Hudl

Case Study

“During our high-volume busy season, we would have to add additional days to close the books each year. With the move to Zuora’s integrated solution between Billing and Revenue, we have been able to maintain a consistent close schedule.” — Stephanie Thorin, Senior Manager of Revenue Accounting

Company:
Hudl
Industry:
Software and technology
The Customer

Founded in 2006, Hudl empowers more than 220,000 teams worldwide, at every level of sports, to reach their potential. Based in Lincoln, Nebraska and fueled by a global team of more than 3,200 professionals in 17 countries, Hudl changes the way sports are seen. A complete suite of video and data products ensures teams have the information and insights they need to do their best. Hudl's smart cameras capture every second of the action, and their robust software makes that video easy to access, analyze, share and learn from. Hudl even enables fans and community members to be part of the action with livestreaming and other tools to follow the team. That’s why more than 6M users across 40+ sports trust Hudl to see the game differently.

The Challenge

In order to comply with ASC 606, Hudl needed to find an efficient solution that would enable them to meet the new requirements. In addition, during Hudl's peak season each year, the revenue accounting team would typically have to add at least one or two days to their close window due to the extra time it took to perform manual tasks. Lastly, they anticipated added benefits in finding an agile solution that would allow them to scale more efficiently in the future, as growth and complex contracts increased.

The Solution

When Hudl had to move to ASC 606, the company implemented Zuora Revenue, a standalone solution to record single-billed contracts for all entities. That switch moved the team closer to where it needed to be in terms of removing manual tasks from the workload. However, the real positive effects started showing when Hudl implemented Zuora Billing along with Zuora Revenue. Those two solutions together resolved additional manual processes, which helped the Hudl accounting team to work more efficiently and shorten the time frame to close consolidated revenue.

The Benefits

With the addition of the Zuora Billing-Revenue Integration, Hudl's revenue accounting team was able to maintain a consistent close window even during the peak season. Plus, the team has been able to reduce its number of manual revenue recognition processes by 25% and can quickly pull reports for better analysis at the end of every month. With this extra time, Thorin says her team now enjoys expanded roles focusing on more complex revenue scenarios, spending extra time on analysis, and defining and building best practices for the future, all while achieving a better work-life balance.

“During close, I used to spend a lot of time in the evenings, working until 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. I do not need to do that anymore. I have three kids, and I used to work while they were sleeping — I’m sleeping much better myself now.”

— Stephanie Thorin
Senior Manager of Revenue Accounting

Founded in 2006, Hudl is a global leader in sports technology based in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company’s smart cameras can capture every moment of youth, collegiate, and even professional sporting events, with analysis tools that provide extensive insights to tell the user exactly what happened in the game. Hudl has more than 3,500 employees and operates out of 15 countries; it has eight million registered users, and its app has been downloaded more than 16 million times.

With the new requirements of ASC 606 and rapid expansion of the business, Hudl had to find a solution that would also allow them to stay compliant while aso enabling them to scale in the future as a growing company.

“We’re constantly getting new acquisitions,” Thorin says. “The business is growing so fast.”

In addition to making adjustments to accommodate this business growth and comply with the new accounting standards established in ASC 606, the organization was also undergoing major updates to its pricing. For a cyclical business like Hudl—work often picks up in the summer—it was especially important to Thorin to remain efficient during those busy times.

“During our high-volume busy season, we would have to add additional days to close the books,” Thorin says. She shares that she’d often have to stay online deep into the night, completing her day’s work well after her three kids went to sleep. “During the close, I used to spend a lot of time in the evenings, working until 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. I do not need to do that anymore [thanks to Zuora Revenue],” she says.

With change already on the horizon, Hudl decided to get a few of its international entities started with Zuora Revenue. Among other benefits, the revenue recognition software helps to automate some of the tasks that many accounting teams used to do manually. Indeed, making that switch helped move the Hudl team closer to where it needed to be in terms of automating those pesky manual tasks.

Additionally, Zuora Revenue now makes it easier for Hudl’s accountants to quickly pull reports for better analysis at the end of every month.

But the real positive effects started showing when Hudl implemented Zuora Billing connected to Zuora Revenue. Those two solutions together resolved additional manual processes, which helped the Hudl accounting team to work more efficiently and avoid prior missed deadlines. In fact, Thorin estimates that Zuora’s tools roughly halved the amount of time it takes Hudl’s accountants to close. By their 2023 high-volume season, the integration of the two solutions resulted in no additional days to close.

And how about those late nights, when Thorin would find herself working well after her family went to sleep?

“I’m sleeping much better myself now,” she says with a smile.

With the extra time that Zuora Revenue affords her team, Thorin says that they can spend more time doing analysis, digging into how to make its systems more efficient and accurate — generally, the team is spending more time on building better for the future.

As Hudl works to onboard more of its entities with Zuora, Thorin is most excited about fully utilizing its tools. There are more integrations, like one for CPQ, that Hudl hopes to accomplish down the line. In the near future, Thorin envisions a team that can quickly and easily report to management what happened in the last month, with no sleepless nights required.

“I’m most excited to fully utilize the Zuora Revenue system. We’re working towards it, and I’m excited to use all of the benefits that the Zuora system gives us.” — Stephanie Thorin, Senior Manager of Revenue Accounting

“From the eight entities that are already in the Zuora system, we’ve seen considerable effects on the amount of time it takes to close.” — Stephanie Thorin, Senior Manager of Revenue Accounting

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