Most companies see billing as a painful but necessary back-office function. It is also one of a few corporate capabilities that, if left unattended to, can translate into significant risk. Getting billing wrong is hardly an option. Can billing be re-imagined as a brand-enhancing core element of the customer experience instead? Can pricing strategy and billing operations (core elements of an organization’s monetization capability) be so agile, flexible, and easy-to-change that they become a competitive differentiator – a core capability to be celebrated, rather than dreaded?
As a core capability, monetization and specifically billing require significant complexity, careful self-assessment, forward-looking strategy, and focused execution and benchmarking. This research note takes a strategic view of pricing and billing, outlining actionable steps as well as proactive, long-term opportunities companies can use to transform a necessary pain point into lasting competitive advantage.