Your Billing Specialist

IndependentNot a sales pitch. An honest assessment from someone with no platform to sell. Every vendor rep will tell you their system is the best fit — because their job depends on it. I don't have that conflict. · BillingA billing platform doesn't operate alone. It touches CRM, CPQ, payments, ERP, data warehousing, dunning logic, invoice templates, and customer communications. I work the whole seam, not just the platform's config screen. · SpecialistNot "consultant." A consultant advises. I do that too — but specialist signals that I'm also the one in the system doing the work: configuring rate plans, writing migration scripts, reconciling the data. Tactical, not just advisory.

Systems I've worked in
Salesforce· HubSpot· Avalara· Anrok· Stripe· Adyen· Braintree· Salesforce· HubSpot· Avalara· Anrok· Stripe· Adyen· Braintree· Salesforce· HubSpot· Avalara· Anrok· Stripe· Adyen· Braintree· Salesforce· HubSpot· Avalara· Anrok· Stripe· Adyen· Braintree·
Zuora Ordway(certified) Maxio Recurly Stripe Billing Zuora Ordway(certified) Maxio Recurly Stripe Billing Zuora Ordway(certified) Maxio Recurly Stripe Billing Zuora Ordway(certified) Maxio Recurly Stripe Billing
NetSuite· QuickBooks Online· Snowflake· BigQuery· Databricks· Fivetran· Segment· Thousands of spreadsheet· NetSuite· QuickBooks Online· Snowflake· BigQuery· Databricks· Fivetran· Segment· Thousands of spreadsheet· NetSuite· QuickBooks Online· Snowflake· BigQuery· Databricks· Fivetran· Segment· Thousands of spreadsheet· NetSuite· QuickBooks Online· Snowflake· BigQuery· Databricks· Fivetran· Segment· Thousands of spreadsheet·
Range

I've seen it all — happy to talk through yours

Every business's billing setup is a little different — different contracts, different pricing models, different systems duct-taped together over the years. After 9 platform migrations and years of hands-on implementation work, very little surprises me anymore. If you're not sure where your setup fits, that's exactly what the first call is for.

Use case library

Scenarios I've actually worked

A sample of the specific problems that show up across billing migrations and implementations — see if yours is in here.

Zuora-to-Ordway Migration

Early renewals, segment detection, discount flattening, and full charge-level plan mapping — done without breaking renewals mid-flight.

Multi-Entity & Multi-Currency Billing

Consolidated billing and reporting across subsidiaries, entities, and currencies without duplicating work in every system.

Usage-Based & Hybrid Pricing

Metering design, rating rules, and overage reconciliation for consumption-based and hybrid subscription models.

Deferred Revenue Cutover

Rebuilding revenue schedules cleanly after an acquisition or platform migration, with an opening balance that ties out.

Dunning & Involuntary Churn Recovery

Retry logic, customer communications, and recovery reporting that actually gets documented instead of tribal-knowledge.

Sales Tax Automation

Avalara and Anrok rollouts across jurisdictions, integrated cleanly into the billing and invoicing flow.

CPQ-to-Billing Integration

Quote-to-cash handoffs between Salesforce CPQ and billing platforms that don't silently drop or duplicate data.

IPO & Audit Readiness

Billing controls, deferred revenue schedules, and documentation prepared to hold up under Big 4 scrutiny.

How you can bring me in

Project transformation, or fractional support

Two ways to work together — a defined project with a start and finish, or ongoing senior coverage without a full-time hire.

Project Transformation

A defined start, a defined finish

You need a platform selected, implemented, or migrated — and you need it done by someone who's done it before, not learning on your dime. Scoped, fixed-timeline, with a clear handoff at the end.

  • Platform selection & implementation
  • Zuora-to-Ordway and equivalent migrations
  • Revenue systems architecture across CRM, CPQ, billing, ERP
  • Fixed scope, fixed timeline, documented handoff
Fractional Support

Senior billing expertise, on call

You don't need a full-time hire — you need someone who already knows the system on call for pricing changes, audits, IPO prep, or the next thing that breaks. Monthly retainer, no ramp-up time.

  • Ongoing monthly retainer, scoped to your needs
  • Direct access — no account managers, no offshore delivery
  • Pricing changes, audit prep, post-acquisition integration
  • Scale up or down as your billing needs change

Simple to start, fast to value

Most engagements are scoped and underway within two weeks.

01 / Discovery

Free intro call

30 minutes to understand your billing stack and goals — no pitch, just discovery.

02 / Scope

Scoped proposal

Clear deliverables, timeline, and fixed or retainer pricing. No surprises.

03 / Build

Embedded work

I work directly in your systems alongside your team — async-first with regular check-ins.

04 / Handoff

Handoff & docs

Everything documented. Your team owns the outcome. Optional ongoing retainer available.

Tips for startups, from a billing expert

"Quote-to-cash — such a simple phrase. But every one of my clients shows up like a patient with a severe headache from it."

Broadly speaking: if you're billing recurring or one-time charges and struggling, it's usually a process problem, not a tooling one. Where picking the right vendor actually matters is complex usage-based billing — selling credits upfront, bonus units, stacked discounts, credit lots that need to recognize FIFO, or a billing system that also needs to meter incoming usage.

Do

  • Model and document every sales scenario in your billing system — know how many customers sit in each motion, and quantify it.
  • Determine whether you should be using SSP allocation.
  • Simplify the process as much as possible. If you're investing in a subledger, try to avoid sending transactions to your ERP — sometimes it's unavoidable, but there are only a few good reasons not to.

Don't

  • Let sales go rogue with one-off deal terms that don't map to a documented scenario.
  • Let the same charge switch liability accounts mid-contract — 50% upfront and 50% at the end means deferred revenue becomes accrued revenue halfway through. No system handles payment-plan logic like this well, and contract changes get messy fast.
  • Rush implementations.

Hi, I'm Joel Cummings

I'm an independent billing systems specialist. This isn't a consulting firm with a billing practice — billing systems are all I do.

I'm Ordway Certified, and I've led 9 billing platform migrations for SaaS companies from Series A through late growth stage — and counting. That includes Zuora-to-Ordway migrations involving early-renewal logic and charge-level mapping most teams would have outsourced to a much larger firm. My background spans hands-on platform configuration, ASC 606 revenue recognition, and large-scale system rollouts, including a 136-location enterprise implementation earlier in my career.

Working with me means direct access to senior expertise. No account managers, no offshore delivery. Just clear, fast work your CFO and auditors will thank you for.

Let's talk about your situation
Get in touch

Let's look at your billing stack

Whether you're choosing a platform, migrating off one, or trying to figure out why renewals keep breaking — the first conversation costs nothing, and comes with an honest answer.