Growth of the subscription model
This new product enables companies such as business or IT service providers to better manage their subscription model. Remco Kroes, Principal Product Marketing at Exact: "We have long seen that among business and IT service providers, as well as software and hosting companies, there is a growing thought to offer a subscription structure. We are responding to this with a product that automates the process of periodic invoicing and subscription management. Moreover, the subscription revenues are linked to time registration and purchasing. This combination provides a new type of total solution; one that truly helps companies realize a different revenue model. We also expect this product to meet a growing need."
Project management, accounting, and CRM
Exact Online for Project & Contract Management includes project management, time registration, subscription and contract management, invoicing, accounting & CRM in one solution. The product offers not only the ability to invoice customers periodically but also a set of analyses. These analyses clearly show what subscriptions generate, how many new subscriptions have been closed, how many have been canceled, and what a subscription generates at the customer level. This helps companies outline expectations for the coming months without manually comparing various systems. The detailed analysis provides an overview of expected growth and cash flow. This allows for necessary adjustments.
Cloud Barometer signals focus on customer acquisition
The Cloud Barometer 2015 also shows that companies can benefit from accurate performance measurement. Research among business service providers revealed that, compared to last year, they are investing less in innovation and quality improvement. While this was a priority for almost half of the respondents in 2014, now more than half are focusing on finding new customers and improving customer satisfaction. "Knowing which components of the services are successful or not can greatly support that process," says Kroes.
Revenue and time spent per agreement
Asista IT B.V. was one of the first parties to work with the new product. Consultant Charlotte van den Bogaard: "We work in our industry with maintenance agreements in the field of system management. Thanks to Exact Online Project & Contract Management, we can view the revenue and time spent per agreement. With the new reports, we gain more insight into the revenue and time allocations per contract. This helps us in our operations."
Cloud Barometer 2015
The Cloud Barometer 2015 is an international study on the role of cloud computing in SMEs. It is the successor to the SME Cloud Barometer and was rolled out worldwide for the first time this year. The research was conducted by Pb7 on behalf of Exact and KPN. In the first months of 2015, a survey was conducted among decision-makers, mainly owners, at 2975 companies with a maximum of 50 employees in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The interviews were evenly distributed across sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale, professional services, accounting, and "other". A weighting was then applied to ensure the representativeness of the sample.
