With the rise of subscription business models as part of the SaaS market, many companies are actively transitioning into a subscription and recurring revenue business model. But managing SaaS with spreadsheets is a daunting task. And as the business scales, subscription billings get more complex with all the upgrades, downgrades, pricing plans, renewals, tax calculations, and other requirements. But to find the right solution for your subscription business, you need to be aware of your requirements and what is like a must have in your subscription and billing app.

In this article, let's go through some of the key features your subscription and recurring billing management app must have and how it should work in the context of Dynamics 365 CRM to boost productivity.

1. Product Catalog and Pricing Model

When working with multiple products/product lines, managing billing and pricing for all of them becomes messy. Your subscription management app must have option to define multiple products and pricing plans like Flat Fee pricing, Per Unit Pricing, Tiered Pricing, Volume Pricing, Stairstep pricing, etc., for the customers to choose from. As each product will have its pricing plans, add-ons, recurring/non-recurring charges, a product catalog can help manage all the products and plans in one place and remove the complexities. This further helps in bringing new products and plans seamlessly, upselling additional offerings, and improving cashflow of the business.

2. Automated Recurring Billing

Your billing software must be able to automate your recurring billing, thereby saving tedious manual labor and work hours. Generating invoices automatically, allowing customization of invoices, and more such features can help in increasing productivity of your organization. More importantly, it should be able to handle prorations. When a customer changes their subscription plan like either upgrading their ongoing plan in the middle of the subscription cycle or downgrading it, proration helps in adjusting the bill amount and ensures that the customer is charged only the amount for the remaining days of the ongoing subscription.

3. Invoice Reminders