Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
How IT and SaaS Firms Can Keep Contracts, Usage and Renewals Together
Give each customer one account that holds the contract, the usage and the renewal date, and read hours, payments and tickets into it from the tools you already run. GullySystem builds this back office to order for software, SaaS, cloud, security and IT service firms. It does not replace your tracker or gateway.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
Why these firms lose revenue quietly
The product of an IT or software firm is hours, access or a continuing service. Revenue depends on what gets counted and reaches an invoice.
A scope change built on a call is never billed. Visits or hours run past the retainer, and nobody sees it. A subscription renews on a date no one was watching.
Start with the contract types
Fixed bid, time and material, retainer, subscription, service level and AMC each bill differently. If every project is invoiced from one rate card, the contract and the bill drift apart.
List your contract types first. Give each its own billing rule, so the invoice follows the terms that were agreed.
- Fixed bid with milestones
- Time and material from timesheets
- Retainer with a monthly hours limit
- Subscription by plan
- AMC with a visit count
Read usage from the tools you already run
Your task tracker, payment gateway, control panel and scanner already do their jobs. Do not replace them. Read hours, payments, usage and tickets from each, wherever it allows, into the customer’s account.
Then compare what was used with what the contract covers. Accounts running past their plan are listed for a conversation, not found at renewal.
Put renewals on a calendar
Licences, subscriptions, support contracts, AMCs and retainers all end on a date. Put each date, with its owner, on one list.
A quote then goes out before the date, not after the service stops. Failed payments and unanswered trial endings can be listed the same way.
- Licence and subscription end dates
- Support and AMC renewals
- Failed payments and retries
- Trials ending without a follow-up
Keep access in the same record
A developer leaves and his repository and client logins stay open. A security engagement ends and its test environment stays reachable. Nobody owns the exit list.
Keep a joining and exit checklist beside the customer account. Hold an access list for each client, and log views and downloads where the data is sensitive.
Customer account template
Put the customer’s contract type, billing rule, renewal date, usage to date and open tickets in a single row. Add a column for who has access. Fill it for your five largest customers and see what is missing.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Is there a ready product for IT and software firms?
No. The back office is built around your own contracts, plans and renewal rules. Set-up starts with a walk through of how you bill and support customers today.
Will it replace our task tracker or payment gateway?
No. Keep them for sprints, tickets and collecting money. The account reads from them where they allow it and holds the commercial record beside them.
Can it run security scans or monitor client machines?
No. Your own tools do the testing and monitoring. The system records the scope, the asset and what was done.
Will invoices reach Tally?
Not directly. A file of invoices and receipts can be exported for your accountant, and a closer link is scoped separately.