What does a Revenue Intelligence platform cost?

What a Revenue Intelligence platform costs depends mainly on the pricing model: per user, per company, per revenue band or per connected system. Published prices are rare in this market, so you usually only get a figure after a conversation. More important than the licence is the total cost in year one: implementation, data clean-up and the internal time to follow up findings. Together these are often as large as the licence itself, or larger.

Why there is rarely a price list on the website

Look for the price of a Revenue Intelligence platform and you will usually find not a figure but a button to request a call. That is frustrating, but there are reasons for it.

The vendor's costs differ widely from customer to customer. A company with one CRM and one accounting package is different from a company with three ERPs, its own billing system and data in four countries. The number of integrations, the volume of data and the complexity of contracts determine how much work it takes to make the platform work properly.

On top of that, the market is young. Many vendors are still searching for the right pricing model, and a published price locks them in.

That does not mean you are in the dark. If you understand the pricing models and know which costs come on top of the licence, you can compare quotes and estimate the total cost yourself. What such a platform actually does is covered in what a Revenue Intelligence platform does.

The four common pricing models

Per user

You pay for each person who has access. This model is common in software originally built for sales teams, such as conversation analytics and pipeline tools.

Advantage: predictable if you know how many people will use it.

Disadvantage: it discourages broad use. Revenue leakage touches sales, finance, operations and the board. If every extra user costs money, only a few people get access, and findings get stuck with people who cannot resolve them.

Per company

One price for the whole company, regardless of how many people use it. Often scaled to company size or complexity.

Advantage: everyone who benefits can have access. It fits a problem that cuts across departments.

Disadvantage: harder to compare, because the price is set per company.

Per revenue band

The price depends on your revenue, or on the revenue monitored by the platform. A EUR 5M company pays less than a EUR 50M company.

Advantage: the price scales with the potential return.

Disadvantage: if you grow fast, the price grows with you, even if complexity does not increase.

Per integration or module

You pay per connected system or per feature. A base price for the CRM, more for billing, more for forecasting.

Advantage: you only pay for what you use.

Disadvantage: the value of Revenue Intelligence lies precisely in combining systems. If every integration costs extra, you are encouraged to connect less, and you see less.

In practice, vendors combine these models. Always ask how the price develops as you grow, give more people access or add a system.

The costs beyond the licence

The licence is the figure on the quote. It is rarely the largest cost in year one.

For every quote, ask which of these items the vendor handles and which fall to you. A low licence with a lot of your own work can end up more expensive than a higher licence where the vendor does the implementation.

Total cost in year one: an example

Worked example: a company with EUR 10M revenue

Suppose your company has EUR 10M in revenue, a CRM, an accounting package and a time tracking system. You are comparing two options. The amounts are invented to show the calculation. They are not prices of any existing vendor.

Option A: per user

• Licence: 8 users x EUR 150 per month = EUR 14,400 a year.
• Implementation by your own team: 80 hours x EUR 75 = EUR 6,000.
• Data clean-up by your own team: 40 hours x EUR 75 = EUR 3,000.
• Follow-up: 8 hours a month x EUR 75 x 12 = EUR 7,200.
• Total year one: EUR 30,600.

Option B: per company

• Licence: EUR 24,000 a year.
• Implementation by the vendor, included.
• Data clean-up, partly by the vendor: 16 hours of your own time x EUR 75 = EUR 1,200.
• Follow-up: 8 hours a month x EUR 75 x 12 = EUR 7,200.
• Total year one: EUR 32,400.

In year one the options are close. In year two, implementation and clean-up drop away: option A then costs EUR 21,600, option B EUR 31,200. But if with option A you find after six months that finance, operations and the board also need access, and you move to 20 users, the licence costs EUR 36,000 a year and option B is cheaper. The point: compare on total cost over three years, with a realistic number of users.

What to ask when you receive a quote

1. What is the pricing model, and what happens as we grow? More users, more revenue, more systems.
2. What does implementation include? Who builds the integrations, who sets things up, how many hours do you expect from us?
3. Which systems are supported as standard? And what does an integration with a system not on the list cost?
4. What is the contract term and notice period? Monthly, annual, multi-year?
5. What happens to our data if we stop? Is it deleted? Can we export it?
6. Are new features included? Or do you pay separately for each new module?
7. What can we expect in the first three months? When do the first findings arrive?

How to weigh the cost

The cost of a platform says little without the return next to it. A EUR 30,000 a year platform is expensive if it finds EUR 10,000 of leakage, and cheap if it finds EUR 200,000. How to make that trade-off is covered in how to calculate the ROI of Revenue Intelligence. Whether the amount leaking in your company is large enough to justify software is covered in how much revenue leakage justifies software.

An often forgotten alternative: buying nothing and doing it yourself in spreadsheets. That has costs too, mainly in time and in what you miss. The trade-off is set out in RiOS vs spreadsheets.

How RiOS is priced

As an illustration of the per-company model: RiOS, the platform from AutoMaat, is priced per company and never per seat, on an annual contract for the whole company. The price is set in an intake conversation, based on company size and connected systems. The platform is currently in beta. The Revenue Audit is a separate product with a fixed price and is not part of the platform.

What the broader return of a platform can be, and which returns you may and may not count in a business case, is covered in what Revenue Intelligence delivers.

Frequently asked questions

Why are Revenue Intelligence platform prices so hard to find?

Because costs vary widely per customer, depending on the number of systems, the volume of data and the complexity of contracts. Many vendors therefore set the price after a conversation. Always ask about the pricing model, not just the amount.

Is per user or per company cheaper?

That depends on how many people need access. With few users, per user is often cheaper. Because revenue leakage touches several departments, the number of users tends to grow in practice. Run both models with the number of people who will realistically be using it a year from now.

Should I allow for implementation costs?

Yes. Even if the vendor builds the technical integrations, it takes internal time to agree definitions, clean up data and set up processes. Expect a substantial investment of time in the first months.

Can I start small?

With most vendors, yes, for example with two connected systems. Bear in mind that you will then only see part of the leakage. Ask how the price changes if you expand later.