Recurring Billing for Enterprises: Kill Bill Does That

by | Jan 26, 2021 | Billing Systems, Payments, System Integration

Recurring billing and enterprise open source software

This month we take a look at common concerns with enterprise open-source software (OSS) and how those concerns apply to Kill Bill. Those who are looking for recurring billing software at the enterprise levelsit up and take notice! (Well, you can remain seated; just open your eyes a bit wider and pay attention.)

If you’ve read the second annual report from Red Hat regarding the state of enterprise open-source software (OSS), it’s apparent that enterprises are making great strides in folding OSS into their tech stack. Seventy-seven percent of respondents indicated that they expect to increase their use of enterprise OSS. 

When we look at how enterprises are using open-source software (page 6 of the PDF), we don’t see recurring billing and invoicing software represented in this report. This is despite the fact that enterprise-level organizations do use Kill Bill – and they’re invoicing billions every year. 

Why is that?

It could be that the number of organizations using open-source billing and invoicing software is currently too small to include in the report. If that’s the case, we believe that it’s only a matter of time before more businesses look into alternatives to SaaS billing for their ecommerce or recurring billing needs. 

The “subscription economy” isn’t going away anytime soon. And as more businesses introduce or expand their subscription offerings, they’ll find out about the restrictions of using a SaaS billing solution. (We’ll be here, waiting for them!)

Perhaps another reason we don’t see open-source recurring billing software represented on the Red Hat report could be that businesses think OSS is fine for developer tools, but not for handling their revenue. For this all-important functionality, some companies might still view OSS with uneasiness, even though it’s been part of the software industry for decades. 

The Most Common Objections to Enterprise OSS

Setting aside our speculation on that, we aren’t surprised to see that the top three concerns respondents have to enterprise OSS are the same as the previous year’s report:

  • Security of the code
  • Support
  • Compatibility 

In supplying commentary on the report, the writer attributes these concerns to “outmoded concerns,” but also points out that all three of these concerns are also applicable to proprietary software. 

Along these lines, we thought it would be appropriate to address these concerns with Kill Bill in mind: 

  • Is Kill Bill secure?
  • How is Kill Bill supported?
  • Is Kill Bill compatible with other systems? 

Is Kill Bill Secure?

Open-source software isn’t inherently any more secure or less secure than proprietary software. However, because anyone can download the code and peruse it, it is easier to detect vulnerabilities than with closed source software. In that aspect, OSS can be viewed as more secure. 

However, you could point out that with access to the code, hackers find it easier to inject their own nefarious code. 

Actually, the Red Hat report mentions “that’s rarely the way in which vulnerabilities are exploited.” Yet it’s obvious from this study that the technology sector grapples with security risks caused by businesses folding open-source components into their codebase. 

But in the case of Kill Bill, we – the software’s author(s) – review and approve all changes to the new code before merging it, any Bad Code would never get anywhere near the original source code.

How is Kill Bill Supported?

The Red Hat report states that 37% of its respondents listed “level of support” as a barrier to open-source adoption. Although the survey was targeted to respondents familiar with enterprise open-source, the report admits they may have conflated “community-supported open source (and thus volunteer-based) with enterprise open source.”

Kill Bill, like many other open-source projects, offers some help with questions and issues via its online community. Our technical writers have also been hard at work improving the API documentation and other guides. 

Organizations that use Kill Bill for their recurring billing often have their own internal software development team. They occasionally stop by the community to ask a question or state a concern. 

These businesses can and do contact us for either temporary or ongoing assistance. Kill Bill has various support offerings. But for some companies, it’s not enough. In that case, we start talking about service level agreements (SLA). We have the capability and experience to deliver support for complex, mission-critical billing needs. Hey—it’s your revenue we’re talking about here!

Is Kill Bill Compatible with Other Systems?

Our #1 top question that we receive through our chat bot on the website is: 

“Does Kill Bill work with [software name]?” 

We also get the question: 

“Does Kill Bill work with [payment gateway]?” 

The first question is from those who want to integrate Kill Bill with their accounting system, ERP system, CRM system, or what have you. Our standard reply is that yes, Kill Bill can communicate and/or integrate with virtually any other system. For example, we’ve had organizations that use Kill Bill with Sage, NetSuite, and Salesforce. 

The second question, about payment gateways, is the same answer. Whether it’s a well known payment gateway (e.g., Stripe, Authorize.net) or a lesser known one, you can use the payment gateway of your choice. 

For Kill Bill to communicate or integrate with other systems and payment gateways, you’ll need to develop a plug-in to interact with Kill Bill. It’s a straightforward (though technical) task.

Some organizations that have their own development team write the plug-in(s) themselves, while others choose to outsource this work to a third-party development team. We have a relationship with a company like this. They are quite familiar with Kill Bill, and they’re written many plugins for organizations that want to use Kill Bill.

Avoid SaaS Billing Vendor Lock-In

Your organization has nearly unlimited potential, and it needs room to grow. Although many SaaS billing and invoicing software vendors offer some flexibility with a list of available payment gateways and available integrations, those may not work for you. Or they may work for you now, but what about two years down the road? Five years? Ten?

Kill Bill gives you the ultimate freedom on choosing who processes your payments, how payments are processed, and what systems to integrate with. Find out what’s possible when your unlimited potential meets Kill Bill’s infinite flexibility, scalability, and affordability! Contact us with questions.

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