ATG Monetization Ecosystem®
The ATG Monetization Ecosystem provides a comprehensive view of the technology components that are relevant to managing customers and revenue in rapidly evolving business models.
Built in 2015, this framework was developed from extensive expertise in the development, implementation, and deployment of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Configure Price Quote (CPQ) software, and other relevant software programs. As leaders in cloud computing and SaaS consulting we help our customers achieve critical outcomes, and successful outcomes are rooted in understanding the end-to-end process for managing customers and revenue.
For a given company, the areas of focus will be different and will likely include focus on different components of the ecosystem. For example, a company that provides products and services to the consumer market through the e-commerce channel will require a different set of customized technologies than a business-to-business company that sells to customers via a negotiated selling model with quotes and rigorous contracts.
Our clients and partners benefit from the memorialization of our expertise in CRM, CPQ, Billing, and more for more than just the end result of a project, but also in our ability to provide the training and post-deployment enablement that makes our customers uniquely successful.
To support our customers' need for top-of-the-line platform development across Q2C we've created the Monetization Ecosystem in several formats. The first is a simplified format that describes the categories of technology that are likely familiar to most organizations in the enterprise space.
Monetization Ecosystem: Simplified View
Click or tap on one of the domain boxes in the graphic below to see an in-depth look at the people, processes, technologies, and vendors that are a part of that domain.
Monetization Ecosystem by the Numbers
Monetization Ecosystem: Detailed View
Today, most executives are familiar with the concept of CRM-SFA, eCommerce, Partner Relationship Management, Payment Processing, etc. This format is useful for identifying high-level categories of functionality that are necessary for a particular customer. The diagram can be used for a variety of purposes, for example, to highlight areas where investment is necessary to meet corporate objectives.
Many of these components are familiar to our clients and are mature functions with many proven technology choices. Payment Processing is an example of a mature segment, with a variety of proven, low-risk options. Areas such as Configure | Price | Quote, and Billing & Collections Engines are a bit more amorphous in their composition and maturity. Companies need to be very careful with their technology choices in these areas.
Some domains, such as Marketing Automation, were mere blips on the radar a few years back while others – such as Usage Processing – have been around forever, but have been repositioned based on the emergence of industry trends such as the Internet of Things and expansion of recurring revenue models.
The diagram above depicts an architectural view of the ATG Monetization Ecosystem. In this diagram, the 19 components are decomposed to more than 140 sub-domains that represent functionality typically resident within the domain. This is a crucial level of detail to double click on a particular capability to ensure the right level of detail is being evaluated. For example, if you are a company operating in a recurring revenue model, with pre-paid usage plan for select markets, you would need to further evaluate the ‘Billing & Collections’ area function to ensure you know the high-level capabilities needed to support your business requirements. Upon scrutiny with this level of detail, gaps in capability to support desired business processes often become evident.
People | Process | Technology
Which came first – the chicken or the egg?
Which is more important in football – Offense, Defense, or Special Teams?
Which is more important on a car – engine, steering, or brakes?
Where should organizations focus to optimize their customers and revenue – People, Process, or Technology?
You get the point. Obviously, all three need to be clicking to maximize the relationship with the customer. However, as a consulting company, every day we see that companies are not achieving the necessary balance across these three areas. Typical examples of ‘out of sync’ people, process, and technology that we encounter regularly are:
People Out of Sync
Example: A business buyer is working with an unmotivated Sales Rep, who is using the latest CRM/SFA technology with the world class Miller Heiman sales process.
Outcome: A lost sale and lost potential long-time customer are due to the unmotivated, under-performing sales resource at the point of contact.
Process Out of Sync
Example: A customer has received an email with an upgrade offer and has responded that they are interested, but no one has contacted them. The company was employing the latest marketing automation and customer success tools, but the process was poorly executed and the customer’s request landed in an unattended work queue.
Outcome: Lost up-sell opportunity, largely due to inefficient process design.
Technology Out of Sync
Example: A classic example here is a call center experience where the consumer is kept on hold while the system takes 60 seconds to look up a payment status.
Outcome: Poor customer experience, largely due to technology limitations.
For an enterprise client, there is no meaningful business process that does not require the efficient balancing of People, Process, and Technology.
Effective management of the ATG Monetization Ecosystem means a targeted focus in three areas - People, Process, and Technology.
For an enterprise client, there is no meaningful business process that does not require the efficient balancing of People, Process, and Technology. This has always been the case, and savvy CIOs have found ways to balance technology investments with supporting people and process initiatives in conjunction with their business counterparts.
As the pace of technology quickens, the need for finding appropriate balance has never been more important. We live in an era where anything as a service has replaced fixed, capital investments in products, which means customers have never had more flexibility to move to an alternate, competing enterprise business.
In addition, social media has created the opportunity to win, or lose, customers at an unprecedented pace. One embarrassing interaction with a customer can lead to significantly more than just one lost customer.
PEOPLE
Who are the key actors in the monetization process and are they positioned to be timely & effective?
Key Components
- Organizational Structure
- ME Oversight
- Targeted Compensation Plans
- Methods and Procedures
PROCESS
Are there rigorous processes in place for managing new customers and orders from existing customers?
Key Components
- Process Optimization
- Exception Processes
- Categorization and Segmentation
- Prioritization and Visibility
TECHNOLOGY
What tools and technology are provided to ensure fast AND accurate customer and revenue processes?
Key Components
- Sales Effectiveness and CPQ
- Order and Contract Management
- Billing and Collections
- BPM, Business Rules, and Product Catalog
Monetization Ecosystem: People
Monetization Ecosystem: Process
There are 100 processes in the Monetization Ecosystem that support enterprise customers and revenues. While most of these processes span multiple domains of a company’s ecosystem, the monetization processes are shown with the organization that owns the process.
Below are those key processes grouped by the enterprise organization that typically owns the process.
Sales
- Attrition Modeling
- Clawback Processing
- Commission Calculation
- Commission Dispute Resolution
- Compensation Plan Administration
- Compensation Plan Documentation Routing
- Cross-Sell Processing - Initial Order
- External/Partner Transaction Management
- Opportunity Management
- Order Entry - Call Center (Inbound or Outbound)
- Order Entry - E-Commerce
- Order Entry - Partners
- Order Entry - SFA
- Partner Ecosystem Management
- Payroll Output
- Quota Setting
- Quote - Product Configuration
- Quote - Product/Service Discount
- Quote - Product/Service Pricing
- Renewal Processing
- Sales Credit Assignment
- Sales Credit Rollup/Rollover
- Sales Reporting
- Territory Planning
- Up-Sell Processing – Initial Order
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Customer Service
- Case Management Processing
- Cross-Sell Processing – Ongoing
- Customer Inquiry
- End-Customer Self-Help
- End-Customer Self-Help (Mobile)
- End-Customer Account Maintenance
- Knowledge Management
- Order Entry - Call Center (Inbound or Outbound)
- Order Entry - E-Commerce
- Order Entry - Partners
- Order Entry - SFA
- Pro-Active Customer Notification - Success Focus (recommendations, advice of charge, overage notifications)
- Renewal Processing
- Up-Sell Processing – Ongoing
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Customer Success
- Customer Usage Monitoring
- Loyalty Program Management
- New Customer Onboarding
- NPS/CSAT Monitoring
- Retention/Churn Monitoring
- Social Network Monitoring
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Product
- Bundled Product Introduction Process
- Entitlement Processing
- New Pricing Introduction - Existing Construct
- New Pricing Introduction - New Construct
- New Product Introduction Process
- New Product Introduction Process – Mobile
- Promotion & Discount Introduction
- Trial Processing
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Marketing
- Lead Management
- Proactive Customer Notification – Marketing Focus (new lead, up-sell/cross-sell existing)
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Operations
- Inventory Management – Logical
- Inventory Management – Physical
- Order Management / Orchestration
- Proactive Customer Notification – Operations (cc expiry, notification of payment received)
- Professional Services Automation
- Quote – Product/Service Approval
- Service Provisioning/Activation
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Finance - Billing
- Balance Management – Prepaid, Deposit, Rollover
- Bill Day Usage Processing
- Bill Run Operations
- Billing Setup Process
- Billing/Invoice Processing – Recurring & Periodic
- Clawback Processing
- Commission Dispute Resolution
- Credit Card Optimization
- Credit Card Processing
- Currency Conversion
- Daily Usage Processing
- Dunning Processing
- Dispute/Adjustment Processing
- Invoice Finishing & Delivery
- Payment Processing
- Payroll Output
- Subscription Management
- SOX/Regulatory Compliance
- Systems Audit Ability
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Finance
- Actual Tax Collection
- Assign Nexus
- Close Process
- Collections/Treatment Processing
- Commissions Processing, Referral Fees, and Clawbacks
- Credit Check Management
- Currency Conversion
- Estimate Tax Calculation
- Exception Certificate Management
- Financial Statement Preparation
- Jurisdiction Registration
- Payroll Output
- Revenue Recognition Processing – Contract Line Item Segmentation
- Revenue Recognition Processing – Earned Trigger Processing
- Run Rate Reporting
- Sales Reporting
- Tax Determination
- Tax Filing & Remittance
- Tax Processing
- Update Tax Rate
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
Legal
- Contract Lifecycle Management
- Export Compliance Processing
- PCI Compliance
- Daily, Periodic, or Ad Hoc Reporting (extract, load, report dashboard)
I.T.
- Cross-training of Monetization Ecosystem Components
- Data Stewardship across Monetization Ecosystem
- Maintenance and Oversight of Monetization Ecosystem
- Monitoring & Testing of Vendor Functional Releases
- Security Oversight of Monetization Ecosystem
- Vendor Management of Monetization Ecosystem
- All previously listed processes
Monetization Ecosystem: Technology
We also feature the ecosystem by software category breakdown across the individual domains of the Monetization Ecosystem.
For IT leaders, the following diagram is provided to show the Monetization Ecosystem divided into typical classes of software. This is a bit more fine-grained view that is loosely associated with the best of breed categories of software that are prevalent in the enterprise technology space. For example, a CRM tool is no longer a clear term. In technology there are now specific providers that work in Customer Success, vs. Call Center Operations vs. E-Commerce vs. Trouble Ticketing/Case Management. All of these could be considered components of CRM, but the savvy technology buyer needs to understand options on how to acquire that capability in an integrated or best of breed manner.
Monetization Ecosystem: Key Vendors
Key vendors within the software categories of the Monetization Ecosystem.
Every presentation needs a NASCAR logo slide, right?
Here is ATG’s view of the key vendors in the Monetization Ecosystem. This is a blend of tried and true providers with up and coming start-ups. The pace of evolution within this ecosystem, even within individual categories, is dizzying. New start-ups are popping up all over the landscape, and we are beginning to see significant consolidation in the space. The past two decades have seen massive custom systems, early development of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) solutions, to massive integrated suites, to best of breed, to the emergence of multi-tenancy, to where we are today – which is a mix of old and new. Today’s CIO is faced with myriad technology options and must have a solid overall technology plan, underpinned by strong vendor solutions that work well together.
