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Revenue from Contracts with Customers
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Revenue from Contracts with Customer Revenue from Contracts with Customers
Revenue Recognition

We derive our revenue from three primary sources: the sale of cloud-based SaaS services on our integrated Alarm.com platform, the sale of licenses and services on our non-hosted software platform, or Software platform, and the sale of hardware products. We sell our platform and hardware solutions to service provider partners that resell our solutions and hardware to residential and commercial property owners, who are the service provider partners’ customers. Our subscribers consist of all of the properties maintained by those residential and commercial property owners to which we are delivering at least one of our solutions. We also sell our hardware to distributors who resell the hardware to service provider partners. We enter into contracts with our service provider partners that establish pricing for access to our platform solutions and for the sale of hardware. These service provider contracts typically have an initial term of one year, with subsequent renewal terms of one year. Our service provider partners typically enter into contracts with our subscribers, which our service provider partners have indicated range from three to five years in length.

When determining the amount of consideration we expect to be entitled to for the sale of our hardware, we estimate the variable consideration associated with customer returns. We record a reserve against revenue for hardware returns based on historical returns. For the twelve months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, our reserve against revenue for hardware returns was 1%. We evaluate our hardware reserve on a quarterly basis or if there is an indication of significant changes in return experience. Historically, our returns of hardware have not significantly differed from our estimated reserve. Additionally, we provide warranties related to the intended functionality of the products and services provided and those warranties typically allow for the return of hardware up to one year past the date of sale. We determined that these warranties are not separate performance obligations as they cannot be purchased separately and do not provide a service in addition to an assurance the hardware will function as expected.

Our hardware and other revenue also includes our revenue from the sale of perpetual licenses that provide our customers in the commercial market the right to use our OpenEye video surveillance software for an indefinite period of time in exchange for a one-time license fee, which is generally paid at contract inception. Our hardware and other revenue also includes our revenue from Shooter Detection Systems related to the sale of licenses that provide our customers the right to use our indoor gunshot detection solution in exchange for license fees, which are generally paid at contract inception. Our perpetual licenses and licenses to our indoor gunshot detection solution provide a right to use intellectual property that is functional in nature and has significant stand-alone functionality. Accordingly, for licenses of functional intellectual property, revenue is recognized at the point-in-time when control has been transferred to the customer, which occurs once the software has been made available to the customer.

Hardware and other revenue may also include activation fees charged to some of our service provider partners for activation of a new subscriber account on our platforms, as well as fees paid by service provider partners for our marketing services. Our service provider partners use services on our platforms, such as support tools and applications, to assist in the installation of our solutions in subscriber properties. This installation marks the beginning of the service period on our platforms and, on occasion, we earn activation revenue for fees charged for this service. The activation fee is non-refundable, separately negotiated and specified in our contractual arrangements with our service provider partners and is charged to the service provider partner for each subscriber activated on our platforms. The decision whether to charge an activation fee is based in part on the expected number of subscribers to be added by our service provider partners and as a result, many of our largest service provider partners do not pay an activation fee. Activation fees are not offered on a stand-alone basis separate from our SaaS offering and are billed and received at the beginning of the arrangement. We record activation fees initially as deferred revenue and we recognize these fees ratably over the expected term of the subscribers’ account which we estimate is ten years based on our annual attrition rate. The portion of these activation fees included in current and long-term deferred revenue as of our balance sheet date represents the amounts that will be recognized ratably as revenue over the following twelve months, or longer as appropriate, until the ten-year expected term is complete. The balance of deferred revenue for activation fees was $6.8 million and $7.0 million as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively, which combines current and long-term balances.

SaaS and license revenue associated with our contracts is invoiced and revenue is recognized at an amount that corresponds directly with the value of the performance completed to date. Additionally, the consideration received from hardware sales corresponds directly with the stand-alone selling price of the hardware. As a result, we have elected to use the practical expedient related to the amount of transaction price allocated to the unsatisfied performance obligations and therefore, we have not disclosed the total remaining revenue expected to be recognized on all contracts or the expected period over which the remaining revenue would be recognized. 

Contract Assets

At contract inception, we assess the goods and services promised in our contracts with customers and identify a performance obligation for each distinct promise to transfer a good or service, or bundle of goods or services. To identify the performance obligations, we consider all of the goods or services promised in the contract, whether explicitly stated or implied
based on customary business practices. We record a contract asset when we satisfy a performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service. Contract assets can be conditional or unconditional depending on whether another performance obligation must be satisfied before payment can be received. We receive payments from our service provider partners based on the billing schedule established in our contracts. All of the accounts receivable presented in the condensed consolidated balance sheets represent unconditional rights to consideration. We do not have any assets from contracts containing conditional rights and we do not have any assets from satisfied performance obligations that have not been invoiced.

We recognize an asset related to the costs incurred to obtain a contract only if we expect to recover those costs and we would not have incurred those costs if the contract had not been obtained. We recognize an asset from the costs incurred to fulfill a contract if the costs (i) are specifically identifiable to a contract, (ii) enhance resources that will be used in satisfying performance obligations in future and (iii) are expected to be recovered. Our contract assets consist of capitalized commission costs and upfront payments made to a customer. Based on the policy above, we capitalize a portion of our commission costs as an incremental cost of obtaining a contract. When calculating the incremental cost of obtaining a contract, we exclude any commission costs related to metrics that could be satisfied without obtaining a contract, including training-related metrics. We amortize our commission costs over a period of three years, which is consistent with the period over which the products and services related to the commission are transferred to the customer. The three-year period was determined based on our review of historical enhancements and upgrades to our products and services. We applied the portfolio approach to account for the amortization of contract costs for those contracts that have similar characteristics. Upfront payments made to a customer are capitalized and amortized over the expected period of benefit and are recorded as a reduction to revenue.

The current portion of capitalized commission costs and upfront payments made to customers are included in other current assets within our condensed consolidated balance sheets. The non-current portion of capitalized commission costs and upfront payments made to customers are reflected in other assets within our condensed consolidated balance sheets.

We review the capitalized costs for impairment at least annually. Impairment exists if the carrying amount of the asset recognized from contract costs exceeds the remaining amount of consideration we expect to receive in exchange for providing the goods and services to which such asset relates, less the costs that relate directly to providing those good and services and that have not been recognized as an expense. We did not record an impairment loss on our contract assets during the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

The changes in our contract assets are as follows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
March 31,
20212020
Beginning of period balance$4,306 $4,578 
Commission costs and upfront payments to a customer capitalized in period1,106 1,165 
Amortization of contract assets(809)(811)
End of period balance$4,603 $4,932 

Contract Liabilities

Contract liabilities include payments received in advance of performance under the contract and are realized with the associated revenue recognized under the contract. All of the deferred revenue presented in the condensed consolidated balance sheets represents contract liabilities resulting from advance cash receipts from customers or amounts billed in advance to customers from the sale of services. Changes in deferred revenue are due to our performance under the contract as well as to cash received from new contracts for which services have not been provided.

The changes in our contract liabilities are as follows (in thousands):
Three Months Ended
March 31,
20212020
Beginning of period balance$12,529 $10,498 
Revenue deferred in period3,801 3,520 
Revenue recognized from amounts included in contract liabilities(2,674)(1,916)
End of period balance$13,656 $12,102 
The revenue recognized from amounts included in contract liabilities primarily relates to prepayment contracts with customers as well as payments of activation fees.