Why choose Salesforce Industries CPQ as an organization

Why choose Salesforce Industries CPQ as an organization

Salesforce Industries CPQ offers several advantages over competing CPQ solutions, including a sharp focus on specific verticals. Yannick van Eldik notes that, in practice, there are a variety of motivations for choosing Salesforce Industries CPQ.

Wondering how long a CPQ Implementation takes? Then read our blog, "How long does a CPQ implementation take?" or "Troubleshooting product visibility in CPQ Cart. For more information.

What is distinctive about Salesforce Industries CPQ?

"Salesforce Industries focuses on specific verticals: Communications, Media & Entertainment, Energy & Utilities, Insurance, Healthcare and Government. So with this, you can be sure that the processes match the market in which you operate. That sharp focus is a major advantage over a solution that CPQ offers across the board. There are packages for the different verticals: these give you a smooth start as an organization and ensure that you can work the right way faster. Another important feature is the fact that Salesforce Industries was developed on the Salesforce platform and connects seamlessly to it. So you don't need separate links with that."

Speaking of the Salesforce connection, what does the interplay between Salesforce and Salesforce Industries CPQ look like?

"First of all, we see the connection at the technical level: Salesforce Industries CPQ is built on the Salesforce foundation. At its core, that already ensures close integration with the Salesforce platform. Beyond the technological integration, there is also a logical sequence within the entire process. You use Salesforce for support in the sales process, including managing contacts, opportunities and the status of important deals. In addition, Salesforce helps with sales automation and pipeline management. Salesforce Industries continues to expand these functionalities, including opportunities. In addition, Salesforce Industries CPQ allows you to quickly issue, manage and streamline this process of quotations. So the components work together seamlessly, and that provides all the functionality you need within the process."

Future
"I personally expect that the integration will also be further strengthened at the functional level in the coming years."

What else can we expect in the future?

"Salesforce Industries CPQ is part of the Salesforce organization. That gives you as a user the opportunity to also use all the peripheral Salesforce features. Think of broad support capabilities and a wide network of partners. In the future, Salesforce will focus more on industry-specific knowledge and techniques. I personally expect that the integration will also be further strengthened at the functional level in the coming years. This will give you, as a user, ready-made connections and the ability to quickly use other tools and modules, such as connections to Slack (which is part of Salesforce) and SAP. That provides great flexibility and convenience."

How can you best get started with a Salesforce Industries CPQ journey?

"You can start a Salesforce Industries CPQ project in several ways. Salesforce itself runs several CPQ projects in-house and you can run the project with a Salesforce Industries partner. Such a party has all the relevant knowledge to align the CPQ solution with business processes. However, when choosing a suitable partner, don't rush into this (see also this article). When discussing the desired license structure, keep in mind that this is an investment for several years. Make sure you have made a complete inventory of the requirements, so that together with the account manager you can find a form that suits the organization."

The implementation is complete and Salesforce Industries CPQ has found its place in the organization. To what extent can you then make your own changes to Salesforce Industries CPQ?

"There are plenty of opportunities in that area: it's about finding the right balance. An important starting point is to enable the organization to work independently as much as possible. For more radical issues - such as adding or modifying complex product combinations - it may be wise to bring in a specialist. For this, it is important that you continuously have a good picture of the capabilities within your own organization, so that you can also see for which areas external expertise is needed. For this we work with a CaseNine map: a map that shows the architecture. Then we jointly tick off which parts are not relevant to the organization. The result: a clear picture of the current status. After this, we can plot the skills of the organization on the required architecture and it becomes clear what will be internal and external. Moreover, the map gives a clear overview of the dependencies of the components."

Want to learn more about the real-world benefits of a CPQ solution? Read more background information here.

Yannick van Eldik

Co-founder

Yannick van Eldik is a co-founder of CaseNine. Moreover, Yannick is closely involved in both sales and content projects. He helps organizations to optimally set up Salesforce solutions, but also acts as a discussion partner for strategic issues.