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Zuora Partners with FinancialForce.com, Intacct and Sage to Bring Finance into the Subscription Economy

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Enabling a Best of Breed Approach for the Subscription Economy

Zuora, the subscription billing and commerce leader for the Subscription Economy, today announced a new set of alliances with industry leading financial management and accounting applications to address the unique finance and accounting needs of subscription businesses. FinancialForce.com, Intacct and Sage have all joined with Zuora to standardize how subscription revenue is treated and shared with existing financial management and accounting applications.

Over the last four years, Zuora has built the de-facto billing and commerce backbone for the Subscription Economy with customers ranging from high-growth startups like Box, Branchout, Docusign, Marketo, Splunk, and Zendesk to global enterprises like AAA, Dell, News International, Pearson, Tata Communications, Reed Business, and Qualcomm.

These new alliances will further provide Zuora’s customers with the ability to extend the value of their existing systems – no matter which financial management and accounting applications they use -- and to seamlessly connect Zuora’s subscription billing and commerce solutions

The Subscription Economy is Changing the Way Companies Operate

Subscription business models are expanding rapidly beyond the realm of software-as-a-service or publishing to communications, automotive, media in both new and traditional companies. Today, subscriptions are everywhere as cloud, social and mobile technologies are creating entirely new ways for businesses to connect and serve their customers with “subscribe” to recurring services rather than “buy” products, giving rise to the Subscription Economy.

This shift to the Subscription Economy is rapidly forcing a fundamental change in the way companies run their businesses, as the subscription business model is fundamentally different than traditional product-centric businesses. For example:

Pricing is different (e.g. multiple price plans, bundles, tiers, pay-as-you-go, vs. one-time pricing);
Billing is different (e.g. monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual and even custom billing periods vs. one-time billing); and
Commerce is different (e.g. ongoing relationship with add-ons, upgrades and renewals vs. one-time purchase).

But more than that, finance is different, and today’s CFOs are struggling with how to manage the unique differences that the subscription business model brings to their business, specifically forecasting future revenues, separating one-time from recurring revenue, and calculating metrics like ARR, churn, and renewals rate.

As a result, finance departments and CFOs have discovered that they need a new subscription billing and commerce platform that handles finance in the Subscription Economy, and importantly, one that seamlessly integrates with their existing financial management and accounting applications.

Finance Leaders Team with Zuora to Bring Finance into the Subscription Economy

Intacct: “As one of the original SaaS financial applications companies, we understand the importance and complexity of managing a subscription business,” said Robert Reid, CEO, Intacct. “Our alliance and this new framework enable joint customers to realize the true value of Zuora and Intacct together. This is a perfect example of how cloud computing makes it easier for companies to select integrated best-of-breed systems like Intacct and Zuora, instead of being forced into a suite of average products from one vendor.”

Sage: “Sage serves millions of customers worldwide and in recent months we have seen a growing interest among these small and midsized businesses to offer their own products through subscription,” said Himanshu Palsule, EVP Strategy, Sage North America. “Partnering with Zuora will enable us to help our customers gain the benefit of offering subscription services to their own customers with integration to Sage accounting or ERP systems in the back office.”

FinancialForce.com: “Zuora’s cloud applications are ideal for companies with sophisticated subscription processing needs and are perfect complements to FinancialForce’s accounting, billing and media solutions,” said Tom Brennan, vice president of product marketing at FinancialForce.com. Our combined solution is ideal for subscription centric businesses, especially those using Salesforce CRM. As always, we are delighted to offer our customers multiple applications to choose from as opposed to the vendor lock-in approaches practiced by traditional ERP suppliers.”

Commentary on the News

Beagle Research: "With this announcement, Zuora is paving the way to define a common standard for industry leading financial applications to integrate with a world class subscription billing and commerce platform,” Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research. “This ensures that any company can realize it's full potential in the Subscription Economy through a set of common standards, regardless of what financial application they use."

Zuora: "Zuora is working closely with some of the most innovative CFOs who recognize that the Subscription Economy represents a major shift in their business and how they measure success,” said Shawn Price, President at Zuora. “By partnering with leaders in finance and accounting, we are building a bridge between the 20th and 21st century business models that finance leaders need to succeed in this new reality.”

About Zuora, Inc.
Zuora is the global leader in subscription commerce and billing, helping companies in every industry transition to the Subscription Economy. Enterprise leaders and high-growth companies alike use Zuora's multi-tenant cloud platform to launch, scale, and monetize their subscription services. Built from the ground up by SaaS industry veterans from salesforce.com, PayPal, and Webex, Zuora services innovative customers like Informatica, Tata Communications, Box.net, Ning, GigaOm, Xplornet, Ustream and Reed Business Information. To learn more about Zuora, please visit www.zuora.com.

Media Contact:
Eileen Conway
Reidy Communications for Zuora
eileen@reidycommunications.com
(650) 245-9015

Vital Analysis and FinancialForce.com Publish 2012 Cloud Accounting Evaluation Guide

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:00 +0100

FinancialForce.com, the cloud applications company, today announced the availability of the “2012 Cloud Accounting Evaluation Guide” written by research firm Vital Analysis. The free guide helps companies become more aware of the new cloud accounting software marketplace, outlining the unique selection process and purchase criteria that should be used when buying an accounting solution today. FinancialForce.com is also making available an on-demand webinar titled “The Top 6 Things You Don’t Know About Cloud Accounting (but should)” featuring Brian Sommer, founder of Vital Analysis and Tom Brennan, VP of Product Marketing at FinancialForce.com.

“Every 10 to 15 years or so, the accounting software space undergoes a fairly radical change. These changes are often triggered by the introduction of all new technologies that enable accounting software to look, act and empower users differently,” said Brian Sommer, founder, Vital Analysis. “Today’s new solutions were built with mobile, social, platform and cloud capabilities in mind from the very beginning. The leader board is changing and so have the methods needed to choose a new accounting solution. This guide will give companies all the tools they need to navigate this new marketplace, where even ROI calculations require a completely fresh approach.”

Intended for companies of all sizes, the comprehensive guide:

• collapses many of the best ideas in accounting software selection into one, easy-to-read, structured publication;
• accelerates the selection team’s learning curve;
• defines and structures the cloud accounting vendor selection process;
• preemptively addresses many of the issues the selection team will encounter in choosing a cloud accounting solution; and
• provides practical advice on how to choose the right system for your organization.

“As a leader in cloud accounting, we recognize just how much the market has changed in a few quick years,” said Jeremy Roche, CEO, FinancialForce.com. “Our customers often need help determining how to choose the right system for them, especially with all the additional choices and power the cloud has brought. Brian Sommer has the right insight and experience to give the wider accounting community all the resources they have been looking for in one easy-to-read guide.”

The Evaluation Guide, the webinar recording and a Evaluating Cloud Accounting Software infographic can all be found on FinancialForce.com.

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About FinancialForce.com
FinancialForce.com is the cloud applications company. We focus 100% on building business applications for Force.com, the world’s leading cloud computing platform from salesforce.com. Our applications include Accounting, Billing, Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Services Resource Planning (SRP). We serve fast-growing organizations and dynamic enterprises, helping them to align Finance, Sales and Service in a way that enables profitable growth. We are backed by two of the biggest and best players in the business, UNIT4 and salesforce.com. To learn more please follow us on Twitter @FinancialForce, visit out Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/FinancialForce or visit www.FinancialForce.com.

About Vital Analysis
Vital Analysis is a very different kind of technology research organization. It is at the intersection set where exceptional technology market knowledge meets the executive suite. Where other ‘analysts’ replay vendor press releases, Vital Analysis gives you the:
• impact new technologies will or won’t have on your business
• reasons why you should or shouldn’t care about specific emerging solutions
• business justifications why you may or may not want specific solutions

Our reach is truly global. We’ve consulted with top technology executives in most global markets including North America, South America, Australia, Asia and Europe. We’ve served clients in these same markets, too.

For more information, see: www.vitalanalysis.com or email us at contact@vitalanalysis.com

Media Contact:
Eileen Conway
Reidy Communications for FinancialForce.com
Email: eileen@reidycommunications.com
(650) 245-9015

FinancialForce.com and Scribe Bridge Legacy ERP and Cloud Billing Systems

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:00:00 +0100

FinancialForce.com, the cloud applications company, and Scribe, the leader in CRM data integration solutions, today announced a pre-configured solution for connecting FinancialForce.com’s Billing application with legacy, on-premises based ERP systems. The connector allows companies to transition applications such as billing into the cloud, while coexisting with a legacy ERP system. The first integration focuses on Microsoft Dynamics, with integrations to SAP, Oracle and other systems to follow.

Using Scribe’s Force.com connector, companies can pass accounting data from FinancialForce Billing in the form of invoices to Microsoft Dynamics. The integration generates transactions for posting to Dynamics A/R and General Ledger. In return, the connector passes back outstanding balances and the account’s payment status. This gives Salesforce CRM users a 360° view of opportunities, invoices and outstanding balances on the Force.com platform. The integration also synchronizes Force.com customer account objects with Dynamics customer account records ensuring that CRM, billing and accounts receivable are coordinated.

“There are a large number of organizations using legacy ERP systems that want to generate invoices directly from Salesforce CRM and post them back to their on-premises ERP packages,” said Tom Brennan, vice president of product marketing at FinancialForce.com. “Scribe’s Force.com connector is a strong solution for integrating on-premise based ERP systems with the world’s most popular cloud platform. When you combine FinancialForce Billing with Scribe’s connector, companies can streamline their billing processes, improve cash flow and greatly simplify the integration.”

Scribe’s pre-configured connector for Force.com (the backbone of FinancialForce Accounting, Billing and Professional Services Automation) will benefit a diverse range of businesses, ensuring their business processes are accurate, controlled and properly accounted for.

“FinancialForce.com delivers the most advanced accounting and billing applications built on the Force.com platform. As such, we see huge potential for our Force.com connector to help solve real-world problems,” said Roger Hodskins, vice president of strategic alliances at Scribe Software. “Our platform allows a growing number of Force.com ISVs to offer integration as a product capability – a capability that is key to them entering new markets.”

Scribe’s Force.com connector first launched in April 2011, while the on-premises version (Scribe Insight) has been available for use with Salesforce CRM since 2006.

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About Scribe
Scribe Software is the leader in CRM data integration solutions, helping businesses maximize their investments in CRM, ERP, industry applications, and other data assets. With over 12,000 customers and 1,000 partners worldwide, Scribe is a proven provider of cost-effective, reliable data solutions that give a competitive advantage to businesses large and small. With a range of offerings covering cloud, hybrid, and premise integration needs, Scribe has solutions that span a wide array of industries including Financial Services, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, and Media & Entertainment. For more information, please visit www.scribesoft.com, follow Scribe on Twitter, or subscribe to the Scribe Blog.

Media Contact:
Maria Bradley
Reidy Communications for FinancialForce.com
Email: maria@reidycommunications.com
(415) 509-0498

Andrea Nieto
B3 Communications for Scribe
Email: anieto@b3communications.com
415-378-9562

Steve Cakebread Joins FinancialForce.com Board of Directors

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:31:00 +0100

FinancialForce.com, the cloud applications company, today announced that Steve Cakebread has been elected to FinancialForce.com's Board of Directors.

Mr. Cakebread joins the current Board of Directors, including Chris Ouwinga, Chairman and CEO of UNIT4 NV, Jeremy Roche, President and CEO, FinancialForce.com, George Hu, COO of Salesforce.com and Edwin van Leeuwen, CFO of UNIT4 NV.

Mr. Cakebread currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Pandora, the leader in internet radio. Before Pandora, Mr. Cakebread served as the President, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Financial Officer of salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company and has served in executive roles at Xactly and Autodesk. He also serves on the Board of Directors of ServiceSource and SolarWinds.

“We are honored that Steve, in addition to being a FinancialForce.com customer, is the first independent member of the FinancialForce.com board of directors,” said Jeremy Roche, President and CEO, FinancialForce.com. “This is further validation of the company’s maturity and growth. With Pandora, Steve was one of the first CFOs to take a company public on an all-cloud-based infrastructure, and he has helped build some of the biggest B2B and B2C cloud companies. We are looking forward to adding Steve’s broad experience and his unique perspective as our customer to help guide FinancialForce.com’s growth as a cloud applications company.”

“I’ve been following FinancialForce.com since the very beginning and I’m thrilled to now join the board of directors,” said Steve Cakebread. “In a short period of time, FinancialForce.com has assembled a great team, robust solutions and a strong go-to-market position to address the massive shift from on-premise to cloud computing. I look forward to working closely with the FinancialForce.com team as they expand their footprint as a leading cloud applications company.”

This announcement coincides with today’s news that FinancialForce.com has relocated its US headquarters from San Mateo to San Francisco, tripling the space of its former headquarters.

About FinancialForce.com
FinancialForce.com is the cloud applications company. We focus 100% on building business applications for Force.com, the world’s leading cloud computing platform from salesforce.com. Our applications include Accounting, Billing, Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Services Resource Planning (SRP). We serve fast-growing organizations and dynamic enterprises, helping them to align Finance, Sales and Service in a way that enables profitable growth. We are backed by two of the biggest and best players in the business, UNIT4 and salesforce.com. To learn more please follow us on Twitter @FinancialForce, visit out Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/FinancialForce or visit www.FinancialForce.com.

Media Contact:
Maria Bradley
Reidy Communications for FinancialForce.com
Email: maria@reidycommunications.com
(415) 509-0498

FinancialForce.com Opens New San Francisco Headquarters, Capitalizing on Tremendous Growth

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:30:00 +0100

FinancialForce.com, the cloud applications company, today announced that the company has relocated its U.S. headquarters from San Mateo, Calif. to 595 Market Street, San Francisco, tripling the space of its former headquarters. The new office is required to accommodate FinancialForce.com’s rapid growth. The company grew headcount by over 40% last year and is looking to grow it by more than 50% in 2012 with new positions open in product development, consulting, support, marketing and sales.

The last 12 months have been a breakout period for FinancialForce.com with the company being recognized for several industry awards, including:

CODiE finalist for the FinancialForce Professional Services Automation product
CODiE finalist for the FinancialForce Accounting product
CRM Watchlist BroadBrush winner
THINKstrategies Best of Software as a Service (BoSS) Showplace award
Red Herring 100 North America and Red Herring Global company
Voted Best Cloud Offering in the EuroCloud UK awards
Shortlisted for the best software package of the year from British Accountancy awards

“We are committed to our rapid growth and ability to deliver the highest quality solutions and service to our customers,” said Jeremy Roche, CEO, FinancialForce.com. “In the face of this tremendous growth we continue to innovate across our product line. Recent examples include the announcement of FinancialForce Accounting Spring ‘12 and FinancialForce Professional Services Automation (PSA) Spring ‘12, which both harness the power of social media, mobile applications and the Force.com platform.”

To learn more about FinancialForce.com’s open positions, visit FinancialForce.com careers.

FinancialForce.com was founded in 2009 with investment from UNIT4, one of the world’s largest business software companies, and salesforce.com, the enterprise cloud computing company. FinancialForce.com has customers in more than 23 countries and users in more than 45 countries.

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About FinancialForce.com
FinancialForce.com is the cloud applications company. We focus 100% on building online business applications for Force.com, the world’s leading enterprise cloud computing platform from salesforce.com. Our applications include Accounting, Billing, Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Services Resource Planning (SRP). We serve fast-growing organizations and dynamic enterprises, helping them to align Finance, Sales and Service in a way that enables profitable growth. We are backed by two of the biggest and best players in the business, UNIT4 and salesforce.com. To learn more please visit www.FinancialForce.com, follow us on twitter @FinancialForce or visit our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/FinancialForce

Media Contacts:
Maria Bradley
Reidy Communications for FinancialForce.com
Email: maria@reidycommunications.com
(415) 509-0498