Advanced Usage Billing: Prepaid with Drawdown

Advanced Usage Billing: Prepaid with Drawdown

Picture yourself at your favourite coffee shop, Bean & Brew. You come by every morning for your usual cappuccino, and occasionally you get an extra cold brew and a muffin or two in the afternoon. Interestingly, Bean & Brew has a new idea of offering a Coffee Pass. You can pay $50 in advance for 25 drinks. Each time you purchase a coffee, the system automatically deducts one drink from your prepaid balance. The goal is to have no wait time at the counter. 


Some weeks, you go there every day. You might skip a few mornings at other times. No matter what, you've already paid in full, and you're just taking money out of your balance/credit as you go.

You can immediately add money to your balance if it gets low or runs out. If you have extra drinks at the end of the month, you can even roll them over to the next month. The payment process seems straightforward and clear while giving you full control.

That's the simplest way to explain Prepaid with Drawdown.

The New Reality 

Prepaid with Drawdown is quietly gaining ground because people need it in today's world. Businesses that offer AI, machine learning, and cloud services have a unique problem as they slowly move into consumption-based billing. They can't predict how their services will be used. A customer might make a few API requests one week, and the next week, they might process millions of data points or hours of video.

Traditional monthly billing is difficult to maintain. Customers often receive bills they weren't expecting, and businesses have to wait longer for money and take on more credit risk.


That's when Prepaid with Drawdown comes into play.

Customers pay in advance for a set number of credits or usage units. The system automatically takes credits from the prepaid balance every time they use the service, whether it's transcription minutes or an API call. Customers can always see what's left, add more when they need to, and, depending on the provider's policy, roll over unused credits.

It's a model that combines predictability and flexibility. It lets customers control costs while businesses keep a steady flow of cash.

Prepaid with Drawdown in Zoho Billing 

Zoho Billing has built-in support for Prepaid with Drawdown billing, which makes it easy for businesses to switch to this new model quickly and easily. This prepaid drawdown will change the game for setting up fair and real-time cash flow if you work in AI services, SaaS, cloud computing, or any other business model that relies on consumption.

This is how it works:

  • Create prepaid plan or add-on: Define prepaid products so that customers pay for usage credits in advance.

  • Drawdown Addon: Link usage lets services automatically take credits out of prepaid balances.

  • Real-time usage tracking: Track usage through Zoho's API or admin console and see the balance change right away.

  • Manage Overage and Rollover: Set up how overage usage is billed and how unused credit can be rolled over.

  • Top-Up and Overrides: Let customers add credits in the middle of a billing cycle or change the number of credits when they sign up for a subscription.

  • Statement and Invoicing: Statement shows the number of credits/units consumed, and it can be invoiced instantly or with the upcoming cycle along with overage charges.

Info

Scenario:

Let's say a cloud storage service offers a safe place for startups and content creators to store and back up their data.

The service provider offers a Prepaid Storage Plan because file uploads and downloads can vary a lot from month to month. Every customer pays in advance for a certain amount of data credits, like 5TB. Zoho Billing keeps track of how much they use every time they upload or download files and takes the same amount out of their prepaid balance.

The service provider also offers a Compression Service, where each GB of compressed data users receive 0.5 GB worth of credit.

Anna subscribes to the prepaid storage plan.

  • She consumes 800 GB of data on the first day.

  • Zoho Billing takes 800 GB off their prepaid balance right away, leaving them with 4200 GB.

  • Anna consumes 100 GB of compressed data, which Zoho Billing seamlessly handles through a drawdown rate and reduces the credit by 50 GB.

  • Again, on day 10, another 1000 GB was used, leaving Anna with a balance of 3150 GB in credit at the end of the month.

When usage tracking is connected to Zoho Billing in real time using APIs, all of this happens in real time.

Suppose, the balance credit reaches zero, Zoho Billing automatically starts tracking any extra usage as overage. This extra usage will be charged at standard rates on the next invoice or right away if the business chooses to "Charge Now." Also, The service provider rolls over the credits to the next billing cycle to make it flexible and fair. 



NotesNote: The prepaid with Drawdown billing model is currently in early access. Reach out to support@zohobilling.com to enable it for your business. Then, go through our Prepaid with Drawdown in Zoho Billing help document to configure it in your organization.  

 Key Takeaways  

For Customers

For Business

Pay in advance to avoid surprise bills or missing payments.

Getting paid before services are used will improve cash flow.

Keep an eye on the credits you use and your remaining balance right away.

Keep unpaid bills and late payments to a minimum.

Buy more units whenever you need them to handle a spike in use.

Track how people use your service in real time to optimize service delivery.

Unused credits can be carried over when policies allow them, so there is no waste.

Overage can be tracked and monetized easily without service interruption.

 

I am confident that the next time you use your coffee pass at Bean & Brew, or any other prepaid service, you will realize it is more than just a convenience. It's a small, everyday reflection of how many big data-driven companies are changing how we pay for technology.


Idea
The Prepaid with Drawdown model has scope in every business we encounter. We will provide additional use cases in the comments to make it easier for companies to adopt this model logically. 



      • Sticky Posts

      • Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

        Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

      • Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

        Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

      • Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

        Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

      • Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

        Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

        • Recent Topics

        • Nimble enhancements to WhatsApp for Business integration in Zoho CRM: Enjoy context and clarity in business messaging

          Dear Customers, We hope you're well! WhatsApp for business is a renowned business messaging platform that takes your business closer to your customers; it gives your business the power of personalized outreach. Using the WhatsApp for Business integration

        • can't login Kiosk URGENT

          already try, can't login pls help to support. thanks.

        • 【Zoho CRM】CRM for Everyoneに関するアップデート：関連データ機能

          ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、CRM for Everyoneの新機能「関連データ機能」をご紹介します。 関連データ機能は、あるタブのデータを別のタブに柔軟に関連付け、異なるタブで管理されている情報を1か所にまとめて表示できます。 たとえば、組織タブとチームタブのデータを関連付けることで、必要な情報に効率よくアクセスでき、顧客理解を深めながら他チームとの連携もスムーズに行えます。 目次 1. 関連データの設定方法

        • Zoho Books

          How do I manually insert opening balance?

        • Profit / margins on Sales orders / Invoices / Estimates

          When we select an SKU or item name in any of these documents, much info such as invoice.line_items.rate is pulled from the item & filled into the document being worked on. If we had another lineItem DB field (hidden) auto filled at the same time: invoice.line_items.purchase_rate

        • Inventory to Xero Invocie Sync Issues

          Has anyone had an issue with Invoices not syncing to Xero. It seems to be an issue when there is VAT on a shipping cost, but I cannot be 100% as the error is vague: "Unable to export Invoice 'INV-000053' as the account mapped with some items does not

        • How to activate RFQ? What if a price list has ladder price for items?

          Where can I find the option to activate request for quotation? How does it work? If the item has ladder price, does it gets calculated depending on how many items are in the cart?

        • Mailk got blocked / Inquiry About Email Sending Limits and Upgrade Options

          Dear Zoho Support Team, My name is Kamr Elsayed I created this account to use for applying for vocational training in Germany. As part of this process, I send multiple emails to different companies. However, after sending only 8 emails today, I received

        • Can't join canal Developers Zoho User

          Hello, I received an invitation to join this channel, but I get an error when I try to join it, and I get the same error when I go to the Zoho Cliq interface > Search for a channel. Is this because I don't have a license linked to this email address?

        • Desk Email reply - set default font / use custom font

          Hello, in our e-mails, which we send to our customers, a certain font must be used (Corporate Design): Segoe UI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segoe#Segoe_UI How can this be included? How can this be set as the default font to ensure that this font is

        • PDF Templates - Checkbox Borders

          Is there a way to remove the border of a radio/checkbox on a PDF? I'd like to use the function of checkbox but if there's no easy way to remove the border (the PDF form already has a rectangle so it gets cluttered), then I'm forced to create a single

        • Settings Icon No Longer in ZOHO Desk?

          In ZOHO desk, there has been a gear icon for settings. as of yesterday, it is no longer there. I showed up briefly this morning but is gone again. Anybody else experiecing this?

        • Introducing the all-new email parser!

          Greetings, We are pleased to introduce to you, a brand-new, upgraded version of the Zoho CRM Email Parser, which is packed with fresh features and has been completely redesigned to meet latest customers needs and their business requirements. On that note,

        • Tip #43 - Track, Review, and Analyze Your Assist Sessions with Reports-'Insider Insights'

          Did you know you can generate detailed reports for both remote support sessions and unattended access sessions in Zoho Assist? This makes it easy to monitor technician activity, measure efficiency, and review customer interactions. Let us now take a closer

        • Function #20: Custom calculation in item table of invoices

          When you create an invoice in Zoho Books, the 'Amount' of a line item is typically calculated as the product of the "Quantity" and the "Rate" of the item. For instance, if an item has a sales rate of $50 and a quantity of 5 is sold, then the amount would

        • CBSA - GST CHARGES on imports

          Hi there, We have a questions about landed cost categorization. We received a shipment from overseas. CBSA invoiced us for the GST on the items. Now we entered the CBSA-GST as a separate bill and attached it as landed cost to the main invoice based on

        • Simplified Call Logging

          Our organization would like to start logging calls in our CRM; however, with 13 fields that can't be removed, our team is finding it extremely cumbersome. For our use case, we only need to record that a call happened theirfor would only need the following

        • Sub form doesn't as formula field

          Is it possible to get formula field in sub form in futures?

        • Week date range in pivot table

          Hello, I need to create a report that breakouts the data by week.  I am using the pivot table report, and breaking out the date by week, however the date is displayed as 'Week 1 2014' format.  Is there anyway to get the actual dates in there? ex. 1/6/2014-1/12/2014 Thanks,

        • How do I get Status History data of my Projects?

          I want to build a table in Zoho Analytics that Groups by Date, when Projects entered a certain status. I cannot find Status History or any such useful data available in the Setup of my Data Source sync. Please advise how I can achieve this?

        • Is it possible to hide fields in a Subform?

          Since layout rules cannot be used with Subforms, is there another way, or is it even possible, to hide fields in a subform based on a picklist fields within said subform? For example, if the Service Provided is Internet, then I do not want to see the

        • Weekly Tips :Instantly find what you need with Attachment Viewer

          Your inbox must be packed with project emails, shared notes, and scattered attachments. You are looking for one specific file—a presentation slide or maybe a media clip from a team update—but don’t want to dig through endless email threads or switch between

        • Missing Zoho Desk integration option for form workflows

          According to the help page "Configure Zoho Desk integration in form workflows" we should be able to select Zoho Desk as an integration target but when I open the integrations list then Zoho Desk is not being listed in it. We are on the Premium plan which should already support Zoho Desk integrations.

        • Gantt for 2 or more projects

          Hello, I'm trying the free version of your produtc. It is veryyy good!!!! I don't know if in the Standard plan, I can overview a Gantt Graph for 2 or more Projects Milestone. This would be very helpfull for managing teams and taking decisions about who I will assign a task to. In the paid plan Do I have this possibility? Thank you.

        • Integrating a Zoho Project Gantt Chart into Reports

          Is is possible to integrate a Zoho Project Gantt Chart into a Zoho Report Dashboard. I am in the process of creating Project Status Dashboards for the projects that we track in Zoho Projects and I would like to incorporate the gantt chart within Reports.  Please let me know! Thanks

        • ZOHO BOOKS - EXCESSIVELY SLOW TODAY

          Dear Zoho Books This is not the first time but it seems to be 3 times per week now that the system is extremely slow. I work on Zoho Books 95% of my day so this is very frustrating. Zoho you need to do something about this. I have had my IT guy check

        • Gantt Chart - Zoho Analytics

          Are there any plans to add Gantt Charts capabilities to Zoho Analytics?

        • Displaying related quotes in sales order and back

          Hi, My colleague liked to see to which sales orders, the quote has been converted. Quote shows Invoices, but not SO. Same, they would like to see the quotes in the sales order, as they can see invoices, packages, shipment, How can we achieve this ? Thank

        • Tip of the Week #71–Auto-move incoming messages to the right inboxes with keywords

          We all know that customer-facing teams, especially your sales and support teams, can’t afford to miss even a single customer conversation. But sometimes, sales queries or support requests can easily get lost in a crowded inbox or even end up in the wrong

        • Clearing Fields using MACROS?

          How would I go about clearing a follow-up field date from my deals? Currently I cannot set the new value as an empty box.

        • Migrating a Zoho Forms form into Zoho Creator

          Hi, How can I migrate my Zoho Forms form into Zoho Creator? Thanks. Truly, Emad

        • Is there any way to recall an email sent using Zoho CRM?

          If an email is sent using Zoho Mail, there is a recall option/functionality that is available to the sender. Is there any way to recall an email if it was sent using Zoho CRM? I can't seem to find that option. Any help would be appreciated.

        • Problem with reports due to "Connected" items change - Yes this IS a problem

          Now that the change has been made to use "connected" items I can no longer run the reporting I need in CRM. I should be able to start with Deals as the parent, connect down to the Account (Account_Name) on the deal as the child, then to any child items

        • Introducing notifications in the vendor portal

          Imagine this: You're a recruiter working with multiple vendors on a high-volume hiring project. You’ve just updated a job description after a last-minute change from the hiring manager. One of your vendors, however, is still working off the older version

        • CRM limit reached: only 2 subforms can be created

          we recently stumbled upon a limit of 2 subforms per module. while we found a workaround on this occasion, only 2 subforms can be quite limiting in an enterprise setting. @Ishwarya SG I've read about imminent increase of other components (e.

        • LESS_THAN_MIN_OCCURANCE - code 2945

          Hi I'm trying to post a customer record to creator API and getting this error message. So cryptic. Can someone please help? Thanks Varun

        • Analytics for notes created

          Is there a way I can see how many notes were created per day? Via reporting or analytics?

        • No TDS Deduction

          In some of our case, where we are reselling items at the same rate we purchased. In this scenario, Indian IT Law has a provision to request customer not to deduct TDS if the transaction value is same. TDS is paid by us (intermediary reseller) before we

        • Cannot update Recurring_Activity on Tasks – RRULE not accepted

          Hello, I am trying to update Tasks in Zoho CRM to make them recurring yearly, but I cannot find the correct recurrence pattern or way to update the Recurring_Activity field via API or Deluge. I have tried: Sending a string like "RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1"

        • Add image to report...

          Greetings, I send a weekly color coded report via Creator email. I would like to add the legend somewhere in the report. Header, footer where ever. I have the legend saved on Google Drive and can access it via shared link. Sure someone has wanted to add

        • Next Page