Modernizing Billing and Support Operations with Salesforce Custom Solutions

The Challenge

What Was Needed:

A system based on Salesforce that could automate the billing process, lock and unlock commission changes for accurate invoicing, automate tickets from emails, and provide a dedicated support system for premium customer support.

Technology Enablement:

Salesforce billing automation, commission control, automatic invoice generation, automatic invoice delivery, HTML-enabled automated tickets, premium support, dashboards, reports, and mobile access.

Business Outcomes:

Automation of the billing process, accurate and timely invoicing, accurate automated tickets from emails, improved premium support, and better visibility.

Measurable Impact:

Billing is now automated, and the workflow is more agile. Invoices are being sent faster, and customer requests are being captured accurately without losing context.

Manual Billing and Fragile Ticket Handling Were Slowing Operations

Every month, billing involves teams working to create invoices by using spreadsheets and PDF files. The entire process was tedious and required several checks to be performed before the invoices were dispatched.

Accuracy of these invoices depended on commission data associated with customer contracts. Changes made at later stages meant recalculating these invoices.

The issue with support workflows was that the existing system was unable to handle automated HTML emails generated by internal systems. If these emails were rejected by the existing system, vital information was not fed into the support workflows.

Additionally, premium customers needed prioritized handling in terms of faster turnaround times and clear access to support.

Why change now: The business was growing in terms of customers, and these workflows were becoming operational issues.

Business Objectives

The client focused on a small set of practical objectives:

• Reduce manual efforts in billing every month
• Improve accuracy of invoices by having better control over commission data changes during billing cycles
• Improve handling of automated emails and convert these into support tickets without any loss of data
• Introduce separate workflows for handling support for premium accounts
• Improve visibility of leads, customers, and billing by providing dashboards and mobile access

The Solution

Replacing Manual Billing with Automated Salesforce Workflows

Achieva provided a solution that was built on top of Salesforce and was aimed at simplifying billing and enhancing the way in which support workflows were handled.

Billing was automated within Salesforce. Invoices can be generated directly from data within the system, eliminating the need for spreadsheets. Measures were taken, so commission values cannot be edited during a billing cycle in progress.

The support system was also improved, as automated HTML emails sent through the system could now be converted into cases without losing information.

A new support workflow was also introduced, which catered to premium account support.

Dashboards, reports, and mobile access were also included, allowing teams to better visualize information regarding customers, leads, and billing.

Key Services Provided and What They Enabled

• Automated billing workflow in Salesforce Enable automated invoice creation directly from system data, eliminating the need to manually create documents.
• Commission lock and unlock functionality Ensured accurate invoices were created by preventing any changes to commissions during automated billing.
• Automated invoice generation and delivery Enabled automated invoice creation in PDF or Excel formats, along with automated delivery through email.
• Ticketing enhancement: automated HTML emails Enabled automated emails sent through the system to be converted into support cases without losing information.
• Premium account support workflow Introduced a new workflow catering to premium account support, allowing for efficient handling of premium customers.
• Dashboards, reporting, and mobile access Facilitated access for teams to customer, lead, and billing information from anywhere.

Business Impact

• The business operations became more predictable with billing automation and efficient ticket handling.
• The teams took much less time to prepare invoices manually. The billing cycles were faster since invoices were generated automatically and sent in a format preferred by customers.
• The support teams worked more efficiently with a more predictable workflow since automated emails ensured support tickets were generated correctly with complete communication context.
• The premium customers received a more responsive service since tickets were handled more efficiently.

The Bottom Line

The client removed key operational pain points by automating billing and enhancing ticket capture.

The organization can now:

• Process monthly billing operations with fewer manual efforts
• Keep invoices accurate with controlled commission updates
• Capture automated email-based tickets without losing key information
• Offer premium customers a more responsive support service
• Access billing information along with customer information through dashboards and mobile access