Implementing configure price quote, or CPQ, software isn’t as simple as turning the key in a new car. You wouldn’t want it to be. Turnkey solutions are convenient, but they are necessarily limited by their onboard programming.
When it comes to a process as complex as CPQ, you want someone to help you fit the software to your business, and the more quickly and seamlessly you can do that, the more quickly you can begin to see the financial benefits that led you to adopt CPQ to begin with.
There are many points at which a CPQ implementation can go wrong, so it’s important to find a consultant with the expertise and knowledge to not only minimize setbacks but to ensure you get the most out of your investment.
There are many questions you ought to ask a consultant before signing any agreement, but here are three important questions that drive to the heart of CPQ implementation.
1. What are the most common implementation mistakes you see?
You’re looking here for concrete examples that demonstrate two things:
- That your consultant has experience implementing CPQ systems
- That your consultant can explain what he or she does to your system in a way that you can understand
Both are important for making sure your implementation goes as smoothly as possible.
For my part, the most common implementation mistakes I have seen include the following:
- Inefficient configuration that creates a slow-running system which frustrates users
- Rigid development that gets the system work for the moment but does not anticipate a company growing or changing needs
- Poor communication between the consultant and client that leads to dissatisfaction and huge delays
2. How do you ensure we don’t have any problems with implementation?
This is a little bit of a trick question. If you asked the previous question, then you should hopefully know that your consultant can anticipate problems.
What you’re looking for here is an honest answer, and the honest answer is that no one can guarantee there won’t be any problems.
Instead of overconfidence, you want to hear that your CPQ consultant has a plan to deliver a resilient system in an agile fashion and over a reasonable amount of time.
That plan should include some or all of the following:
- A series of meetings to establish basic business requirements
- A way to preview the implementation often to monitor progress
- A discussion of communication channels and expectations
- A strategy for launching (and troubleshooting) your CPQ program
- A training plan for your in-house CPQ Administrators
Keep in mind that while you will naturally value speed, your consultant has the responsibility of creating a system that will function well, so you should expect him or her to push back on deadlines if they do not believe they can reasonably meet your needs more quickly.
3. What happens when we upgrade our system?
There are many ways to implement a CPQ solution. Some of them work great for the system version you have, but breakdown or get glitchy as soon as you upgrade.
And you are going to upgrade. You know it; your consultant should know it, and he or she should plan for it.
I recommend a consultant does compatibility checks and use abstraction when programming. In simple terms, uses coding best practices and the cloud to ensure a robust implementation that continues to work well with other programs even after you upgrade them.
The second thing I recommend is that you work with a consultant who will offer you long term support after implementation. This makes you more nimble for those unforeseen and unforeseeable instances when an upgrade creates problems even for a robust CPQ system.
When you have an agreement in place, you can reach out to your consultant before you schedule the update and discuss what you might expect and what the consultant can do should you run into any problems.
4. Do we have to call you every time we have a problem?
Upgrades are one thing, but what about day-to-day maintenance and troubleshooting? How often will you have to contact your consultant to deal with common operating situations?
It may cost you a little more, but a good consultant can build you a powerful admin interface to allow your CPQ administrator to handle the most common CPQ needs such as data validation, configuration rules, pricing rules, approvals, etc.
That means you only need to reach out to your consultant for the most complicated tasks.
5. What happens if we bring in someone else to manage our CPQ solution?
I personally hope that you receive a level of excellence and professionalism that will never give you reason to change CPQ consultants, but I also understand that sometimes organizations change, leaders change, vendors change, and so on. That may mean that you will have to change consultants even when you’re happy with the one you have.
A good consultant should be able to prepare for that from day one and should be able to provide detailed documentation on the implementation. There is so much change in most CPQ implementation happening since planning to delivery in a system that sometimes the initial plan don’t even match 10% of what's implemented. Your consultant should be frank with you about that and rather than prepare useless documentation upfront, maintain a health pace in updating the documentation as the CPQ implementation progresses.
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