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Zuora Announces its Summer '19 Release

ZUO | June 4, 2019

SAN MATEO, Calif.

Zuora, Inc. (NYSE: ZUO), the leading cloud-based subscription management platform provider, today at Subscribed® San Francisco, announced its Summer ‘19 product release featuring enhancements to Zuora’s suite of applications and the introduction of the new Zuora Central Developer Platform™.

“The Summer ‘19 release is our biggest yet,” said Zuora SVP of Product Tom Krackeler. “We want to give technology leaders the tools and power to enable subscription growth for their companies. Rather than hard coding everything and living in a world of customizations, Zuora serves as that platform for developers and IT teams to build on.”

The Summer ‘19 release features the launch of the new Zuora Central Developer Platform, which includes a new Workflow Builder, Data Query Tools, and other capabilities. The Central Developer Platform gives more control to developers and IT professionals to extend, integrate, and orchestrate subscription services in Zuora along with the financial operations that Zuora's industry-leading applications enable today. Other enhancements across Zuora’s suite of applications included international capabilities in Zuora Billing, enhanced usability for collections agents in Zuora Collect, and a new Subscriber Portal to enable self-serve account management and payments.

The newest upgrades to Zuora’s suite of applications includes:

The Zuora Central Developer Platform adds a Workflow Builder™, new Data Query Tools, and Enhancements to Serve as Central Hub for Subscription Businesses

Companies offering a subscription service need a central hub for subscription management, connecting their business processes in Zuora with the other solutions in their technology stack.

Orchestrate business processes with the Workflow Builder: Leverage a pre-built library of workflows or design new flows around customer communications, provisioning, data syncs, and order-to-cash processes using the new workflow builder.
Access data faster with SQL-based data query: Perform sophisticated queries using SQL to simplify reporting, integrations, and data manipulation.

“Subscription management has matured significantly over the past 10 years, growing in features, capabilities, and integrated systems (accounting, CPQ, eCommerce, CRM, provision, etc). This has resulted in a corresponding rise in complexity which would normally require custom scripts that programmers would have to maintain. However, Zuora solves this complexity with an easy to use Workflow Builder that connects these systems and orchestrates subscription operations,” said Mark Thomason, Research Director for Digital Business Models and Monetization at IDC.

New Subscriber Portal Reduces Call Volume and Enables Self-Service Payments

Users of subscription services regularly need to manage and update their account and payment information. By adopting the new Subscriber Portal as a self-serve option for customers, IT and Engineering teams enable the business to:

Reduce Call Volume: Reduce dependency on repetitive support calls by giving customers the freedom to self-manage and have visibility into their accounts through a portal.
Capture Payments Fast: Allow customers to pay how they want by letting them add, update, and manage all payment methods in a PCI compliant manner.
Create a Branded Experience: Configure the subscriber portal to match company branding to provide customers with a cohesive experience.

“The Subscriber Portal has made a significant impact on our business,” said Mario Espinoza, Revenue Operations Manager of Outreach.io. “Our customer inquiries and involuntary churn has decreased, while our customer experience has improved. Without the portal, we were straining resources to manage our growing number of subscribers. We didn’t want to build something ourselves; the portal was an easy solution.”

Zuora Collect Doubles Down On Customer Usability for Collection Agents

A seamless payment collection process is an integral part of retaining customers in the Subscription Economy. McKinsey recommends that adopting a digital collections strategy is key to maintaining a long-term relationship with customers. Instead of using spreadsheets and system customizations to solve digital collections, IT and Engineering teams can enable collections with the newest Zuora Collect features:

Manage Customer Disputes: Resolve disputes without manual workarounds by giving collection agents the ability to handle and process disputes for any charge on an invoice.
Improve Payment Flexibility: Enable customers to assign different payment gateways for each individual subscription to allow for additional payment flexibility.

“Collecting payments is a great example of how subscription businesses are so different,” said Tien Tzuo, CEO and Founder of Zuora, in a recent interview on CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer. “In this new model, you have an on-going relationship with your customer, so collections becomes a sensitive dance to make sure you are able to maintain a long-term relationship with your customer.”

Zuora Billing Enhancements Enable Companies to Expand Internationally

When companies look to expand into new geographies, they must comply with regulations specific to each new country and region. Zuora’s Billing enhancements enable businesses to:

Comply with New Visa Payment Standards: Meet the requirements of Visa’s Stored Credential Framework to improve customer transparency, increase payment success rates, and reduce financial risk.
Comply with Regional Audit Requirements: Ensure sequential numbering of transaction documents to provide greater auditability and comply with regional reporting requirements.
Accurately Process Upcoming Rate Changes to Japanese Consumption Tax: Ensure accurate invoicing treatments for the upcoming increase in the Japanese Consumption Tax rate.

Watch the Subscribed® San Francisco keynote here.

About Zuora, Inc.

Zuora provides the leading cloud-based subscription management platform that functions as a system of record for subscription businesses across all industries. Powering the Subscription Economy®, the Zuora platform was architected specifically for dynamic, recurring subscription business models and acts as an intelligent subscription management hub that automates and orchestrates the entire subscription order-to-cash process, including billing and revenue recognition. Zuora serves more than 1,000 companies around the world, including Box, Komatsu, Rogers, Schneider Electric, Xplornet and Zendesk. Headquartered in the Silicon Valley, Zuora also operates offices around the world in the U.S., EMEA and APAC. To learn more about the Zuora platform, please visit www.zuora.com.

© 2019 Zuora, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Zuora, Subscription Economy, Powering the Subscription Economy are trademarks or registered trademarks of Zuora, Inc. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Nothing in this press release should be construed to the contrary, or as an approval, endorsement or sponsorship by any third parties of Zuora, Inc. or any aspect of this press release.

SOURCE: Zuora Financial