Revenue Lifecycle Management in Salesforce

Manual processes like invoicing, billing, and revenue recognition are time-consuming. On average, it takes 12 minutes to create a single invoice – time that adds up as sales grow. The more your team handles these tasks manually, the less they can focus on strategic growth and the more human caused errors it causes. 

Why not simplify and automate these processes to save time, boost efficiency, and forget about human errors? 

Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM) is a strategic approach that unifies the tools and processes needed to maximize revenue. It streamlines every step, from quoting and closing deals to recognizing revenue, ensuring accuracy and efficiency while driving predictable growth. 

Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management takes this further by integrating revenue and CRM processes into one system. Built on the Salesforce platform, it enables businesses to launch products faster, automate key workflows, and manage both one-time sales and subscriptions. Available February 13, 2024, it’s the all-in-one solution to scale operations and grow revenue. 

In early 2024, Salesforce introduced Revenue Cloud Advanced (RCA) — a modernized name for its revenue automation offering that was previously referred to as Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM). The core functionality remains the same, but now it’s bundled under a clearer, productized label as part of the Salesforce Revenue Cloud ecosystem.

Whether you’ve seen it called Salesforce RLM, RCA, or Salesforce Revenue Cloud Advanced, the purpose is the same: streamlining every step of the revenue process — from quoting to cash — using a unified platform.

Key Benefits of Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management in Brief

Provided that RLM automates and optimizes critical tasks, businesses can focus on growth while reducing inefficiencies. Here are the key benefits you’ll get by implementing RLM:

Streamlined processes and automation

Business Outcomes with Salesforce RLM

Wondering what exactly you’ll get with Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management?

Here’s a brief overview of improvements for your business:

Sales reps can easily select price books, configure bundles, and generate customer-ready quote documents. The system can create orders from quotes automatically, allowing finance teams to invoice faster and more accurately.

RLM adapts to customer needs with flexible product configurations and easy amendments. Sales reps can quickly modify quantities and pricing, while the system ensures all changes are reflected in real-time.

RLM streamlines contract management, making it easy to track customer assets and control renewals.

By centralizing data, RLM improves collaboration between sales, finance, and legal teams. This leads to quicker responses to customer needs, better retention, and more predictable revenue growth.

How Salesforce RLM Works

Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM) transforms how businesses manage product catalogs and pricing, making it faster, more efficient, and more reliable. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

RLM simplifies product classification and management. You can organize items with relevant attributes. Adding or modifying products is quick and easy.

This clear structure helps teams efficiently present what’s available for sale, accelerating time-to-market.

Once your products are organized, RLM gives you full control over pricing. It enables rapid pricing creation procedures, including attribute-based or derived pricing.

RLM allows you to preview and simulate pricing in real time, offering instant feedback on how your pricing will perform. This feature boosts confidence in your pricing decisions and ensures accurate, customer-ready pricing every time.

Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management vs CPQ

Salesforce CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) and Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM) are both powerful tools but differ significantly in how they manage and integrate the revenue cycle. While Salesforce CPQ focuses on specific pricing and quoting needs, RLM offers a more comprehensive solution that centralizes and optimizes the entire revenue process.

Let’s look at the key differences between RLM and CPQ:

Which is Better?

It depends.

If your primary need is configuring products and generating accurate quotes, opt for Salesforce CPQ.

But in case you’re managing subscriptions, billing, and revenue recognition, then Salesforce RLM is the better choice.

Best Practices for Salesforce RLM Use

Whether you’re in subscription-based services, telecommunications, technology, or finance, RLM can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your business, driving operational efficiency and improving the customer experience.

Let’s see how Revenue Lifecycle Management helps businesses in different niches:

Automation of billing, renewal management, and subscriber behavior tracking reduces churn and improves retention.

Optimization of billing for complex usage-based services enhances payment accuracy and customer loyalty through streamlined processes.

Automation of subscription management and renewal processes provides valuable customer behavior insights, strengthening relationships.

Acceleration of claims processing, management of patient accounts, and optimization of cash flow improve revenue cycle management.

How to Integrate Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management

To successfully integrate Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM), begin by reviewing your current processes for quoting, billing, and revenue recognition to identify inefficiencies that can be automated.

Evaluate your contract lifecycle management (CLM) process, ensuring seamless integration with RLM. Additionally, assess any billing challenges, required ERP or accounting system integrations, and compare RLM’s capabilities with your business needs.

Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success and create a detailed project roadmap.

It sounds too complicated, doesn’t it?

We recommend you partner with a Salesforce expert who can guide you through the process and ensure alignment with your business goals.

Salesforce RLM or RCA? Same Engine, New Name

If you’re wondering whether Salesforce Revenue Lifecycle Management (RLM) and Revenue Cloud Advanced (RCA) are two different things — they’re not.

Salesforce originally used the term RLM to describe its end-to-end approach to managing quoting, billing, and revenue recognition. In 2024, the same functionality was rebranded under a new name: Salesforce Revenue Cloud Advanced (RCA).

Why the rename? To align better with the broader Revenue Cloud family and offer a more productized, integrated experience.
Think of Salesforce RCA as the updated label on a familiar solution — now positioned more clearly as a go-to toolkit for modern revenue teams.

So, if you see RLM and RCA used interchangeably, that’s because they refer to the same core solution, just under different names depending on when the conversation happened.

Why Choose Us?

If you’re ready to elevate your sales processes, Routine Automation is the reliable Salesforce partner you can trust. Our specialists are certified Salesforce experts with extensive experience in integrating Salesforce products. Our case studies prove that your transition to Salesforce RLM will be seamless and highly effective. With our expertise, we’ll help streamline your operations and unlock new opportunities for growth and success.