New: Flexible Billing Now Live for Azure Private Offers

At Suger, we’re excited to announce full support for Flexible Billing Schedules in Azure Marketplace. With Azure Private Offer flexible billing now supported in Suger, you can streamline procurement, unlock larger enterprise deals and collaborate more effectively with channel partners.

Flexible Billing = Faster Sales, Larger Contracts

Enterprise buyers often face strict budget cycles and procurement processes. Rigid billing schedules can slow down or block deal approvals. 

Meet your buyers where they are, with billing that fits their budget cycles and decision timelines. With flexible billing, sellers can:

• Set any amount on any date, monthly, quarterly, or custom installments
  
  
• Match buyer’s budget cycles, sync with fiscal calendars and budget release schedules
  
  
• Structure long-term contracts with quarterly or semiannual schedules

And for buyers, flexible billing means:

• More flexibility on long-term contracts and large purchases
  
  
• Tailored billing terms that fit internal budgeting and approval timelines

Real Use Cases, Real Business Impact

These are real-world examples showing how flexible billing helps close high-value enterprise deals:

1. Enterprise SaaS Deal with Variable Installments Over 3 Years
   

With Flexible billing feature, sellers can set up $2M from day 1 and $5M, $3M, $10M, $10M, $20M, and $30M paid across 6 scheduled dates over 3 years. 

Business Value:

1. • Supports phased implementation of the product
     
     
   • Aligns with fiscal year caps and approval thresholds
     
     
   • Enables accurate revenue recognition for ISV on specific dates
     
     
2. Future Start billing for buyer onboarding

With Flexible billing feature, sellers offer a 2-month free period, then bill $10M + two Year 2 installments.

Business Value:

• • Encourages deal commitment before full rollout
    
    
  • Gives buyers time to roll out internally
    
    
  • Avoids immediate budget burden for buyer

How it works

Flexible billing is now supported across Azure Private Offers and it’s easy to set up directly in the Suger Console or Salesforce.

• Create a flexible billing schedule in Suger Console

Click “New Private Offer,” select your Azure product, set an absolute price, and choose a billing frequency. You can also choose to bill immediately or delay the first charge to a future date. Learn more here.

• Create in Suger Salesforce App directly

Navigate to the opportunity detail page, click “New Offer” from the Suger App, select the Azure product, and configure billing frequency and pricing directly within your CRM.

With flexible billing, you empower your buyers to say “yes” faster by aligning payments with their internal processes. Start leveraging these new improvements to flexible billing today.

FAQs

1. Can I purchase all products in the marketplace with a flexible billing schedule? 

-No. Flexible schedules are only available in a private offer for SaaS products with flat-rate or flat-rate with custom meters; Virtual machine software reservations; and Professional Services products

2. Can I buy a product with quarterly billing?

-Yes. The new capabilities enable publishers to create a Flexible schedule specifying dates and amounts to be charged. Charges could be scheduled to occur quarterly for one or more plans.

3. How will flexible billing apply for metered billing, when future usage cost is unknown? 

-For SaaS plans with metered billing, the publisher can offer a flexible schedule for the base flat-rate price only. The Metered usage or overage charges will be calculated and billed separately each month. 

4. Can I change SaaS plans or billing schedules after the purchase?

-Once accepted, all flexible schedules within a private offer become locked and cannot be modified. Customers would need to cancel their subscription(s) and work with the vendor to cancel the existing private offer and be provided a new private offer with updated details to accept and repurchase. 

5. When am I getting invoiced for each installment? Is it on the charge date? No, your Azure invoicing cadence remains unchanged. The charge date in a flexible schedule determines the next invoice cycle for billing. Multiple charges within the same cycle will appear as separate line items on your Azure invoice. Learn more about billing and invoicing.

6. Will the same flexible billing schedule apply to my subscription renewal in the future? 

No. Since private offers with flexible schedules are highly customized, the dates and amounts associated with the schedule will not be renewed. For SaaS plans it is recommended to turn recurring billing off at the time of purchase to prevent accidental auto-renewal. Virtual Machines and Professional Services are not eligible for auto-renewal by design. Talk with your vendor to receive a new private offer for any continued usage of products and services.

7. I already have a running SaaS service with monthly charges. I want to switch it to quarterly charges after the next renewal. What should I do?

You should talk to the publisher and ask for a private offer with a flexible schedule. After you accept the private offer, you will need to repurchase the product plan with the flexible schedule and cancel your existing monthly subscription.

8. Will flexible billing purchases count towards my Azure consumption commitment with Microsoft (MACC)?

If the product is Azure benefit eligible a customer’s MACC will decrement by the amount of each charge upon invoice from Microsoft. See Azure consumption commitment benefit for more details.