New Zuora for Communications solution brings the power of Cloud 2 to communication service providers by combining Force.com with Zuora’s subscription commerce platform

Barrett Xplore, Open Range Communications and Vocalocity use the new joint cloud solution to deliver next generation communications services to millions of customers

Telco 2.0 / New Digital Media Conference, Palo Alto, CA — April 6, 2011

Uniting Salesforce and Zuora for the Communications Industry on the Force.com Platform

• Zuora, the subscription billing and commerce leader, today announced Zuora for Communications, the cloud computing solution designed for the new generation of service providers, and a new OEM agreement with salesforce.com to provide Zuora’s subscription billing and commerce services on Force.com, the leading enterprise cloud computing platform.
• Zuora for Communications is an industry-specific solution based on the expanded partnership. The two companies have hundreds of joint customers including enterprises like Coremetrics (an IBM company), Informatica, Reed Business Information, Ricoh and Thomson Reuters, and fast growing businesses like Box.Net, InsideView, Marketo, and Xactly. Zuora for Communications was developed with industry leaders such as Barrett Xplore, Elevate, Open Range Communications, Phonebooth (a division of Bandwidth.com), ShoreTel, and Vocalocity.
• Zuora for Communications enables communications services providers to price, quote, and take orders on the front end and manage and monetize subscribers on the back end for any type of services from broadband, WIFI, 4G, VOIP, unified communications, and wireless devices such as the iPhone, iPad, Android. This new solution combines salesforce.com’s Force.com enterprise cloud computing platform, and Partner Portal with Zuora’s on-demand subscription commerce and billing platform.

The Future of the Communications Industry Lies in the Cloud

• The emergence of smart phones, devices and tablets carrying voice, data, Internet and video is transforming the communications industry. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, by 2015 there will be 7.2 billion mobile devices and more than 2/3 of network traffic will be consumed by video. Since the launch of the iPhone and iPad, more than 10 billion apps have been downloaded, according to Apple. These Internet and technology advancements are giving rise to a plethora of new providers and subscriber services.
• To survive in this innovative environment, service providers must be able to launch new products and services rapidly, have the flexibility to change pricing, packaging and promotions in real-time, and manage their customer relationships online. Unfortunately, service providers have been burdened by inflexible, slow to implement, and costly legacy, on-premise billing systems that were built for traditional telco billing, not for billing and servicing customers in the cloud.
• To address these dramatic and indefinite changes, by embracing the cloud, service providers can get to market quickly to deliver new services to consumers, have the flexibility to iterate and experiment with pricing and packaging often, and provide customers with an online self-service experience to purchase services and manage their plans online.
• “Providers need to deliver more value to their customers with high-demand services such as cloud computing, video and apps,” said Mangesh Pimpalkhare Vice President Product Management, Bitgravity, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Communications. “The key is delivering and managing these services rapidly and efficiently. Delivery cycles for new services need to be in weeks now, not months or years.”

Zuora for Communications: Delivering Billing and Customer Care in the Cloud

• Zuora for Communications enables service providers to launch any type of services from broadband, WIFI, 4G, VOIP, unified communications, and wireless devices services, as well as, media services that are delivered over the network such as apps, cloud, data, gaming, video, and voice services.
• This solution combines Zuora’s subscription billing capabilities with Salesforce’s award-winning Force.com platform and Partner Portal solutions to:
  • Price and Package Any Communication Service: Easily define new price plan, charge for services any way you want to, and quickly launch new products to market.
  • Manage Customer Interactions Everywhere: Enable sales reps or call centers to price, quote and take orders from the Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, website or mobile devices, as well as, handle service cases and manage renewals.
  • Bill and Invoice Customers in Real-Time: Flexibly manage subscriptions, invoice customers, collect payments, and automate usage, rating and taxation.
  • Make Decisions Based on Subscriber Analytics: Real-time dashboard and reports with subscription metrics such as CMRR, TCV, Renewal Rate, Churn, etc.
• Built with a multi-tenant cloud architecture, and leveraging the Force.com platform, Zuora for Communications meets key criteria for enterprise scale, security, compliance and interoperability with PCI Level 1 security, SAS70 Type II compliance, and full disaster recovery capabilities.

Customer Success in the Cloud

• “Next generation services and consumption models call for next generation billing and customer care capabilities to be delivered in the cloud,” said Cathy MacDonald, CIO at Barrett Xplore. “With our partners salesforce.com and Zuora, we’re putting in place the right cloud infrastructure for the new era of communication services.”
• “Zuora for Communications has given us the flexibility to innovate in both pricing and packaging in response to shifting subscriber preferences, competitive pressures, and emerging business opportunities,” said Q Saeed, Executive Vice President, Business Operations and Corporate Development at Open Range Communications Inc. “The combination of Zuora and Salesforce provides us with an enterprise cloud platform for the future.”
• “As the fastest growing cloud based phone system for small businesses, we needed a new billing system that was more flexible and delivered in the cloud,” said Wain Kellum, CEO at Vocalocity. “We selected Zuora for Communications over many alternatives as Zuora has built a complete billing solution. Zuora’s native integration with salesforce.com provides us with many advantages including an ease of implementation.”

Commentary on the News:

• “With an untold number of devices coming down the pipe, telecom providers are facing unprecedented competition for subscribers, who will be exploring myriad new service offerings and provider alternatives,” said Elisabeth Rainge, Research VP, Telco Operations, IDC. “The cloud offers a way for providers to pursue new subscribers and retain their existing base by responding quickly and flexibly to market demands. The partnership of Zuora and salesforce.com shows Zuora understands the importance of closely linked billing and customer care to maintain and monetize subscriber relationships.”
• “Cloud computing has become mainstream, companies across all industries want to leverage apps that are mobile, social and open,” said Kendall Collins, chief marketing officer, salesforce.com. “Zuora’s announcement and use of Force.com will accelerate service providers moving to the cloud so they can address market demands in real-time and stay competitive through innovation.”
• “The path of success for today and tomorrow’s service providers is in the cloud as to compete, service providers require speed, flexibility, and a platform to innovate,” said Shawn Price, President at Zuora. “The combined solution of Zuora’s subscription billing and Force.com platform brings together two leading enterprise cloud platforms to drive transformational change for the entire communications industry.”

About the Force.com Platform and AppExchange 2

Force.com is the only proven enterprise platform for building and running business applications in the cloud. The Force.com platform powers the Salesforce CRM applications, more than 1,000 ISV partner applications like those from CA Technologies, FinancialForce.com and Fujitsu, and 200,000 custom applications used by salesforce.com’s 92,300 customers such as Japan Post, Kaiser Permanente, KONE and Sprint Nextel. Force.com also enables developers to make any enterprise app social by leveraging the social collaboration components including profiles, status updates, and real-time feeds available with Chatter.

Applications built on the Force.com platform can be easily distributed to the entire cloud computing community through the salesforce.com AppExchange 2 marketplace, now featuring the ChatterExchange.

About Zuora, Inc.

Zuora’s subscription billing and commerce platform changes the way subscription businesses manage and sell to customers, allowing them to bring new products to market in less time, with more flexibility and less hassle. Zuora customers are up and running within 90 days and often recognize 200% ROI within weeks. Zuora is built from the ground up by SaaS industry visionaries and veterans from salesforce.com, WebEx, Accenture, Google, eBay, Oracle and Vitria. Zuora customers include Reed Business Information, Coremetrics, InsideView, Marketo, Ricoh, Box.net, Xactly and Cloud Central. To learn more about Zuora, please visit zuorainternprd.wpengine.com.