worse, miss customers altogether.   Cash flow disruptions: Invoice mistakes cause delays in payments as customers wait for everything to be corrected before they pay or receive a refund. Either way, this disrupts your cash flow. Which means you’re dealing with unreliable numbers and possible struggling to consistently meet your own financial obligations.  Damaged customer relationship and churn: It is possible to keep a good customer relationship after they receive an invoice that’s wrong? Possible- with some serious damage control like discounts and even more resources spent keeping them sweet. Incorrect invoices can erode trust and leave clients frustrated, saying bad things about you online, and leaving for a new service provider.    Compliance Risks: How can you stay compliant and be ready for audits at any given time when your invoice process has mistakes? You’re exposed to non-compliance, risking penalties, fines, legal consequences, and the loss of your reputation.   Sky-high costs: It’s expensive to put invoice errors right, from catching and correcting the mistakes, re-evaluating usage, rectifying things with the customer, and making sure accounts are back where they should be.  Imagine how much this costs every month if you have thousands or tens of thousands or millions of subscribers.   What could have been: Not a lot of people talk about this, but one of the problems is that all the time and effort spent on these invoice errors cost you in a deeper way too. Because time is zero-sum- there are only so many hours in a day, and you and your team are stopped from doing the kind of work that drives long-term success. Things like brainstorming new revenue streams, driving innovation and new products and services, and leading to new market territories become impossible.   All these problems make you blindfolded as a leader. You aren’t able to spot trends, build relationships with your customer base, or optimize the team workflows. You’ve got numbers you can’t rely on. You’re navigating a maze in the dark without a map. And that coffee gets cold all the time.   Fortunately, there’s hope. You as a COO don’t have time for guesswork- you need actionable solutions. So here are some strategies to help you conquer these invoice errors and reduce wasted efforts once and for all.  The Solutions You Need to Stop Invoice Errors   What are the steps you can take to stop these problems? Here are the top 5 we see that work best in the IT Service industry:  Streamline communication and collaboration between the teams: It's time to break down those silos between the sales and finance teams and foster a culture of seamless collaboration. When you invest in ways to centralize your communication and collaboration platform you’ll transform the ways your teams interact.   No more playing tag between workers solving (and avoiding) those invoice discrepancies. Open channels of communication, mean you get accelerated dispute resolution and minimize wasted efforts, all while building a stronger, more connected organization that does you proud.   Implement quality control: It’s time to end miscalculations and missing items once and for all. Establish rigorous quality control protocols with regular audits, cross-checking information and thorough staff training. And crucially, give your employees realistic expectations and the time they need to reach those expectations.    By implementing quality control measures, you'll spare yourself the embarrassment of sending out incorrect invoices, build strong relationships with your clients, and make your teams a lot happier.  Leverage your data analytics: There is so much insight locked away in your data, so it's time to unlock that power and use it to supercharge your invoicing processes. When you invest in advanced analytics tools, you’ll get the deep insights you need integrated into your invoicing workflows.   This data can help you analyze patterns, spot the bottlenecks in your operations, and identify and priotize the areas for improvement. That means more streamlined operations and optimized efficiency.   Foster Supplier and Customer Relationships: Customers need to be able to trust you and your invoices. Build strong relationships that increase the CLV with open and proactive communication with your customer base.   The more you nurture these connections, the stronger your brand. And then when any issues come up, it will be easier to resolve them both swiftly and amicably. That means more long-term growth for you.  Embrace Automation: The one thing that automation can bring you is…everything. Automation is the ultimate in efficiency, so when you automate your invoicing process you get:   An end to manual data entry nightmares with automated data entry and calculations that avoid revenue leakage, and the resource-sapping steps throughout   Smashed silos and clear communication between your sales, revenue, and service teams that requires a lot less time from them.  A self-running invoicing process that means customers get notifications, the correct invoices, and easy of payment on the terms they want   Reliable revenue numbers that are updated in real time so that you always know where you are   A system that has compliance and audit-readiness built in  A strengthened reputation for accuracy and reliability that will build your brand   Saved money and resources  You really can revolutionize your invoicing game. And automation can drive that change for you.   Success as a COO Can Be Yours   With streamlined communication, quality control measures, data analytics, strong relationships, and the automation that can make it all possible, you’ll finally have the tools to not just tackle any invoicing challenges that come your way, but to avoid them altogether.  You deserve to have a streamlined invoicing process.   You deserve to say goodbye to wasted hours and frustrating mistakes.   You and your teams deserve to be able to work on revenue-building activities that will ensure your brand’s long-term success.   You deserve a hot cup of coffee that you have the time to finish.    Say goodbye to manual revenue processes and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the end-to-end process. 

You’re a SaaS CEO, so you understand that the success of your business rides on the sales team.   But they have a lot of challenges thrown at them. And one of the worst is complex subscription pricing. In fact, it’s so bad it can lead to high turnover which makes your life a lot harder. Not only does this impact your teams and you, but it impacts your bottom line.   Fortunately, there’s one thing that can solve this problem for you – something that will not only take care of pricing complexity forever, but keep your sales team engage and excited. It is possible to create a more productive and motivated team that drives your company’s success and revenue.   What SaaS Pricing Complexity Looks Like   We understand how difficult subscription pricing can be. We’re a SaaS subscription company that works with SaaS subscription companies.   There’s a lot of pressure on you as a CEO to get it right, but often you as a CEO haven’t been given the tools you need to tackle pricing complexity.   And that means the sales team has to spend a lot more time negotiating the complexity with your current and would-be customers. That includes:  Multiple Pricing Tiers: Your pricing structure can offer different levels of service, usage, and features, each with their own price points that can change as well.   Add-ons: New products and features mean new add-ons that will complicate things further. It makes the pricing more difficult, but it also throws a monkey-wrench into the monitoring and needs of your customers.   Customizations: It’s a fact that customers love offerings that are tailored specifically for them. But it’s extremely time-consuming to figure out what they need and to accurately keep track of it.   Hidden Fees: If pricing structure depends on usage, chances are at some point that there will be surprise charges that some customers might not be happy about (even though the charges are fair!).   Discounts: Discounts bring their own problems for sales teams, but they also increase customer expectations and throw off the revenue teams.   Inconsistency: With different people being offered different things all the time, it’s hard to keep track of everyone. Mistakes are made and customers get frustrated.   When your pricing strategy has these elements, it’s pretty much impossible for your sales team to keep up. They’ll stumble through pricing negotiations. They’ll have to spend a lot more time creating proposals. They’ll wince when quoting what might be incorrect pricing.  In order words, their productivity is gone, and customer satisfaction and deal closure at both at risk. How can your team possibly thrive and succeed in bringing in revenue while in that environment?   Why Pricing Complexity Makes Life Hard for Sales Staff   The quick answer is that they can’t. Because they’re human, and there are only so many hours in a day.   When your sales team are stuck in this cycle, they face a lot of impacts:   It’s harder to sell: Complex pricing means more time is needed for sales staff to understand and explain the value proposition. When they struggle to give easy-to-understand pricing to customers, customers walk. That’s a lot of missed sales opportunities.  Time wasted on negotiations: When sales pricing is hard to understand, more time is needed to prepare for negotiations because sales teams have to be ready for multiple scenarios, juggling multiple pricing options, discounts, customizations, and add-ons.  More mistakes: The more complex the pricing, the greater the chances of mistakes throughout the entire sales cycle. And that doesn’t just impact your team and customers, but also your reputation.   Less flexibility: There’s a lot less flexibility to adapt, to specific customer needs that crop up at any given time. Sales teams simply don’t have the time and resources to give the best offerings to their customers – so why would customers remotely enjoy their interactions with your team?   No morale and plummeting job satisfaction: Imagine what it’s like dealing with these problems over and over with no chance of escape. It’s frustrating and overwhelming. The team can feel (quite reasonably!) that they’re set up for failure.   When you get to the point that it’s impossible to do your job, it gets harder to stay at your job.   Why the Sales Reps Leave   Sales staff with these challenges get frustrated. So they work harder and longer to try to meet the sales targets and ern commission. This takes a toll on their confidence. They can suffer from burnout, depression, and insomnia.   Then they notice that some of your competitors offer simpler pricing models and sales support that enables the sales team to do their jobs right, they’ll eventually go.   What This Costs You   This costs you both the replacement of the sales rep, the missed revenue from their absence, the recruitment and replacement process, any churn from neglected and the ripple effect on your teams.   What is the solution?  The solution to both your pricing complexity and sales turnover problems lies in a proverbial flick of the switch.   Automation.   You’re a SaaS company. You understand what cutting-edge solutions do for your customers. So why not give the same solution to yourself?   Here's what automation does for you and your team:  Simple pricing processes: Automating pricing calculations and configurations eliminates manual errors and ensures accurate quotes. Sales staff can rely on standardized processes, reducing confusion and saving time.  Manual admin processes are gone: Salespeople waste up to a third of their day on repetitive processes (and that’s not counting the damage control from mistakes found in manual processing!), so once those are cleared out of the way, they’re free to do what they’re supposed to do- SELL.  Sales get 24-7 access to pricing information: Things change fast in the SaaS world. Your company’s pricing should be agile and responsive to the customer’s needs. AND this information should flow between teams including Product, Revenue and Customer Care. With automation, your sales team will get real-time data whenever they need it for on-the-spot quotes.   Everything is customized and flexible: Customers demand personalized service. Automation gives them offerings that are driven by their data, behavior, and consumption. No need for complex calculations. Sales opportunities are spotted (for both new and existing customers), offerings tailored, and the system even identifies the best time for the offering and which sales rep should get it.   Easy end-to-end sales processes: Automatic pricing and sales processes make everything so much easier. Imagine a sales team that actually has the time to build long-lasting relationships with customers!   Better productivity and job satisfaction: By eliminating both the tedious day-to-day tasks and the nightmare of complex pricing calculations, there’s a lot more job satisfaction and less stress. This also gives you an advantage over your competitors and helps you attract the best talent.   Bonuses:  No delay in onboarding due to mistakes, errors and silos with sales and revenue teams  Lower customer churn rate due to better offerings when wanted   Better product offerings because of AI-driven customer data   Faster sales cycle because the end-to-end process is automated   Automation is an investment that costs a lot less than you think and brings in a lot more than you can imagine.   We all want to be appreciated. And when sales reps know they are supported, have the end-to-end automated for them, and can devote their time to high-value selling and developing customer relationships, they’re happier.   Why would they leave?   The solution is yours if you want it  The harder things are for your sales team, the harder things will be for your customers and for you.   This is especially true with complex pricing strategies.    But an automation solution helps you as a SaaS CEO can solve the problem of pricing complexity and then get rid of the negative environment it creates for your sales team.   You get a simple pricing strategy that can handle any shift or turn. And in return, you get happier sales teams and customers. More productivity. More revenue. And retention of your talent.   Why not act now? The sooner you make the switch, the sooner all the good stuff comes to you.  Recurring revenue businesses leak up to 5% in their billing processes. -Forbes Say goodbye to manual sales processes and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the end-to-end process. 

The thing about sales is that you need a potential customer.  But one of the most common problems in SaaS sales is that the sales team has no clue who to reach out to. Especially with add-ons.  So where does this come from? How does it affect your bottom line? And most importantly, how can this be reversed?  Why the SaaS Sales Team Doesn't Know Who to Reach Out To  There are multiple reasons why this happens. Do any of these sound familiar to you?  The complexity of SaaS offerings: SaaS products and pricing are renowned for complexity. Not only does the brand bring in new features and add-ons all the time, but packages can vary depending on tiers and individual customer offering.  It can be virtually impossible for a sales team to figure out the right fit for each customer. And that’s not just because it’s hard to keep track of which offerings go with what; it’s also because salespeople don’t have the time to accurately keep track of everyone. The variety of options can overwhelm even the most experienced reps.  Lack of customer insights: When a team doesn’t have the nights that come from data and numbering-crunching, it’s a difficult game. They might struggle to both understand the fluctuating needs of each customer and which add-on would best add value to their lives.   When they are unclear about their customers wants and when they need them offered, the team has to guess.  Silos between teams: There are usually substantial silos between the finance, product, customer success, and sales teams can spell disaster for everyone involved as well as the company.  Sales need vital information including what types of products are available, which products complement each other (and don’t work together), how the company’s current relationship with the customer is going, information about the customer’s usage and what they might need, when is the best time to pitch an add-on, etc.    Competition: SaaS is arguably the most competitive industry there is. Everything is in constant flux. New products get released all the time. Companies work to price others out of the market.   This means that customer expectations are at their highest and retention rates are for many people at their lowest. This puts a lot of pressure on a sales team to not “mess things up” by making the retention problem worse than it is.   The Consequences of No Clues  When sales teams don’t have the tools they need to know which people to approach about add-ons, it can have a serious knock-on impact on everyone and everything.   Here’s where we see the impacts the most:   Declining revenue potential: Not knowing when to sell add-ons means missed opportunities which is less money for your bottom line. This hinders your growth and profitability.  Costly mistakes: Guesswork is expensive. Not only does your sales team have to spend time and resources guessing who will need what and when, but when they guess wrong, they spend more time and resources (as well as costly discounts) making things right.   Strained customer relationships: When add-on offerings aren’t tailored for customers, it’s a turnoff. When add-on offerings are unsuitable or wrong, it’s a disaster. It’s too easy for customers to pick up and leave for another company that will give them what they want. After all, what have they got to lose?   Deteriorating morale and motivation: When sales reps continually struggle without the tools they need to meet high-pressure targets with high stakes, their confidence and enthusiasm will wane. And it has a ripple effect, with other teams frustrated too.  Reduced cross-selling effectiveness: When the team doesn’t have the understanding of add-on potential, cross-selling initiatives become essentially useless. That’s more revenue down the pipes.  Individually, these impacts are destructive, but together, they can really set a company and its COO back.   The great news is that you can change everything.   Actions You Can Take as the COO  There are a few very effective strategies for equipping your sales team with the knowledge they need to sell add-ons and build your revenue.    Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing Break down those silos by encouraging regular communication and collaboration between sales, product management, and customer success teams. If they have knowledge-sharing sessions and cross-fertilise each other’s brainstorming meetings, they will be able to exchange information and insights, customer feedback, and strategies.   Invest in excellent customer data analysis It’s only by leveraging customer data analytics tools that you can gain deep insights into usage patterns, preferences, and pain points. The data’s already there, so why not turn it into more money? Equip sales teams with this valuable information to better understand customer needs and recommend relevant add-ons.  Implement personalized training programs If you train the sales team on products, features, benefits, and what works best with what, it will help them to effectively communicate the value proposition to customers.  Develop an add-on recommendation framework Creating a clear structured workflow for sales that all the reps can work with will help guide them through the process, and keep it uniform so that different customers aren’t getting an inconsistent quality experience.  Use automation - it’s there ready and waiting to do everything The beauty of automation is that not only does it save time, revenue, and other resources, but it actually generates revenue opportunities that can’t be realized with manual processes.  Here’s what the right end-to-end sales automation process will give you:   Data analysis that gives insights on customer behavior, usage data, and triggers to identify optimal moments for add-on offers.  Integrated product knowledge that tells sales what products and features work best (and worst!) with each customer’s needs Absolute visibility between financial and sales and customer service teams so that all people have access to the information they need at any given time  Reliable numbers that you can feel confident in when you enter the Board Meeting  Add-on offerings that are exactly what customers are looking for at the right time Happier sales teams that are motivated and have excellent leads they know are strong enough to get a sale More time to do all the value-building work that you and your teams want to do And two bonuses for excellent SaaS sales automation platforms:   Real-time insights that spot the best add-on opportunities and channel them to the right that salesperson Automatically sending add-on sales back into finance for invoicing, billing, and reconciliation too.  The easiest way to crack the add-on dilemma is letting automation do all these strategies for you.   It’s the combination of cutting-edge tech with human personality that will enable your sales team to succeed. And that’s what you need as a COO.   It Can All Be Yours   The point is this - SaaS companies can’t afford to not invest in the things that will make it easier for the sales teams to do their jobs.   And this is particularly important with add-ons because they help establish a better CLV, which is the jackpot!   As a COO, you can create an environment where sales reps have the knowledge, tools, and support they need to confidently offer add-ons to customers.   You can drive revenue growth, enhance customer relationships and boost your team morale and motivation all in one.  Curious to find out more?   Say goodbye to manual sales processes and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the end-to-end process. 

It’s 7:53 AM on an office Monday, and a few people are already on their second cup. This is not a happy place.   This is a place where chaos feels at home.   The revenue team’s buried under one jillion spreadsheets. So. Many. Spreadsheets.   They desperately add and subtract and divide and check and re-check and cross-check with the sales team down the hall.   By 9:27, Saurah, the team lead, scans the new pile of contracts and revenue bookings from last week. She sighs, and wonders what happened to her life and is this all there is and how different it would all be if only when she was 14 she had waited till her mom wasn’t looking and sprinted through that striped tent and joined the travelling circus with the cute white tiger.  By 10:30 AM, is an absolute war zone and the munitions seem to be papers. People barking demands. Hurry. Close of cycle. Is it ready for the audit??!!!? And then…Saurah spots Mark, whose face has gone paler than a goth awards show. Why?   Besides the revenue bookings being a total mess because no one’s got the time to work out all that recognized revenue, he’s just found an error that could throw off the entire month's projections just before the CFO’s meeting with the stakeholders.   Who’s gonna tell the boss?!?   Not me.   Absolutely not me. I did it last time.   So lunchtime rolls around, and every single one of the team silently take their jackets, and shuffle out of the front door, never to be found again, even by the people from CSI (the good CSI).   In the SaaS world, this scenario happens at least 735 times a day.   Okay, maybe we’re exaggerating. (It’s probably more like 15 times a day)  But the point is that if your team still does manual entries, that office ain’t gonna be a pretty place to work. No matter how much they do, it will never be enough. And you’re the one who will have to catch the heat for it.   It’s down to you   As a CFO, your role is to steer your company to growth, stability, and profitability. That means all your decisions have to be driven by the numbers you’re given. Those numbers come from your team.  Manual data entry and revenue bookings might seem routine, but they have so many issues. They suck up your team’s time and energy. They bring no value whatsoever. They seem to have errors secretly planted into them.  That means that you and your team are stuck putting out fires, unable to do the high-value strategic work that would help you reach your goals.   That’s why we wrote this article. Like you, we’re a SaaS company. And we talk to a lot of CFOs stuck in the abyss of manual processes.   You’ve all got something in common- you know that manual processes are an absolute nightmare. So let’s talk about the problems with manual processes, how they impact you and your company, and what can save you from these problems and secure your revenue for good.  Why Manual Processes Make Your Team (and you) Fantasize About Running Away Forever   In SaaS, everyone is busy, so efficiency is key. But manual processes are a huge roadblock. Here are just some of the things they cause:   Time and resource drain - Every single contract and spreadsheet and form has to be checked entered into the system. According to CFO Dive, if you have a finance team of 20 people, you’ll lose the equivalent of 1,920 work hours every year.   More mistakes - You cannot avoid human error. The more chances there are for mistakes, the more you’ll have. Those mistakes mean you won’t have to data you need to make the best decisions possible.  No strategic value - You don’t get any insights from manual data entry. It doesn’t contribute to the company’s health. It can’t help you with forecasts. .  Impact on employee morale - Manual data crushes the human spirit and will have your employees eyeing up the buildings escape routes 24-7. That is a fact.  Regulatory compliance risks - Any mistakes in revenue recorded can lead to financial penalties and damage to your reputation. Another layer of worry for you!   Delayed reporting - Because manual processes slow things up, your financial reports are not only possibly incorrect, but also late. Stakeholders and the C-Suite aren’t fans of that.  It’s not just that manual processes are inconvenient. They can damage your company and make your goals impossible.   But there is a way to sort out these problems AND make your bottom line better.   The Solution: Automating the End-to-End Process  Bringing in automation will change everything for you.  You might bristle at the word. It might feel like too big a move. Your team might feel like it’s too much an effort.   The thing is that you’re a SaaS company - you know how important it is to innovate.   You know the benefits that innovation can bring. That’s why you develop products for your customers.   So what can automating your end-to-end financial processes do for you? Imagine having all this:   Efficiency and time savings - You get all those hundreds or thousands of hours back that are currently stolen by data entry and other manual processes. That means your revenue team can finally put their talents to more strategic tasks that will bring more revenue in.   Fewer mistakes - Automated processes are accurate and cut way back on costly errors. That means you get reliable financial statements, reports and forecasts that you can literally and figuratively take to the bank.  Strategic insights - You’ll get data-driven insights that find patterns, identify trends, and predict future revenue numbers. That means you’re able to make proactive decisions that can drive your company's financial successes in the future.  Compliance - Compliance with financial regulations come automatically. No more late audits. No more costly mistakes. No more fines or compliance-based risk of lawsuits.  Happier employees - Everyone gets to do more fulfilling, high-value work, which leads to a lot more satisfaction.  You meeting your goals - This probably feels like he most impossible thing to imagine, but it’s true.   It’s Yours For the Taking   Being a CFO is no walk in the park, especially if manual processes make things impossible to navigate.   The last thing you need is the nightmare that manual tasks bring to you, your team, and your revenue bookings.   Automating the end-to-end process will make life so much easier for everyone involved. Your revenue bookings will mean something. You’ll have money streaming in. You’ll finally have numbers you can rely on at any given time.   And Saurah won’t fantasize about joining the circus again.  Recurring revenue businesses leak up to 5% in their billing processes. -Forbes Say goodbye to manual revenue processes and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines the end-to-end process. 

The thing about robots is that they’re great. They’re so shiny. They’re cutting-edge. And more importantly, they do stuff for us.   Whether it’s books or movies or tv shows, we’ve gotten used to them. Whether it's R2-D2 and C-3PO helping the Rebel Alliance or Rosie the Robot Maid helping the Jetsons, it’s really satisfying to see something help us so that we can get on with what we need to do.   What’s great is that in the 21st century we’ve got robotic power at our fingertips. Even in SaaS sales. In fact, robots can alleviate one of the biggest challenges you as a SaaS CEO face - low win rates and slow growth.  They might not look as cool as The Terminator or Bender, but when they’re doing your work for you, does it matter?  Let’s take a closer look at what’s behind low win rates and slow growth, how it impacts you, and how the robots can help.   What causes it?  So what causes low win rates and slow growth? Here are some of the most common that we see in the SaaS landscape:   Outdated data management: Mistakes and inconsistencies are par for the course with manual data entry and management processes. No matter how methodical a human, they are going to make mistakes. But when you add pressure, piles of work and those silos, forget it. There’s no reliable information for you to make informed decisions and strategies.  Repetitive administrative tasks: With legacy systems, administrative tasks like data entry and reports don’t write themselves. CRM updates don’t happen by magic. These tasks drain time stop your teams from closing deals.   Frankensteined systems and tools: Sales teams can struggle when their systems are disconnected or patched together. They can’t collaborate. They can’t share information. They don’t know which potential customers need what or the best offerings for each of them.   Bad lead qualification: Manual lead qualification processes are inconsistent across your teams and individual sales staff. It messes up the revenue teams when they get to work with invoicing and collecting too, causing mistakes and infuriating everyone, including the customers. This impacts your upselling and cross-selling because which angry customer decides to stay on and buy more?   Limited visibility and insights: You can strategize without insight. When your sales process is discombobulated and there’s no visibility, you’ve got a struggle to see spot areas for improvement. Without strategic thinking and decision-making, your company can’t grow.  Lack of the right offerings and pricing strategies: It doesn’t matter how great your products and services are. If your sales teams have no idea when to contact leads, and what to offer them, a fast sales cycle will be impossible.   What low win rates and slow growth do to you   They are a huge stumbling block for you as a SaaS CEO. Because they don’t just impact you. It’s your team and the company at stake. Do any of these consequences sound familiar?   Lost opportunities: When your win rates are low, you’re missing opportunities to expand your customer base and keep your customer acquisition costs low. You’re missing out on getting the edge over your competition. You don’t have a larger customer base singing your praises. You can’t grow.   Time and resource drain: When your teams have to do everything manually, their time and resources are drained away. Sales teams can’t focus on revenue-generating activities.   Inefficient sales cycles: When the lead-to-sales-to-invoicing processes are clunky and riddled with silos, sales cycles are going to be long. On-boarding can be delayed. The pipeline is bunged up. And mistakes happen between your sales and revenue teams.   Crushed morale: When a team wants to run for the hills, it’s hard for them to do a good job. No one gets a sales job so that they can be chained to their desks under a pile of spreadsheets with looming quotas barking down their ear.   No scalability: SaaS success is down to scalability but there’s no scaling when sales are slow and there’s no growth.   All this impacts on you personally, too.   The buck stops with the CEO. You’re the one that has to march into the boardroom and account for where your company stands. That’s a lot of stress and sleepless nights.   It’s a serious situation, and for you to do your job, it needs to be sorted for you.   And that’s where the robots come in.    Bring on the subscription robot overlords!   The best robots know what to do. They do the grunt work for you. They make things easy. They free your time up. And they can work 24-7.   Automation, driven by robots and powered by advanced AI technologies, gives you the exact solution you need by taking care of all the causes of the problems.   Here’s how the automation robot changes the game:   Streamlined lead management: Automation scores and qualifies the leads throughout the nurturing processes, identifies the best times to sell, then channels the opportunities to the best salesperson for the job. This can make your sales process fast as lightening and your win rates sky-high, whether it’s a new customer or an existing one.   Personalized customer engagement and great experience: It doesn’t matter how large your customer base is or how quickly it’s been growing, because automated and completely personalized email campaigns and messages let your sales team reach prospects and current customers in the most effective manner.  Teams work without silos: Automated systems between sales and revenue allow the information to flow freely. Because there are no manual entry errors, sales can rely on revenue to get billing right, and revenue can rely on sales to get terms right. There aren’t any delays between the teams, so not only are sales opportunities no longer missed, but there aren’t any delays in implementation.   Data-Driven decision making: Automation gives you the data you need to make the best decisions. The data is analyzed and accessible when you need it. It crunches numbers, writes detailed reports, spot problems, provides potential scenarios and forecasts, so that you have the information you need, when you need it.   Rapid sales ops: Because automation takes away the administrative tasks that plague your sales teams, they finally have the time to focus on building relationships and closing deals which is exactly what’s needed to speed up sales cycles and boost in rates.   Scalability and growth: Because automation can handle any size customer base, when you grow, you won’t hit a scaling nightmare because everything continues to run. The end-to-end processes are standardized. The workflows are automated. Best practices stay consistent across the teams. You can spread into as many new markets as you want because the growth is sustainable.   Morale through the roof: When your teams no longer have to deal with the soulless, time-stealing processes, they’re happy. When they’re given sales opportunities (with potential and existing customers) that are loaded in their favour, they’re happy. When they are free to do the value-adding work that uses their talents, they’re happy. And when they’re happy and selling, you’ve got a much better chance at being thrilled with the job.   Go with the robots  We never thought we’d get to the point where we’d say robots are necessary for survival, but here we are.   As a CEO, you know it’s virtually impossible to keep a SaaS company ticking over without automation. Legacy systems are going to pinch you eventually.   When you give yourself and your teams the advantage of AI-powered you empower your sales teams to focus on what they do best - building relationships, closing deals faster, and driving revenue.   You get streamlined processes, efficiency, valuable insights, and ultimately better win rates and growth.  Embrace the robots. Let them take care of the repetitive tasks. Enable your company to edge out the competition. Watch your win rates soar as your humans and the robots work together for greatness.  86% of consumers will leave a brand they trusted after two bad customer experiences. - Emplifi Say goodbye to missed sales opportunities and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings, boosts your up and cross-selling, and maximizes long-term customer value.

In the SaaS subscription world, things move fast. And there are some metrics that are tough to nail down, even for the more seasoned CFO.   As a CFO, you might already know exactly what we’re talking about.   Yep, it’s ARR and actual revenue.   Though it’s the key to understanding how financially healthy your subscription business is, it’s a real challenge to be able to know and communicate what it is at any given time.   What happens when you don’t know the actual revenue   Not accurately knowing actual revenue might not tear down your business like an earthquake that’s an 11.6 on the Richter, but there’s no doubt there’s gonna be some cracks in the foundation, and you might have to run around catching vases and the flat screen before they break.   If there isn’t a clear understanding of ARR metrics across ops, finance and sales, you’re going to struggle with your pricing strategies, allocation of resources, and financial planning. You’ll miss opportunities for growth and could even fisk financial stability.   When ARR metrics are incomplete or just plain wrong, your stakeholders can lose trust in you. Investors, fellow C-Suite members, and teams need financial information to be accurate so that they can judge the company’s financial health and your ability to do the job. That puts even more pressure on you because it’s not just the company on the line- it’s your personal reputation.   If you’re missing real-time insights, you’re also at another distinct disadvantage. You’ll never know what you need to do when you need to do it. You also won’t know what to do in the future. This stops you from staying agile and making data-driven decision.   No pressure, right?   The bottom line is that you don’t need any of that. What you need is the time and data necessary to do your job.   So what’s the first step from here? Understanding what you need to kiss these problems goodbye.   Understanding how complex ARR calculations can be   ARR is packed with complex calculations that are steered by factors that can change at any time like upgrades, downgrades, churn, product offerings, and contract terms. It’s confusing and loaded with errors. It’s like a drawer of cords that are impossible to untangle without spending a lot of time on it. Assuming you don’t get frustrated and throw the whole thing out.  Clear communication   One of your chief roles is to communicate your financial metrics and status to your stakeholders. That’s tricky when it comes to ARR because it’s so convoluted it’s overwhelming for people who aren’t grounded in financial processes and vocab. They can have little idea what you’re talking about.    Real-time insights for the best decisions  Interpreting the ARR goes beyond the numbers to insight that gives a firm foundation for strategic decisions. But you can’t get that insight with traditional manual processes which means your decisions are late and you miss opportunities.   Accuracy and predictability you can count on  One of the significant challenges of ARR is accurately forecasting and predicting revenue streams. With multiple variables at play, it's easy for CFOs to get lost in a sea of uncertainty. Automation offers a solution by leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies in the data. By harnessing the power of automation, CFOs can gain a clearer understanding of revenue predictability, enabling them to make more accurate forecasts and plan for the future with confidence.  Automation platforms use historical data and advanced predictive models to generate forecasts and scenarios based on different assumptions. These models can consider factors such as customer acquisition rates, expansion revenue, and churn rates to provide CFOs with a comprehensive view of their ARR projections. This not only enhances accuracy but also helps CFOs assess the impact of various growth strategies and pricing changes on their future revenue. With automation, CFOs can make data-driven decisions that are grounded in accurate and reliable forecasts.  Collaboration and Data Accessibility Gone are the days of siloed data and isolated decision-making. Today's CFOs thrive in collaborative environments that foster cross-functional insights. Automation facilitates collaboration by providing self-service access to financial data and reports. With automation tools that are user-friendly and accessible to non-technical stakeholders, CFOs  CFOs can empower teams across the organization to leverage financial insights and contribute to strategic discussions. This collaborative approach ensures that decisions are made collectively, with a shared understanding of ARR metrics.  Without automation, CFOs may be left relying on outdated information and manual processes, limiting their ability to proactively identify and address revenue trends, customer behavior shifts, and potential risks.  Automation   Complexity of ARR calculations - Automation platforms can seamlessly integrate with various data sources and apply sophisticated algorithms to automate the collection and consolidation of revenue data. By automating these processes, CFOs can eliminate manual errors and ensure a more accurate representation of their ARR metrics. The automation software can also handle the complex calculations needed to account for upgrades, downgrades, and churn, providing a clear and comprehensive view of the revenue generated by each customer.  Clear communication - Automation can bridge this communication gap by generating clear, visually appealing reports and dashboards that simplify the presentation of ARR metrics. These automated tools allow CFOs to collaborate more effectively and ensure everyone is on the same page.  Communicating ARR to non-financial people - Automation platforms offer customizable reporting features that allow CFOs to create intuitive and visually engaging reports. These reports can be tailored to specific stakeholder groups, presenting the ARR metrics in a format that is easy to understand. By using charts, graphs, and other visualizations, automation software helps CFOs illustrate the revenue trends, growth rates, and customer behavior insights that underlie their ARR calculations. This collaborative approach ensures that stakeholders have a clear understanding of the company's financial performance and can align their strategies accordingly.  Insights - Automation platforms can pull in data from various sources, including CRM systems, billing platforms, and subscription management tools, in real-time. This ensures that CFOs have access to the most up-to-date information when analyzing ARR metrics. With automation, CFOs can set up alerts and notifications to track key revenue indicators, such as customer churn rates or changes in average revenue per user (ARPU). This real-time visibility enables proactive decision-making, helping CFOs identify trends, anomalies, and potential risks or opportunities.  Conclusion The ARR conundrum is a challenge that many SaaS CFOs face, but it is not insurmountable. By embracing automation, SaaS CFOs can navigate the complexities of ARR calculations and effectively communicate revenue metrics. Automation provides real-time insights, enhances accuracy and predictability, and fosters collaboration across the organization. With automation, CFOs can confidently interpret and communicate ARR metrics, enabling them to make data-driven, informed decisions that drive their SaaS businesses towards success.  Embracing the power of automation unlocks the true potential of ARR, allowing CFOs to gain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of their revenue streams. With streamlined processes, clear communication, real-time insights, and enhanced predictability, CFOs can confidently navigate the complexities of ARR and guide their companies towards sustainable growth and financial success.  So, let's embrace automation as the solution to the ARR conundrum, harnessing its power to drive efficiency, accuracy, and collaboration in our SaaS businesses. By doing so, we can unlock the full potential of our ARR metrics and pave the way for a prosperous future.  Businesses must achieve and sustain a growth rate above 100% to be in the top 25% of company growth worldwide. -Maxio Survey Get the clear ARR data you need when you need it. Say goodbye to errors and boost your growth with Bluefort's cutting-edge automation solutions. Learn how our end-to-end system streamlines product offerings and maximizes long-term customer value.

In the wild world of Software as a Service (SaaS), the more diverse the revenue model choice, the better.   Of course, it can be tough to choose. There’s a lot riding on which way your company goes with its pricing.    Yet, many SaaS CEOs and founders struggle to choose the best revenue model because when it goes wrong, BOOM. Unpredictable revenue. Scaling difficulties. Customer churn. Pricing confusion.  That’s why it helps to think about SaaS revenue models in a more basic way - with something we all understand. Like zoo animals. Because believe it or not, they have a lot in common.   So we’re here to talk you through the zoo to give you the insights you need to pick the SaaS revenue model that will best suit your business.  So let’s look at this unruly lot of SaaS revenue model examples, along with their pros and cons.   The Lion (Freemium Model) Top of the food chain in the SaaS world is the Freemium revenue model example. It’s loud and attention getting. It lures in its customer prey with free services, hoping to pounce and convert them into paying customers.   Pros:  Excellent Customer Acquisition: Attracts a large user base and boosts brand recognition.  Product Testing: Because users try the product before buying, it boosts the chances of customer satisfaction and gives valuable data on what works and what doesn’t.  Cons:  Challenging to Convert: All of us are happy to take something for nothing. It’s only good marketing that convinces us it’s worth paying for.   Revenue Uncertainty: Because so many users are on the free tier, accurately predicting revenue, budgeting and forecasting can be close to impossible.  The Chameleon (Usage-based Model) The chameleon can adapting to the environment, just like the usage-based revenue model example which charges customers based on usage.  Pros:  Fair Pricing: Customers prefer to pay only for what they use, which ups customer loyalty.   Scalability: When usage increases, so does the revenue. It makes scalability each.  Cons:  Revenue Variability: Revenue changes making predicability difficult.  Usage Limitation: Instead of buying more, customers might limit their usage.     The Elephant (Flat-rate Model) Elephants are reliable and steady (unless they’re in a Disney movie), just like the flat-rate revenue model example. This is a one-size fits all.   Pros:  Predictability: Fixed rates are great for steady revenue and financial forecasting.  Simplicity: Customers  find it easy to understand and budget for because there aren’t any nasty surprises.  Cons:  Lack of Flexibility: Like with clothes, one size never fits all. Some potential customers might bail when they see no flexibility.   Scaling Challenges: Scaling is hard because customers hit a ceiling in usage. This can limit revenue and growth.   The Dolphin (Tiered Pricing Model) Dolphins love to perform tricks for fishy treats. That’s like the Tiered revenue model example - it rewards customer commitment with more value.  Pros:  Flexible Options: Tiers meet a range of customer needs which boosts market reach.  Revenue Growth: The higher the commitment from customers, the more inbound revenue.  Cons:  Complexity: Tiers can confuse customers who avoid complexity, which risks decision paralysis.   Pricing Challenges: Only a good understanding of customer needs and value perception can create attractive pricing.     The Cheetah (Per User Pricing Model)  Ahhhh, the cheetah—fast, sleek, and focused (and we love its print). It’s like the Per User Pricing revenue model example, where companies are focused on charging based on the number of users in a group.    Pros:  Revenue Scalability: When customers grow, your revenue grows too.  Alignment with Value: Customers are willing to pay more as they get more value (more users) from your product.   Cons:  User Limitation: There’s a risk of customers limit the number of users to save money.   Pricing Disputes: Customers might leverage larger teams for discounts or go to a competitor with better pricing.   Survival Tactics  There’s a lot of pressure on choosing the right SaaS revenue model. After all, you want to thrive, not just survive!  Here are some crucial questions to help you choose the best revenue model:  Who is your target customer? Which would your customer personas be happiest about?  What is the value proposition of your product? What’s the draw- usage-based, feature-based, user-centric? Or is it an all-in-one solution?   How does your target customer prefer to pay? Do they want predictability and ease? Do they want premium features? Or maybe just flexibility?   How scalable is your product? Does your product scale with your customer’s usage?  Is your product complex? Does it have lots of features that can be packaged differently, like in tiers?  What do you want your market positioning to be? Do you want a huge base, like in freemium or tiered models? Or are you all about high-value customers, who are more attracted to flat-rate and per-user models?  What is the cost structure of your business? Is it a flat-rate, usage-based, or per-user?  What pricing models are your competitors using? What’s the competitive landscape? What are their customers saying?   What is your customer acquisition strategy? If you prefer viral marketing, freemium can work well. If you use traditional sales, flat-rate or tiered model will probably be a better fit.   Conclusion  And there you have it—a stroll through the zoo of SaaS revenue model examples.   Except for no screaming babies, smelly cages, or kids who want to stop in the gift shop in this zoo. Hooray!    The point is that you have a lot of choice. Your SaaS company is unique, and so is the revenue model that will work best.   Whichever animal you choose, remember to stay on your feet and agile. Circumstances change, products change, and so do goals for the future.   The revenue model that’s best now might have to change in a few years.   After all, in the SaaS Revenue Model Zoo, the fittest survivors are companies who not only stay true to who they are, but who adapt and innovate.   Here's to your survival, success, and lots of revenue coming in!  SaaS growth can generate between $5 million to $100 million in annual recurring revenue.  -Zippia Why not bring on automation that works no matter which model you chose? Learn how our end-to-end system not only streamlines pricing models, but identifies sales opportunities, breaks down silos, and maximizes customer value.