Making complexity manageable: Optimising marketplace billing with SAP BRIM

At the heart of every company, whether it’s a startup or a global enterprise, is a complex web of tasks and processes that keep things running. But these inner workings aren’t fixed. They evolve over time. New processes are added, old ones are phased out, and when the day-to-day reveals inefficiencies or components that are missing, the system changes again. Success in business doesn’t just depend on having a great product or competitive prices, it’s also about staying flexible and open to changes that improve processes, even if the existing system works just fine.

Digital and technological transformation is the driving force behind many of these changes. What worked a decade ago may no longer be competitive, especially as automation and AI allow others to do the same job faster, better, and with fewer errors. To keep up, companies need to revisit each and every internal process and adapt it to this new era.

That’s where NTT DATA often comes in. Businesses reach out to us when they want to revamp existing processes or get new initiatives off the ground, ideally with scalable, automated solutions that don’t require building something new every time. The goal is to implement systems that can grow with the business, simply by tweaking configuration settings rather than starting from scratch, and that automate as much as possible to speed things up and reduce errors.

Making complexity manageable: Optimising marketplace billing with SAP BRIM

While that logic applies to many business processes, billing is a particularly ripe area for transformation. It’s made up of repetitive tasks and sub-processes that are perfect for automation, but also demands a high level of precision and regulatory compliance.

Let’s take a real-life example. A leading automotive brand approached NTT DATA for help setting up a billing system that would manage how their marketplace vendors are charged for selling branded merchandise. Scalability and automation were top priorities.

After reviewing their needs, we proposed a solution built on SAP BRIM (Billing and Revenue Innovation Management). It checked every box: simplified invoicing, streamlined payment and reconciliation using FI-CA (Financial Contract Accounting, a BRIM module ideal for high-volume billing), and integration with SAP’s General Ledger (FI-GL) for managing bank reconciliation and invoice clearing, even though FI-GL isn’t technically part of BRIM. We also added monitoring tools to catch issues early and keep everything running smoothly.

Once implemented, the results were immediate: the entire fee-based billing flow between the company and its marketplace vendors was automated and simplified. What had previously been more or less a manual process became seamless and efficient, freeing up staff to focus on more strategic and creative work.

Since the solution was designed to be scalable, the next logical step was to extend SAP BRIM to other areas, such as billing and collecting payments from customers buying the merchandise online. Given BRIM’s strength in managing high invoice volumes, applying it to online transactions made perfect sense.

Even better, BRIM’s integration with SAP FI allows for a clean, consolidated handoff of all accounting entries into the finance system, giving teams better visibility and control.

SAP experts, partners in innovation

Companies choose to work with NTT DATA because we’re SAP specialists with decades of experience helping major national and international businesses tailor SAP solutions to their specific needs.

Our consulting team includes more than 100 SAP experts covering the full SAP ecosystem. In the finance sector alone, we have 22 certified BRIM consultants and 14 FI-CA specialists. With seven delivery centres and the internal testing environment we’ve created, we’re equipped to handle complex projects from start to finish.

Falling behind simply isn’t an option in today’s competitive economy. Maintaining a competitive advantage and staying ahead of the rest means partnering with organisations that know how to turn innovation into action. And with NTT DATA, you’re always ready for the next step.