Selecting a CPQ solution in 2026 is not easy. There are now more than 130 solutions in the market, and many buyers are no longer just asking which CPQ product is best. They are also asking whether CPQ alone is enough, or whether they should instead evaluate a broader Quote-to-Cash, Revenue Management, or platform-based solution.

But even before a team can answer those questions, there is usually a more immediate problem: where do they get reliable information to build a shortlist with confidence?

Most buyers start in familiar places. They ask consulting firms they already know. They search Google. Increasingly, they use LLM-based search. They read Reddit discussions, browse user review sites such as G2, talk to peers, or, if budget allows, look at large industry analyst reports. None of that is wrong. In fact, gathering information from multiple sources is generally a good thing.

The problem is that more information does not automatically lead to a better decision. In many cases, it leads to slower decisions, conflicting viewpoints, and eventually analysis paralysis. What most teams actually need is not endless input. They need enough practical, relevant information to move from a long list to a credible shortlist and then to a confident final decision.

After working with product configuration, pricing, quoting, CPQ, and related commercial technology for three decades, I have seen this challenge from many angles: as a customer, IT professional, operational leader, M&A participant, product modeler, consultant, and industry analyst. One pattern I have seen repeatedly is that solution selection is often driven by people who are not close enough to the work that the system will eventually need to support. That disconnect can lead to shortlists that look reasonable on paper but are much less effective in practice.

That is one of the reasons I built Novus CPQ the way I did. My goal is to help more teams access useful market information earlier in the process, at a price point that makes independent research more practical.

The first example is the CPQ Briefing Match App. By answering six questions, buyers can generate an initial shortlist in less than a minute based on their business situation. That gives them a faster and more structured starting point than a generic web search.

If they want to go deeper, the CPQ Briefing Subscription provides access to concise two-page briefing documents based on direct vendor briefings and product demonstrations. Today, that library covers more than 50 vendors, with a goal of reaching 70 by summer. These briefings can help customers investigate vendors in more depth, refine their shortlist, and prepare better questions for vendors, whether they are evaluating CPQ, Quote-to-Cash, or Revenue Management solutions.

Later in the process, once a buyer is ready for meaningful demos and deeper evaluation, the CPQ Sales Report can add another layer of insight. It gives customers more context before vendor meetings, helping them make better use of demo time and compare vendors more effectively.

In other words, the goal is to support buyers from the moment they realize they need a new solution to the moment they are ready to make a decision. Some teams may still choose to work with consultants, and that can make sense. But even then, better information earlier in the process usually leads to better questions, better demos, and a stronger final shortlist.

What makes Novus CPQ different is independence and specialization. We are not paid by vendors or system integrators to steer buyers in a particular direction. My work is informed by regular conversations with more than 35 CPQ vendors, more than 20 CPQ system integrators, years of helping customers evaluate solutions, nearly 400 CPQ Podcast episodes, and a large body of analyst research. That combination is difficult to replicate, especially at a price point that smaller teams can actually afford.

Not everyone needs the same level of support when selecting a CPQ solution. But most teams do need a faster way to get to the right answers. After 30 years in this space, that is still the problem I am most interested in helping solve.

Resources for teams evaluating CPQ solutions: