Quivo, a leading European 3PL provider with €50M+ in annual revenue serving 800+ customers, had a problem most CFOs don't realize they have: their billing system was deciding their pricing strategy.
"We were restricting the processes on our billing tool."
Quivo, a leading European 3PL provider with €50M+ in annual revenue serving 800+ customers, had a problem most CFOs don't realize they have: their billing system was deciding their pricing strategy.
Their ERP wasn't just a back-office tool. It was making strategic decisions and saying "no" to opportunities.
Quivo's billing complexity rivals enterprise telecommunications providers:
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"We feel like we are much less restricted now. Before, we had that calculation on mixed models which was not working out anymore. The customer is complaining very fast if they feel it's not working out from their perspective."
Lutz, CFO, Quivo
The operational problems were visible. The financial bleeding was silent:
"In the old system, if you had not entered any price, the system would just proceed and not charge anything. You would not get a warning or an error. You are just going to lose the revenue. This uncovered a couple of cases where we actually forgot to enter prices and it went by unnoticed for some time."
Dominik, CTO, Quivo
While revenue leaked and opportunities were lost, the team was drowning in manual work:
"We had some customers that complained our reports are very hard to process automatically. The format was not nicely processable—different fields for each type of charge. Customers needed to write scripts depending on what they were processing."
Dominik, CTO, Quivo
After evaluating multiple billing platforms, Quivo chose billr.io for a reason that changed everything: billr would adapt to their business rather than forcing them to adapt to the platform.
Why Other Platforms Failed
Quivo evaluated Chargebee. On paper, it seemed capable. The problem emerged when they looked at implementation:
Chargebee required Quivo to transform their operational data into Chargebee's rigid structure.
That meant building an entirely separate middleware system between their WMS and billing. Another thing to maintain, another thing to break, another barrier between operations and revenue.
"With Chargebee, we would have been forced to create another system in between our operational systems and their data structure. With billr, we could define all transformations directly within the platform. That was a big win for us."
Dominik, CTO, Quivo
Lutz's evaluation was focused:
What billr Delivered Differently
Truly unlimited pricing flexibility
"Everything you are able to imagine", discounts, tiers, subscription switches, volume-based pricing, custom arrangements
The Architecture That Enables Strategy
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The collaborative process focused on:
Understanding complex subscription models, monthly, yearly, mid-contract switches
Mapping 1,170+ price sheet variations without forcing standardization
Building transparency into every charge, no more black box calculations
Creating interfaces multiple teams could use, finance, customer service, and soon sales
The Partnership: Understanding 3PL Complexity
"The support has been amazing. You guys really think with us about our custom setup. Another SaaS won't think that far about how our company operates."
"Because Dominik was very involved, we could trust things were happening. Even though the product wasn't exactly how we wanted yet, we knew it would get there."
The collaborative process focused on:
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Understanding 60+ country shipping variations with different weight classes
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Immediate Operational Impact
Billing time: 6+ hours → ~1 hour
What consumed an entire day now completes in a fraction of the time. No more 6 AM starts.
Zero silent revenue leakage
Every missing price generates an error. The system won't proceed until it's fixed.
"With billr, everything is calculated in real time. Whenever there is a problem or a missing price, we immediately see it—even during the month. So we don't need to do any test runs the day before. Whenever we want to start the billing run, we can just hit the button and everything is pre-calculated."
Dominik, CTO, Quivo
Strategic Pricing Freedom Unlocked
What Quivo can price now that they couldn't before:
No middleware—direct integration based on volume, service mix, or custom arrangements
Mid-contract subscription switches from yearly to monthly (or vice versa) with automatic proration
Fair, cost-based pricing that reflects actual operations rather than averaging
Custom enterprise arrangements that would have been "impossible" in the old system
Unlimited calculation flexibility
"Everything you are able to imagine", no more hearing "the system can't do that"
Fair pricing replacing "mixed models"
Transparent, cost-based pricing that's defensible to customers and profitable for Quivo
"The flexibility is the main driver. billr is able to handle complex pricing systems—especially with discounts, especially with movements from yearly to monthly subscriptions. This was nearly impossible in our former billing tool."
Lutz, CFO, Quivo
Customer Experience Transformed
Real-time invoice visibility
Customers see charges accumulating daily. No more month-end surprises or angry calls
"The big customers expect us to provide not only the invoice but also the underlying data very precisely. And to link back to the original shipment. That could be a point in negotiations, a valid point that we’re able to handle."
Lutz, CFO, Quivo
The Complete Transformation
Before billr
After billr
Billing system constraining pricing strategy
Strategy drives pricing. Unlimited flexibility.
Customers see charges at month-end only
Real-time visibility. Competitive advantage.
"Mixed model" pricing (unfair to everyone)
Fair, transparent, cost-based pricing
Billing runs: 12+ hours starting at 6 AM
Billing runs: ~1 hour, no test runs needed
Silent revenue leakage (unquantified)
Every missing price flagged instantly
1,170+ price sheets updated manually
Automatic rollover and indexation
Reports customers can't process automatically
Machine-readable, consistent formats
"The big customers expect us to provide not only the invoice but also the underlying data very precisely. And to link back to the original shipment. That could be a point in negotiations, a valid point that we are able to handle that."
Lutz, CFO, Quivo
Billing isn't just operations anymore. It's a sales differentiator. Here's what Quivo can promise prospects now:
"You'll see your invoice building in real-time"
Daily visibility into charges, no month-end surprises
"Even our customers are more data driven now. Being able to handle that complexity, to provide the underlying data very precisely. That is a valid point in negotiations. That could be an advantage when presenting ourselves."
Lutz, CFO, Quivo
Key Takeaways
For strategic 3PLs and logistics companies looking to scale:
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Company name
Logistics & Fulfillment
Logistics & Fulfillment
Company size
Mid-Market (€50M+ revenue)
Challenge
Billing system constraining pricing strategy, blocking transparency customers demanded, and silently losing revenue
About the company
Leading European 3PL provider serving 800+ customers across multiple warehouse locations. Handles e-commerce fulfillment and B2B logistics with complex, customized pricing arrangements.
