This article discusses more benefits provided by SAP Commerce & CPQ (Configure, Price & Quote), and specifically; why you should consider integrating the two systems. Whether you’re in the beginning stages of considering SAP CPQ and Commerce solutions, are up and running on SAP CPQ and Commerce already, or fall somewhere in between–this will give you the information you need to make the best decisions for your business and most importantly–your customer.
Why Integrate?
There are many reasons to integrate SAP CPQ and Commerce. Here at ASAR –we’ve observed motivation for integration typically falls within 3 main pillars: cost, time, and customer experience. We repeatedly see customers come to ASAR Digital trying to solve one or more of these pain points. But before we examine the three pillars, let’s first understand the quoting process beginning in SAP Commerce.
After logging into their commerce storefront, the customer can directly browse for products. And make selections, add items to their cart, and make a purchase. However, if after making selections the customer is looking for discounts, special pricing, or more favorable terms – they can conveniently submit a quotation request. With sales quotes replicating from SAP Commerce to SAP CPQ, the sales rep is able to immediately edit the quote. So they can make important decisions on pricing, discounts, up-sell and cross-sell, and make recommendations. And even communicate directly with the customer via the comments section.
Depending on the authorization level assigned to the sales rep, they may need to submit discount requests for management approval. Once the sales rep is satisfied with the quote, and obtains necessary discount approvals, the quote updates back to commerce so the customer can review it. At this point, the customer can either accept or reject the quote. Upon acceptance, the quote is converted to a sales order, and is therefore replicated to the back end system. Alternatively, if the customer is not satisfied with the quote, additional negotiations can be initiated from SAP commerce. With no limit to the number of quote iterations. By streamlining the quote-to-order process, businesses save on cost and time.
Now let’s take a deeper look at each of the pillars (Cost, Time and Customer experience)
Cost
We’ve all heard it before — time is money. Which is a concept I think we can fully appreciate when talking about sales processes. Streamlining the CPQ quote request and delivery process with your existing sales team will greatly reduce time and therefore cost. By giving the customer the ability to build their personalized quote, we eliminate a huge costly step for Sales Reps.
Time (efficiency)
When Sales Reps aren’t busy configuring complex customer quotes, they can be using their time to prospect, follow up on opportunities, and close deals. Time savings translates directly into efficiencies, and the more efficient the quoting process is for a Sales Rep, the more time they have to generate leads and close deals.
Customer Experience
Today’s customers demand superior customer experience. They’ve have come to expect a level of service that many businesses find hard to provide, given software constraints. Even businesses with the most expensive, sophisticated software money can buy, can still fail to meet customer expectations by not streamlining their customer experience. By integrating CPQ with SAP Commerce, customers come to one place to shop for products/services, request quotes, communicate with sales (including negotiations, questions, and recommendations), and order placement.
SAP CPQ and Commerce are two useful tools, whose usefulness increases exponentially when combined! Your enterprise makes a big investment in customer experience; starting with hiring the best Sales Team, training them extensively, and purchasing the best software money can buy. So why leave money on the table by missing out on the full benefits of an SAP CPQ – Commerce integration?
We hope this information was useful to you in understanding the benefits of Commerce and CPQ integration. If you have any questions or need assistance with your SAP CPQ-Commerce integration please reach out to any of our qualified team members