m3ter rings change on usage-based pricing with m3sh Workflows
Quirkily-named m3ter offers a platform that processes usage data (metering), performs complex bill calculations (rating) and automates data flows relating to usage and billing around the quote-to-cash stack.
It is predominantly used by enterprise software users to complement (or modernise) existing quote-to-cash stacks, as business models incorporate usage, or consumption-based, pricing.
This is a tough subject area i.e. enterprise vendors have been talking about the “fabled promise” of usage and consumption-based pricing for years, with very few ever achieving it. The only scenarios where an software vendor might agree to sell on this basis are where a customer’s data throughput and compute capacity needs are extremely predictable and stable… and (if we remember how much over-provisioning goes on these days) there are very few of those instances in the real world.
Aiming to change the market, m3ter provides data infrastructure to enable and improve usage-based pricing for large and mid-sized software companies. The company has now launched m3sh Workflows to automate complex business processes between core CRM and ERP systems to enable usage-based pricing without billing errors, revenue leakage, slow processes and other operational pain points.
Grow up, operationally-mature
The organisation says that m3sh Workflows is positioned to enable “operationally-mature” software companies to more connect Salesforce, NetSuite and other core systems to m3ter’s platform, enabling usage-based pricing at complexity and scale and putting those companies on a more level playing field with AI-native competitors who are already competing effectively with usage-based pricing.
“The core problem operationally-mature software companies face is that, as they add usage-based pricing components to what was once just subscription-based pricing, their CRM and ERP systems can’t handle the new technical requirements. Companies don’t want the cost and delay of replacing these systems, but they need to make them work with usage-based pricing,” detailed the company, in a technical product statement.
This technology is billed (pun not intended) to work as an invisible infrastructure layer that provides the three things that are missing:
- usage data processing;
- complex rating;
- automation of data flows between monetisation systems.
When companies transition from simple subscription-based pricing to more complex models that include usage-based components, they need a new mechanism to process usage data and apply pricing to it. This requires integration with the quote-to-cash stack to pull data – such as pricing, orders and contracts – from sources of truth and then deliver bill calculations and usage summaries to multiple systems. These connections are hard to build and manage because they require translation between systems, the application of logic to transform, manipulate, and route data, as well as continuous calculations so that usage and billing can be tracked in near real time.
“m3sh Workflows is key to our vision or automation, putting power in the hands of customers to build and manage automated workflows that connect their quote-to-cash systems,” said Griffin Parry, m3ter CEO and co-founder. “With half of all B2B SaaS companies adopting usage-based pricing in some form, these companies need a fit-for-purpose solution like m3ter to avoid intense operational problems. m3sh Workflows is the latest enhancement to our solution to enable software companies to deliver the hybrid and usage-based pricing options they need to improve, pricing agility, faster product launches, and increased revenue.”
As an API-first platform with an advanced events-based architecture and pre-built integrations for major tools, m3ter connects easily with other systems to address all of those needs. It is focused on enabling and extending established tooling (such as Salesforce and NetSuite) rather than disrupting it.
Read mode, write mode
Originally built by m3ter as an internal tool to create custom, automated business processes on behalf of customers, m3ter is now making m3sh Workflows available to customers to use directly. m3sh Workflows is available in two modes: read and write.
In read mode, customers view automations built for them. With write mode, customers create and edit their own workflows.
“m3ter delivered roadmap acceleration across our entire quote-to-cash process, which underpins our ability to sell the right products in the right way and in the right places,” said Isaac DeLuca, chief accounting officer at Matillion, an ETL platform for modern data warehouses. “Now, m3sh Workflows gives us even more control of how we configure and automate complex business process logic so we can go even quicker.”
Key capabilities include:
- Low- and no-code workflow automation. Business teams can build and manage multi-step automated workflows to transform data, apply business logic and route information between CRM and ERP systems.
- Visual workflow design with full API support.
- Advanced use cases like loading and consolidating pricing and account data from multiple sources when different CRMs are used for different products, or automatically triggering the renewal of orders when conditions are met, such as the depletion of a usage balance.