Research and Markets: Monetizing the Cloud: Assessing Billing and Payment Providers

DUBLIN--(Business Wire)--
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6136b7/monetizing_the_clo) has
announced the addition of the "Monetizing the Cloud: Assessing Billing and
Payment Providers" report to their offering.

Billing capability is a critical 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 is the foundation of the
latest research study titled "Monetizing the Cloud: Assessing Billing and
Payment Providers," which focuses on 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.

One thing is certain: You cannot monetize it if you cannot bill for it.

Read this report to learn:

* What are the critical, core tenets of pricing that Cloud providers must adhere
to in order to succeed?
* What are the seven key attributes that best describe and categorize the
capabilities billing and payment solutions?
* Where, and how, should billing and payment solutions fit in a SaaS or Cloud
services provider's ecosystem?

Research Highlights:

* Successful SaaS pricing is all about understanding the customer. It must
appeal to the customer intuitively and must seem fair. It must show immediate
returns to the customer and promise future value. Finally, while appealing to
the customer's perception of value, it must also align with the SaaS provider's
business model.
* The most effective SaaS pricing exploits a pricing metric that relates to the
value the user perceives. Key question: "What is the metric that best captures
the value being delivered?" Equally important is the resulting subscription fee
at different volume points along the pricing curve.
* 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 can 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.
* The authors expects to see SaaS providers move more and more aggressively to
court channel partners - both traditional and next-generation. Their efforts
will include programs that offer relatively high margins (usually in the
20-percent range or higher), billing support, and electronic marketplace
platforms to enable partners to connect with other partners and build
end-to-end, domain-specific solutions.

Key Topics Covered:

* Summary and Research Findings
* So What?
* Saugatuck Insights
* Introduction: The Importance of Billing
* Pricing and Billing in the Cloud
* Providers in the Ecosystem
* Assessing Cloud Billing Providers
* Net Impact
* Vendor Impact
* Appendix A: Research Methodology
* Appendix B: Participating Vendors
* Appendix C: Features and Capabilities Lists

For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/6136b7/monetizing_the_clo

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager,
press@researchandmarkets.com
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Copyright Business Wire 2009