Why Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ)?

For many years, globally operating industrial companies have been confronted with increasing demand for client specific, custom-made products, all the while having to deal with shorter supply cycles and lead times. To satisfy these demands, it is becoming more and more common for companies to use flexible and holistic sales and configuration software. Within such systems, customers can choose from a variety of product options, which range from performance indicators to specific design options, such as color and material, resulting in a completely customized and personalized product. To meet the need for this kind of customization, companies are increasingly recognizing the necessity to implement so-called Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) software into their organizations.

According to our project experience during the last few years, companies using CPQ tools and processes have recorded a double average order size, a 50 percent higher offer rate per sales person and 25 percent shorter sales cycle than companies without CPQ within comparable industries. A benchmark analysis conducted by BearingPoint illustrates that, additionally, 80 percent of the questioned companies see the increasing complexity of supply as one of the biggest challenges to achieve efficient supply management. Software aided CPQ processes enable your company to take on this challenge and make fast, flexible and efficient creation of offers possible. To be precise, the consistent implementation of a software for CPQ processes means:

• Efficient quotation management through standardized processes
• Reduction of errors through product configuration and output standardization
• Minimizing use of resources within offer preparation
• Increase of quotation quality

To realize and implement these success factors, a complex project awaits you. It starts with the choice of the right CPQ software solution that suits your company’s specific requirements. The selection process of the right software is a big obstacle for most companies because the market for CPQ solutions has become so large and vast that it is difficult to reach a solid decision basis within an appropriate time.

The Right CPQ Solution for More Sales Success

Due to the versatility of CPQ solutions, it is often difficult to satisfy the specific requirements for a company in search of a solution. Our approach to managing the high complexity within the decisionmaking process with the right CPQ software solution classifies the software vendors according to six key factors, which are again subdivided into a variety of sub-criteria.

The key factors for the selection of a suitable CPQ solution are:

  • Vendor Information
  • User Friendliness
  • Support and Service
  • Configuration Complexity
  • System Integration
  • Integration into the Supply Chain

By matching your requirements with these key factors, we can generate a fast and flexible overview of potential vendors for your requirements by using our CPQ Vendor Library.

Your CPQ Roadmap with BearingPoint

Our consultants conduct an analysis of the different sales scenarios, taking into account the proposal complexity, customer individualization (Engineer-to-Order), pricing, offer documentation and transfer to production, in order to develop a tailored-to-fit process model in collaboration with your sales personnel. A benchmark focused on your business priorities is then created based on the process model, and in combination with our CPQ Vendor Library, we select the most adequate software solution for you. After the selection, we develop a roadmap for the implementation of the CPQ software with you, taking into consideration the estimated time frame for product modeling, development, integration and different testing phases as well as trainings.

Develop your CPQ roadmap with us and enable your Sales Team to:

• easily record customer requirements and the automated validation of the technical feasibility
• create an offer with the best price based on product characteristics and consideration of external factors
• efficiently and quickly create quotations and to issue complex offerings

Would you like more information?

If you want to get more information about this insight please get in touch with our experts who would be pleased to hear from you.