Whether CollabNet wants to price by utility, users, or service level, Zuora’s flexibility and speed lets them create a range of pricing plans based on what the customers want.

CollabNet invents cloud-based systems for collaborative IT development. By smoothing out the bumps and obstacles involved in collaboration, they speed up software development and deployment, make teams more innovative, and reduce risk.

Launching new ventures in the cloud can be a headache. When CollabNet wanted to launch a new service, they realized a pricing structure based on users and usage would make a lot more sense to subscribers than rigid feature-based pricing. As they got further into the rollout, they realized they were essentially shifting to a subscription commerce model. But with their current billing infrastructure, they calculated they'd spend more time on billing than actually delivering their service.

“We wanted to be building our core competency, which is great collaborative software development services. Instead we’re figuring out and trying to work through how to actually bill them,” explained Guy Marion, Vice President and General Manager for Cloud Services at CollabNet.

CollabNet Cloud Services did their due diligence in evaluating a number of solutions. Zuora stood out to them because of our proven record and our Salesforce pedigree. The expertise we brought from the Subscription Economy and our clear commitment to our customers helped to seal the deal.

Before they were a Zuora customer, CollabNet spent about 25% of their road map on a billing platform. As Marion put it, "That is pretty much shooting yourself in the foot as a start-up SaaS company." With Zuora, CollabNet Cloud Services were able to refocus on what they do best: helping developers build great software.

“Zuora brought a whole new angle to the story,” Marion says. CollabNet can update pricing as their customers' needs change, and as Marion notes, "Customers feel like they’re getting what they’re paying for, as opposed to being forced into buying something they don’t really want.”