This time of year provides a good opportunity to take a moment and think about where the CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) and Quote-to-Cash market is and where it may go over the coming calendar year. Here are my expectations for 2017: 1. CRM Platforms (e.g. Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite, SAP, Oracle) will become even more influential for [...]
Almost a year ago I prepared an outlook for CPQ in 2016 (Read it here). Before I go ahead and do this again (in the first week of January) for 2017 I wanted to check myself and see how good or bad my expectations/predictions were. After all I want to provide high quality information and [...]
First let me explain who Cincom is. Cincom is a Cincinnati, Ohio based Software Company that was founded in 1968 and offers, beside many others products, a CPQ solution. They are specialized in the manufacturing and distribution industries and their product addresses complex configuration challenges. Before I talk about the actual event let me add [...]
Let me first clarify what Tacton Days is. Tacton is a Swedish CPQ Vendor specialized in the manufacturing industry. They organize an annual two-day event called “Tacton Days” in Stockholm, Sweden. This is one way for them to inform their customers, partners and prospects about their latest Product Updates. The reason I got invited, even though [...]
While Dreamforce itself is growing every year the number of Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) Vendors is growing as well. In addition to the CPQ vendors who have a booth at the Expo in the Moscone Center there are more CPQ vendors meeting with customers around the actual Dreamforce event. This is good news for all CPQ customers [...]
Once you have implemented your Configure / Price / Quote (CPQ) Tool you will have to keep it up to date. While this sounds easy enough it represents a challenge for a number of companies. Personally I encounter the following two cases regularly. Both cases can represent a serious challenge to your business and so [...]
There are many different Configure/Price/Quote (CPQ) tools available and while they are all called CPQ they have many different capabilities. This makes it challenging to find the best tool for your business. Before you try to investigate all the capabilities of these tools you should look inside YOUR company and truly understand the challenges of [...]
While I will take a summer break and not publish any CPQ Blog Posts in the coming weeks I want to give you some tips about interesting CPQ books. Mass Customization (1992) – The new frontier in Competition by B. Joseph Pine Product Customization (2008) by Lars Hvam, Niels Henrik Mortensen, Jesper Riis Mass Customization: How Build to Order, Assemble to [...]
Here is a short summary of Project Plan Documents you may want to consider when you have to run a CPQ project. There could be many reasons for a CPQ Project like Implementing a new CPQ solution Upgrading an existing CPQ solution Improving CPQ-related Processes (Business Process Re-engineering) Increasing acceptance of your existing CPQ solution [...]
Nevertheless it is pretty challenging to select the right Configure/Price/Quote (CPQ) tool for your business since there are so many different solutions available on the market. While the name (CPQ) is the same, the capabilities are very different and hence it is important to select the right tool to actually reach your goals. For our CPQ Vendor [...]
