SAP BRIM: A billing solution for the future

A little over a decade ago, if you wanted to watch a specific movie, you’d have to pay for it each time. Whether it was buying a cinema ticket or renting the film from a video store, every viewing came with its own cost. This pay-per-use model wasn’t limited to movies, it applied to everything from renting to buying software licenses with occasional upgrades. Today, however, the trend has shifted to subscription-based models.

From a business perspective, traditional billing may seem simpler, but it comes with a major drawback: unpredictable revenue. It’s hard to forecast income when you can’t be sure how many sales you’ll have each month. Subscriptions, on the other hand, provide steady revenue, make forecasting easier, and often lead to increased customer loyalty. They also allow consumers to access products or services at a lower initial cost, something that previously required a significant upfront investment.

This evolution in billing practices is why we frequently see headlines referring to “the Netflix of…” in various industries. The streaming model that revolutionized home entertainment can be adapted to any sector, though it does come with its own set of challenges.

The challenges of subscription models

One of the most important advantages of the subscriptions model, its predictable recurring revenue, also comes with its challenges. Customers pay regularly for the right to use a service or product, yet they might not use it to its full potential. For instance, think of someone who pays for a gym membership but rarely goes. This scenario complicates resource planning: if demand spikes, you might struggle to meet it; if demand is low, you could be wasting resources. However, with improved planning and adjustments to purchasing cycles, these issues can be managed.

Another significant challenge is transitioning from a straightforward, one-off billing system (order, delivery, invoice, payment) to handling recurring, and sometimes variable, billing cycles. This new approach means invoicing more frequently and managing large volumes of data, calculating charges, issuing invoices, processing payments, and generating reports all become more complex.

Fortunately, as subscription models become more popular, enterprise software has evolved to meet these challenges. Numerous billing solutions now cater specifically to recurring billing needs, and SAP BRIM is a standout example.

What is SAP BRIM?

SAP BRIM is SAP’s comprehensive solution designed for companies that manage pay-per-use or subscription-based contracts. But its capabilities go beyond just that. Even companies that still rely on traditional billing methods can benefit from BRIM by streamlining and modernizing their billing cycles.

SAP BRIM for commission management

Beyond subscriptions and pay-per-use models, SAP BRIM excels in managing and billing commissions, especially for intermediary businesses like marketplaces. In these setups, platforms don’t sell products directly; they act as a bridge between end consumers and third-party providers. Think of websites focused on merchandising, search engines, or travel booking platforms that earn revenue by charging a commission on each sale or transaction. Here, every transaction must be meticulously identified, calculated, and invoiced for multiple external providers. SAP BRIM automates this process, consolidating various commissions into periodic billing cycles and significantly reducing administrative burdens.

This capability is especially valuable for companies looking to expand their digital services without a corresponding increase in administrative work.

Key benefits of SAP BRIM

Unified management across models. SAP BRIM supports multi-client, multi-business, and multi-product environments. It allows companies to handle the entire billing cycle from a single platform, even when juggling hybrid models (for example, combining consumption-based charges with maintenance subscriptions).

Speed, agility, and scalability. Designed for high-volume billing, BRIM easily adapts to fluctuations in business volume and enables rapid time-to-market for new products—a crucial advantage in today’s fast-paced environment.

Flexible billing options. Whether it’s one-off charges, recurring fees, usage-based billing, or project-based costs, BRIM can handle them all—either consolidated into a single invoice or split into multiple ones as needed.

Seamless integration and customization. Highly adaptable, BRIM integrates not only with other SAP solutions but also with software from other vendors, allowing companies to implement just the modules they require.

Enhanced customer experience. By offering a 360-degree view of the customer, SAP BRIM improves traceability and reduces manual tasks, which in turn minimizes errors.

Improved data quality. With centralized management of financial, analytical, budgetary, and fiscal information, the system adapts quickly to changes in analytical structures or regulatory requirements, ensuring high-quality data.

The architecture of SAP BRIM

SAP BRIM is divided into five core modules, which can be implemented together or individually:

Subscription Order Management. Unifies customer and contract management, boosting market opportunities and enhancing control.

Convergent Mediation. Collects and manages consumption data while sending notifications—transforming raw data into standardized, high-quality information.

Convergent Charging. Manages pricing and tariff structures, enabling rapid rollout of new offers and efficient mass calculations.

Convergent Invoicing. Automates billing by calculating taxes and volume discounts, ensuring transparency and speed. It can merge billing data from both BRIM and external sources into a single invoice.

Customer Financial Manager. Focuses on reporting, analytics, credit management, and collections. This module integrates with financial systems like SAP FI, aggregating millions of records into actionable financial data while maintaining traceability.

With rising costs driven partly by inflation, many companies are transitioning to subscription and pay-per-use models to better control expenses and boost customer loyalty. Shifting from traditional billing to these modern models represents a significant change for billing and collections departments. SAP BRIM stands out as one of the most advanced and comprehensive tools to facilitate this transition. At NTT DATA, with decades of experience and deep expertise in SAP, we are ready to guide and support your journey toward a more agile, modern billing system.