Finance systems struggle quietly as companies grow. Increased billing complexity, diverse revenue rules, and manual reconciliations can slow operations and obscure risks. What once supported scale begins to constrain it. Infrastructure decisions become a critical factor in how quickly a company can adapt, price, and compete.
Platforms like Zuora address these challenges by managing complex, customer-specific billing and automating revenue recognition. This allows finance teams to focus on strategic priorities rather than manual processes.
Managing Growth When Billing Complexity Outpaces Core Systems
Hireology, an HR tech provider, did not outgrow its systems overnight. The company had reached more than $50 million in annual recurring revenue, serving over 6,000 multi-location employers with increasingly customized hiring and compliance workflows before its existing financial functions became inefficient.
The inflection point came from outside the business. Rising costs of their ERP provider prompted Hireology to migrate its core ERP to Sage Intacct, with a firm deadline attached. Data access would be shut off within weeks.
The compressed timeline left no room for incremental changes, prompting the finance team to assess not just ERP migration, but how billing and revenue recognition could scale with the business. They considered consolidating all functions into the new ERP but concluded it would add complexity rather than remove it.
As a result, Hireology split its finance functions across two systems. While Sage Intacct managed the general ledger and core accounting, Zuora handled billing and revenue recognition for customized pricing and hybrid billing models. This arrangement allowed the finance team to manage growth without forcing standardized processes on customers, maintaining flexibility across thousands of accounts.
Automating Revenue Recognition and Scaling Operations with Zuora
Implementation followed quickly. Within seven weeks, Hireology deployed Zuora alongside the ERP migration, completing processes that typically take months.
The team focused on redesigning workflows rather than replicating old manual processes, ensuring automation reduced effort rather than shifting complexity elsewhere. External partners supported revenue recognition automation and ASC 606 compliance, helping the company meet technical requirements without slowing progress.
The compressed timeline reinforced clear decision-making. It minimized the extended deliberation that often delays system migrations.
The changes had immediate operational effects. Month-end close became smoother, and audit preparation that once took days was reduced to hours. Revenue recognition moved from manual to automated workflows. That freed capacity allowed staff to focus on process improvement, pricing strategies, and supporting go-to-market initiatives. Meanwhile, billing flexibility enabled Hireology to meet diverse customer requirements efficiently, scaling operations without proportional increases in overhead.
The broader lesson extends beyond a single company.
SaaS organizations facing complex customer arrangements benefit from separating core ERP functions from specialized billing and revenue platforms:
- Operational efficiency: Keeping billing separate reduces the complexity pushed onto the core ERP, allowing routine financial processes to run smoothly.
- Scalability: Specialized platforms can handle complex, customer-specific pricing and hybrid billing models without slowing growth.
- Flexibility for innovation: Finance teams can experiment with pricing, contract structures, and go-to-market strategies without overhauling the ERP.
- Risk mitigation: Automation and separation reduce errors and improve audit readiness compared with forcing all processes into a single system.
This approach lets finance teams scale efficiently while retaining flexibility for pricing, contracts, and operations. Infrastructure served as a basis for growth.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
Infrastructure choices determine whether finance enables or blocks growth. When ERP and billing systems are mismatched, operational bottlenecks emerge unnoticed. Aligning specialized platforms like Zuora’s with core systems frees teams to focus on strategic priorities rather than repetitive work.
Separating billing from core ERP unlocks scalability and flexibility. Hybrid models create complexity that general-purpose ERP cannot absorb efficiently. Zuora handles diverse billing scenarios, allowing companies to scale without forcing standardized processes on customers.
Automation transforms finance from compliance to strategic partner. Manual processes increase error risk and limit finance bandwidth. Zuora’s automation reduces reconciliation effort, shortens month-end close, and enables staff to contribute to pricing, process improvement, and go-to-market initiatives.
