Digitalization is essential for organizational growth and this growth is majorly dependent upon business revenue in any industry. There are certain KPIs that help and facilitate revenue growth like Time to Market, Risk Reduction, Sales Cycle Time, Upsell & Cross Sell etc. The application architecture for both B2C and B2B customers must facilitate the identification, tracking, managing and analyzing patterns of these KPIs to control the revenue and then they can be aligned for growth. In terms of unavailability of such application architecture, it is arduous and time consuming to keep aligned such KPIs for growth.

In recent times, modern digitalization methodologies have identified and nurtured CPQ products as a technological bridge in between any CRM and ERP systems. The reasons behind this CPQ bridge growth are:

• Facilitate KPIs alignment and provides analytical data in just a click
• Quick design & implementation methodology
• 80-90% of OOTB (out-of-the-box) workable product and very minimal configuration
• Requires minimal admin support after production go-live (as compared to pre-modern heavy applications that businesses use to keep maintenance teams in AMS deals)
• Easy and quick amendments in product & pricing structure on ad-hoc basis
• Removes organizational silos which were attributed to divisional processes or delays earlier
• Most Viable Products (MVP) can be initiated in just-in-time
• Customer experience (due to easy configuration and deployment methodologies)
• Supports AI (artificial intelligence)

This list can be much longer but it illustrates the point about existence and growth of CPQ.

As it has been repeatedly mentioned by respected business users and clients that CPQ is not just a sales tool that provides the data entry screen for sales people but it's a solid structure & platform for entire business transformation.

Business transformation must focus on various business models to be initiated like “offerings-as-a-service”, “on demand economy”, “Subscription economy” and involvement of different engagement models like digital commerce, omni-channel, mobile and conversational too. These business and engagement models take the business transformation to a superior level with non-arduous outcome of predictive analysis, personalization and especially two modern terms being bandied around these days – Artificial intelligence (AI) and as well as the industry favorite – Internet of Things (IoT).

CPQ works as a catalyst in such business transformations. In fact, not only as a catalyst but it works as the main ingredient with definite outcomes like:

• Significant focus on customer experience
• Operating as an extension to business models
• Eliminating divisional silos in an organization
• Reducing complexity in B2B transactions
• Reducing the bureaucratic experience of sales, finance, operations and legal teams
• Focuses-tracks-manages business KPIs
• Triggers with MVP (Most Viable Products) for quick-sell & quick benefits and then establishes the framework for full products support etc.

CPQ focuses on Customer experience (Cx), Performance and Intelligence to drive various outcomes depicted above and also bridges the gap between any kind of CRM and ERP products in a structured E2E application platform.

The future of CPQ is envisioned in various enhancements:

• Customization / personalization for B2B customers for premium services in pricing, discounting, complex product areas.
• Artificial Intelligence for decision making on the analysis of large amount of data.
• Variation of specific products into various business models like: fixed fees, subscription based on usage, pay-as-you-go service or pre-paid conceptual pricing.
• B2C like Self-service platforms for complex B2B transactions with complex real-time visualization of the product structure and pricing.
• Extension of the business processes to suit the innovative approaches due to easy configuration and deployment methodologies.
• Use of machine learning and artificial intelligence up-to a certain level or beyond limit to depict or renew with the specific complex product structure with personalized deals.