Take

Aria Systems provides a cloud-based billing and subscription management system for companies that sell their services by subscription and/or charge usage rates. Its core module allows users to set up a product catalogue that consists of plans (such as subscription or recurring use charges) and inventory items. Users can create a plan by modifying an existing one or picking items from a list. Plans are hierarchical, so companies can easily create, for example, a platinum service plan from a combination of lower-level services. Inventory items each can have its own charging structure. Other modules allow users to create and edit customer accounts, calculate usage charges, produce bills and build their own reports and analyses or access prebuilt options. Aria also provides a “storefront” that allows customers to maintain their own account information.

Three features set this product apart from other billing systems. Firstly, it can bill for any combination of recurring subscription-based services. Secondly, the system was built to work with other enterprise systems such as CRM and ERP. Our research shows that customer data is likely to exist in multiple systems, that one of the biggest issues for organizations is gaining access to the systems that contain the data they need, and that CRM and billing are two of the top three systems that contact center agents need to access. Aria’s third distinguishing feature is cloud deployment, which makes it easy for companies to try it out, learn about customer expectations and then customize services to meet customer and business needs. We recommend that companies with complex subscription and/or usage-based services investigate Aria’s offerings.