Configure price quote, or CPQ, is big business.
But, in the grand scheme of things, not many people have heard of it.
Despite flying somewhat under the radar, the CPQ market continues to gain momentum year after year.
Read Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Configure, Price and Quote Application Suites and you’ll see CPQ is growing faster than ever:
“In 2019, the CPQ application market grew by 15.5%, to an estimated $1.42 billion.”
These numbers, along with the evolving use cases for CPQ, sees the application breaking new ground.
So what does this continued growth really mean for CPQ?
As CPQ Visionaries for four consecutive years, we’re well placed to give you an overview of how CPQ has evolved – and why it continues to grow.
CPQ certainly isn’t the stand alone sales configurator it was once perceived to be.
Today, configure price quote applications are part of the wider functionality that makes up the modular and agile integrated platforms favored by digital leaders.
Based on your CRM of choice, you can use the likes of Salesforce Appexchange to pick and choose CRM-native apps. Easy to integrate and delivering specific functionality, these apps can quickly provide a joined-up digital experience across channels.
As part of this architecture, growing enterprises are using CPQ to drive complementary applications – such as Order Management, Contract Management, Document Generation and Digital Commerce – to drive profitable sales journeys and convenient customer experiences.
Gartner’s report reveals the CPQ market is growing at a healthy rate.
But why? And where’s this growth coming from?
Firstly, the rise of SaaS has reduced costs. This has made CPQ an option for organizations that previously found implementation costs prohibitive.
More pertinently, people are looking beyond the ‘C’ of CPQ. Or, in other words, seeing that CPQ is useful beyond the configuring of products. This has opened up a range of new industries, use cases and opportunities for vendors.
"Organizations are looking beyond the ‘C’ of CPQ and realizing that CPQ is useful beyond the configuring of products. This has opened up a range of new industries, use cases and opportunities for vendors."
Originally, configure price quote was used in industrial manufacturing to configure complex product sets. Telcos also caught on to this use case quickly.
And while CPQ is still great for this, it’s also breaking new ground.
For industries with less complex product sets, configuration isn’t such a worry.
But the secret’s out. CPQ’s pricing and quoting functionality provides a demonstrable impact on both bottom line and customer experience.
CPQ’s evolution from a solution for sales transactions to one that enables a more holistic sale – incorporating the management of services and subscriptions for a customer’s lifetime – has broadened its appeal.
This means we’ve seen media companies using CPQ to launch faster and provide self-service, energy providers reinventing customer experiences and high-tech organizations automating key processes to grow faster.
Even as customer expectations evolve configure price quote still delivers valuable outcomes for enterprises globally.
Ultimately, until these results are surpassed by another solution, CPQ will continue to grow and remain a must-have application for today’s digital enterprises.
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Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Configure, Price and Quote Application Suites, Mark Lewis, Dayna Ford, 28 September 2020. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.