By Daniel Santa Cruz

Forty-two percent of respondents from the high tech, telecom and retail sectors are experiencing frustration with their current billing systems when trying to use them to support new recurring revenue models, a new study has revealed.

Legacy billing systems, often found at the heart of the problem, limit a business’ ability to adapt quickly and flexibly to changes in the marketplace, the Gatepoint Research survey found.

The study, commissioned by Aria Systems, found that 33 percent of respondents are “barely or less than satisfied” with their current billing system. Of the 42 percent that claim to use an internally built (“homegrown”) solution, about 40 percent report “low-levels of satisfaction.”

The primary frustration, however, comes from the nearly 67 percent that report being limited by a system that only supports simple subscription models, while more than half of those wish they had a more flexible system that would give them the ability to experiment or adapt to alternative pricing models.

“For many companies, the biggest hurdle to adapting to competitive changes in the marketplace is not the willingness to experiment with new revenue models,” said Bob Harden, recurring revenue process expert and former director of billing software at Experian. “It’s the limitations of legacy billing systems, which were likely designed for one-time transaction models.”