That application

makes your screen Your CPQ flirts

5
look big. with you only to
get to Anna in IT.

You have a piece

of code stuck in
your keyboard.

Dirty Little Secrets of

eBook Configure Price
Quote Applications

Is your old
This is technology. CPQ holding
Bigger is definitely you back?
NOT better.
Introduction Leading companies
Congratulations. Since youve come to this document, youve obviously done realize that the sales
your homework on configure, price, quote (CPQ) applications. experience is what
creates customer
- You know what they are preference, and they
- How they can help your company are looking for
- Perhaps youre already evaluating one technology that can
automate the entire
But youll be surprised at all the things no one will ever tell you about it. Thats what this opportunity-to-order
document is about; Well tell you what the other CPQ vendors wont.
process.
Best Practices in Configure,
Cameleon Software is one of the pioneers in this industry, and we would like to share real Price and Quote (CPQ)
life experiences with businesses, in a wide range of industries such as Insurance, Praveen Sengar,
Principal Research Analyst,
Telecommunications, Media, High-Tech, Manufacturing etc.., that are seeking the rewards Customer Relationship
Management
of not just sales efficiencybut sales effectivenessthrough CPQ. We hope you enjoy
Gartner 2012
this eBook and we encourage you to contact us with your own observations and inquiries.
contact@cameleon-software.com

1
 CPQs require proper care and feeding.
Or they get mangy.
135% You dont want to stunt your CPQs growth, now do you? CPQs must be cared for, not just
quotes
dropped in and forgotten. They require data, insight and collaboration to be most effective.
created
by same Product experts: Pay attentionYoure on the spot here.
team
A CPQ must first be loaded with product data including:
SKU numbers
with Cameleon Data sheets

time to Prices
create Photography, videos and other digital assets
a quote

43 % Thenmarketing and sales team, this is your jobfeed

in information about the sales process, such as:
How to sell the product
When and where to sell it
Who to sell what to
What products & services should be sold together

2
Finally, there is a collaboration process involving multiple indirect or web self-serve. It is essential that the CPQ
parties including product managers, pricing or finance doesnt require much of the IT teams time to edit
experts, designers and marketers. Theyll collaborate to product information and structures, user interface set
design the process and then manage the output. They up and collaboration processes. (See Secret #2.) Its
should read this document too, especially in a multichan- equally essential that business users can make a change
nel selling environment. once and publish it across multiple channels in a
consistent manner.
Customers expect a consistent cross-channel experience.
A customer may start the buying process on the web
using a guided selling scenario but decide to finish it by SECRET 1
calling a telesales rep. Shouldnt the customer be able
to complete the process without having to start all over Dont do the job again
again from scratch? Customers may start on the web, work and again! Therefore, make
with a partner, configure through the catalog or call a sure that feeding the
telesales rep. Your CPQ can be your friend or enemy here.
beast is simple and fast
Updating existing offers or launching a new offering
and for all channels
should be done quickly, by business users rather than IT at once. The market
staff, and published to multichannels, whether direct, wont wait for you.

3
CPQs that need constant
The more that
IT involvement will suffer sales teams can
and fail. demonstrate
how new software
No matter where you work, IT staff is a valuable, scarce resource to be respected can save time and
and counted on. When any CPQ is implemented, IT must be consulted,
improve sales
accommodations must be made, and a certain amount of IT service will be required.
effectiveness
This is universal and accepted. But what about after the implementation? Whats
toward revenue
ITs involvement then?
targets, the faster
their proposals
The smart answer is: The less, the better. IT recognizes that it has the potential
will be approved.
to be a chokepoint for the enterprise, and thats NOT what IT wants to be. IT staffs
role in the evaluation of any proposed new technology is through this lens. They Sales Organizations Need
Technology Overhaul
will advise that you to select a technology that will not require too much of their Mark Smith,
CEO and EVP of Research
time to maintain. Follow this advice.
Ventana Research 2012

4
At the same time, marketing and sales dont want a restraint
or a dependency on IT. The point of a CPQ is to combine SECRET 2
speed and flexibility with the power of the product configurator
engine and pricing rules to deliver a great user experience.
Pick a CPQ
thats designed for
If marketing has to wait a few days for IT to make a change,
well, say bye-bye to the nice promotional opportunity.
Remember our feeding analogy from Secret #1? Now, imagine business users,
that every time you had to open a can of food, you had to visit not one reliant
IT because they are the only ones who know how to operate on heavy coding
the can opener. Ugh.
or learning a
Also, if IT doesnt get involved with your CPQ, youll pay for
specific language
expensive and never-ending custom development from your
to maintain.
CPQ vendor.

5
People dont like software Cameleon
that sucks. software is as
simple as shopping
Adoption and success depends upon an amazing user experiencewherever people online. We are
use it on whichever device they choose.
now producing
consistent proposal
Technology should be intuitive, easy and inviting. Sure, you want your customer to have
quality while
an amazing experience while buying your products & services. But the real test happens
quoting more
before the customer gets anywhere near your products. Internal adoption is the real test.
efficiently and
If sales, marketing and product management dont want to work with the CPQ, you can
accurately.
start editing your resume.
Joey McLemore,
Heres how CPQ helps the internal selling process: Systems Application Manager
Tyco
1) Sales people actually enjoy using it and experience the guided selling processes
in front of customers even on a mobile device

2) Product people like modeling scenarios to create offers and update product infor-
mation without fear

6
 Organizations Lets revisit the customer experience. CPQ technologies exist to provide sales quotes
are focusing on or proposals to customers, guide sales people through selling scenarios, and enable
experience
customers to create a self-service building and buying experience.
and getting centered
around customers,
with more than This experience not only has to look good, it has

35
SECRET 3
% to function smoothly and quickly despite perhaps
millions of permutations behind the finished
Choose truly
quote. A CPQ presents the face of the company

looking at offering to the customer. Nobody wants to look ugly. Ditch mobile-ready
the right
product/service
the ugliness. Give the people what they want:
CPQs. Select
to their customers.
A fast, easy experience where and when they
want it even on the road. Buying stuff should
a best-in-class
Best Practices in Configure, not be hard for the buyer.
user experience
Price and Quote (CPQ) for all parties,
channels and
Praveen Sengar,
Principal Research Analyst, Look for critical enabling technologies such
Customer Relationship
Management
as AJAX, HTML5 and Web Services that provide devices.
fast response and good user experiences without
Gartner 2012
(P.S. Cameleon replaces
asking the user to wait for a backend quote to poorly-designed CPQs
come at a later time. all the time.)

7
Design rules integration. Configuration
A CPQ is core to your information systems. How a CPQ is designed dictates how smooth
is a starting point,
its integration will be. CPQs sit in a unique position: They are the intersection of multiple
however
people and multiple software systems. CPQs must play nicely with: integration to
pricing, quote
CRMs
and analytics are
ERPs
key to drive
Ecommerce systems
effectiveness*
Other industry-specialized systems
Best Practices in Configure,
Price and Quote (CPQ)
This requires a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), allowing for lower software develop- Praveen Sengar,
Principal Research Analyst,
ment and management costs and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing environments. Customer Relationship
Service-Oriented Architectures enable integration with existing IT assets, including legacy Management
Gartner 2012
apps. SOA also reduces the complexity of system upgrades and enables the ability to scale
operations for demand. (Translation: Faster integration and performance with scaling.)

8
 91 % By embedding CPQ processes into applications, such as quote-to-order processes into
ERP applications, opportunity-to-quote processes into CRM applications, and product
catalog search and retrieval processes into ecommerce apps, businesses improve overall
more proposals effectiveness of the processes themselves and support multichannel sales strategies
per rep per month with ease.
are created by
sales teams
deploying CPQ
solutions than
The integration improves processes
effectiveness by reducing manual steps,
SECRET 4
non-users of eliminating duplicate data exchange,
CPQ solutions.
enforcing data consistency across Choose a CPQ that
Sales Enablement Advances
with Configure/Price/Quote
systems and providing a friendly can make friends with
Peter Ostrow, interface for users. other systems. Make
sure it is designed for
Vice President and
Research Group Director;

integration, or itand
Customer Management,
Sales Effectiveness
Aberdeen Group 2012
perhaps youwill
be very lonely.

9
Dont buy a paper tiger. A tight and
Get proof. seamless integration
with Salesforce CRM
When you select a CPQ, you look forward, buying what you need today with an eye was one of our top
to future growth. Ask for response time, performance and scalability of the CPQ when
requirements. Another
dealing with hundreds or thousands of users and a great deal of complexity.
key element of our
Its important to review more than just your enterprise or customer base growth
decision was the
when evaluating a CPQ. Your CPQ must be designed to scale without impacting
ability of the Cameleon
IT or constraining sales and marketing.
to handle hundreds of
Estimate your potential for growth and ask: offers combined with
Has the CPQ been benchmarked at levels that exceed where you are today? multiple currencies and
What happens with thousands of concurrent users? Does performance suffer?
pricing structures.
Jay Newman,
Sr. VP of Sales
PEER 1 Hosting

10
Vendor software demos likely will not give you these answers.

SECRET 5
Demos are tightly controlled (if they are even live) and wont
be performed with many users
operating simultaneously.
30% Scaling your
20%
Look for vendors that
can demonstrate online CPQ to
in a high-capacity
online
sales
quotes match growth
environment or who is critical, and
provide customer performance
references that have with Cameleon is a must.
Both are not
high concurrent
system use. reduction
on quote guaranteed.
to delivery
cycle Look behind
25% the curtain
to know what
you are buying.

11
The dirty little secrets are out.
Now what?
CPQs are powerful systems that can truly transform the way you market and sell your products and
ultimately the way you connect with your customers and how they perceive the enterprise.

We hope this eBook has been helpful to you in understanding both what to look for in a CPQ and
what to expect once youve invested in on.

CPQs are not small investments, either in time or money, but according to Gartner, Ventana Research
and Aberdeen, they are changing the way many teams interact, all toward the goals of enhancing
sales effectiveness and customer experience.

Please contact Cameleon if you have questions or comments for us. And good luck with your CPQ!
contact@cameleon-software.com

Cameleon Community
www.cameleon-software.com
Cameleon Software 2013. All rights reserved. Cameleon is a trademark of Cameleon Software. Non contractual document.

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