Zuora Announces Z-Business, the First Relationship Business Management System

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 17, 2012) -

News

• Zuora, the subscription commerce, billing and finance leader, today announced the delivery of Z-Business, the first Relationship Business Management (RBM) solution. RBM is a new class of software focused on building, managing and optimizing the revenue relationships that are the lifeblood of subscription businesses. RBM manages the business operations of customer-centric subscription companies as ERP has done for manufacturing companies.
• Z-Business is an integrated system that encompasses Z-Commerce and Z-Billing, the core Zuora capabilities that have become the backbone for the Subscription Economy, and Z-Finance, Zuora's new subscription finance application. Z-Business is immediately available in two new editions, Enterprise and Growth.
• Growth Edition is tailored to the needs of high growth companies entering and scaling rapidly in the Subscription Economy. Zuora is used by some of the most dynamic growth companies in the Subscription Economy, including Box, Branchout, Cloud9, DocuSign, Marketo, MuleSoft, Ooyala, salesforce.com's Radian6 division, Splunk, TimeTrade, Ustream, Xactly and Zendesk.
• Enterprise Edition provides advanced capabilities for subscription businesses achieving significant scale and for large traditional businesses that are pivoting to subscription models. Enterprise Edition aligns with the rapid increase in enterprise adoption of Zuora solutions, including six deals valued at over $1 million in just the last six months and over $10 billion in contracted subscription revenue in Zuora's install base.

Subscription Businesses Need Relationship Business Management, Not "Resource Planning"

• The Subscription Economy has now reached a tipping point in adoption, creating the need for a new core enterprise system of management. ERP, the core enterprise system of the last 20 years, is the wrong system. ERP's core functions -- tracking raw materials, maximizing output, warehousing and transportation -- were designed to manage traditional product-centric businesses. These functions do not apply to the subscription business model where the focus is on acquiring and managing ongoing customer relationships that are the lifeblood of the Subscription Economy. And ERP's core capabilities -- oriented around one-time commerce and billing models -- cannot account for recurring subscription commerce and revenue models.
• As a result, subscription businesses need a new enterprise solution designed to enable them to
  • Grow: Launch and scale their subscription businesses;
  • Flow: Manage complex subscription processes efficiently; or
  • Know: Measure and monitor the right metrics to optimize their subscription business.
• Called Relationship Business Management (RBM), this new solution class replaces that traditional role of ERP to provide:
  • Dynamic packaging and pricing of services to drive revenue growth strategies.
  • Unified commerce, billing and finance processes, in a way that puts customer relationships at the center of a business;
  • Integration with CRM to bring subscription awareness to the front office including renewal plans and usage information; and
  • Integration with popular accounting solutions and be designed to meet the new financial requirements unique to subscription businesses.
• "ERP has had a big role in the enterprise for a long time, but the shortcomings of this system are clear as more and more businesses adopt subscription business models," said Amy Konary, Research Vice President, Software Licensing, Provisioning, and Delivery at IDC. "Subscription businesses need a solution that is purpose-built for relationship-centric -- not product-centric -- models. Zuora's strategy, including Z-Business, is designed to help these businesses manage subscription-based relationships."

Z-Business: The Industry Standard for Subscription Commerce, Billing and Finance

• Z-Business now offers subscription businesses the industry's leading commerce, billing, and finance capabilities, fully integrated and all on a common subscription management platform and delivered by the company synonymous with the Subscription Economy. Z-Business is purpose-built for the Subscription Economy and enables subscription businesses to:
  • solve their relationship commerce needs;
  • automate their billing and payment processes;
  • track real-time details on recurring revenue, billings, and cash, and have a complete financial picture of their subscription business operations; and
  • have an end-to-end integrated system that spans their CRM to their GL.
• The needs of subscription businesses vary based on their size, scale and stage of growth. For this reason, Z-Business is available in Growth and Enterprise Editions that provide the commerce, billing and finance capabilities that align with the different needs of high growth and enterprise-class subscription businesses:
  • Z-Business Growth Edition arms high growth Subscription Economy companies with the flexibility they need to launch and scale their businesses, and the breadth of functionality to support all of their commerce, billing and finance processes. Z-Business Growth Edition functionality includes:
    • Standard e-Commerce and small assisted sales teams
    • Standard recurring billing charge models
    • Subscription insights and metrics
    • Standard payment operations, invoicing and taxation
    • Accounting close tools including support for billing-based revenue recognition
  • Z-Business Enterprise Edition is tailored to the needs of subscription economy businesses that are achieving significant scale, and to large traditional economy businesses that are pivoting to subscription models. Enterprise Edition offers all of the functionality of Growth Edition and adds additional functionality needed by large enterprises with more sophisticated commerce, billing and finance processes and more significant integration requirements, including:
    • Advanced subscription commerce for large direct and indirect sales channels
    • Support for large service portfolios, perhaps built through acquisitions, with diverse pricing needs
    • Customizable workflow and rules based automation for advanced invoicing, taxation and revenue recognition needs
    • Very large payment operations
    • Advanced financial controls for public or soon-to-be public companies
• Existing Z-Billing and Z-Commerce customers interested in Z-Finance and other new functionality available in Growth or Enterprise Edition have the opportunity to upgrade to these new editions to access these capabilities.

Industry Commentary

• "At Box, we're growing rapidly in all phases of our business, and it's critical that our financials are tightly integrated with customer relationships so that we can manage that growth effectively," said Dylan Smith, CFO of Box. "We're building a truly disruptive enterprise software company in the cloud, and traditional ERP systems simply weren't designed to handle our recurring billing and revenue models. Zuora provides us with the flexibility and scalability that the new generation of subscription businesses demand."
• "The Zendesk customer service platform has more than 20,000 subscribers worldwide. Z-Business Growth Edition is just the kind of innovative thinking we've come to expect from Zuora -- providing both the advanced capabilities and the flexibility we need to manage our growth plans," said Zack Urlocker, COO of Zendesk.
• "At Local Corporation, we've seen increasing demand for digital media solutions for small businesses. Since we sell our services via subscriptions, we've also experienced the complexities that go along with managing a rapidly growing subscription business. Zuora Growth Edition aligns with where we are as a company now, providing us what we need in a way that serves our plans for rapid expansion in this space," said David J. Katzoff, associate vice president, finance, Local Corporation.
• "Zuora has always delivered the kind of efficiency and flexibility we've needed to optimize our cloud integration business and address the growing demand for subscription services. Zuora has given our pay-as-you-go Express edition everything we needed to ensure self-service and customer success -- comprehensive subscription commerce, billing and finance solutions on an enterprise-class cloud platform, and the backing of the industry leader. As a large global enterprise, we expect Zuora's Enterprise Edition to meet our growing needs as we expand our subscription-based cloud solutions," said Ron Papas, Senior Vice President SVP Cloud & Commercial Sales, Informatica.

Zuora Commentary

• "The Subscription Economy is no longer a prediction. It is here, and it is revolutionizing the way that companies look at customer relationships," said Tien Tzuo, CEO, Zuora. "Today marks the Birth of RBM and puts another nail in the coffin of ERP. Z-Business represents Zuora's commitment to build the de-facto standard for companies that are pursuing the billion dollar Subscription Economy opportunity."

About Zuora, Inc.
Zuora is the global leader in Relationship Business Management solutions. Zuora delivers the subscription billing, commerce and finance capabilities that have become the industry standard to help companies transition to the Subscription Economy. Enterprises and emerging companies alike use Zuora's multi-tenant cloud solution to enable growth strategies, to streamline key processes and to provide visibility into the metrics that matter most in the Subscription Economy. Zuora services innovative customers like Informatica, Tata Communications, Box.net, DocuSign, GigaOM, Xplornet, Ustream and Reed Business Information. To learn more about Zuora, please visit www.zuora.com.