softrax contrax 2.4 delivers capabilities for efficiently managing subscription-based business models
press release: softrax corporation
canton, mass. — softrax corporation, a leading provider of revenue management solutions, announced the release of a major upgrade to its contrax solution. softrax contrax 2.4 automates all the billing and revenue recognition accounting for companies with periodically recurring contracts, subscriptions and complex services.
“softrax contrax enables companies to streamline their billing and accounting operations, increase cash flow and rapidly adopt new business models,” said gottfried sehringer, vice president of marketing at softrax. “many companies are now offering flexible business arrangements with customers that involve subscriptions as well as transactional and usage charges. several years ago these types of arrangements were the exception; today they are rapidly becoming the rule. but for many companies, these payment arrangements represent a radical departure that their current financial processes and systems are not designed to support.”
softrax contrax is specifically designed to meet the needs of businesses that derive their revenue from recurring sources such as annual or monthly service fees and licenses, transactional charges such as number of downloads, subscription based software licensing, and other usage-based service and pricing models.
these types of business models are particularly important in industries such as: information services, business process outsourcers (bpos), financial and health care information providers, e-commerce vendors, application service providers (asps), market research firms and other business service firms. software companies that are adopting software as a service (saas) models also have the need for more flexible billing and revenue management capabilities.
softrax contrax streamlines recurring billing processes, integrates complex pricing models, administers recurring contract life cycles, and manages revenue and expense accounting. as a result, companies can significantly increase the timeliness and accuracy of their billing process. in addition, powerful revenue management capabilities increase financial visibility and compliance with accounting regulations and sarbanes-oxley.
by automating a broad set of critical financial processes, softrax contrax meets the needs of innovative companies from start-ups to global enterprises.
key functionality and business benefits include:
automated billing for subscription, transaction, and usage models
softrax contrax accommodates the consolidation of charges into a billing cycle. this allows recurring subscription charges to be combined with variable charges such as transactions per month on the same bill. each service purchased by a customer can have independent start and end dates, pricing and discounts providing a great deal of flexibility for how products and services are sold. regardless of how complex the relationship is, customers always receive a consolidated bill that itemizes all of their obligations.
sophisticated pricing models
one of the most challenging areas of managing subscription services is the need for sophisticated pricing models. softrax contrax provides a powerful pricing engine that facilitates building and managing price tables and makes it easy to implement price changes. softrax contrax pricing models address contract-specific pricing, tiered volume discounts and the application of minimums that may vary over a contract’s lifecycle. softrax contrax also delivers visibility into time-dependent pricing, enabling pricing to be easily included in revenue analysis and forecasting.
revenue and expense management
softrax contrax contains the next generation of revenue management and accounting that differentiate it from more traditional accounting solutions. every service entered into the system generates a unique billing and revenue schedule. this assists compliance with accounting regulations and provides forecasting visibility of cash flow and revenue. softrax contrax fully automates the generation of revenue journal entries for every billing and service activation event.
softrax contrax is the only solution that is able to easily manage the accounting challenge of matching expenses incurred in delivering a product with the associated revenue as it is recognized over time. for example, if a product requires a royalty payment to a third party at time of sale, but is licensed on as a two-year subscription, the royalty expense should be deferred and booked proportionally with the revenue. doing this manually is labor intensive and prone to error, especially across hundreds of customer relationships. softrax contrax not only automates this, but also forecasts expense and deferred revenue over the duration of the contract, providing increased control, accuracy and insight into the business.
comprehensive contract management
sales contracts define the relationship between vendor and customer and are the foundation for all billing and revenue recognition processes. softrax contrax handles each contract as a dynamic and ever changing relationship with the customer. it supports maintaining in-depth information about contract details and related records, as well as a full audit trail and history of changes and amendments to a contract’s key elements. in addition to managing scheduled activity, softrax contrax seamlessly processes miscellaneous charges and contract changes that occur during a billing cycle. complex revenue recognition rules are incorporated with detailed revenue and billing schedules.
reporting and business intelligence
softrax contrax reports provide unprecedented insight into current and future revenue including revenue activity by period and customer. with softrax contrax, recurring revenue streams can be analyzed in conjunction with other services. period activity and deferred revenue can be analyzed by account, customer and contract.
in addition, softrax contrax is fully integrated with softrax business intelligence, which offers even more powerful revenue analysis and forecasting capabilities. revenue performance can be thoroughly analyzed by dozens of criteria. sophisticated revenue forecasting scenarios can be easily created to test key business assumptions such as renewal rates, new product introductions, obsolescence, service delivery schedules, etc. so current and future revenue can be maximized.
international transactions
softrax contrax is a solution designed for startups to global enterprises that do business in multiple currencies. international transactions frequently require adjustments for currency fluctuations that occur between billing and revenue recognition dates. softrax contrax automatically calculates the correct reporting and local currency amounts and adjusts the appropriate revenue and expense items according to the fasb (financial accounting standards board) no. 52 accounting standard.
softrax contrax 2.4 is now shipping. pricing and additional information can be obtained by calling softrax at 1.888. 4 softrax.
about softrax
softrax corporation is a leading provider of enterprise revenue management solutions that fundamentally change the way companies manage, analyze, report and forecast revenue. softrax solutions automate the entire revenue cycle, from complex billing and contract renewals, through to revenue recognition, reporting and forecasting. hundreds of corporations benefit from using softrax to maximize revenue, reduce operating expenses and comply with revenue recognition regulations and sarbanes-oxley requirements. softrax corporation, headquartered in canton, mass., is privately held. more information can be found at www.softrax.com, www.revenuerecognition.com, and by calling 1-888-4-softrax.