Automation and analytics improve enterprise awareness and control of revenue lifecycles, new research says

Enterprise revenue software is evolving to help companies better understand and act on information throughout the revenue cycle while adapting to the growing complexity of functions such as pricing and billing, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III).

The 2026 ISG Buyers Guides™ for Revenue and Recurring Billing find that organizations are seeking greater visibility and analysis of revenue-related activities and more flexible software for pricing, selling and billing for an expanding array of products and services. They are rapidly integrating AI into revenue intelligence platforms and other systems to increase automation, improve consistency and accelerate sales cycles.

"Revenue intelligence strengthens execution by linking evidence and insight to actions that improve business outcomes," said Barika Pace, director of research, Office of Revenue, ISG, and lead author of the report. "AI is empowering companies to scale and adapt their revenue operations for emerging opportunities."

The ISG Buyers Guide research provides the rankings and ratings of 50 software providers and their products for revenue and recurring billing operations. The series includes guides to software for revenue intelligence, recurring billing and configure, price and quote (CPQ) functions.

Revenue intelligence software, the data and decisioning layer of the revenue stack, complements customer relationship management (CRM) platforms by automatically capturing information about the full context of interactions between buyers and sellers. Advanced analysis of this data, which may come from emails, calendars, meetings, calls and other sources, helps to identify engagement patterns, deal momentum, risks and likely outcomes. Using these observations, revenue intelligence can generate recommendations for sellers, managers and revenue leaders.

AI is a major driver of the shift in revenue intelligence from retrospective analysis to continuous execution. By 2028, one-third of enterprises will use generative AI in revenue lifecycles to generate pricing guidance, contract language and renewal recommendations, ISG says. AI tools can improve seller productivity, making deals more consistent and sales cycles shorter if they are connected to governed workflows and use trusted data and decision logic.

Smoothly integrated into daily workflows, AI-enabled revenue intelligence can prevent sellers from spending time logging activities and managers from making decisions based on subjective judgments. It provides a consistent view across teams, regions and segments so companies can quickly identify urgent developments such as stalled deals and changes in buyer sentiment.

Organizations evaluating revenue intelligence software should consider security, reliability and integration with existing CRM and other systems, ISG says. Due to the sensitive nature of data involved in the revenue lifecycle, platforms should enable role-based access, regional policies, data residency controls and other safeguards without excessive technical effort. Companies should understand how data is collected, retained and used, how AI models are monitored and where human review is required.

"AI-enabled revenue intelligence is an increasingly important part of how companies make money, interact with customers and grow," Pace said. "It needs to be strictly governed and closely aligned with all core business operations."

For the 2026 ISG Buyers Guides for Revenue and Recurring Billing, ISG produced three Buyers Guides: Revenue Intelligence, Recurring Billing and Configure, Price, Quote. Each covers the essential platform categories and products in the given technology segment. A total of 50 providers were assessed: Apparound, AppDirect, Aria Systems, Aviso, Backstory, BillingPlatform, Bit2win, Chargebee, Conga Advantage CPQ, Conga Billing, Conga Smart CPQ, CSG, DealHub, Epicor, Everstage, Experlogix, GleanView, Gong, Gotransverse, HubSpot, Infor, keylight, LogiSense, Maxio, Mediafly, Microsoft, OneBill, Oracle, Oracle NetSuite, Outreach, Paddle, Pricefx, Recurly, RecVue, Revenue Grid, Revenue.io, Revalize, Salesforce, Salesloft, Salesloft (Clari), SAP, servicePath, Stripe, Tacton, Terret, Vendavo, Yagna iQ, Zilliant, Zoho and Zuora.

ISG rates software providers’ products in five evaluation categories: Overall, Product Experience, Capability, Platform and Customer Experience. Providers ranked in the top three for each evaluation category are named as Leaders. Within each platform category, those that meet the greatest proportion of our evaluation criteria are named as Overall Leaders.

Salesforce was the top Overall Leader in Revenue Intelligence, followed by Gong and Salesloft. Zuora was the top Overall Leader in Recurring Billing, followed by Stripe and BillingPlatform. Oracle was the top Overall Leader in Configure, Price, Quote, followed by Conga Advantage CPQ and Conga Smart CPQ.

In addition, the following providers were rated as Exemplary or Innovative in each of the Buyers Guides:

Revenue Intelligence: Gong, Outreach, Salesforce and Salesloft were rated Exemplary. Aviso and Salesloft (Clari) were rated Innovative.

Recurring Billing: BillingPlatform, Chargebee, Conga Billing, Gotransverse, Oracle, Salesforce, Stripe and Zuora were rated Exemplary. Aria Systems and Oracle NetSuite were rated Innovative.

Configure, Price, Quote: Bit2win, Conga Advantage CPQ, Conga Smart CPQ, HubSpot, Oracle, Revalize, Salesforce, Tacton, Zoho and Zuora were rated Exemplary. Epicor, Everstage and SAP were rated Innovative.

The ISG Buyers Guides for Revenue and Recurring Billing are the distillation of more than a year of market and product research efforts. The research is not sponsored nor influenced by software providers and is conducted solely to help enterprises optimize their business and IT software investments.

Visit this webpage to learn more about the ISG Buyers Guides for Revenue and Recurring Billing and read executive summaries of each of the three reports. The complete reports, including provider rankings across seven product and customer experience dimensions and detailed research findings on each provider, are available by contacting ISG.

About ISG

ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data and research, in-depth knowledge and governance of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,500 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.

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Press Contacts:

Laura Hupprich, ISG

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Erik Arvidson, Matter Communications for ISG

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