By Graham McInnes, Senior Principal Product Manager, Oracle Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) is more than just a sales tool, it's a path for business transformation....
By Graham McInnes, Senior Principal Product Manager, Oracle Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) is more than just a sales tool, it's a path for business transformation. It gets sales teams out into the field, in front of customers, and closes deals faster. It can be used as a self-service tool for the end-user; it can support a robust partner/distributor ecosystem, and it can be used to speed sales cycles and ensure that promises become realities. The CPQ vendor ecosystem has...
By Graham McInnes, Senior Principal Product Manager, Oracle Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) is more than just a sales tool, it's a path for business transformation. It gets sales teams out into the field,...
Do you ever feel that running, or working for a business, has become a really complex operation? The things and services that are sold need to have enough...
Do you ever feel that running, or working for a business, has become a really complex operation? The things and services that are sold need to have enough variations to give individual customers exactly what they need. Even the simplest of tasks can be made challenging by the layers of administration and the demands of others in your own organization. It can feel overwhelmingly complicated. But, there is something that can help. One of the overarching benefits of Configure,...
Do you ever feel that running, or working for a business, has become a really complex operation? The things and services that are sold need to have enough variations to give individual...
We previously touched on the importance of auditing pricing and deal construction processes. In our previous article on the benefits of putting your approvals...
We previously touched on the importance of auditing pricing and deal construction processes. In our previous article on the benefits of putting your approvals into a CPQ system, we referred to the audit trail that can be logged and generated by a well-designed CPQ system. The benefits don’t stop there. In this exploration into the real value of CPQ, let’s go a little deeper into the many ways CPQ can assist your organization’s auditability. If you are in an area of a business...
We previously touched on the importance of auditing pricing and deal construction processes. In our previous article on the benefits of putting your approvals into a CPQ system, we referred to the...
In the next part of our series exploring the benefits of implementing a Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) system, we’re going to look at quote analytics, reporting,...
In the next part of our series exploring the benefits of implementing a Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) system, we’re going to look at quote analytics, reporting, and the related topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the context of CPQ, we’ll see what they're really all about. When we consider the amount of data that passes through a CPQ system, it’s clear why many CPQ vendors are keen to stake a claim to the creation and automation of intelligence around all that...
In the next part of our series exploring the benefits of implementing a Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) system, we’re going to look at quote analytics, reporting, and the related topic of Artificial...
Show me a salesperson who craves more administration and I’ll show you someone who won’t hit their target. Admin is an anathema to most salespeople. Trying to...
Show me a salesperson who craves more administration and I’ll show you someone who won’t hit their target. Admin is an anathema to most salespeople. Trying to avoid doing lots of admin might be one of the main reasons they moved into sales in the first place. There are five main ways that implementing a CPQ system can save administration time: 1) Rekeying Information CPQ is generally integrated with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. So, it’s straightforward for...
Show me a salesperson who craves more administration and I’ll show you someone who won’t hit their target. Admin is an anathema to most salespeople. Trying to avoid doing lots of admin might be one of...
Asset based ordering (ABO), which is sometimes referred to as Subscription Ordering, is a powerful capability that extends the reach of CPQ. For businesses that...
Asset based ordering (ABO), which is sometimes referred to as Subscription Ordering, is a powerful capability that extends the reach of CPQ. For businesses that sell subscriptions, recurring licenses, support agreements or modular solutions, it can allow these transactions to be handled effectively beyond the initial sale and gives great scope for managing renewals. Critically, it also provides the capability for up-sell and cross-sell opportunities to be captured, delivering...
Asset based ordering (ABO), which is sometimes referred to as Subscription Ordering, is a powerful capability that extends the reach of CPQ. For businesses that sell subscriptions, recurring licenses,...
Many CPQ projects that start with good intentions for sales somehow change into ‘an administration efficiency project’ along the way. While that’s a great...
Many CPQ projects that start with good intentions for sales somehow change into ‘an administration efficiency project’ along the way. While that’s a great benefit of implementing CPQ, let’s keep looking at the way CPQ can drive sales opportunities. CPQ is often the salesperson's key portal into the world of their deals. Having the ability to present the right prompts and information to a salesperson at just the right moment opens up amazing opportunities for decision making....
Many CPQ projects that start with good intentions for sales somehow change into ‘an administration efficiency project’ along the way. While that’s a great benefit of implementing CPQ, let’s...
In many organizations, getting a deal approved can be a long and complex process. In the B2C world, we’ve become accustomed to instant decisions and fast...
In many organizations, getting a deal approved can be a long and complex process. In the B2C world, we’ve become accustomed to instant decisions and fast turnaround. For example, I recently upgraded my iPhone to the latest model because I’m on the Apple iPhone Upgrade Program. If you haven’t seen it, you get a credit agreement for your phone, pay in installments, and then a year later can trade in the old phone for the latest and greatest. In the course of the upgrade, I had...
In many organizations, getting a deal approved can be a long and complex process. In the B2C world, we’ve become accustomed to instant decisions and fast turnaround. For example, I recently upgraded...
One of the oft touted features of CPQ is 'guided selling’, a series of easily understandable questions about a customer's needs to the salesperson who is trying...
One of the oft touted features of CPQ is 'guided selling’, a series of easily understandable questions about a customer's needs to the salesperson who is trying to configure a product or service. By answering these questions, the CPQ system will present relevant choices to the salesperson – sometimes just one clear recommendation of what to sell is made by the system. Contrast this with a typical configurator where all options are presented to the salesperson. It may be well...
One of the oft touted features of CPQ is 'guided selling’, a series of easily understandable questions about a customer's needs to the salesperson who is trying to configure a product or service....
