Zuora Supports FarmIQ’s Boost to New Zealand Economy

Zuora Supports FarmIQ’s Boost to New Zealand Economy

Wellington, 17 March 2015 - Zuora, the Relationship Business Management leader, has announced that it has deployed its subscription billing platform at FarmIQ for its farm management software. This is enabling the organisation to automate the billing and payment operations of its new software business and support rapid scale-up.

The Zuora Z-Business billing platform supports the organisation’s cloud-based subscription packs offering which enables farmers to record and analyse information about their animals, land and feed, as part of a wider programme that aims to improve information flows in the New Zealand red meat value chain.

“FarmIQ offers software as a service to New Zealand farm businesses, and so we want to represent good use of smart technologies in all facets of our own business,” says Janine Ahie, FarmIQ’s Chief Financial Officer. “We were looking for a company that could handle all parts of the subscription billing – not just the invoicing or payment side – but everything from pricing and customer administration through to debtor control. We thought that Zuora really understood our requirements well and had good experience with other well-regarded businesses in New Zealand.”

The FarmIQ System is offered as subscriber packs to give farmers options for the different ways they want to use it. The FarmIQ Animal Pack, for example, gives users the tools to monitor, compare and improve animal live weight and reproduction while the FarmIQ Land and Environment Pack supports paddock performance, environmental compliance and sustainability.

Z-Business is enabling FarmIQ with the ability to support flexible pricing plans and the agility to introduce new plans. At the same time, Z-Business also makes it simple for new customers to choose from several product plans through a self-service option via the FarmIQ web portal. Behind the scenes, it also provides visibility into forward-looking subscription metrics, including deferred revenue, monthly recurring revenue and total contract value. This provides FarmIQ with a level of predictability into churn to optimise operational decision-making and ensure customers continue to be satisfied.

“We have focused on achieving automation in our sales process, right from providing online information and purchase options,” says Ahie. “We are still a small team here and so we want to be highly efficient. Also, we want it to be seamless and easy for our customers and our sales team. So far, we have been able to successfully integrate Zuora with our customer relationship management system and are now ready to scale up with the support of Zuora as our customer base grows.”

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research estimates that the FarmIQ programme will grow New Zealand's gross domestic product by an additional NZ$8.8b by 2025. The organisation operates according to best-practice protocols to ensure that privacy is protected and that all farm information is reliably and securely stored.

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