Aria Announces Platform Standard Edition

On-demand billing and subscription management solutions provider Aria Systems announced Platform Standard Edition, designed to address the recurring billing needs of organizations ranging from pre-revenue startup businesses up to small and midsize businesses. The updated version is designed to provide the product capabilities, services and pricing models to address the needs of the growing ranks of companies trying to create or expand their subscription revenue streams. Aria’s products are delivered via a pure SAAS model, the company noted.

Aria said its Platform Standard Edition is designed for organizations that need flat-rate subscription billing deployed in a matter of hours to automate customer acquisition and recurring billing. Platform Standard Edition helps enable small and midsized businesses to avoid the cost and complexity of traditional billing platforms while avoiding the time, error, and expense of manual or Excel-based billing processes, the company argues.

Platform Standard Edition includes capabilities and services including subscription billing and invoicing, user registration and self-service templates integrated tax calculation, Web services APIs, support for two simultaneous payment processors, customer support representative tools for managing customer interactions, a separate test and staging environment, a library of pre-built reports, Web and e-mail support and10 hours of production readiness support.

“We’ve proven that we can deliver great results for clients of all sizes,” said Ed Sullivan, CEO at Aria Systems. “With the Aria Platform Standard Editions, we’re delivering products that are tailored to the billing and subscription management needs of different market segments based on years of experience in this space.”

Aria's Invoicing Engine supports a wide range of billing scenarios and includes the following components: calculation, usage rating, taxation, and invoice presentation. The solution allows businesses to calculate charges automatically via Aria's billing engine and post to the user's account in real time, accept metered data feeds in nearly any measurable unit (time - seconds, minutes, hours; data - bit, megabyte, gigabyte; area - inches, feet, miles; etc.) and match metered data with corresponding charge in a client's product and service plan for inclusion in an invoice, apply country, state, and federal taxes based upon the billing address of the account, support worldwide currency and symbols and offer customers the option to settle in a currency other than that of the charge itself (this feature is offered by select Payment Processors) and present invoices featuring a company’s branding and style with Aria's customizable templates.

The Aria platform relies on an infrastructure that addresses issues including advanced support for data security, PCI/DSS compliance, SAS 70 certification, automated backup processes, disaster recovery planning/procedures, and a Web services delivery infrastructure. The company argues many businesses overlook the critical nature of billing and consider it a “back office distraction” despite the fact that it is the fundamental means by which cash flows into the business. Billing, as part of the larger financial management function, is a strategic asset and should be managed accordingly, the company maintained.