In the ever-evolving landscape of digital business and customer-centric solutions, companies are continuously seeking to streamline their revenue processes, enhance customer experiences, and adapt to a modern subscription and consumption-based economy.
SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (BRIM, Hybris Billing) has emerged as a transformative force, offering a comprehensive suite of tools and capabilities to simplify complex billing scenarios, optimize revenue management, provide holistic applications to meet the diverse needs of modern enterprises.
In this article, we dive into the SAP BRIM solution, exploring its functionalities, benefits, and the impact it holds for businesses navigating the complexities of revenue and customer management in today’s dynamic marketplace.
Let’s get started!
What is SAP BRIM?
SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (SAP BRIM) is a cloud-based enterprise application designed to help companies manage their entire revenue management process more efficiently, improve revenue recognition and management, and improve customer satisfaction across the board.
With automated billing, invoicing, and revenue sharing capabilities and seamless integration across the entire SAP landscape, SAP BRIM enables business users to take control of their own financial management operations and leverage responsive business models to improve customer engagement.
Understanding Billing and Revenue Innovation Management in SAP
SAP BRIM, formerly SAP Hybris Billing, offers a comprehensive customer financial management solution for high-volume consumption organizations, enabling multiple flexible consumption models and optimizing end-to-end revenue flow lifecycle management operations.
SAP BRIM comprises a few critical steps in the lifecycle of its revenue management solutions:
- Solution Design: Allows users to design pricing and business models, outline master agreements, and facilitate more efficient solution packaging for customers.
- Solution Sales: Includes quote management and contract management functions to ensure both sides of the business model uphold their end of the bargain.
- Solution Delivery: Offers usage metering, rating, and charging functions to improve solution delivery for both one-off and recurring billing capabilities and charges.
- Solution Billing: Provides pre-billing and revenue innovation capabilities and granular invoice control options to improve billing and revenue management across the entire organization.
What Components Make up the SAP BRIM Solution?
Here’s a closer look at the main SAP BRIM components that make up the billing and revenue management solution:
Subscription Order Management
This component is available for any versions of SAP S/4HANA greater than 1909 and is included with the purchase of an SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management license. It provides usage-based services and innovative order management capabilities to help companies manage product catalogs, keep track of bundles of services and physical goods, and improve contract lifecycle management.
SAP Convergent Invoicing
The Convergent Invoicing solution is included in SAP S/4HANA with a BRIM license, and it offers intelligent revenue innovation management solutions that enable companies to combine multiple billing sources into a single, unified invoice for improved visibility and accessibility across teams and systems.
This component also supports custom pricing, third-party revenue sharing, and partner settlement tools to help users manage high volumes of usage data and facilitate more efficient billing cycles.
SAP Convergent Charging
This component is included with an SAP BRIM license, and it simplifies charging for one-time, recurring, and usage-based business models and integrates all pricing models together for improved efficiency.
The Convergent Charging solution also makes it easier for organizations to apply pricing rate changes across teams, enable open workflows with rapid configuration, agile charging to support growth over time, and configure charging models to align with the current digital environment.
Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable
The Contract Accounting component is included with an SAP BRIM license, and it offers comprehensive customer financial management services to manage revenue flows, facilitate highly automated receivables and payments handling, and achieve flexible document management for bank statements, invoices, bills, and customer receipts.
With the Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable solution, business users can post financial documents, make and receive payments, and manage disputes, collections, and credits more effectively across the board.
Key Features of the SAP BRIM Solution
Here are a few key features included in SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management:
1) Consolidated Invoicing Processes
SAP BRIM offers consolidated invoicing tools for all services to improve invoice accuracy, reduce costly invoicing and billing mistakes, and improve customer satisfaction across the entire organization.
With all invoicing hierarchies and resources in the same place, companies can unify billing information from different sources and partners in the same place and improve financial customer data integrity with comprehensive invoice-level discounting capabilities.
2) Public Multitenant SaaS Offering
By leveraging a public multitenant SaaS solution for subscription management, SAP BRIM enables users to support holistic subscription order management for multiple business models and use intuitive REST APIs to simplify implementation into legacy environments.
SAP BRIM also provides seamless integration with other front-end SAP applications, including SAP Customer Financial Management, SAP Commerce, and SAP CPQ for more cohesive billing and invoicing services across systems.
3) Comprehensive Financial Management
With comprehensive financial management capabilities in SAP BRIM, business users can manage revenue flow, improve receivables and payments handling, and provide a more comprehensive view of financial customer data across the enterprise.
This way, companies can provide more personalized support for sophisticated credit and collections management and connect financial data across their entire SAP Business Suite.
4) Flexible Charging Models
SAP BRIM offers agile charging models to help companies streamline and consolidate usage and event data, design pricing models for customer-centric, usage-based, and subscription companies, and improve seamless integration across their digital environment.
Business users can also leverage SAP BRIM to create, execute, and manage allowances and entitlements more efficiently, gain a better view of financial customer data, provide more personalized support services, and improve billing accuracy.
5) Usage Event Management
The SAP BRIM solution enables organizations to capture, automate, and consolidate usage data for more efficient charging and pricing operations, facilitate better delivery and billing accuracy, address contract changes, and manage master agreements.
With more effective event management capabilities and document management self services, business users can leverage SAP BRIM to build open graphical workflows and facilitate more efficient configuration across their entire SAP landscape.
6) Order Management
SAP BRIM offers a subscription-based order management solution to help users capture, monitor, and manage subscription orders, leverage consolidating invoicing for all services, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a clear view of all billing and invoicing information.
This way, companies can ensure contract changes, renewals, and extensions are automatically updated and master agreements are managed properly to maintain alignment with core billing processes and invoicing hierarchies across their organization.
Main Advantages of SAP BRIM for Business Users
Incorporating SAP BRIM into an organization’s operations can enable businesses to adapt, innovate, and thrive in the evolving landscape of revenue and customer management.
Here are five main advantages of the SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management solution:
1) Streamlined Billing Processes
SAP BRIM offers a unified platform that enables businesses to consolidate and simplify their billing processes. Whether managing subscriptions, usage-based charges, or one-time transactions, the solution automates billing cycles, reducing manual errors, and ensuring accurate invoicing. Streamlined billing processes not only enhance operational efficiency but also foster a positive customer experience by delivering clear and concise invoices.
2) Flexible Pricing Models
With the rise of subscription and consumption-based models, businesses require flexibility in their pricing strategies. SAP BRIM empowers companies to create and manage a wide range of pricing models, such as tiered pricing, pay-as-you-go, and promotional offers. This adaptability allows organizations to cater to diverse customer preferences while effectively monetizing their products and services.
3) Enhanced Revenue Management
SAP BRIM provides robust revenue management capabilities, enabling businesses to optimize their revenue streams. Through advanced analytics and reporting tools, organizations can gain insights into customer behaviors, revenue trends, and market demands. This data-driven approach aids in making informed decisions, identifying upsell and cross-sell opportunities, and maximizing overall revenue potential.
4) Improved Customer Experience
A seamless and transparent customer experience is pivotal in today’s competitive landscape. SAP BRIM facilitates real-time visibility into billing and consumption information, empowering customers to track their usage and expenses effortlessly. Additionally, the self-service portals offered by the solution empower customers to manage their accounts, modify subscriptions, and handle billing preferences autonomously, leading to higher satisfaction and reduced customer support inquiries.
5) End-to-End Integration
SAP BRIM integrates with other SAP solutions and third-party systems, creating an end-to-end ecosystem that spans various business functions. This integration fosters consistency in data flow, improves collaboration among departments, and enables accurate decision-making based on real-time information.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help outlining plans for a complex SAP BRIM implementation, additional support navigating integrations between SAP BRIM and other SAP solutions, like SAP Revenue Accounting and SAP Convergent Mediation, or just an extra hand supporting day-to-day billing operations, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our senior-level, US-based SAP consultant team has exactly what it takes to handle all your critical projects, from implementation to integration, upgrade, enhancement, and more.
And, in the past three years, our team of SAP consultants has been engaged on more than 100 consulting projects, making us the perfect fit for all your unique SAP project needs!
Getting Started with Us
Interested in learning more about the SAP BRIM solution or where our team of experienced SAP consultants can come in to help optimize core business processes and maximize investments?
Contact us today for more information about our SAP consulting services!
