Tag: NetSuite

Making NetSuite Work for Modern Finance Teams: A Q&A with Caitlin Swofford

Posted on February 2, 2026 by Rachel Bruce - Company News

Caitlin Swofford, VP of Solution Delivery

Rachel Bruce

A Q&A for finance and RevOps leaders on delivery, embedded revenue infrastructure, and how to fix quote-to-cash in NetSuite without adding risk or new systems.

TL;DR
- Quote-to-cash breaks when finance teams are forced to manage complexity across disconnected systems.
- Adding another billing or monetization platform increases delivery risk instead of reducing it.
- Embedded revenue infrastructure keeps Salesforce and NetSuite aligned without spreadsheets or manual handoffs.
- Continuous helps finance teams support modern pricing models while maintaining control, auditability, and trust in the numbers.

Continuous is scaling its NetSuite presence and strengthening delivery to match. Caitlin Swofford, VP of Solution Delivery at Continuous, brings deep experience spanning NetSuite administration, Salesforce, enterprise applications, consulting, and engineering leadership.

Her focus is simple. Help finance teams make quote-to-cash work as pricing models grow more complex, without adding more systems, risk, or spreadsheet-driven workarounds.

We sat down with Caitlin to talk about what drew her to Continuous, how she approaches delivery as a strategic lever, and what it really takes to make NetSuite work for modern finance teams.

You’ve had a unique path into NetSuite. What led you here?

I didn’t start in finance or ERP. I started in marketing operations and marketing technologies, working with tools like Marketo, Eloqua, and even Siebel CRM early on. My first exposure to NetSuite came in a high-growth environment, and the more I saw it, the more intrigued I became. It was powerful, configurable, and deeply connected to how the business actually runs.

When an opportunity opened up to step into a NetSuite administrator role, I jumped at it. From there, I expanded into owning broader enterprise applications, including NetSuite and Salesforce, with a strong focus on compliance, change management, SDLC, and segregation of duties. Later, I shifted into consulting and services, partnering directly with customers to implement and optimize NetSuite in real-world environments.

That mix of being both a system owner and a services partner really shapes how I think about delivery today.

What made Continuous the right next step?

Two things stood out to me. The people and the product.

Culture matters a lot to me, especially as a remote worker. I want to feel like I’m part of a team moving in the same direction and building something meaningful. Continuous gave me that feeling from day one.

The product mission was equally compelling. I’ve seen how often quote-to-cash becomes a bottleneck as pricing models evolve. What stood out is that Continuous is not about adding another system. It is about improving how the systems finance teams already rely on work together.

How do you explain Continuous Revenue Fabric to finance leaders dealing with complexity across Salesforce and NetSuite?

I think of Revenue Fabric as something that embeds into your existing tools and helps them work together the way they were meant to.

If sales is quoting in Salesforce and finance is managing orders, billing, and revenue in NetSuite, those systems often don’t speak the same language, especially with usage-based or hybrid pricing. Continuous Revenue Fabric enables that flow end to end so sales can stay in Salesforce, finance can stay in NetSuite, and the handoffs actually work without forcing teams into a third standalone system.

Why does embedded revenue infrastructure matter from a delivery perspective?

From a delivery standpoint, the biggest risk I see is introducing more complexity in the name of solving complexity.

Standalone billing platforms often introduce a separate operating layer with their own logic, workflows, and reconciliation processes. Even when data syncs back to Salesforce or NetSuite, teams still end up managing pricing rules, billing behavior, and exceptions outside the systems they rely on day to day. That fragmentation is where delivery risk shows up.

Embedded infrastructure keeps the flow where it belongs, between the systems finance and sales already trust. That leads to cleaner implementations, fewer points of failure, and more confidence in the numbers downstream.

Where do you most often see misalignment between sales and finance?

Sales and finance are working on the same deal, but with very different objectives. Sales needs speed and flexibility to support the customer and close the deal. Finance needs clean, auditable data they can rely on to bill, recognize revenue, and close the books.

Misalignment shows up when processes force extra work. Fields that exist just because, manual handoffs, or one-off steps that don’t reflect how the business actually sells. The fix is treating quote-to-cash as one continuous motion so both teams get what they need without unnecessary workarounds.

As VP of Solution Delivery, what are you focused on building right now?

My focus is on helping customers be successful with Continuous, not just at go-live, but over the long term.

That means partnering closely with customers to understand how they actually use NetSuite and Salesforce, making sure implementations reduce risk instead of adding it, and helping teams build a foundation they can scale as their business evolves. Success looks like trust in the system and confidence in the data.

What excites you most about the opportunity ahead for Continuous?

There are so many companies running on NetSuite and Salesforce that still struggle to make quote-to-cash work smoothly, and that complexity is only increasing.

Continuous has a real opportunity to help finance teams simplify that reality through cleaner handoffs, less manual work, and a more connected view of revenue. Helping customers build that foundation and grow on top of it is what excites me most.

Finally, outside of work, what’s something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I recently became certified as a Maine Master Naturalist, a ten-month program focused on nature education. I volunteer with a wildlife rehabilitation center, and my areas of focus are birds and mammal tracking. It’s what I spend a lot of my nights and weekends doing.

As Continuous continues to grow in the NetSuite ecosystem, Caitlin is helping shape how the company shows up for finance teams that need more than another system. Her focus is clear. Make NetSuite work the way modern finance teams need it to work. Reduce risk in delivery. Simplify quote-to-cash. And build a foundation that supports scale as revenue models evolve.

It’s a delivery-first approach grounded in real-world experience, and one that reflects Continuous’ broader commitment to helping finance teams move from managing complexity to driving confidence and growth.

Connect with Caitlin on LinkedIn.

Scaling Smarter: A Q&A with Owen Karlsson on Joining Continuous

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Rachel Bruce - Company News

Rachel Bruce

A Q&A for finance, RevOps, and systems leaders on Owen Karlsson joining Continuous, scaling NetSuite revenue operations, and fixing quote-to-cash across Salesforce and NetSuite.

TL;DR
Owen Karlsson joins Continuous as SVP of NetSuite Solution Management.
- He brings deep NetSuite and ARM expertise, including leading ASC 606 conversions.
- His focus is scaling revenue operations and connecting Salesforce and NetSuite.
- Continuous aims to close the gap between sales creativity and finance execution.

____________________________________________________________________________

Owen Karlsson, Senior Vice President of NetSuite Solution Management, joins Continuous with more than a decade in the NetSuite ecosystem, spanning operations, professional services leadership, and hands-on revenue management. He was the first person globally certified on NetSuite Advanced Revenue Management (ARM) and has led dozens of revenue conversion and optimization projects for software companies.

At Continuous, he will help advance the company’s mission to fix quote-to-cash in Salesforce and NetSuite, bridging two of the most critical systems in modern revenue operations.

What does your new role at Continuous entail, and where will you focus first?

The title is Senior Vice President, NetSuite Solution Management. In the short term, I’m bringing a group of NetSuite customers I’ve supported for years into the Continuous family and making their transition smooth: same responsiveness, same results.

From there, I’ll focus on three things. First, building strong NetSuite relationships, navigating Oracle’s partner ecosystem and keeping efforts aligned. Second, supporting sales and credibility by joining customer conversations where deep finance knowledge helps move things forward. And third, shaping product direction, especially around revenue management.

We’re solving business-critical problems today and expanding the number we can solve tomorrow, and that’s how you scale impact.

Give us the quick version of your path into NetSuite.

I first got to know NetSuite at Rapid7 in 2012, where it ran both CRM and ERP in a complex, heavily customized setup. I started as a user, moved into an admin role, and was there when the company went public. Later I joined Zone & Co as one of the first hires. We grew from a small services firm into a product-led company after customers asked us to tackle usage and variable billing. I led professional services, operations, and later built out the knowledge and training side of the business. That experience taught me that the best users are the ones who can self-educate, and if you don’t build for that, you’ll never have power users.

Most recently I founded OK Consulting, and through ongoing work with Avalara, I met John Banks and the Continuous team.

Fun fact: I was the first person globally certified on NetSuite Advanced Revenue Management (ARM) and led around 50 ASC 606 revenue conversion projects, mostly for software companies.

How does your experience scaling operations and leading professional services inform how you’ll approach this new role?

At Zone, I helped grow the services organization and then built a team to implement a new billing product while keeping traditional NetSuite projects healthy. Later, as Chief Knowledge Officer, I focused on customer enablement, building a public knowledge base and training program so people could solve problems faster.

That mix of delivery discipline, enablement, and scalable processes is how I’ll operate here. The goal is always the same: build solutions that scale as fast as the business does.

What attracted you to Continuous and this next chapter in your career?

Honestly, it was John Banks and the team. I wasn’t looking to make a move, but the way John talked about the company, the culture, and the opportunity really stood out.

Continuous brings together deep Salesforce and NetSuite expertise. It felt like a natural fit, a team that thinks big, moves fast, and loves building. Salesforce and NetSuite are the two giants of the cloud, and Continuous sits right between them. Fixing quote-to-cash across those systems isn’t just the goal, it’s the mission.

Continuous’ mission is to fix quote-to-cash in Salesforce and NetSuite. Why is this challenge so important right now, and what makes Continuous uniquely positioned to solve it?

Sales creativity always outpaces systems. Every few years, there’s a new sales motion like subscriptions, usage, credits, or consumption, and sales can start selling it long before finance can operationalize it. That gap is where the friction lives. The companies that win are the ones whose systems evolve just as fast as their go-to-market.

Continuous was built to close that gap, to fix quote-to-cash in Salesforce and NetSuite so companies can sell however they want without breaking the back office. We already handle prepaid and credit models really well, and we’re expanding into more complex revenue motions without adding unnecessary complexity. The more flexible we make quote-to-cash, the more confidently our customers can grow.

You’ve worked across every phase of the NetSuite lifecycle. What are the biggest opportunities for improvement you see in how companies manage finance and revenue today?

Most companies still have too many disconnected processes between sales and finance. Every manual step, rekeying data, duplicating orders, or reconciling invoices, adds friction and limits scale. The big opportunity is to build connected, auditable systems that keep up with how the business actually sells. When that happens, revenue operations stop reacting and start driving growth.

AI is reshaping every step of quote-to-cash, from forecasting and pricing to billing and revenue recognition. Where do you see the biggest potential for automation and intelligence to create real business value?

The biggest shift will come from AI-driven consumption models, where credits or usage for AI features become billable SKUs. That changes how companies price, forecast, and even pay commissions. I’m optimistic about AI as a productivity multiplier, but cautious about unchecked automation in finance. The key is systems that support new pricing models safely, accelerating innovation without sacrificing accuracy.

Finally, when you’re not thinking about finance and optimization, how do you like to spend your time?

Sports, golf, family, and my dog. I’m a lifelong New York sports fan, Yankees, Giants, Knicks, Rangers, and a proud uncle to five nieces and nephews. That’s my favorite title, honestly.

Owen’s deep NetSuite experience, operational discipline, and product vision strengthen Continuous’ mission to fix quote-to-cash in Salesforce and NetSuite, helping companies scale revenue operations with confidence.

As he puts it, sales creativity always outpaces systems, and Continuous exists to close that gap.

The Year Companies Finally Fix Quote-to-Cash: 9 Predictions for 2026

Posted on January 6, 2026 by John Banks - Quote-to-Cash

John Banks

Nine predictions for finance, RevOps, and systems leaders on how quote-to-cash becomes core infrastructure as hybrid revenue models redefine operations in 2026.

TL;DR
- In 2026, quote-to-cash becomes core business infrastructure, not a system you rebuild every year.
- Hybrid revenue models expose the cracks between Salesforce and NetSuite faster than teams can patch them.
- Embedded revenue logic replaces stacked tools, fragile integrations, and constant reimplementation.
- Companies that connect revenue end-to-end will price faster, bill cleaner, and scale with confidence.

The next year will redefine how companies manage quote-to-cash across Sales, Finance, Product, and Pricing. With hybrid and consumption-based models now the standard, it’s clear that most organizations weren’t built to support them. 2026 is about closing that gap.

The focus will shift to making these models operational, whether by modernizing legacy systems or building new architectures designed for what’s next. And success will depend on keeping everything connected through a single source of truth. That means keeping Sales in Salesforce, Finance in NetSuite, and revenue data perfectly aligned between them.

When that alignment doesn’t exist, the cracks show up fast. Usage, credits, commitments, and multi-year deals expose the gaps between CRM and ERP, forcing teams into custom code, spreadsheets, or one-off billing pilots just to keep deals moving and invoices accurate.

Continuous exists to solve that problem. We run directly inside Salesforce and NetSuite, providing a shared revenue layer that keeps pricing, lifecycle changes, usage, and financial impact connected end to end, whether a company is extending what it has today or preparing for what comes next. Here’s what we see coming in 2026.

1. Quote-to-Cash Becomes Essential Business Infrastructure

In 2026, companies will stop treating quote-to-cash as a project and start treating it as mission-critical infrastructure. The 12 to 18 month rebuild cycle can’t keep up with how fast pricing and go to market strategies evolve, and teams are tired of redoing the same work every year.

This is the year revenue logic moves inside the systems that already run the business, Salesforce and NetSuite, instead of relying on disconnected tools and fragile integrations. When pricing, product, and revenue logic live inside the core systems, companies can evolve how they sell and bill without breaking downstream finance every time monetization changes.

The most resilient companies will take this approach, eliminating the middleware tax that has slowed transformation for years.

2. Companies Stop Adding Revenue Systems and Embed Revenue Logic Instead

In 2026, companies will stop trying to solve quote-to-cash complexity by adding more systems. Years of layering CPQ, billing, usage tools, and reporting platforms have created duplication everywhere. Change one thing in pricing or packaging, and suddenly CRM, billing, revenue recognition, and reporting all need to be updated separately.

That approach won’t hold. Leading teams will focus on aligning how Salesforce and NetSuite handle pricing, usage, entitlements, and lifecycle events instead of expanding the stack. This alignment becomes critical as businesses introduce more hybrid, consumption, and commitment-based models.

This shift gives rise to embedded revenue infrastructure. Rather than introducing another standalone billing or monetization platform, companies will embed revenue logic directly into the systems they already run. The result is a shared revenue foundation that supports complex quote-to-cash without duplication, constant rework, or fragile integrations.

3. Hybrid Revenue Models Become Table Stakes

In 2026, hybrid revenue models will no longer be a competitive advantage. They will be the baseline. Subscriptions, usage, credits, commitments, and overages will coexist inside the same customer relationship, and companies will be expected to support all of them at once.

The difference will be execution. Leading companies will design their quote-to-cash architecture to handle multiple revenue motions simultaneously instead of optimizing for a single model. Teams that can operationalize this complexity will forecast more accurately, bill with fewer exceptions, and give customers clear visibility into what they’ve bought and consumed.

Companies that can’t will feel the impact quickly, not in pricing strategy debates, but in broken billing, unreliable forecasts, and frustrated customers.

4. Entitlements Become the Glue Between Sales, Product, and Finance

In 2026, entitlements become the new source of truth. Companies will be forced to reconcile what customers actually bought with what they actually have. Entitlements evolve into the connective tissue linking quoting, provisioning, billing, and renewals.

If your entitlement data is wrong, every downstream motion is wrong. The most effective teams will treat entitlements as infrastructure, not afterthoughts, keeping sales, product, and finance in sync and every renewal accurate. Clean entitlements mean clean revenue.

5. Finance Moves Upstream and Sets the Guardrails for Quote-to-Cash Design and Architecture

As revenue models become more complex, informal rules and downstream cleanup no longer scale. Pricing logic, usage handling, entitlements, and lifecycle changes carry immediate billing and revenue recognition implications. When those rules live in spreadsheets, custom code, or disconnected systems, finance is left reacting after problems appear.

In 2026, companies respond by formalizing quote-to-cash rules inside the systems that run the business. Pricing, usage, entitlements, and lifecycle constraints are embedded and enforceable, applied consistently from deal design through financial reporting. This shift makes governance possible upstream instead of downstream.

As a result, finance is no longer brought in after deals are designed. It is involved upfront, setting the constraints that quote-to-cash solutions must meet. Sales and RevOps still design deals, but they do so within guardrails that ensure billing, revenue recognition, and audit requirements are met by default.

6. Cleanup Beats Quote-to-Cash Reimplementation

Salesforce CPQ’s end-of-sale will tempt teams to blow everything up. In 2026, the smartest companies will resist that urge. Instead of launching massive quote-to-cash reimplementation projects, they will improve what they already have.

These teams will modernize in steps: clean the catalog, return to out-of-the-box where possible, embed the right logic, and move to Revenue Cloud Advanced when they are ready. Companies that attempt giant, multi-year reimplementations will spend 2026 managing risk and overruns instead of delivering business value.

Cleanup beats reimplementation every time.

7. The 60-Second Rule: Data Transparency Defines the Next Market Leaders

In 2026, data trust becomes the ultimate differentiator. Boards, investors, and executives will expect revenue answers on demand, not after days of reconciliation. The companies that can trace every deal from quote to contract to invoice to revenue in under 60 seconds will earn the confidence of their boards, investors, and markets alike.

Clean revenue lineage evolves from operational hygiene to strategic foresight. Teams will stop treating traceability as a reporting exercise and start designing for it upfront. With connected data architectures uniting bookings, billings, and revenue, finance shifts from proving what happened to driving what comes next, anchored in truth rather than assumptions.

8. The Rise of the Revenue Architect

A new role is emerging inside scaling organizations: the Revenue Architect. Equal parts business analyst, systems thinker, and finance translator, these leaders will bridge the gap between CRM and ERP, guiding architecture decisions that last. In 2026, companies that empower this role will build cleaner systems and scale faster than those that do not.

9. Companies That Rapidly Innovate Pricing Will Dominate and Grow

In 2026, pricing agility becomes the new growth lever. The fastest teams will stop treating pricing changes like mini transformations and start shipping new models continuously: commits, credits, outcomes, and more, all without breaking quoting or billing.

Companies that can do this will outpace competitors and compound growth. If you can’t change pricing fast, you won’t compete with companies that can.

What This Means for 2026

In 2026, companies that treat quote-to-cash as connective infrastructure will move faster, price more creatively, and operate with confidence across sales and finance. Those that continue to rely on fragmented systems, manual workarounds, and downstream cleanup will struggle to keep up.

Continuous helps leading organizations operationalize complex revenue models by embedding the revenue infrastructure that connects Salesforce and NetSuite, so change is possible without breaking billing, revenue, or trust.

____________________________________________________________________________

About Continuous

Continuous helps B2B companies modernize and future-proof quote-to-cash directly inside Salesforce and NetSuite. By embedding pricing, usage, and credit models into the core systems of record, Continuous creates a single, shared source of truth across sales and finance.

With Continuous, companies can support complex revenue models without adding new systems, breaking downstream finance, or re-implementing quote-to-cash every time the business changes. The result is faster monetization, cleaner revenue, and confidence that what sales sells can actually be billed, recognized, and reported accurately.

Beyond Billing: How Finance Leaders Are Revolutionizing NetSuite Revenue Operations

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Sean Joyce - NetSuite

Sean Joyce

For finance and RevOps teams using NetSuite, this article explains how embedding revenue operations into sales processes helps automate pricing, billing, and revenue without adding standalone billing tools.

TL;DR
- NetSuite customers are often pushed to add standalone billing tools to handle complex pricing and revenue workflows.
- Embedding revenue operations earlier in the sales cycle aligns quoting, billing, and revenue recognition inside NetSuite.
- Automated pricing, rating, billing, and credit tracking reduce manual work and compliance risk.
- A unified revenue operations approach gives finance real-time visibility without duplications or integrations.

You invested heavily in NetSuite, so why are you constantly pressured to add yet another specialized billing or revenue tool? Imagine if NetSuite could effortlessly handle any pricing, rating, billing, and revenue scenario without complicated integrations, duplicated workflows, or restrictions on your sales team’s flexibility.

Achieving this requires finance teams to proactively embed revenue operations directly into your sales processes from the outset, while also enhancing NetSuite’s capabilities to handle advanced rating and calculations not supported natively. Here’s exactly what you can do to strategically transform your NetSuite revenue operations:

Quote-to-Cash Alignment and Control

1. Proactively Embed Revenue Operations at the Start of the Sales Cycle

Integrate finance directly into your sales channels—including Salesforce and partner channels—to unify financial controls and streamline your end-to-end revenue operations.

Impact: Reduce manual tasks, simplify integration handoffs, minimize errors, and ensure consistency from quoting to billing.

2. Align Revenue Recognition Directly with Sales Contracts

Integrate revenue recognition rules from Salesforce or other CRM systems directly into NetSuite, automating and simplifying compliance with ASC 606 and IFRS 15.

Impact: Reduce compliance risks, simplify audits, and streamline financial reporting processes.

Automated Pricing, Rating, and Billing Efficiency

3. Replace Specialized Usage-Based Billing Vendors and Manual Rating with Embedded Automation

Implement scalable, automated usage-rating capabilities directly within NetSuite to translate complex pricing models seamlessly into accurate billing processes.

Impact: Simplify rating processes, reduce manual errors, and focus finance resources on strategic growth initiatives.

4. Fully Automate Revenue Processes to Accelerate Cash Flow

Eliminate manual invoicing, prorations, and billing adjustments by embedding automated processes directly within NetSuite.

Impact: Accelerate billing cycles, improve cash flow, and increase productivity and accuracy within your finance operations.

Real-Time Financial Visibility and Insights

5. Establish Real-Time Tracking of Prepaid Credits

Transition away from manual spreadsheet tracking by embedding real-time credit balance management within NetSuite, providing precise and reliable financial insights. Bonus: Ensure sales and customer success teams have real-time access to credit balances, enabling proactive management and customer engagement.

Impact: Ensure accurate credit management, eliminate revenue leakage, and enhance financial transparency.

6. Integrate Real-Time Revenue Analytics into Your Dashboards

Embed comprehensive analytics within NetSuite dashboards to deliver actionable insights into customer behaviors, usage trends, and overall revenue performance.Impact: Make informed, rapid decisions that proactively drive revenue growth and strengthen customer retention.

Future-Proof Your Revenue Stack with Continuous

Traditionally, achieving these revenue operations improvements required substantial investments in customizations, complex integrations, and ongoing maintenance. Continuous, however, uniquely addresses this challenge as the world’s first embedded revenue infrastructure offering. Our embedded technology within Salesforce and NetSuite delivers precisely what standalone SaaS recurring billing vendors have promised but struggled to deliver: seamless integration, simplified revenue management, and genuine flexibility.

Ready to simplify your NetSuite revenue processes immediately? Schedule a personalized demo today and see exactly how Continuous transforms your capabilities, enhances data consistency, and delivers immediate value.

Continuous empowers your finance team to automate complex processes, achieve seamless integration, and gain actionable, real-time insights—all without standalone billing systems.

Take control, simplify operations, and strategically position your finance team to lead growth with embedded revenue infrastructure.

Strengthening Our NetSuite Strategy: Welcoming Adnan Patel as Strategic Advisor

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Sean Joyce - NetSuite

Sean Joyce

For NetSuite customers and partners, this announcement explains why Adnan Patel joined Continuous as a strategic advisor and how his experience strengthens our NetSuite and ERP strategy.

TL;DR
- Continuous welcomed Adnan Patel as a strategic advisor focused on NetSuite and ERP.
- Adnan brings more than 18 years of NetSuite experience and leadership across 1,200 plus implementations.
- His guidance strengthens how Continuous supports embedded revenue infrastructure inside NetSuite.
- Customers and partners benefit from deeper NetSuite expertise and practitioner-led strategy..

At Continuous, we’re known for our innovations in recurring revenue. We’ve helped leading companies shift from subscriptions to usage, from custom billing to embedded revenue infrastructure, always with a focus on making Salesforce work better for Sales, RevOps, and Finance teams.

Today, we’re excited to share that Adnan Patel is joining Continuous as a Strategic Advisor, focused on NetSuite and ERP.

“I’ve spent my career helping companies get more out of NetSuite,” said Adnan Patel. “What stood out about Continuous is their focus on embedding revenue logic directly into the systems teams already use. It’s a smarter way to simplify complexity without adding another tool.”

A Recognized Leader in the NetSuite Ecosystem

Adnan has had a massive impact on the NetSuite ecosystem. He’s the founder of Sixred, an eight-time NetSuite 5-Star Award winner and one of NetSuite’s most respected Solution Providers. Over the course of 18+ years, his team has led more than 1,200 NetSuite implementations across industries, helping organizations scale smarter with cloud ERP.

When Sixred was acquired by Crowe LLP, Adnan took on the role of Principal, where he led Crowe’s global NetSuite practice, built industry accelerators, mentored NetSuite consultants, and helped clients modernize finance and operations with confidence. He’s a familiar face at SuiteWorld and other Oracle NetSuite events, where he’s shared insights on scaling ERP practices and driving successful cloud transformations.

“Adnan understands what works best with scaling ERP systems for growing companies,” said John Banks, Founder and CEO of Continuous. “His applied experience with thousands of NetSuite projects offers a practical, tested perspective as we expand our footprint and continue supporting Salesforce and NetSuite users.”

Building the Bridge Between CRM and ERP

Continuous has always taken a different approach to billing and revenue infrastructure. Our mission is to prove that the most scalable model isn’t a third-party system, but one that extends the CRM and ERP platforms customers already use.

With Salesforce, that means embedding deeply into the Revenue Cloud Advanced experience. Now, with Adnan’s guidance, we’re doing the same within the NetSuite ecosystem.

Whether customers use NetSuite Advanced Financials or SuiteBilling, the goal is the same:
Make usage-based pricing, credit drawdowns, revenue accounting and reporting easier by embedding logic where it belongs.

We see a future where NetSuite customers can manage usage, rating, and billing scenarios without introducing yet another standalone billing system. With Adnan’s experience, we’re building that future on a strong foundation.

What This Means for Our Customers and Partners

Adnan’s involvement will accelerate product development on NetSuite and strengthen how we support system integrators, NetSuite sellers, and implementation partners. It also ensures we’re learning from the best—bringing a practitioner’s lens to every step we take.

If you’re a NetSuite customer exploring usage-based pricing, or a partner helping clients operationalize complex billing models, we’d love to connect. With Adnan on board, we’re more ready than ever to support your success.

Want to learn more about how Continuous supports Salesforce and NetSuite customers?

Get a tailored review of your current architecture and personalized insights on where Continuous can drive the most value.

👉 Fill out this quick form and one of our experts will follow up with your survey—no pressure, no commitment.

The End of Subscriptions: Why Prepaid Usage Models Are Replacing Traditional SaaS Pricing

Posted on June 3, 2025 by Sean Joyce - Embedded Revenue Infrastructure

Sean Joyce

For SaaS leaders rethinking subscriptions, this article explains why prepaid usage pricing is replacing traditional models, and how credits and commitments better align revenue with product consumption.

TL;DR
- Traditional SaaS subscriptions no longer align well with how customers consume modern software.
- Pure usage-based pricing improves fairness but creates forecasting and budgeting challenges.
- Prepaid usage models combine flexibility for customers with predictability for vendors.
- Turning prepaid commitments into revenue requires visibility into credits, usage, and adoption.

The Shift That Broke the Subscription Model

For years, SaaS companies relied on subscriptions. Predictable pricing, recurring invoices, and standardized contracts became the default.

But that’s starting to change.

Today’s most successful tech companies—like Snowflake, AWS, and Databricks—are shifting to prepaid usage models: savings plans, credit pools, and enterprise commitments that tie revenue to actual product consumption.

This isn’t just a new pricing option. It’s a deeper change in how revenue is created, recognized, and managed. And it’s quickly becoming the standard for modern B2B software.

Subscriptions Worked—Until They Didn’t

The subscription model had a good run. It gave SaaS companies predictable revenue and simplified customer onboarding. But it was never really aligned with how customers use software. You committed to a package, paid every month or year, and hoped you got value out of it.

The result? A lot of shelfware. Unused seats. Over-provisioned tiers. Products collecting dust while the meter keeps running.

That misalignment was tolerated when usage was steady and predictable. Subscriptions were a step forward from perpetual licensing—but they never fully lived up to the SaaS promise of aligning pricing with value. As companies began consuming APIs, infrastructure, and services with highly variable demand, the cracks in the model became harder to ignore.

Customers wanted flexibility. Finance teams wanted efficiency. Vendors needed a better way to show value.

That’s when usage-based pricing entered the picture.

But going fully usage-based creates its own problems. It’s hard to forecast. Hard to budget. And it gives vendors no guarantee of revenue; even if the product is delivering real value.

That’s why the smartest companies aren’t choosing between subscriptions and usage—they’re adopting prepaid usage models that offer the best of both.

They’re not selling subscriptions. They’re not selling pure usage. They’re selling prepaid usage commitments: enterprise savings plans, credit pools, or drawdowns tied to forecasted demand. Customers lock in value. Vendors lock in a commitment. Revenue recognition starts when usage begins.

Why Pure Usage-Based Pricing Isn’t the Endgame

Moving from subscriptions to usage-based pricing was a big step forward. It aligned cost with value. If a customer uses more, they pay more. If they use less, they pay less. That feels fair—and for a while, it looked like the future.

But for both vendors and customers, pay-as-you-go has real limitations.

On the vendor side, usage volatility makes revenue hard to predict. Sales teams have less leverage to drive large deals. Finance teams can’t model growth with confidence.

On the customer side, it’s hard to budget. CFOs hate open-ended invoices. Procurement teams want predictability. Even if the pricing is fair, it feels risky.

That’s why most leading companies didn’t stop at usage-based pricing. They layered on prepaid usage models—enterprise savings plans, committed spend, or flex credits. These offer volume-based discounts in exchange for upfront commitments. Customers get flexibility. Vendors get predictability.

It’s not just about pricing differently. It’s about changing how both sides think about value and commitment.

Snowflake: The Playbook for Prepaid Usage at Scale

No company has popularized prepaid usage models more than Snowflake.

Snowflake doesn’t sell subscriptions or push seat-based packages. Instead, Snowflake sells usage commitments—enterprise contracts where customers prepay for credits they can draw down over time. It’s flexible for the customer and predictable for Snowflake. And it shows up in one powerful number: Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO).

As of their latest earnings, Snowflake reported $6.7 billion in RPO, up 34% year-over-year.

That number is huge. But here’s the part most people miss:

RPO isn’t recognized revenue. It’s just a committed contract. The revenue only lands when customers actually use the credits.

This is the heart of the prepaid usage model. You lock in a deal up front, but the real success depends on customer adoption. If usage lags, revenue recognition stalls. If usage spikes, revenue accelerates.

From the outside, it looks like Snowflake has cracked the code. In reality, they’ve built the infrastructure to make this model work—usage visibility, alignment across sales and success, and real-time data that ties consumption to value.

Most companies fall short. They adopt prepaid models but don’t operationalize them. Credit balances live in billing systems or spreadsheets. Customer-facing teams don’t know what’s been used. Finance can’t forecast. Sales can’t spot expansion.

The result? RPO just sits on the books instead of turning into revenue.

You Can’t Drive Revenue If You Can’t See the Credits

When revenue depends on prepaid commitments, credit visibility isn’t just a back-office metric. It’s a growth lever.

But in most companies, credit data is buried—tucked away in billing systems, or hidden in finance-owned spreadsheets. By the time someone realizes a customer hasn’t touched their credits, it’s too late to act.

That’s a problem:

If usage is lagging, it’s a customer success issue
If there’s a pile of unused credits, it’s a sales opportunity
If finance can’t see burn rates, it’s a forecasting risk

Yet almost no one surfaces this data in the tools where people actually work.

CSMs are in Salesforce. So are account execs. But the data they need to drive adoption, expansion, and renewals is stuck elsewhere. The result? Slower growth. Lower retention. Missed revenue.

The solution isn’t more reporting. It’s embedding credit visibility—balances, burn rates, usage trends—directly into CRM and ERP.

That’s how you align sales, success, and finance around what’s been committed, what’s been used, and what’s left to earn.

Embedded Revenue Infrastructure: Built for the Prepaid Era

Most billing systems weren’t built for prepaid usage. Legacy vendors assumed static subscriptions and monthly renewals.

In response, a wave of new usage-based billing vendors emerged. Many handle ingestion and rating well—but that’s only part of the equation. But they’re usually standalone systems, disconnected from the tools teams actually use.

They solve for calculation—but not for adoption, visibility, or execution.

That’s where Continuous is different.

We’re a usage-based billing platform, too—but we’re built to work within your core systems. We don’t just calculate usage. We make it visible and actionable in Salesforce, NetSuite, and other platforms you already rely on.

Sales teams can see credit consumption on the customer record. Finance can forecast based on real-time usage. Customer success can intervene before credits go unused.

This is Embedded Revenue Infrastructure.

It’s not just billing. It’s infrastructure that helps teams turn prepaid commitments into recognized revenue—without another system to log into, and without another silo to manage.

Ready to Turn Prepaid Commitments Into Revenue?

Our Rapid Technical Assessment helps B2B teams understand what’s working, what’s not, and how to operationalize prepaid usage inside Salesforce and NetSuite.

We’ll review your current architecture, identify blockers, and map out how to unlock usage-based revenue—without adding another standalone system.

Request your free Revenue Operations Assessment
Get a tailored review of your current architecture and personalized insights on where Continuous can drive the most value.

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