How Alvina Antar And Zuora Drive The Subscription Economy

8/14/18

By Peter High. Published on Forbes

When Alvina Antar joined subscription-based software company, Zuora, four years ago as the first ever CIO, she did so after having been a customer of the company when she was the Director of Mergers & Acquisitions for Dell Information Technology. From the customer’s perspective, she recognized that means of procuring technology was shifting in many cases toward software as a service (SaaS) models where companies paid only for what they used. Zuora has dubbed this model as the subscription economy. As Antar notes, “Modern consumers are shifting from traditional ownership and demanding new consumption models which allow them to subscribe to the outcomes they want when they want them.”

Antar has fostered a community of CIOs from across Zuora’s customer base to foster learning and collaboration in new ways. She is also changing the way in which the IT department does things, as she has developed a Zuora on Zuora program, where IT acts as the company’s first and best customer, offering insights into Zuora’s product offering. She describes her experience and the implications of the subscription economy in this interview.

(To read future interviews like this one, please follow me on Twitter @PeterAHigh.)

Peter High: Please describe Zuora’s business, and your role as CIO.

Alvina Antar: Zuora provides cloud-based software that enables any company in any industry to successfully launch, manage, transform, and thrive as a subscription business. Our vision is simple: we call it “The World Subscribed.” It’s the idea that one day every company will be a part of the Subscription Economy. My belief in our vision and seeing it first-hand as a customer is the reason I joined Zuora four years ago.

Our mission is to enable all companies to be successful in the Subscription Economy and our solution is purpose-built for dynamic, recurring revenue business models. Zuora Central is the system of record for subscription businesses. It functions as an intelligent subscription management hub that automates and orchestrates the entire subscription order-to-cash process, including billing and revenue recognition.

To read the full article, please visit Forbes