Billing Management: #1 Billing a Universal Business Routine

Hello,

As the saying goes, "Do the hardest job first." We started with the complex subject of finance and revenue management, which is considered the backbone of any business. Now, let's shift our focus and take a deep dive into this Billing Management, which is equally more challenging than revenue management. In short, billing is the practical side of how revenue actually flows.

Any business's main source of revenue lies in its sales. You may hail from any country, but selling a product or service doesn't really work without an invoice or a payment receipt. Billing is not merely a task during sales; it is proof of value exchanged and the starting point of reliable cash flow. In this opening post, we will look into the common methods of billing that prevail.

One-Time Billing 

One-time billing is the simplest model. In this model, a single payment is made for a product or a service, and the transaction ends there.

 Think of walking into an electronics store, buying a laptop, and paying for it at the counter. You leave the store with your purchase, and the deal is done.

Similarly, A freelance consultant might charge a flat fee for a two-hour training session.  

Once the product is sold or a service is delivered, payment is made, and neither side is expected to do anything else.

This model is widely seen across industries. In retail, every checkout is a one-time bill. In hospitality, booking a hotel room for a single night works the same way. You stay, you pay, and the transaction closes. It's quick, clear, and efficient, though it doesn't guarantee steady revenue unless the customer returns for repeated purchases.

Project-Based Billing 

Project billing works by linking payments to the milestones or deliverables rather than charging all at once.

 A web development company designing a new website might structure the payment in stages: 20% during design, 40% during development and the remaining 40$ upon launch.

Likewise, an IT service form might bill after migrating data, again after testing and finally after deployment.  

Industries like construction and engineering rely heavily on this model. A builder might charge after completing the foundation, again after raising the structure, and finally after finishing the interiors. This approach ensures the client pays as value is delivered while the service provider maintains healthy cash flow throughout the project duration.

Expense Billing 

Reimbursing the actual cost incurred on behalf of the client is all we do in expense billing.

 Imagine a law firm, for instance, adding court filing fees, travel expenses, and documentation charges to its professional fees.

A construction company also shows the client the real cost of cement, steel, or tiles, in addition to labour charges.  

Expense billing is also common in industries like consulting or advertising. An ad agency, for example, might charge its service fee separately but pass through the media buying cost directly to the client. This approach keeps things fair and open. Clients know exactly what they are paying for, and businesses avoid absorbing expenses that rightly belong to the project.

Recurring/Subscription Billing

Recurring billing charges customers at a regular interval, such as weekly, monthly, or annually, accounting for continuous access to a product or service.

 A Video streaming company charges your card every month, and as long as you keep paying, your streaming access continues without interruption.  

But the story changes when you upgrade mid-month to add more screens, downgrade to a cheaper plan, or cancel halfway through your cycle. Should you be charged full price, half, or something in between? That's where things get interesting.

There is no universal rule in subscription billing. A gym membership works differently from a SaaS license, which differs from a magazine subscription. The complexity even lies within the same industry type, as the demand varies from one subscriber to another.

In addition, other entities like trials, addons, pay-per-user, and mid-cycle changes all demand unique billing logic. That's why subscription businesses often rely on an API-driven billing system or a more automated method to manage these complexities dynamically.

Bill beyond boundaries

Each billing model serves a distinct purpose, and businesses are now ready to experiment with different billing methods by blending one-time with subscription-based, project-based with subscription, and so on. Hybrid billing is becoming the order of the day, and businesses should choose the right tool that stays flexible, powerful, and handles complexity.

Zoho Billing is empowered to deliver everything in one place. Whether one-time, project-based, expense-based, or subscription-based, Zoho Billing is the one-stop solution for all your billing requirements. It doesn't stop with just billing; it digests the complex workflow you propose and provides a hands-free solution through its automated billing approach.

Do you agree? Yes?

In the next post, let's examine the biggest challenge in subscription billing: Prorated Billing, which decides how to charge fairly when customers join, upgrade, downgrade, or cancel mid-term.

Stay Tuned! 

• Topic Participants

• Hari Hara Sudhan S

• 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

• Update a field in ALL all calls under a contact

  HI guys! I have written some deluge code to update a field in my calls after i have comepleted the call, i need this field to update in all my scheduled calls as well that are comeing up. I just cant seem to get it to work, i have put teh code below,

• In place field editing for candidates

  Wondering about any insight/best practices for efficiently updating candidate records while reviewing them in a Job Opening pipeline. We can do in-field editing (e.g. update job title or City) only when we have the full candidate record open, however

• Automatic Matching from Bank Statements / Feeds

  Is it possible to have transactions from a feed or bank statement automatically match when certain criteria are met? My use case, which is pretty broadly applicable, is e-commerce transactions for merchant services accounts (clearing accounts). In these

• Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

  I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's

• Fat Download of Ulaa Browser

  I just observed that Ulaa Browser is offering an one-capsule big download. These days it is a custom to offer a small bootstrap downloader and based on user customization options an appropriate download completes. And this is particularly common with

• Cancelled Transfer order problem

  Hello, We've canceled a transfer order, and we can't add the related items to a new Transfer Order. The system tells us that the bin doesn't have the required quantity, but when we check the item, it indicates that there are 2 units in the bin. It also

• Zoho Creator customer portal limitation | Zoho One

  I'm asking you all for any feedback as to the logic or reasoning behind drastically limiting portal users when Zoho already meters based on number of records. I'm a single-seat, Zoho One Enterprise license holder. If my portal users are going to add records, wouldn't that increase revenue for Zoho as that is how Creator is monetized? Why limit my customer portal to only THREE external users when more users would equate to more records being entered into the database?!? (See help ticket reply below.)

• Billing Management: #8 Usage Billing in Logistics & Delivery Services

  The logistics and delivery industry thrives on movement and precision. Every delivery completed, every kilometre driven, and every ton transported is a measurable activity. However, billing often lags behind. Many logistics companies still rely on fixed-rate

• Tags for New Tickets

  Hi there, When creating a new ticket, there is currently no way to choose a tag you would like to associate with the new ticket. Being able to associate a tag while creating a new ticket will be very beneficial as it will save time and flow well with

• Zoho Desk: No Incoming email

  Is Zoho Desk services down? No incoming email reflect to desk tickets.

• Zoho CRM - Widgets | Update #3 : Introducing SDK V1.5 along with new ZDK Methods and ZRC Support

  Hello everyone! Widgets in Zoho CRM just got a big upgrade! With the release of SDK v1.5, developers can now create more immersive widget experiences. This update elevates Widget development with new ZDK methods for easier interactivity and ZRC support

• Unusual activity detected, account blocked

  I am unable to send emails and am getting the error "Outgoing blocked: Unusual activity detected. To unblock your account, please and submit a request. Learn more.". I am unsure as to why this is happening since all my activity is legitimate, mainly confirmation

• Unable to Send Emails – Outgoing Mail Blocked (Error 554 5.1.8)

  Description: Hello Zoho Support Team, I am facing an issue with my Zoho Mail account ( admin@osamarahmani.tech ). Whenever I try to send an email, I get the following error: 554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked I would like to clarify that I have not done

• Issue connecting Zoho Mail to Thunderbird (IMAP/SMTP authentication error)

  Dear Zoho Support, I am trying to configure my Zoho Mail account on Thunderbird, but I keep getting authentication errors. Account: info@baktradingtn.com Domain: baktradingtn.com Settings used: IMAP: imap.zoho.com, Port 993, SSL/TLS, Normal Password SMTP:

• Payment issue with Mail Lite plan – personal NIF not accepted as payment info

  Hello, I have already contacted Zoho Support by email regarding this, but since I haven’t received any reply yet, I’m sharing it here as well to see if the community can help. I’m facing a payment issue for my Mail Lite plan. I have a personal account

• Customer payment alerts in Zoho Cliq

  For businesses that depend on cash flow, payment updates are essential for operational decision-making and go beyond simple accounting entries. The sales team needs to be notified when invoices are cleared so that upcoming orders can be released. In contrast,

• Figma in Zoho Creator

  Hi Team, I’m creating a form using Figma and would like to know how to add workflows like scheduling, custom validation, and other logic to it. Can anyone help me understand how to set this up for a Figma-based Creator UI form?

• Restore lost Invoice!

  Some time ago I tried to Upgrade from Invoice to Books. I not upgraded and staid n Invoice. Now i tried again and first i deleted the old trial of books. But now all is gone, PLEASE HELP!! i have no backup and i have to have at least 7 years data retention by law. 

• Zoho Desk Down

  Not loading

• lookup and integrated forms

  I might be misunderstanding things but I wanted to integrate our zoho crm contacts into creator. I imagined that when I used the integration it would mirror into creator. It did brilliant. BUT We have a ticket form in creator that we want to use a lookup

• Partially receive PO without partial Bill?

  Most of our inventory is pre-paid. Let's say we purchase 30 pieces of 3 different items for a total of 90 pieces. It is common for our supplier to send us the items as they are ready. So we will receive 30 pieces at a time. How can I partially receive

• 2 users editing the same record - loose changes

  Hello, I'm very new to Zoho so apology if this has been addressed somewhere i can't find. I have noticed the following: If we have 2 users put an inventory item in edit mode at the same time: say user1 click on edit and user2 while user1 is still in edit,

• How to get the Dashboard page to be the first page when you open the app

  So when it opens on a tablet or phone it opens on the welcome page, thanks.

• How I set default email addresses for Sales Orders and Invoices

  I have customers that have different departments that handle Sales Orders and Invoices. How can i set a default email for Sales Orders that's different than the default email for Invoices? Is there a way I can automate this using the Contact Persons Departments

• Formula fields not refreshing until page is reloaded

  I need help/advice about the formula fields and how I can refresh the information in real-time. We have two formula fields on our deals page which show calculated prices: One formula is in a subform which calculates the subform total + 1 other field amount

• How can I setup Zoho MCP with Chat GPT

  I can set up custom connections with Chat GPT but I cat an error when I try to set it up. The error is: "This MCP server can't be used by ChatGPT to search information because it doesn't implement our specification: search action not found" Thoughts?

• API ZOHO CRM Picket list with wrong values

  I am using Zoho API v.8. with python to create records in a custom module named "Veranstaltung" in this custom module I've got a picket list called "Email_Template" with 28 Values. I've added 8 new values yesterday, but if I try to use on of those values

• Group Emails

  I have synced Zoho CRM to Campaigns but there are certain email not synced. showing it is Group Emails, but this email ids belongs to different individuals. please provide a solution as i nedd to sync the same.

• Enable Password Import option in ulaa browser

  Dear Ulaa Team, I noticed that the Ulaa Password Manager currently offers an option to export passwords, but not to import them. This limitation poses a challenge for users like me who have stored numerous credentials in browsers like Chrome. Manually

• "Is Zoho CRM customer" vs "Is linked with Zoho CRM"

  Recently while building a Flow, I was setting up a Decision action following a Zoho Invoice Fetch record action. There were 2 choices that I had not seen as something I could manually action in Zoho Invoice: "Is Zoho CRM customer" and "Is linked with

• Client Script | Update - Introducing ZRC: Simplified HTTP request library

  Hello Developers! Are you tired of juggling different methods to make API calls? Are you confused with multiple syntaxes and version restrictions? Have you ever wished for one simple way to make all API calls in CRM? We heard you :) Here comes ZRC (Zoho

• Selection Filed for Data Export section

  Hi FSM Team, I hope you are all doing well. I would like to share an idea for future development based on my experience. Currently, in FSM, we can only download up to 5,000 records at a time. If the development team could add a selection option to choose

• Text wrap column headers in reports?

  Is it possible to auto wrap column headers so that a longer multi-word header displays as two lines when the column is narrower than the width of the header title?

• What if I dont see contacts on the left side list

  My CRM does not show the contacts tab. In order to create list this is needed and I cant find it.

• Comments Vs. Replies

  I'm curious as to the difference between a "Reply" and a "Comment" on a ticket. It appears that "Replies" are what's used to determine response time SLA's and there are also used to automatically re-open tickets. I'm just trying to understand the key differences so I can educate both our clientele and our back-end users on which function/feature to use to better improve the ticket lifecycle. If anyone has any insight it would be appreciated. Thanks!

• Transitioning to API Credits in Zoho Desk

  At Zoho Desk, we’re always looking for ways to help keep your business operations running smoothly. This includes empowering teams that rely on APIs for essential integrations, functions and extensions. We’ve reimagined how API usage is measured to give

• Resetting auto-number on new year

  Hi everyone! We have an auto-number with prefix "D{YYYY}-", it generates numbers like D2025-1, D2025-2, etc... How can we have it auto-reset at the beginning of the next year, so that it goes to D2026-1? Thanks!

• Can you prevent closing Ulaa window when the last tab is closed (inadvertently)?

  Most browsers have started to bring this feature in to prevent closing their windows when the last tab is closed (inadvertently). I hope Ulaa should get this in too.

• Microsoft Phone Link

  Does anyone know if you can use Microsoft Phone Link to make calls through Zoho?

• Voip Phone system that integrates with Zoho

  Just checking to see if anyone could tell me what phone system they are using with Zoho that is on the list of systems that integrate with Zoho.  I use Vonage and have been with them for quite a few years but their service has really gone down hill and

• Next Page