Configure Price Quote (CPQ) is the standard process of helping a customer go from approximate requirements to “ready to purchase” as efficiently as possible. Earlier this year, Forrester stated that with the rise in omnichannel sales and proliferation or Everything as a Service (XaaS), the CPQ category is experiencing a renaissance. Forrester notes that customers use CPQ technologies to self-educate, and sales reps rely on CPQ to compress cycles and increase order value and margin growth.1 The configuration element shows users compatible products and respects the rules of the system. These va ..read more

How mature is your B2B eCommerce?  B2B buyers, especially over the last 12 months, want to self-serve at their convenience without waiting for quotations, product information, or complicated manual discounting. Forrester’s recent report concludes that being a B2B digital seller is about more than eCommerce – it is leveraging new business models for direct and channel selling and having a critical 360-degree view of the customer journey.1 Forrester concludes that B2B buyers defect to sites where the friction is lowest, search is easiest, and the selection is broadest and deepest. How can ..read more

Earlier this year, Jay McBain (Principal Analyst – Channels, Partnerships & Ecosystems – Forrester) published a Forrester blog post entitled: Channel Software Tech Stack for 2021. We are delighted to be recognised under three categories for what we consider to be our successful CPQ applications. The categories in which we have been recognized are described in Jay’s blog are as follows: Channel learning and readiness – Supports partner development through the administration, tracking, and delivery of educational training courses and enablement resources, including learning management ..read more

If you are a Vendor working with a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, have you considered the best method to deliver new features or changes you want in your software? Your functionality requirements may be complicated and challenging, so your SaaS Development team must work well with you to ensure the best outcome. There are many software development processes, and each software development team must adopt a practice that works well for themselves and ..read more

The 3 Stages of Bundles Manufacturers like bundles: it improves margin, drives up the Average Unit Price (AUP) and aids marketing (selling solutions versus a bunch of parts). Configure Price Quote (CPQ) can enable bundles if it can handle all three stages of the process of delivering them: Stage 1 – Bundle Creation Deciding which products to group should be simple, it is not. Limiting the portfolio will reduce the attractiveness, increasing flexibility will increase the complexity for transactional partners (e.g. Distribution). Whether you describe this ..read more

PIM pivotal  Forrester’s recent Market Snapshot announced that it is time to consider PIM as pivotal to a successful digital experience strategy and that the PIM vendor landscape is in transition to meet CX needs. Solutions to manage product data are undergoing a transformation, driven by the impact of PIM on CX, scale of products and proliferation of touchpoints. channelcentral met with Pimberly, a UK-based Product Information Management (PIM) Vendor last year. Multi-vendor sellers have to manage huge volumes of product data in a variety of different format ..read more

A recent Forrester report has identified that B2B marketers’ content ‘shows a deeper understanding of the concerns and challenges buyers face.’ To engage B2B buyers, Forrester says content should be empathetic and easy to consume.1 B2B customers want more than customized content; it needs to be genuinely helpful and embrace the outcomes that they desire.  Also, customers want reassurance that information they receive is from a trusted source.  ‘business and IT decision–makers say vendors give them too much material and most of it is ..read more

Earlier this year, Forrester’s Jay McBain included in his channel trends analysis, a newly evolved channel model – Trifurcation.  This model identifies three key streams to the channel, influencing different buyers at different stages in their buying journey:  Influencer channel: affinity partners, referral agents, affiliates, advocates and ambassadors with potential to influence a buyer during their pre-purchase research. With more B2B buyers expecting a customer experience (CX) similar to that ..read more

Few Configure Price Quote (CPQ) vendors offer Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Our customers love that we do. So, what is it, and why is it a service that many CPQ vendors choose not to offer?  A recent ForresterNow article cites the importance of Manufacturers investing in Product content for more lift in all Channels – strengthening relationships with Distributors and increasing product sell-though.1  CPQ Systems don’t work without data; in this context, product data. New products are launched, old products are retired and superseded. That’s the Pr ..read more

A Configure Price Quote (CPQ) vendor with a vertical market focus, can understand quickly and precisely what you need. channelcentral operates exclusively in the heart of the IT Channel. Good CPQ should improve the customer experience (CX) while lowering the cost of sales. Your sales staff and customers need to quote quickly, accurately, with compatible options and your latest prices. Forrester reveals that the reduced sales rep time on admin and lower-value tasks accounts for 65% of the total revenue benefit resulting from sales enablement modernization.1 Free up your staff to build more mea ..read more