The conventional wisdom in enterprise technology suggests waiting for multi-year ERP transformations to complete before modernizing adjacent systems. Why complicate an already complex migration with additional integrations? 24 Hour Fitness threw that playbook out the window – and the results are transformative.
The fitness giant, operating 249 clubs across nine states with nearly 4 million members, challenged the “wait-and-see” approach by implementing Zuora’s monetization platform while maintaining complete flexibility for their ERP strategy.
Picture running a fitness empire where billing cycles take six days every month. For 24 Hour Fitness, this wasn’t just operational friction – it was a strategic constraint limiting market responsiveness and cash flow optimization.
Their existing billing infrastructure was deeply intertwined with legacy systems, making modernization seem dependent on broader ERP transformation timelines. New product launches required significant investment and months of development time, creating barriers to innovation.
Katie Healon, Senior Director of Treasury and Payment Processing at 24 Hour Fitness, initially harbored natural skepticism about moving from a “stable” legacy system. But analysis revealed that staying put carried greater risks – missed opportunities, competitive disadvantage, and constrained cash flow management.
Zuora’s ERP-agnostic integration framework provided 24 Hour Fitness with a solution that complemented existing systems while preserving future flexibility. This approach recognized a fundamental truth: transformation doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing.
The implementation delivered immediate results. 24 Hour Fitness transitioned from six-day monthly billing cycles to daily billing capability – unlocking significant cash flow advantages and unprecedented flexibility in managing subscription lifecycles.
The transformation eliminated the investment barrier for new product launches. Where previously launching new membership tiers required extensive custom development, Zuora’s flexible billing software supports any mix of recurring, usage-based, one-time and hybrid pricing models.
Traditional order-to-cash automation can take 3+ years to implement as part of larger cloud ERP transformations, often leaving systems inflexible despite migration. By implementing a purpose-built monetization platform alongside existing systems, 24 Hour Fitness gained capabilities nearly impossible within traditional ERP frameworks.
The company’s approach demonstrates how modern billing software can complement existing ERPs to alleviate manual work and custom development complexity. Rather than waiting for broader transformation completion, they achieved immediate operational efficiency while positioning for scale regardless of future strategy.
In today’s market, speed to market determines competitive success. Healon noted that 24 Hour Fitness constantly explores flexibility in pricing structures, billing cycles, and payment methods. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for subscription offering flexibility.
Daily billing capability proved particularly valuable during pandemic recovery. The company emphasizes that the best way to engage fitness customers is getting them to work out. Daily billing cycles enabled responsive membership management when engagement patterns changed dramatically.
The transformation offers key insights for enterprise leaders facing ERP migration timelines: parallel modernization works, cash flow impact is immediate, innovation barriers fall, and integration flexibility preserves options.
What this means for ERP Insiders
Prioritize cash flow optimization during migration windows. The 24 Hour Fitness transformation from six-day to daily billing cycles demonstrates that cash flow optimization can’t wait for ERP completion. Companies implementing Zuora’s order-to-cash solutions typically see improvements in Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and customer satisfaction metrics. With Zuora’s ability to scale billing for high-volume transactions and easily process 300K+ invoices per hour, tech leaders should evaluate subscription billing implementations that can deliver immediate working capital improvements while ERP migrations progress. The quantifiable impact: moving from monthly to daily billing cycles can improve cash flow by 15-30 days, representing millions in working capital for large subscription businesses.
Deploy ERP-agnostic integrations to preserve future flexibility. 24 Hour Fitness’s success stems from choosing technology that doesn’t lock them into specific ERP vendor roadmaps. Zuora’s native integrations with major ERPs including NetSuite, Workday, and SAP enable seamless data flow between systems while providing audit-ready financial data for different stages of order-to-cash. Tech leaders should implement API-driven architectures with microservices and REST APIs that simplify data exchange between multiple platforms, reducing the risk of integration failures. This approach ensures billing modernization investments remain valuable regardless of future ERP decisions, with customers like Sage reporting 32% subscription growth after implementation.
Eliminate innovation bottlenecks with flexible billing architectures. The investment barrier that 24 Hour Fitness eliminated for new product launches represents a common constraint in traditional ERP-dependent billing systems. Zuora’s Extension Studio and Integration Hub allow organizations to create custom solutions and quickly adapt to evolving business needs, with over 50 pricing models supported out-of-the-box. Companies like NCR reduced implementation time from months to weeks, freeing up at least five FTEs worth of work and enabling previously unavailable metrics like Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR). Tech leaders should implement billing platforms that support rapid product iteration and pricing experimentation, enabling faster market response during the critical years when ERP transformations limit other technology initiatives.
