COVER STORY
The rise and rise of the
subscription economy
The telecoms market is undergoing a revolution and it is a
case of grow fast or die slow. Traditional lines and calls are in
terminal decline as is the reliance on a metered pricing model as
a primary proposition. Instead sophisticated packages, bundles,
promotions and discounts have become the way modern
communication providers do business.
Welcome to the unstoppable era of the subscription economy.
Today, the focus is on exible monetisation of products,
services and events, and a fundamental shift towards a
true subscription model. If your billing provider is still
talking about lines, calls and minutes then you’re missing
out on opportunities and risk getting stuck in a fast-fading
market. Communication providers looking to thrive in the
subscription economy must o er more innovative propositions
with greater exibility to enter new markets such as IOT,
M2M, cloud and application billing.
Subscriptions provide a huge degree of exibility and create
new opportunities. In addition to recurring and one-o charges,
non-monetary parameters come into play – for example,
subscription duration, cancellation terms, how often billing
occurs and entitlements that determine what is included in an
o ering.
is exibility enables creativity and experimentation that
creates di erentiation and improves retention. You can choose
a registration fee and a recurring monthly charge,
use a free trial with automatic conversion or charge a at
fee with unlimited usage.
10 signs you
need a new
billing system
1. You are drowning in spreadsheets
2. Everything is cumbersome, unreliable
and just takes too long
3. You o er a variety of subscription
terms that your billing system struggles
to support
4. You don’t have an insight into your
margins, pro ts and customer
behaviour to make decisions for the
future of your company
5. Your plans are limited by functionality
of your billing platform
6. Too many manual steps, little or no
(API) integration
7. Reporting and analytics are poor and
not t for purpose
8. You dread having to contact support but
somehow you need to on regular basis
9. e user experience and overall
interface makes you feel nostalgic
about the 90s
10. Your current billing provider ties you
into a multi-year contract; this speaks
volumes about a lack of con dence in
their solution
35%
of online shoppers
have signed up for one
or more subscriptions
80%
of customers are
demanding new
consumption models
100%
increase year on
year for subscription
services for the past
5 years
24 | Comms Business Magazine | March 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk