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.

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. 

Note: 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.

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. 

• Topic Participants

• Hari | Zoho Billing

  

• 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

• Export from Contacts module to Products module in Zoho CRM

  Good afternoon, I would like to send a number of contact info from the Contacts module into the customized module (tickets to an event) in one operation. I have selected several contacts in the Contact module (people who I have labelled as people I want

• Can’t receive emailI c

  I have generated a basic for but when I submit it I don’t get a email, I’ve been in the settings and tested me email, all appears correct, can you please help me

• Data Capture for Historical Activity (Especially One Lead Downloading Variois reports without Overwriting the info)

  Is there a better way in Zoho CRM to capture and archive a lead’s historical activity—specifically whenever they download reports—so that the data is stored without being overwritten?”

• Client Script - Updating Field Value in Detail Page of a Lead

  Hello, I'm trying to use Client Script To enrich some data of the Lead when one of my User fill the "City" field in the detail page of the Lead. This is my Script: log (value); var response = ZDK.Apps.CRM.Functions.execute("getInfoCitta", { "nomeCitta":

• Auto shapes in Zoho sheet.

  Does Zoho sheet supports inserting auto shapes (rectangle, circle...). I did not see any option to do so.  If its not supported currently, is there any plans on bring in this features. Any timelines ?

• I Can't Clone Webinar that I Co-Organize

  How do i get our account admin to give me permission to clone our webinars? I am a co-organizer

• How to get the call recording external ID via desk API

  I have enabled phonbridge integration with Zoom Call. I am trying to access the call recording in Zoom by calling Zoom API. I have built a Desk workflow to trigger on a new call, to call a custom function. when calling the API, the response doesn't contain

• Can't View Project Names in Mobile App

  I can't view project names on PO's in the app, nor can I add that as a viewable PDF field in inventory on the computer. I've attached screenshots showing that in the mobile version whether you are on the PO, editing the PO, or viewing the PO line items,

• How do you print a refund check to customer?

  Maybe this is a dumb question, but how does anyone print a refund check to a customer? We cant find anywhere to either just print a check and pick a customer, or where to do so from a credit note.

• Notebook

  I have purchased the monthly pro subscription of Notebook. But it does not support my XP-Pen to write something in it. So it is not useful to me. Hence I am requesting you to help me to discontinue this subscription.

• Domain Mapping & Image Publishing Issues on Zoho Sites

  Hello, I am facing two issues with my Zoho Sites account: 1. Images not visible after publishing. 2. Domain mapping error: "Domain already exists". I am a paid customer. Please connect me with Live Chat Support or Zoho Assist so I can show my issue

• Prevent duplicate with custom fields?

  I was wondering something about custom field/custom modules in Zoho Desk. For some reason you can make a custom field mandatory but not unique? For example, if I create a custom module to manage equipment and renewal and make a field serial number no

• Generate leads from instagram

  hello i have question. If connect instagram using zoho social, it is possible to get lead from instagram? example if someone send me direct message or comment on my post and then they generate to lead

• Where is the desktop app for Zoho Projects???

  As a project manager, I need a desktop app for the projects I manage. Yes, there's the web app, which is AWESOME for cross browser and platform compatibility... but I need a real desktop app for Projects that allow me to enter offline information where

• How to Automate Monthly PDF Reports with Filters in Zoho Creator

  Hi everyone, I’m trying to build an automated monthly reporting process in Zoho Creator and would appreciate suggestions or best practices from anyone who has done something similar. What I’m trying to do: I have a form called New_Customer with fields

• Feedback: Streamlining Note Management in Zoho Notebook

  Dear Team/Support, I would like to share some feedback regarding the note management system that could help improve usability and accessibility for users like myself. Notebook 1 (screenshot attached): Currently, the system does not allow selecting and

• showing Limit exceeded

  Good afternoon...trust you're good. I've been having issues working with but it's not responding. it's showing Limit exceeded, sorry it seems like too many people are working on the sheet right now please try again later. meanwhile no one is working on

• Sorting columns in Zoho Projects

  Hi, In project management best practice, sorting columns (ascending, descending) is an important tool. Sorting dates to see the order of tasks starting, sorting on priority or even on planned hours is a must for an efficient project control. Currently,

• Upload API

  I'm trying to use the Upload API to upload some images and attach them to comments (https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#Uploads#Uploads_Uploadfile) - however I can only ever get a 401 or bad request back. I'm using an OAuth token with the Desk.tickets.ALL

• Losing description after merging tickets

  Hello, We merge tickets when they are about the same topic from the same client. It happens sometimes. We recently noticed that after the merger only the description from the master ticket is left in a thread. And the slave-ticket description is erased.

• update linked contacts when update happens in account

  Hi, I have a custom field called Licence in the Accounts module. When someone buys a licence, I’d like to update a custom field in the related Contacts. How can I achieve this? I noticed that workflows triggered on Accounts only allow me to update fields

• Problem Management Module

  I am looking for a Problem Management module within Zoho Desk. I saw in some training videos that this is available, and some even provided an annual price for it. I want an official confirmation on whether this is indeed available. This is not a particularly

• Unable to explore desk.zoho.com

  Greetings, I have an account with zoho which already has a survey subscription. I would like to explore desk.zoho.com, but when I visit it while logged in (https://desk.zoho.com/agent?action=CreatePortal) I just get a blank page. I have tried different

• Offline support for mobile app

  Accessing your files and folders from your mobile devices is now quicker and simpler, thanks to the power of offline support. Whether on an Android or iOS device, you can use the Offline function to save files and folders, so you can review them even

• Zoho Desk KB article embedded on another site.

  We embed KB articles from Zoho Desk on another site (our application). When opening the article in a new tab, there is no issue, but if we choose lightbox, we are getting an error "To protect your security, help.ourdomain.com will not allow Firefox to

• List of packaged components and if they are upgradable

  Hello, In reference to the article Components and Packaging in Zoho Vertical Studio, can you provide an overview of what these are. Can you also please provide a list of of components that are considered Packaged and also whether they are Upgradable?

• Does Attari Messaging app have Bot option and APIB

  Hi, Does Attari also have Bot and API as we use in WhatsApp??

• How to add application logo

  I'm creating an application which i do not want it to show my organization logo so i have changed the setting but i cannot find where to upload/select the logo i wish to use for my application. I have seen something online about using Deluge and writing

• Zoho Analytics Regex Support

  When can we expect full regex support in Zoho Analytics SQL such as REGEXP_REPLACE? Sometimes I need to clean the data and using regex functions is the easiest way to achieve this.

• Change of Blog Author

  Hi, I am creating the blog post on behalf of my colleague. When I publish the post, it is showing my name as author of the post which is not intended and needs to be changed to my colleague's name. How can I change the name of the author in the blogs?? Thanks, Ramanan

• how to differentiate if whatsapp comes from certain landing page?

  I create a Zobot in SalesIQ to create a Whatsapp bot to capture the lead. I have 2 landing pages, one is SEO optimized and the other want is optimized for leads comes from Google Ads. I want to know from which landing page this lead came through WhatsApp

• How to record company set up fees?

  Hi all, We are starting out our company in Australia and would appreciate any help with setting up Books accounts. We paid an accountant to do company registration, TFN, company constitution, etc. I heard these all can be recorded as Incorporation Costs, which is an intangible asset account, and amortised over 5 years. Is this the correct way to do it under the current Australian tax regulations? How and when exactly should I record the initial entry and each year's amortasation in Books? Generally

• Show Payment terms in Estimates

  Hi,  we are trying to set up that estimates automatically relates payment terms for the payment terms we introduced on Edit contact (Field Payment terms).  How can it be done? Our aim is to avoid problems on payment terms introduced and do not need to introduce it manually on each client (for the moment we are introducing this information on Terms and Conditions.  Kind Regards, 

• When dispatched to crew, assigning lead missing

  Hello, For the past two or three weeks, whenever an officer assigns Service Appointment to a team, the lead person is missing from the assigned service list. Therefore, we have to reschedule the SA and then the lead person becomes visible in the assigned

• I want to transfer the project created in this account to another account

  Dear Sir I want to transfer the project created in one account to another account

• Weekly Tips : Customize your Compose for a smoother workflow

  You are someone who sends a lot of emails, but half the sections in the composer just get in your way — like fields you never use or sections that clutter the space. You find yourself always hunting for the same few formatting tools, and the layout just

• Custom Bulk Select Button

  Zoho CRM offers the ability to select multiple records and invoke a Custom Button This functionality is missing from Recruit Currently we can only add buttons in the detail page and list But we cannot select Multiple Records and invoke a function with

• Power of Automation :: Smart Ticket Management Between Zoho Desk and Projects

  Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate

• Need to set workflow or journey wait time (time delay) in minutes, not hours

  Minimum wait time for both Campaigns workflows and Marketing Automation journeys is one hour. I need one or the other to be set to several minutes (fraction of the hour). I tried to solve this by entering a fraction but the wait time data type is an integer

• BUG - Google Business Buttons - Add a button to GBP Post

  I am experiencing an issue with the "Add a button" feature when creating posts for my Google Business Profile (GBP) through Zoho Social. When I schedule or publish a GBP post and include a call-to-action button with a specific URL, the post itself publishes

• Next Page