What to Consider When Selecting a CPQ Software

In the first blog of this series, we explained the 5 Signs You’ve Outgrown Your CPQ Solution, and now we want to take you one step further so you know exactly what to look for when selecting your next CPQ solution. After all, B2B selling is getting more complex by the day; sales teams are increasingly overwhelmed with large portfolios, complex product offerings, and bigger quotas, and they’re struggling to deliver the fast and personalized experience buyers are looking for. So, what can you do?

Thankfully, sales technologies like CPQ (configure, price, quote) software are changing the game for organizations. It’s one of the reasons why analysts and advisory firms alike help direct potential buyers to CPQ providers best suited to meet their needs. That’s because CPQ solutions provide a quote-to-cash platform that enables salespeople to perform all of the actions needed to get a quote into the hands of a customer quickly enough to matter in today’s sales environment.

CPQ decisively changes the game for sales teams by giving them the functionality they need right from their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. And in addition to increasing the adoption and use of the CRM—along with the ERP and customer-facing platforms—it also automates the sales process, boosts sales productivity, personalizes offer recommendations, and reduces error rates that can occur during the quoting process. In an era where customers expect so much more—and much more quickly—CPQ becomes essential to sales professionals who are under more and more pressure to deliver.

The CPQ Market is projected to grow from USD 2.58 billion in 2023 to USD 7.96 billion by 2031, that’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.5% from 2024 to 2031. This makes it clear that business leaders are seeing the real value and importance of adopting software to help accelerate sales teams in an ever-changing, complex digital economy.

5 Factors to Consider When Selecting the Best CPQ Software for You

Not all CPQ solutions are made equally; selecting the wrong system could have immediate and crucial consequences on your business, like lost deals, lost opportunities for revenue and customers churning to competitors. With that in mind, here are some distinctions to look for:

1. CPQ Architecture

   When considering a CPQ software’s architecture, ask yourself: How does this CPQ system fit within my existing tech-stack? What will the flow of information be? Will this help with operational efficiency? What can the new system do that my old one cannot?
   
   Here’s something to keep an eye out for: Traditional CPQ solutions tend to be purpose-built for a specific CRM and can’t be used with any other CRM system. They're less flexible and, if a business uses different CRMs for different departments, integrating the CPQ solution across these systems can be complex and costly. Agnostic CPQ solutions, however, offer full integration with leading CRM systems, ERP systems, customer-facing portals, and eCommerce platforms. They’re designed to provide a unified experience for everyone, including customers, partners, and sales teams, making them a more versatile choice for companies with diverse system requirements.
   Another thing to consider: With global enterprise businesses, it’s common for regional sales teams to use different CRM or ERP tools. Your sales teams in Europe may use Salesforce CRM while your Americas team uses Microsoft Dynamics 365. Pick the wrong CPQ software, and you’re in trouble. International businesses can only scale their operations and adapt to new technologies, if the CPQ solution in question can work with a wide range of solutions, without disrupting the sales processes in place.
   
   With a CRM/ERP agnostic and flexible CPQ solution, on the other hand, you’re good to go no matter which system or customer-facing platform your teams use. This eliminates the risk of sunk costs and lost time having to reinvest and re-implement different platforms in different regions. That’s why it’s important to choose a CPQ vendor that has out-of-the-box capabilities to support integrations with multiple CRM providers from the start; find a solution that fits your business, not the other way around.

2. Configuration Engine

   When it comes to the configuration engine of the ideal CPQ software for you, the name of the game is performance and precision. You want to make sure the solution has the power necessary to match your company’s needs and buyers’ expectations. As a business grows, the complexity and volume of offerings, sales proposals, and sales channels can increase exponentially. If you add additional services and subscriptions to the mix, the efficiency of sales operations could be severely undermined.
   
   For example, some CPQ software solutions experience significant delays when supporting quotes with more than 100 products, and others can handle quotes of up to 10,000 line items with ease and accuracy. With limited CPQ solutions, expanding your offerings with bundles of configured products and recurring services is often out of the question—they simply can’t manage such business sophistication. Therefore, make sure to see a demo of a CPQ solution that can support the number of line items your business requires, checking the responsiveness of the quote and its management as it becomes more and more complex.
   
   The robust configuration engine you want should be able to process large amounts of data quickly, allowing sales teams to generate accurate, complex, and/or high-volume quotes in minutes, not days. This speed is vital for maintaining sales responsiveness in digital channels even for the most sophisticated use cases, ensuring customer satisfaction and a competitive edge in the market. Ultimately, you want a solution that accelerates the sales process and helps the sales function navigate complexity with ease, so make sure the CPQ software you choose measures up.

3. Implementation and User Adoption

   You want a partner, not a mere software provider. Why? Because CPQ is in the middle of your key technology stack. The CPQ solution you choose should be invested in your business’s long-term success—and help you achieve it. Reputable CPQ vendors have expertise on global best practices and can provide guidance on what sales workflows could be most efficient for your industry, serving as reliable consultants to your company.
   
   A full CPQ implementation is usually completed using a multiphase, multistep project approach, and should lead to a simplified and sped-up sales process. In fact, a proper CPQ implementation and user adoption process can ultimately reduce the average time to configure and order placement from 30 days to a couple of hours and reduce product launch time by 75%. The right CPQ partner can help you get there.

4. Data Integrity

   Security and data integrity should be a core feature of any CPQ solution you’re considering. Ensuring that all product, pricing, and customer information is precise and up to date is always essential for generating correct quotes and configurations. It enables sales teams to be more efficient in their daily tasks as they won’t need to do any manual corrections. Accurate and reliable sales information is also crucial for building the right sales strategies and making informed decisions to maintain the business’ competitive position on the market. It enables salespeople to analyze performance and trends and to better forecast expected results.
   
   The right CPQ solution should have world-class recognition and a team of data security experts to ensure the most robust safety for your business information, applying internationally recognized security standards, and employing an approach to integration that centers security at every point in the process.
   
   Such an approach won’t only ensure your company’s data is precise and safeguarded but will also help you realize the full potential of your business information.

5. Omnichannel Support

   A CPQ solution with omnichannel capabilities collects customer data across all diverse touchpoints that customers use, turning this information into insights on buyer behavior and preferences. Using this information in sales interactions with customers allows those customers to receive a frictionless and consistent experience across all sales channels, including direct sales, partners, and digital self-service platforms. This consistency increases the chances of successful buyer-seller relationships and helps build customer trust and satisfaction.
   
   Omnichannel functionality also ensures a business can react better to market dynamics and evolving customer demands and emphasize the touchpoints that make most sense in specific, external conditions to stay competitive. A CPQ supporting multiple channels provides buyers with 24/7 access to the most current product information and service options, allowing them to convert at their convenience. A powerful omnichannel CPQ also empowers international companies to reach and serve a global audience while maintaining a localized sales approach, ensuring offer relevance to regional opportunities.

Choosing the Right CPQ Software for Your Business

We said it once, and we’ll say it again: Not all CPQ solutions are created equally. That’s why it’s important that you take your time to understand what business needs are most important to your organization and then weigh your options. Keeping the above five factors in mind will help you approach the decision in a more informed manner, and hopefully help you land on the right solution for you and your business!

Stay tuned for the next blog post in this series, in which we’ll focus on success stories from some of our Smart CPQ customers that switched from other solutions, including how and why they made the switch.

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