Putting the Spotlight on CPQ Software with: Michael Kiruba-Raja, VP of Product Management at FPX

CPQ Software can effectively help upselling in modern marketing. If you’re still wondering what it exactly is, here’s a little information that might help. Michael speaks to us about the rising importance, relevance, and benefits of CPQ Software today:

Could you tell our readers a little more about CPQ?

Configure Price Quote software (CPQ) started as a back-office function that allowed engineers to quickly test the validity of certain configurations inside a software interface.

Then, it evolved into a sales automation tool where sales teams could use a tool to quote customers quickly.

Today, CPQ is a tool that provides a vital touchpoint to an organization’s prospects and customers. Whether it’s through a quote, a configuration inside an eCommerce site, a mobile app or a dealer/distributor network, CPQ is an essential component of the buying experience. And as businesses expect their marketing leaders to take more ownership in lead conversion, CPQ is also a window into how inbound leads behave in the buying cycle.

What evolution have you seen in B2B buyers over the last few years and how do you see it going over the near future? What should B2B leadership be preparing for?

The hype is true: B2B buyers want an experience similar to what they receive with their consumer brands. Largely driven by major retail players like Amazon, Walmart and more, business buyers expect robust self-service in their online experiences. In fact, 88 percent of executives today buy their business products online and 92 percent wish purchasing business products online had the same ease as buying consumer goods online. Even more, B2B buyers have very little patience for poor eCommerce experiences ‒ 49 percent of executives say they won’t buy from a company if it’s too difficult to purchase products online.

These statistics may not be surprising, but they expose the fact that despite all the eCommerce hype, many B2B firms still struggle to augment their online capabilities to meet consumer expectations. Companies don’t have much time to waste.

As Amazon continues to push the boundaries on consumer comfortability online, whether it be ordering large ticket luxury items, voice purchasing and more, these expectations will eventually bleed into B2B as well. Smart organizations should look to prep their eCommerce capabilities to support these emerging capabilities now.

These include advanced pricing and configuration for more complex items, as well as optimizing search for voice.

What are the pain points that CPQ software solution can address that cannot be managed manually?

CPQ technology manages the ability for organizations to work collaboratively with their customers and partner network. As previously mentioned, business buyers expect a user-centric buying experience, no matter where or from whom they buy products. That said, organizations must also enable their network of channel sales partners to provide that experience as well.

With features like guided buying and selling, advanced product configuration, pricing and discounting, automated proposal and contract generation, and fast time to market for new offers, CPQ gives partners the tools they need to efficiently quote and sell the products. It’s a win-win for both the vendor and channel sellers.

Additionally, CPQ solutions digitize processes that are difficult to handle manually. For example, at the end of the quoting process a firm will almost always end up with a contract, requiring a digital signature. Producing service-level agreements (SLAs) is something that is painful to do manually, and it requires a large filing cabinet. CPQ technology creates and distributes these for the buyers and sellers, expediting the quoting process for quicker closed deals.

What role does big data and modern analytics play in the way CPQ can deliver strategic value?

There are two main values for leveraging big data and modern analytics into the CPQ process. The first is it creates a more trustworthy, productive relationship between the customer and seller. With insight into customer preferences and their negotiation history, organizations can price properly from the start rather than going through the whole negotiation process all over again.

Second, data and analytics help firms achieve the holy grail in selling: a holistic view of their customers. By understanding how customers and prospects research and convert, firms can target them with personalized offerings and messages ‒ resulting in a higher rate of return.

What is the connection between CPQ and Customer Experience Management? What does the people-centric approach to addressing CXM entail?

CPQ technology is inherently the first touchpoint in a buying cycle. When a consumer is conducting research or browsing a website, they haven’t really taken that buying step. But when a consumer engages in the CPQ process, then they become a prospect.        

Whether or not a consumer chooses to engage or buy from an organization, it’s critical that they receive the quote accurately and efficiently. Artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) have the opportunity to even take this one step further.

Does CPQ have any specific benefits for small and mid-sized companies, or are the benefits the same across the board? If there are specific benefits, what are they?

Companies of all sizes can definitely reap the benefits of CPQ technology, but the biggest value for small and mid-sized companies is the automation of low-value, volume-based sales.

This frees up salespeople from having to handle these mundane orders and instead allows them to spend more time personalizing the sales process.

How can business leaders ensure that all stakeholders in the value chain (including last mile partners such as distributors and dealers) can add value to the buyer’s journey and remain consistent to the brand message?

Modern CPQ applications give firms a single platform to drive all partner sales interactions, allowing their dealers, distributors, resellers, and their respective customers to experience the brand consistently.

By providing complete accuracy on quotes and proposals, quicker cycle times for generating quotes, optimized approval workflow and self-guided buying processes, CPQ enables a robust omnichannel buying experience across channels.

In your experience, what industries have done a great job of streamlining the CPQ process? Are there industry-specific differences in the way CPQ needs to be approached?

While CPQ technology can add value to every industry, it’s a must in six specific industries: manufacturing, telecommunications, energy and utilities, insurance, healthcare, and banking.

What are your tips for B2B enterprises wanting to adopt, implement, and execute an omnichannel buying and selling structure?

I have two tips for B2B enterprises-

The first is to get aligned on a data structure. Organizations are smart to look to invest in omnichannel capabilities, but they can’t be successful if their pricing is all over the place. For example, many have inconsistent pricing information across countries, different ERPs or scattered data from a past acquisition. Modern technologies are great at aggregating all this data, but organizations are stuck if they can’t agree on what this data structure should look like.

Second, organizations must define clear goals for integrating omnichannel solutions because the implementation structure highly depends on what those look like. For example, as our world becomes more connected and buyers purchase across platforms and geographies, organizations must define the goals and processes for dealing with different languages and currencies in the selling process.

How do you see B2B e-commerce evolving as we move into 2020? What will be the major milestones?

With the help of CPQ, B2B organizations will be able to further customize products and services online, thus improving the buying experience. Beyond that, multi-company purchases through a single channel will become more common, and CPQ will be the enabler because the compatibility rules will be taken care of.

For example, if a customer wants to buy a tractor online from a manufacturer, CPQ will ensure proper configuration. Additionally, if the customer wants to add an attachment from another manufacturer, CPQ will have the rules in place to know that they will work with the tractor that’s been configured. The customer can also add on a maintenance package from the third-party dealer that’s selling the tractor, and CPQ will automatically cover the customized tractor and the third-party attachment.

Mixing and matching in B2B eCommerce in the future will be as easy as picking pizza toppings, all thanks to CPQ!