This is similarly opaque and it is difficult to maintain an overview. Especially after the initial contact - away from product demos and sales presentations. That's why this blog post takes a closer look at one of the many subscription management solutions: billwerk+. Together with billwerk+, we implemented a PoC to test their product and its integration in practice.
The common path to the subscription service and the team composition
A small multidisciplinary team with doubleSlash and billwerk+ colleagues was involved: We worked together agilely and in close coordination within the framework of a defined timebox. The PoC of the subscription service comprised the following phases:
1. agile implementation of the PoC:
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- KickOff
- Exploration / IT design:
Use cases, technical data model, system overview, interfaces - PoC implementation
Technical setup, implementation based on the design artifacts, testing
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2. poC evaluation
The PoC - a fictitious vignette service
We implemented a fictitious vignette service as a use case for the joint PoC. The use case focuses primarily on the implementation of the corresponding subscription service in order to evaluate the functional and technical coverage provided by the billwerk+ product. The implementation of further legal requirements, such as the recipient location principle, was deliberately excluded from the PoC. The vignette service offers two different tariffs, "Family" and "Flex": The Family tariff consists of a basic fee of €10 per month. As soon as a customer has taken out this subscription, they can purchase the Austrian or Swiss vignette. The prices and duration correspond to the vignettes actually offered on the market. The added value of a subscription is that the vignettes are also valid for other vehicles within the family. The basic fee for the Flex tariff is higher, but also offers greater flexibility, as vignettes can be purchased on a daily basis with a valid subscription for the Flex tariff.
Figure 1: The proof of concept for the Vignette Subscription Service; Source: Own illustration.
The subscription service with billwerk+
Before we started the PoC, we held a meeting to compare and define our common understanding of the subscription management domain.
Figure 2: At doubleSlash, Subscription Management Systems are divided into four core components; Source: Own illustration.
It quickly became clear that there were no major deviations. This paved the way for the PoC. As is usual in projects, we discussed the PoC use case in detail in a joint kick-off meeting. After this meeting, we were already in a position to start with the IT design and implementation. The problem-free provision of a test environment and the associated accesses further accelerated our start. The "API First" approach pursued by billwerk+ enabled us to implement the solution quickly. Particularly noteworthy is the clear UI, which made a major contribution to our understanding of the application. Thanks to the API-first approach, we were able to use the UI to explore the rest of the API in an almost playful way, making it a valuable addition to the documentation. The initial kick-off was followed by a few more appointments to learn more about the application and clarify detailed questions. Ideal for an integrator like us.
In addition to the functional coverage of the application, we were also able to take a look behind the scenes. We were able to get to know some of our colleagues at billwerk+, as the right colleague was available depending on the question. This resulted in a good exchange and some very interesting discussions. We particularly appreciated the fact that billwerk+ sets high quality standards for its product. This is a very important criterion for us, as quality is the basis for a good software product. Of course, this also has a positive effect on the integration and implementation of customer-specific requirements. In addition to the quality, we are also impressed by the operational options billwerk+ offers its customers. In addition to the public SaaS environment, a private SaaS or even an on-premise environment can also be used as an alternative. This offers a high degree of flexibility for a potential customer.
Shared enthusiasm for subscription services ensures good cooperation
Throughout the entire implementation process, we worked together as equals. Our mutual enthusiasm for the topic of subscription management resulted in a very open exchange. As a result, billwerk+ also explained design decisions to us well and openly. Especially for features that are not (currently) part of the product standard. One example is billing based on individual usage data. billwerk+ supports usage-based business models and their billing, but the usage data must first be converted into a format that the billwerk+ solution understands. Assuming that in the flex tariff described above, the price of the daily vignette depends on the time at which it was purchased, billwerk+ must be given the correct usage data record instead of the application itself recognizing which price applies based on the time. Such cases can become arbitrarily complex and are highly customer-dependent. Due to this high level of complexity, billwerk+ has decided to exclude this feature from the standard solution for the time being. Here, their claim to offer a complete and well thought-out solution prevails over a feature that only covers half of the use cases. From experience, we believe this decision makes sense. In our integration projects, we regularly find that this transformation is very customer-specific and can rarely be reused.
Exciting change of perspective: how the POC went from billwerk+'s point of view
billwerk+ as a company and its product have convinced us and we are definitely talking about a successful PoC. We can well imagine integrating billwerk+ into further projects and implementing more complex subscription models together. The functional scope is well tailored. In addition, billwerk+ also offers good online documentation that sheds light on and explains the domain of subscription management and the terminology in general. We had the feeling that billwerk+ takes our feedback very seriously and values it, as they show a high level of interest in constantly improving their product. This impression was reinforced in the joint retro.
What is important when selecting and integrating a subscription management system? Which provider suits your IT infrastructure and billing systems? In our whitepaper you will find a comparison of billing platform providers that we have tried and tested
Read more about our experiences in the proof of concept with the killbill billing platform: To the POC with killbill
Subscription business models in use:
Here you will find insights into our projects with customers in the Subscription Management environment: To the doubleSlash use cases
