Saugatuck Assesses Cloud Billing and Payment Solutions
Leading Cloud Research Authority Develops First Objective Analysis of Cloud Monetization Capabilities
Westport, CT (PRWEB) November 5, 2009 -- Billing capability is an important ingredient in business success and sustainability in the Cloud. Effective billing and payment solutions are essential in enabling monetization, providing agility in competitive situations, managing the channel, and reducing operational costs for any Cloud services provider.
The need for effective billing and payment solutions for both established and emerging Cloud providers is the foundation of the latest research study from Saugatuck Technology Inc., titled "Monetizing the Cloud: Assessing Billing and Payment Providers." Released today via Saugatuck's website, the study explains the need for, and roles of, billing and payment solutions in all aspects of Cloud Computing, from the foundational technology layers up through SaaS and Cloud platforms and ecosystems.
In examining this highly fragmented market, the study profiles solutions of eight Cloud billing solution providers, some of them Cloud-based solutions - Aria, Monexa (formerly IP Applications), OpSource, Vindicia and Zuora - and some on-premise software solutions - Metratech, Parallels, RevX.
"These eight providers really represent the diversity of options available for monetizing Cloud solutions," according to Saugatuck research VP Mike West, leader and author of the study. "Any of these would be a decided improvement over homegrown and spreadsheet solutions, as they permit Cloud providers to focus more closely on their core value propositions, and outsourcing operational functions that can be performed more effectively by professional billing specialists."
West's statement is borne out by the study's key findings, which include the following:
| | - Billing, administration and related marketing capabilities are essential in meeting the new operational challenges of a Software-as-a-Service business. ISVs in transition to SaaS too often overlook the complexity of what is required to support SaaS billing, a much more complex set of processes when compared to most on-premise software environments.
- Billing systems used in SaaS and Cloud environments must account for constant variations that occur much more frequently, and sometimes uniquely.
- The evolving billing solutions market for the Cloud is still highly fragmented, with many solutions originating in prior markets, reflecting their design origins. Consequently, billing solution offerings vary, and no two solutions provide the same set of billing functionality, nor user interface approach, ranging widely from telecom OSS/BSS to SaaS pure-play solutions.
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The study is available immediately to clients of Saugatuck's premium Continuous Research Service (CRS), or can be purchased from Saugatuck's web site.
About Saugatuck Technology
Saugatuck Technology Inc. provides subscription research and management consulting services focused on the key market trends and disruptive technologies driving change in enterprise IT, including SaaS, Cloud Infrastructure, Open Source and Enterprise Social Computing. Founded in 1999, Saugatuck is headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, with offices in Santa Clara, CA and in Frankfurt, Germany. For more information, please visit www.saugatech.com, or call 1.203.454.3900.
To request a briefing with our analysts, contact Chris MacGregor at chris(dot)macgregor(at)saugatech(dot)com.
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