Revenue Lifecycles Require Effective Software, Models, ISG Says

Enterprises evaluating revenue lifecycle management software for transition from sales transactions to efficient ongoing processes, new research says

Companies modernizing revenue management to enable new business models can choose from a growing number of applications and integrated platforms designed to reduce errors, automate processes and ultimately increase revenue over time, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III).

The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management, produced by ISG Software Research, provide the rankings and ratings of 42 software providers and their products to support revenue process needs, including configure price quote (CPQ), contract lifecycle management (CLM), revenue recognition, billing and the platforms to support these activities. The research finds that enterprises benefit from unified software platforms as they migrate from reliance on one-time sales to efficiently managed approaches that generate continuous revenue. Revenue lifecycle management platforms move beyond the outdated linear quote-to-cash process, combining processes previously carried out by separate tools. Aligning all systems allows for consistent sales and revenue engagement over time.

"Enterprises in every industry need to adopt more advanced pricing and revenue models to stay competitive, and traditional systems will not support rapid change and innovation," said Stephen Hurrell, director at ISG Software Research. "Modern revenue management platforms ensure that urgent business model changes are not held back by outdated processes or technologies."

A true revenue lifecycle management system performs tasks ranging from guiding sellers and account teams as they create and get approval for a quote to embedding the quote's terms in a contract, triggering order fulfillment and generating billing schedules, the research shows. Such platforms not only manage digital documents but digitize and store all important terms in those documents. Key information persists in a data store, removing the need for one team to pass data to the next, so errors are minimized. Digitized billing schedules allow companies to automate actions such as outreach for subscription renewals at the appropriate time.

A unified platform and data model provides easier data access for telling a more comprehensive story about effective revenue lifecycle management, the reports say. It lets companies analyze all parts of the process to gain insights into customers, products and processes, empowering them to improve customer experience and encourage more sustained engagement. Though the application of AI to revenue management is relatively immature, platforms prepared to deliver long-term value already have well-articulated and documented approaches to the use of AI.

Despite these benefits, ISG expects more than half of enterprises to still be using manual processes to integrate quotes and contracts through 2026, potentially causing billing and delivery errors and poor customer experience.

New revenue lifecycle management platforms offer improvements to all major components used in the process, the reports say. These include CPQ software that lets prospective buyers have a live, on-demand interaction rather than a slow exchange of emails, CLM tools that standardize contract terms to streamline processing and billing systems that can use historical data to accurately apply volume-based or usage-based pricing.

For its 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management, ISG evaluated software providers across six platform categories — Revenue Lifecycle Management; Revenue Lifecycle Platforms; Revenue Recognition; Contract Lifecycle Management; Configure, Price, Quote; and Billing — and produced a separate Buyers Guide for each. A total of 42 providers were assessed: Aptitude, Aria Systems, BillingPlatform, Certinia, Chargebee, Conga, ContractPodAi, DealHub, Docusign, Epicor, Experlogix, FastSpring, GleanQuote, Gotransverse, Icertis, Ironclad, LawVu, LinkSquares, Logik.ai, Malbek, Maxio, NetSuite, Oracle, PandaDoc, Paperless Parts, Pricefx, PROS, Recurly, RecVue, Sage, Salesforce, SAP, Sirion, SOFTRAX, SpotDraft, Stripe, Tacton, Vendavo, Workday, Zilliant, Zoho and Zuora

ISG Software Research rates software providers in seven evaluation categories. Five are related to product experience: usability, manageability, reliability, capability and adaptability. Two are related to customer assurance: validation and total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO/ROI). Providers ranked in the top three for each evaluation category are named as Leaders. Within each platform category, those with the most Leader rankings are named as Overall Leaders.

The Overall Leaders of the 2025 Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management were the following:

Revenue Lifecycle Management: Conga earned the highest overall rating, followed by Oracle and BillingPlatform, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. Conga was named a Leader in seven evaluation categories, Oracle in six categories and BillingPlatform in five. Salesforce, Zoho and Zuora also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative.

Revenue Lifecycle Platforms: Conga received the highest overall rating, followed by BillingPlatform and Oracle, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. Conga was designated a Leader in seven evaluation categories and BillingPlatform and Oracle in five. Salesforce, Zoho and Zuora also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative.

Revenue Recognition: BillingPlatform was the highest-rated provider, followed by Oracle and Zuora, who were overall leaders and rated exemplary. Oracle was designated a Leader in six evaluation categories, BillingPlatform in five and Zuora in three. Aria Systems, Conga, NetSuite, Sage, Stripe and Zoho also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative.

Contract Lifecycle Management: The overall leaders were Conga in first place, followed by Docusign and Zoho. All three were rated exemplary. Conga was designated a Leader in seven categories, Docusign in five and Zoho in two. Ironclad and Sirion also were rated Exemplary. Icertis was rated Innovative.

Configure, Price, Quote: Conga was the highest-rated provider, followed by Oracle and PROS, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. Conga was designated a Leader in seven performance categories, Oracle in six and PROS in two. Epicor, Salesforce, Zoho and Zuora also were rated Exemplary. SAP was rated Innovative.

Billing: BillingPlatform earned the highest overall rating, followed by Oracle and Zuora, who were also overall leaders and rated exemplary. BillingPlatform and Oracle were designated as Leaders in five performance categories each, while Zuora was a Leader in three performance categories. Aria Systems, Certinia, Conga, Salesforce, Stripe and Zoho were rated Exemplary. Gotransverse and SAP were rated Innovative.

"Managing revenue lifecycles is important for good customer experience, but it is complicated by underlying software that is too fragmented or specialized to work across sales, operations, revenue and finance teams," said Mark Smith, partner and chief software analyst, ISG Software Research. "Whether companies are looking for one supplier or a series of applications, these insights guide enterprises to determine what software is the best fit to modernize and reduce the operational costs of revenue lifecycle management."

The ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments. It provides the industry's most comprehensive review of all viable software options, comparing their strengths to give enterprises insight to make critical selection decisions.

Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue Lifecycle Management and read executive summaries of each of the six reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG Software Research.

About ISG Software Research

ISG Software Research provides authoritative coverage and analysis of the business and IT software industry. It distributes research and insights daily through its user community, and provides a portfolio of consulting, advisory, research and education services for enterprises, software and service providers, and investment firms. Its ISG Buyers Guides™ help enterprises evaluate and select software providers through tailored assessments powered by ISG's proprietary methodology. Visit www.isg-research.net for more information and to sign up for free community membership.

About ISG

ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data, in-depth knowledge of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,600 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.

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Julianna Sheridan, Matter Communications for ISG

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