How Aria Provides Experian with the Billing Flexibility Necessary to Support its Multi-country Acquisition Strategy

About Experian

As a leading global data and technology company, Experian has 22,000 people operating across 32 countries, and every day is investing in new technologies, talented people, and innovation to help its clients maximize every opportunity. During life’s big moments – from buying a home or a car, to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting with new customers – Experian empowers consumers and clients to manage their data with confidence.

Aria has been supporting Experian with its B2B billing requirements for almost a decade. Aria is Experian’s preferred billing partner, for both existing business and new acquisitions.

Experian’s strategic approach

In order to maximize their success, each Experian business follows a structured strategic approach, emphasizing commercial simplification, global controls and assurance, and driving synergies through global standardized systems while remaining flexible to accommodate regional and other specific requirements.

The commercial teams in each business develop unique and innovative product and pricing strategies to enable them to compete successfully in their market. Most propositions consist of a regular, recurring fee, alongside an additional usage-based element. However, as with most enterprise deals, larger, more strategic contracts are usually customized and negotiated. In order to handle this complexity, Experian requires sophisticated, flexible, and reliable billing capabilities.

The challenge

As part of its growth strategy, Experian acquires new businesses from all corners of the globe. Each new acquisition comes with its own billing system and processes, which range from complex spreadsheets dependent on manual processes, to in-house built systems, to off-the-shelf solutions. Each new billing system is another platform that Experian needs to support, maintain, and align.

Experian recognized early on that managing all these different billing systems would result in inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and increased risk, so in 2016 they set out to find a new billing platform to replace their existing platforms. This new billing system would be the cornerstone of their consolidation and standardization strategy.

Experian’s billing requirements

• Flexibility & capability: The new billing solution needed to be able to support all the different pricing and usage models Experian were offering at the time across all of their businesses, as well as any future models. It was also important that it was built using newer technologies.
• Control: The new billing platform needed to provide the controls necessary to meet the laws and regulations of each market in which it would be deployed.
• Ability to deliver at speed: A core metric for Experian is the time taken for billing to complete, so the new billing platform needed to support this KPI.
• Efficiency: The new billing platform had to provide extensive automation to eliminate manual processes.
• Quick time-to-market: In order to maximize the profitability of each of their newly acquired businesses, Experian needs them to be up and running as quickly as possible. They needed a billing platform that would facilitate this essential requirement.

Why Experian chose Aria

Flexibility & capability

Aria would support all the different billing and usage models Experian were using, and gave assurance that it could handle their future needs as well. No other provider they evaluated could do this so well.

Control

Aria would enable Experian to customize their billing processes according to the requirements of each of their businesses, while meeting the regulations of each market.

Ability to deliver at speed

Aria would ensure that billing would complete quickly and reliably, allowing all downstream events, including invoice generation, to happen on time on the bill date.

Efficiency

With Aria, Experian would be able to automate and enforce proprietary business rules and practices, removing the need for any manual intervention.

Quick time-to-market

With Aria, Experian would be able to get each new business up and running in as little as three months.

“As a preferred billing partner, Aria plays a central role in our billing and consolidation strategy, and we look forward to building on our partnership with additional regions.”
Sagheer Ahmed, Global Director of Fraud & Revenue Assurance, Experian

The impact of switching to Aria

Experian has now implemented Aria in many of their businesses, which has enabled them to meet their goal of consolidation and standardization. Implementing Aria has also resulted in dramatic cost savings in comparison to alternative billing platforms.

Aria’s extensive automation has replaced the majority of manual processes and calculations, reducing billing errors and enabling faster reporting to clients.

What’s next for Experian?

Since embarking on the Aria billing strategy, Experian have reduced the number of billing installations significantly. Over the next few years, Experian will continue to deliver their billing standardization and consolidation strategy for both new acquisitions and existing businesses.