The Great Renewals Debate: Who Calls the Shots?

When your renewal business is cobbled together (as many are) with a combination of data from existing applications, not only is it inefficient and not maximizing your return, but it also leaves a question as to who has ownership for your renewals overall. Is it a sales function (as it should be), or an operations function?

Unfortunately, when multiple systems need to be touched for each individual renewal contract, the operations department often becomes a de facto owner due to the time commitment and responsibilities for maintaining the data and making it accessible to the renewals team.

Overcome the Internal Red Tape

Many companies' renewals process relies on a compilation of data and resources that includes:

• ERP
• CRM
• Spreadsheets
• Individual labor

When data is dispersed across many applications, the potential for error increases exponentially and the time required to access the necessary data becomes unmanageable. To resolve these problems, many companies decide to implement a new system to streamline the renewal business and focus on growing their recurring revenues.

However, the operations department may balk at having the responsibility for the renewal business data management taken away from them and transitioned to the sales team, or the IT team may have its own set of requirements and motivations in identifying a new renewals software or system. As I have seen time and time again, the internal red tape and politics that pop up can defer or even derail the implementation of any new system. And so the implementation of a more efficient, more effective renewal business solution never gets off the ground.

The key question to ask up front in order to drive this kind of change is: Who should be driving the renewals program? The business, or operations?

Once that discussion occurs and you can build the business case for renewals as a sales function and establish consensus on the proper ownership for the renewals process, the transition can be made even easier by choosing to work with a purpose-built solution.

Why Use a Purpose-Built Solution for Managing Renewals?

A purpose-built software solution is created from the ground up to perform the functions of streamlining and optimizing renewals. It manages the APIs (application program interfaces) between the existing ERP, CRM, distributors, and resellers to distribute accurate and timely renewals data across every piece of the channel. By consolidating this functionality into a single solution (rather than dispersed across multiple systems that may require complex and inefficient methods to get them to work together), the responsibility for the renewals business can be transitioned away from operations and properly assigned to the sales organization.

This enables the business to drive renewals process, while the role of IT can focus on what systems support is required to continue to drive growth.

Get more information about how a purpose-built renewals system can help optimize your renewals with our free eBook.