Implementing Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solutions can streamline sales processes and drive business growth. However, CPQ implementation is not a quick fix - it’s a journey. Whether you’re considering CPQ for your business or currently in the process of implementation, this overview will help you understand the typical stages and stakeholders for successful CPQ implementation.
Let’s take a look.
1. Initial Assessment and Decision Making
Stakeholders: C-level executives, sales leadership, IT leadership, finance, operations
The process starts with conducting a detailed analysis of your business' needs and challenges. These are then compared to the capabilities of current CPQ platforms, data integration requirements, the user experience of each, and more. Shortlist the best options and assess their potential ROI, considering the cost and time required for CPQ implementation.
2. Project Planning
Stakeholders: Project manager, IT team, sales team, selected CPQ vendor, consultants (if needed)
Once you select a CPQ platform, you’ll define the project scope, goals, and objectives. Allocate resources, including a project team, and set a structured timeline for milestones and delivery. You’ll want to conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify and mitigate any potential challenges along the way to avoid halting your progress.
3. Solution Customization and Integration
Stakeholders: IT team, CPQ vendor, sales team, operations, third-party integrators
Then comes installation of the CPQ solution and customizing it to fit your business' unique product catalog, pricing, and quoting processes. Integrate it with existing CRM and ERP systems, and migrate current data to the new system, ensuring continuity and data integrity.
4. Testing
Stakeholders: QA testers, IT team, end-users (sales team)
Sufficient testing can take weeks or months, and includes QA, IT, and sales teams. It begins with unit testing of CPQ components, moves to system testing in the enterprise environment, and ends with User Acceptance Testing (UAT) by end-users to detect issues and confirm stability/usability.
5. Training and Documentation
Stakeholders: Training department, sales team, IT team, CPQ vendor
This phase, also spanning weeks to months, involves training materials and sessions that teach your end users about the CPQ system. Be ready to support the training with comprehensive documentation to help develop individual proficiency.
6. CPQ Deployment
Stakeholders: IT team, sales team, project manager
Deployment includes launching the CPQ system, monitoring for problems, and offering user support, managed by IT, sales leadership, and the project manager over a period of weeks to months.
7. Review and Optimization
Stakeholders: Sales leadership, IT team, CPQ vendor, end-users
An ongoing phase, review and optimization involves regular CPQ system performance checks, user feedback collection, and system updates for continuous improvement, driven by sales leadership, IT, the CPQ vendor, and end-users.
8. Process Adoption
Stakeholders: Sales leadership, IT team, end-users
The introduction of CPQ presents a great deal of change in processes. Teams will require training sessions and materials to build their proficiency. It will also be important to take regular feedback from end users and explore ways to optimize their CPQ experience on an ongoing basis.
Successful CPQ implementation depends greatly on the adoption rate across the team. What measures are being taken to provide training, collect feedback, make improvements, and track progress? What additional tools are being integrated with your CPQ solution to facilitate process adoption
There are strategies you can implement today to optimize your implementation process and adoption outcomes for CPQ. We’ve created a comprehensive guide that looks at the challenges faced by enterprises in their CPQ implementations, such as software complexity and adoption difficulties. And this guide explores how to simplify the CPQ experience, streamline change management, and optimize adoption to drive success.
Learn more about driving Salesforce CPQ optimization for your team. Download the guide today.