In today’s fast-paced, highly competitive markets, data isn’t just an asset – it’s the foundation for smarter decisions and sustainable growth. Yet, many B2B organizations struggle to turn raw data into actionable insights. Pricing leaders are overwhelmed by customized spreadsheets, BI tools, and disconnected dashboards, yet still face the most fundamental questions: What’s really happening? Why? And what should we do next?
That’s where PROS Smart POM’s Insights make the difference, enabling businesses to centralize analytics, streamline processes, and unlock the full potential of their pricing strategies. By delivering built-in, decision-ready insights directly within the pricing workflow, PROS eliminates the need for redundant tools, custom dashboards, and siloed datasets. Pricing leaders get transparent, interactive analytics in one place, enabling faster decisions, stronger alignment, and measurable business impact.
From Data Chaos to Clarity
Before adopting PROS, Rockwell Automation faced challenges familiar to many global organizations: fragmented data, limited visibility, and pricing decisions slowed by internal debates. Different teams relied on different tools, creating confusion rather than confidence. By leveraging insights within the price management solution, Rockwell created a single source of truth for the company, eliminating internal debates and fostering trust across finance, sales, and business units.
The result was more than a technical shift. It was cultural. Change management played a critical role in helping teams move from siloed thinking to a global perspective. By exposing all regions and stakeholders to the same analytics platform, Rockwell empowered decision-makers with transparency and consistency.
As Liz Simpson, Business Systems Manager at Rockwell Automation, explains:
Best Practices for Success
- Start with Analytics, Not Just Guidance
Rolling out analytics organization-wide before introducing pricing guidance builds trust and credibility. Stakeholders could see trends, validate assumptions, and understand the “why” behind decisions. - Invest in Training and Competency
Develop a robust training program, complete with certification and annual recertification, ensuring negotiators can navigate data, interpret charts, and make informed decisions. - Maintain a Single Version of the Truth
Avoiding multiple tools simplifies governance and reinforces trust. Explore which standard charts make most sense for your business and turn them into the language of decision-making.“We aren’t using Power BI or other tools. Keeping one source of truth shut down debates and saved time. Everything that comes standard in the PROS solution achieves 80% of what you need. Custom charts? Often they’re shiny objects that don’t get used.” – Liz Simpson
- Push Back on Too Much Customization
While customization has its place, most needs can be met with standard features. Focus on critical enhancements that deliver real business impact, not small tweaks that don’t bring value. - Prioritize Data Quality
Clean data is essential, but logical consistency matters too. Implement upstream checks and anomaly reporting to prevent errors that erode confidence.“Even clean data can have anomalies. We built data quality reporting to catch issues before they erode trust.” – Liz Simpson, Rockwell Automation
Key Visualizations for Pricing Management
Visualizations are the bridge between complex data and actionable insights. For pricing teams, the following chart types are particularly powerful:
- Box Plots – Compare customer discounts against industry benchmarks, highlighting outliers and supporting transparent negotiations.
- Trend Charts (Time Series) – Track revenue, margins, or special price requests over time to identify seasonal patterns or market shifts.
- Scatter Plots – Analyze relationships between variables, such as discount levels versus purchase volume, to uncover anomalies or opportunities.
- Heat Maps – Visualize pricing performance across regions, product groups, or customer segments for quick pattern recognition.
- Bar and Column Charts – Rank top customers, products, or regions by revenue or margin contribution, aiding strategic prioritization.
- Price Waterfall – Break down the journey from list price to pocket margin, exposing margin leakage and guiding profitability improvements.
- KPI Insights Dashboards – Consolidate critical metrics like approval turnaround time, margin performance, discount compliance, into a single view for leadership.
“We can show a customer where their discounts fit against peers. That transparency changes the conversation.” – Liz Simpson
How Pricing Insights Empower Sales, Finance, and C-Level Executives
Pricing analytics isn’t just a back-office function – it’s a strategic enabler across the organization. Here’s how different teams benefit:
Sales Teams: Faster Deals, More Conversions
- Speed to Quote: Real-time guidance and visibility into historical trends allow reps to respond to special price requests in minutes instead of days.
- Data-Driven Negotiations: Visualizations like box plots and price waterfalls help sales teams justify pricing decisions to customers, reducing margin erosion.
- Customer Insights: Trend charts and SPA request dashboards reveal buying patterns, enabling reps to anticipate needs and tailor offers.
Finance Teams: Margin Control and Forecast Accuracy
- Margin Visibility: Price waterfall charts expose where margin leakage occurs, discounts, rebates, freight, so finance can take corrective action.
- Compliance Monitoring: KPI dashboards track discount adherence and approval turnaround times, ensuring governance and profitability.
- Forecasting Confidence: Historical and trend analytics improve revenue predictability, supporting better financial planning.
C-Level Executives: Strategic Clarity and Growth
- Single Source of Truth: Executives gain confidence in decisions with centralized, trusted data – no more conflicting reports from multiple tools.
- Performance Dashboards: KPI insights provide a high-level view of revenue, margin, and pricing effectiveness, enabling quick strategic pivots.
- Market Responsiveness: Predictive analytics and AI-driven insights help leadership anticipate shifts and act proactively, turning pricing into a competitive advantage.
Transforming The Pricing Function: From Cost Center to Profit Center
Historically, pricing teams have often been viewed as administrative cost centers, focused on approvals and compliance rather than driving growth. Pricing insights change that narrative. By leveraging the analytics in Smart POM, pricing leaders can:
- Demonstrate Strategic Impact: Show how pricing decisions directly influence revenue, margin, and market share.
- Elevate Conversations: Move beyond tactical discounting to strategic discussions about profitability, customer segmentation, and value-based pricing.
- Drive Organizational Alignment: Use data to connect pricing strategy with sales execution and financial performance, positioning pricing as a growth engine.
- Influence C-Level Priorities: With KPI dashboards and predictive analytics, pricing leaders can speak the language of business outcomes, turning pricing into a lever for competitive advantage.
When pricing leaders embrace insights, they transform their function from a gatekeeper to a profit center, earning a seat at the strategic table and shaping the company’s growth trajectory.
The Business Value
Rockwell’s results speak volumes:
- Faster Pricing Decisions: Half of special price requests are now approved within minutes.
- Improved Negotiation Outcomes: Standardized analytics enable agreement managers to assess trends, compare customers to industry benchmarks, and make data-driven decisions.
- Enhanced Stakeholder Trust: Finance and business units now rely on PROS analytics for visibility and strategic planning.
- Operational Efficiency: A single analytics platform reduces complexity, accelerates adoption, and minimizes internal friction.
Looking Ahead: AI and Predictive Insights
With a strong foundation in data and analytics, Rockwell is ready for the next frontier—AI-driven predictive insights. Imagine a future where the system proactively flags trends, anomalies, and opportunities, enabling teams to act before issues arise. This evolution will further amplify the value of Smart POM’s Insights, making pricing not just reactive or proactive, but predictive.
Final Thought: Centralizing data and analytics isn’t just a technical upgrade – it’s a strategic shift. When B2B organizations, like Rockwell Automation, bring their pricing intelligence into one place, they build trust in the numbers, create alignment across key functions, and unlock the confidence to make smarter, faster decisions. PROS Smart POM with its integrated actionable insights does exactly that: without silos, spreadsheets or redundant tools. It cuts through complexity, surfaces those visualizations that matter, and transforms raw data into measurable business impact. With the right insights at the right time, companies don’t just manage prices, they maximize value and position pricing as a true growth engine.
