REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Zuora, Inc., (NYSE:ZUO) the leading cloud-based subscription management platform provider, announced today that Briggs & Stratton, a Fortune 1000 provider of power equipment, is using the Zuora Central platform to power InfoHub — its recently-launched new IoT connected services platform that solves a broad range of challenges for municipalities and commercial landscapers.

While worldwide spending in IoT is predicted to surpass the $1 trillion mark in 2022, according to IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide, many industrial manufacturers are still in the early stages. But Briggs & Stratton is a transformational leader, creating opportunities with the recent launch of two IoT solutions.

“With high market share for residential engines, and growing market share for commercial engines and products, we’ve been successful in this space for a long time. We also recognize that there are opportunities to support our customers with subscription services, not just products, that can help them become more efficient, productive and successful,” says Rick Carpenter, VP of Corporate Marketing at Briggs & Stratton. “Connected products, or Internet of Things, are anticipated to grow to 20 billion products by 2021. With a thorough understanding of our customer’s needs, we are pioneering InfoHub, an equipment-level business solution that allows customers to track their equipment, crews, maintenance schedule, job costing, and pretty much anything else about their business that can help them grow.”

Briggs & Stratton used the Zuora Central platform to launch its first IoT platform, InfoHub for Commercial Turf, a brand-agnostic landscaping tracking tool that solves a major pain point for commercial cutters: tracking crews and equipment in real time. The subscription offering gives landscapers insights that help reduce downtime, increase efficiency and productivity, and better manage labor costs (which represent up to 40 percent of a cutter’s expenses, according to Briggs & Stratton). As a result, landscapers can run their businesses more effectively in order to drive profitability.

Zuora Central enables Briggs & Stratton to seamlessly manage the billing complexity that comes with shifting to a subscription business model, helping the company alleviate time spent on manual operations. With Zuora, they have streamlined processes with automated billing, invoicing, and payment runs; an ecommerce portal for customers; and the flexibility to experiment with pricing and packaging including promotion codes and incentives to drive customer acquisition.

InfoHub currently has more than 1,500 customers and is now expanding into larger businesses and even municipalities that have thousands of pieces of equipment, like the City of Chicago Parks.

Says Carpenter, “We have been known for launching innovations around our engines and products. Now, we are looking holistically at how we can help our customers grow. In just a year, we went from offering customers something completely new that they didn’t even know could exist, to a highly valued service for landscapers that helps them scale their businesses. And the Zuora platform has helped us do that.”

Read more about Briggs & Stratton in the company case study here.