Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solutions have become an indispensable part of the sales operations for modern businesses. They help automate the sales cycle at various stages, so processes become smoother, accurate, and error-free.
Choosing a CPQ solution becomes a highly crucial decision as it should align with your organization’s workflows and automate them effectively. Though there are a dozen CPQ solutions available in the market, Salesforce CPQ and Cincom CPQ are amongst the top recommended solutions that organizations can choose. Both CPQ platforms offer the desired flexibility and features/functionalities while meeting the requirements of businesses of all scales and sizes.
This blog aims to highlight the key differences between Salesforce CPQ and Cincom CPQ, so the decision of choosing between them becomes easier. At the end of the article, you will be able to choose the right CPQ solution for your organization.
Salesforce CPQ Overview
Salesforce configure price quote is a cloud-based CPQ solution. It is designed to automate pricing and quotation-related procedures for organizations, making them quicker and more accurate. It simplifies the complete sales cycle by helping sales reps in creating complex quotes, pricing them accurately, routing them automatically for approvals, and getting customer signatures. It is a great solution for organizations to offer more personalized services to their customers.
Before moving towards its features, it is important to know that Salesforce will be entering an “End of Sale” phase and will stop selling its CPQ solution. Salesforce will offer Revenue Cloud Advanced and Revenue Cloud Billing software as an alternative. A spokesperson commented that the current Salesforce CPQ users will continue to receive full access of the software, including customer support.
Here are key features that the Salesforce CPQ tool offers:
Guided Selling: Helps sales reps throughout the sales process, so they can personalize products and services as per the needs and preferences of the customers. With the configure price quote Salesforce tool, the process becomes more streamlined and hassle-free.
Product Configurator: Provides rule-based configuration for accurate product customizations. The tool ensures that the final product is selected only with valid configurations and effectively meets customer expectations.
Pricing Rules: Enables dynamic pricing strategies based on rules to offer accurate pricing and discounts as per the final product selected. The pricing also changes in real-time when there is a change in the product configuration.
Usage-Based Pricing and Service: Enables flexible pricing for customers based on their usage by setting up units of usage to enable metered services or tiered-usage structures.
Proposal Document Generation: Automates the proposal and quote creation using pre-built templates. With Salesforce CPQ, sales reps can create a professional looking quote without needing to write or create everything from scratch.
Approvals Automation: Automates complex approval processes to help sales reps finalize the quote and close deals faster. Several rules and conditions, such as approval triggers and user permissions can be set to make the approval process frictionless.
Cincom CPQ Overview
Cincom CPQ is a powerful CPQ solution that automates product configuration, pricing, and quote creation for enterprises. It is ideal for organizations handling complex products and pricing structures as it eliminates the risk of errors and reduces manual effort. With Cincom CPQ’s robust integration framework, organizations can eliminate silos, streamline operations, and drive measurable results in their digital transformation journey. It supports custom integrations with APIs and connectors with Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CE and F&O), Salesforce, and more for file sharing, SQL, and email, offering unparalleled flexibility.
Product Configuration: Offers advanced product configuration capabilities to customize products and services with real-time visualization to meet specific customer requirements.
Precise Pricing: Automates the pricing process with predefined rules to confidently generate precise quotes. This ensures pricing, discounts, bulk discounts, and other factors are accurately incorporated as per the finalized product.
Polished Quotes: Generates polished, professional quotes in various formats with branding and messaging consistency. Sales reps get complete control of how the message and formatting looks like to meet the unique preferences of the clients.
Streamlined Workflows: Like Salesforce CPQ, Cincom also offers integration capabilities with CRM and ERP systems, thereby streamlining workflows and processes to accelerate the entire sales cycles and improve overall efficiency.
Platform Flexibility: Provides unmatched platform flexibility, supporting both cloud-based and on-premises deployments. Its seamless integration with the existing tech stack ensures smooth operations across the sales ecosystem.
Salesforce CPQ vs Cincom CPQ: Analyzing the difference
| Feature | Cincom CPQ | Salesforce CPQ |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Enables customization of every aspect of complex products and services, giving full control to maximize revenue potential. | Focus is more on boosting sales productivity and creation of quotes quickly and accurately. |
| Product Configuration | Offers advanced configuration capabilities, like guided selling, 3D visualization, real-time updates to streamline highly customizable configurations. | Supports guided selling, bundling, and rule-based configuration for effective and accurate product customizations. |
| Pricing Configuration | Ensures precise pricing with discounts, bulk offers, and margin protection with pricing guardrails. Flexible pricing models. | Flexible pricing models such as metered services, consumption-based, or tiered usage structures. |
| Quote Generation | Generates polished, professional quotes in various formats and languages with branding and messaging consistency. | Offers pre-built templates and a feature-rich editor for customizations. Automated quote creation with approval workflows. |
| Visualization Tools | Offers 2D and 3D visualization that offers real-time updates as product configuration changes. | Limited visualization capabilities through product catalogs. |
| Regulatory Compliance | Built-in tools for ensuring industry compliance. Guarantees compliance for industries like medical devices and equipment. | Compliance capabilities are offered in the quoting process. |
| Deployment Options | Offers both on-premises and SaaS (cloud-based) deployment to meet the needs of the customers. | Offers only cloud-based deployment. On-premises deployment is not available. |
| Ease of Use | Intuitive interface tailored for both sales and engineering teams as well as customizability make it extremely user-friendly. | Easy to use but rigid with rules, so customers may need to contact sales teams for custom orders. |
| Customization Capabilities | Highly configurable for complex, made-to-order (MTO) and engineer-to-order (ETO) products. Allows businesses to create their own rules. | Customization capabilities limited to quotes/proposals and product configurations. |
| Integrations | Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and other major ERP and CRM systems. | Salesforce CPQ integrates within the Salesforce ecosystem to fetch information on customers, products, and pricing. |
| Customer Support | Strong global support with multi-language and multi-currency capabilities. Supports all channels. | Global support provided through different channels. |
| Pricing Models | Flexible pricing tailored to businesses of different sizes and industry needs. | Fixed subscription-based pricing models available for customers. |
| Advanced Analytics | Includes robust CPQ ROI calculators and detailed performance metrics to track sales efficiency. | Provides analytical capabilities to users, such as deal insights and data-based forecasting. |
| Industrial Use Cases | Industrial equipment manufacturing, specialty vehicles and automotives, medical devices, and IT managed services. | Insurance industry, IT industry, Consultancy firms, and Logistics industry. |
Both solutions from Salesforce and Cincom offer a comprehensive set of features and capabilities. You can find differences when it comes to customization capabilities, visualization, tools, analytics, and use cases. For example, Cincom CPQ offers on-premises deployment with cloud-based deployment in comparison to Salesforce configure price quote which only offers cloud-based deployment.
To further simplify the difference between Cincom CPQ and Salesforce CPQ, here are brief reviews available on Gartner for both the solutions.
Cincom CPQ Feedback
Positive
Cincom CPQ handles complex product configuration with ease, ensuring accurate quotes. It automates pricing calculations, discounts, and approval workflow, which minimizes the risk of inconsistent pricing. It also connects well with the existing systems which ensures data consistency across sales, finance, and operations.
Negative
While highly customizable, making changes to workflows or pricing rules users require more technical expertise. Moreover, when users handle a vast catalogue of configuration products, the system can experience a slowdown. Additionally, it would be beneficial for the tool to have better offline capabilities for the field sales team working in areas with limited connectivity.
Omnichannel = More Sales
Customer satisfaction with traditional approaches can
be challenging. Cincom CPQ makes it easy.
Salesforce CPQ User Feedback
Positive
In Salesforce CPQ, the quotation process is an excellent way to solve customer expectations. It handles any complex product configuration and pricing rules effortlessly. Accuracy and consistency of the tool during the quotation process help users close the deal with prospective customers very fast without any confusion.
Negative
The rules are rigid so it’s hard to be more creative when it comes to pricing and terms, so users end up going to sales ops to get custom order forms done which has to be done outside the system and takes time.
How to choose the ideal tool between Cincom CPQ and Salesforce CPQ
Choosing the ideal configure price quote solution for your business involves analyzing several key factors that can help you ensure which solution suits your needs best. Here are the key factors that you should consider:
Business needs and requirements
While choosing between Cincom CPQ and Salesforce CPQ, you need to assess your business’s complexity, especially in product configurations, pricing models, and sales workflows. If your business is complex in nature and requires customization at every stage of the sales process, Cincom CPQ could be an ideal choice. However, if your business relies on standardized processes and your focus is only on sales growth, you can choose Salesforce CPQ as your primary tool.
Functionalities
When choosing between Cincom CPQ and Salesforce CPQ, evaluating their features is crucial to ensure they align with your business requirements.
Cincom CPQ offers features, such as product configuration, precise pricing, polished proposals, seamless integration with major CRM and ERP systems, personalized configuration, high levels of flexibility, professional services for successful implementation and continued optimization.
Salesforce CPQ offers several features like guided selling, product configurator, usage-based pricing and service, proposal generation, and workflow automation. It also offers integration capabilities with Salesforce CRM to fetch product detail and customer details seamlessly.
Choosing the right CPQ solution depends on whether your business needs advanced customization and flexibility (Cincom CPQ) or a streamlined, growth-focused sales process (Salesforce CPQ).
Ease of use
User friendliness is a vital factor to consider while choosing a CPQ solution. It can enhance productivity, minimize the learning curve, and boost the overall adoption rates within the organization. While both Cincom CPQ and Salesforce CPQ are user-friendly and offer intuitive interface, the latter can be a bit rigid with rules as highlighted in the user feedback section above. While Cincom CPQ is tailored for both sales and engineering teams. With proper training, sales reps can enjoy its ease of use, boosting their productivity and accuracy.
Integration
Integration of tools and software in the sales process can significantly streamline the workflows which can reduce turnaround time and reduce the chances of errors. Seamless integration ensures that the CPQ tool works efficiently across departments, reducing manual data entry and providing real-time data to different departments. If your organization already uses Salesforce products and services, Salesforce CPQ is a great choice because it integrates seamlessly and enhances your existing system. However, if your business relies on different providers, Cincom CPQ may be a better fit, as it integrates smoothly with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and other major ERP and CRM platforms.
Cost
Cost is a critical factor when choosing CPQ software. Both tools offer a different type of pricing model for organizations looking to buy one. When it comes to Salesforce CPQ, there are four plans in total. The basic plan starts from $75/user/month, billed annually. There is another plan called CPQ+ which costs $150/user/month, billed annually. For the other two plans, users need to contact for a quote.
On the other hand, Cincom CPQ offers a simple quote-based pricing model. Users can easily get in touch with the Cincom sales team to get personalized quote recommendations for your organization.
Final Verdict: Choosing the Best CPQ for Your Organization
CPQ is a powerful solution that every sales team needs today. Organizations can use it as an asset to increase accuracy, accelerate sales processes, and boost customer satisfaction. Choosing the right CPQ solution can depend on various factors, like business needs, desired functionalities, user-friendliness, and budget. It is essential for users to gain a deep understanding of the solutions before making the final decision.
As Salesforce will stop selling its CPQ solution, Cincom CPQ can be a great option for your organization with all the benefits it offers. Take the first step today and get the necessary resources you will need to stay ahead of the competition.
FAQ
1- What is Salesforce CPQ?
Salesforce CPQ is a cloud-based tool that helps sales teams quickly generate accurate quotes for complex products or services by automating the quoting process.
2- How does Salesforce CPQ improve the sales process?
CPQ in Salesforce simplifies the sales process by helping sales reps in creating complex quotes, pricing them accurately, and routing them automatically for approvals. It streamlines the entire quote-to-cash process while reducing errors and accelerating deal closures.
3- Which one is better – Cincom CPQ or Salesforce CPQ?
It depends on various factors, like business needs, desired functionalities, user-friendliness, and budget. If your organization needs advanced customization, handles highly complex products, or needs an on-premises solution, you can choose Cincom CPQ. Salesforce CPQ can be suitable if your focus is on a streamlined and growth-focused sales process.
4- Are Salesforce and CPQ different tools?
Salesforce offers a cloud-based software suite for sales, customer service, marketing automation and customer management. Salesforce CPQ is a part of the Salesforce ecosystem.
5- How to buy Salesforce CPQ software?
Customers won’t be able to purchase Salesforce CPQ software as they will be entering the end of sales phase. You can check other solutions like Cincom CPQ to meet your needs.
6- What are the features of configure price quote Salesforce?
Salesforce CPQ offers several features like guided selling, product configurator, usage-based pricing and service, proposal generation, and workflow automation.
