Introduction
Compare Salesforce CPQ and Conga CPQ
Conga CPQ and Salesforce CPQ are both cloud-based CPQ solutions that enable businesses to automate the creation and management of quotes, proposals, and contracts. Both offer a range of powerful features, including product configuration capabilities, price optimization tools, guided selling guidance, and other standard out-of-the-box features. However, there are a few key differences between the two platforms that should be accounted for when evaluating them for potential use.
Conga CPQ is a digital commerce solution that is primarily suited for complex quotes and contracts. It is ideal for businesses that need to manage multiple versions and configurations of products, including upsells and cross-sells. The platform also includes advanced pricing and discounting capabilities, allowing firms to quickly produce quotes based on negotiated prices.
Salesforce CPQ is an enterprise solution that builds nicely into the Salesforce mainframe. Salesforce Revenue Cloud is a recent offering with integrated CPQ, billing, and revenue recognition capabilities. This product is best suited for high-volume businesses requiring automated pricing models and customer segmentation features. Salesforce users benefit from accessibility to other Salesforce applications with the same UI.
Product Overview
Overview of each CPQ Solution
Thousands of organizations use Conga CPQ and Salesforce CPQ, but the end result of their use may look different depending on the organization’s needs. Here’s a quick overview of each product offering.
Defining Conga CPQ
Apttus was an innovator in Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) solutions and robust CLM tools. After the merger of Apttus and Conga in 2020, Apttus CPQ continues to operate under the name Conga CPQ.
This platform has been a game changer for sales teams when it comes to speeding up their revenue lifecycle, providing users with customizable options such as pricing models, sales discounting, carts, and more—all while enabling them to generate detailed proposals & contracts quickly and efficiently.
Conga’s software is designed on a microservices architecture, granting it the ability to manage substantial volumes of quotes and contracts with ease. This makes the platform highly scalable for businesses that need to manage complex pricing structures and high volumes of orders.
Defining Salesforce CPQ
Bolstered by its 2015 acquisition by Salesforce, CPQ has taken the world of sales automation to new heights. Formerly known as SteelBrick CPQ, this extensive solution is now known as Salesforce CPQ and offers unparalleled accessibility from any device around the globe.
With CRM integration found at its core, it gives teams all the information they need to make optimal decisions with maximum efficiency. This makes Salesforce CPQ solution is ideal for teams who require seamless access to customer data, as well as those conducting a high volume of transactions.
Powered directly on top of the Revenue Cloud platform, CPQ users can easily access customer data, configure products and services, generate invoices and contracts, as well as speed up the entire quote-to-cash process with a single click.
Product Features
Comparison of Key Features
Salesforce CPQ and Conga CPQ both offer various features like product configuration, discounting and pricing capabilities, guided selling, and more. The main distinction between the two lies in their ability to provide a more granular product setup tailored to each customer’s unique business needs.
Conga CPQ is exceptionally flexible in capturing customers’ specific requirements while Salesforce CPQ offers its own suite of powerful capabilities that enable businesses to effectively adapt to changing market dynamics.
Here’s a breakdown of each product’s features:
| Conga CPQ | Salesforce CPQ |
|---|---|
| Choose only the functionalities needed to complete business processes and operate them all using the same interface. | Configure complex product combinations with the same user interface as Salesforce CRM. |
| Integration for connecting with third-party software, including DocuSign, HubSpot, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Dropbox, and Google Drive | Provide real-time insights into customers, deals, and prospects through its integration with Salesforce’s CRM platform. |
| Relatively fast integration with minimal downtime and setup fees. | IT implementation takes an average of 6-9 months. |
| Guided selling with real-time deal scoring speeds up the sales cycle and makes selling easier. | Salesforce offers pre-built guided selling capabilities, but complicated workflows require custom coding and development. |
| Scalable microservices architecture makes it easy for companies to add and remove services and users as they shift their organizational goals | Additional products, services, features, and integrations require greater investment from the company in both capital and time. |
| With Dealroom, digital proposals can be easily sent via attachable files or links, allowing companies to provide their customers with one point of interaction throughout all stages of the deal, rather than multiple files or links. | Each price quote is delivered as an attachable file, and any alterations necessitate a new version of the document. |
| Unlimited configurations for complex products and services, rules-based pricing, and unlimited attributes for configuration available out-of-the-box. | Additional features and licenses are available for added costs. |
| Visual product configurator makes it easy to configure pricing, discounting, carts, and check-out processes. | Customer communication within the Salesforce ecosystem. |
| Subscription, renewal, and order management capabilities with asset-based ordering. | Subscription management and complex billing capacity, plus advanced order management for enterprise customers. |
| Cross-sell and upsell insights with full contract visibility that show sales reps where to offer additional products. | Detailed reporting analytics for optimized pricing strategies and discount arrangements. |
| Automated approval workflows for faster turnaround times and quote collaboration across teams and stakeholders with audit trails. | Full-cycle quote-to-cash automation. |
| Price optimization with price waterfall and cost analyses. | Profitability, discount structure, and revenue intelligence insights synced with the Salesforce platform |
| Web-based platform with software integration | Web and mobile (iPhone and Android) platforms. |
| Phone support Email responses Community and forum FAQ and knowledge base Video tutorials Webinars New user training and onboarding | Phone customer support Knowledge base Salesforce Trailhead (self-service learning) Customer onboarding |
Customer Size
Ideal Customer Profiles
Conga CPQ is a solid solution for medium and large organizations, as it offers unbeatable product configuration capabilities that allow you to create customized pricing proposals based on different scenarios. For mid to large-sized companies, Conga CPQ is a happy medium between flexibility and automation.
Salesforce CPQ is tailored to meet the needs of businesses large and small, and multiple business types use it to streamline their operations. It can easily integrate with other Salesforce applications, and its microservices architecture makes it suitable for any organization, regardless of size.
That said, Salesforce itself is generally an enterprise solution. Many businesses find a less complex system preferable because Salesforce requires additional IT infrastructure to implement at higher scales.
Conga is designed for complex pricing models, but agencies, vendors, and suppliers can implement the CPQ platform without as significant of an IT implementation cost, albeit with less customizability (i.e., custom coding).
Pricing
Breakdown of Pricing Options
Conga CPQ and Salesforce CPQ have slightly different pricing models. Conga is almost completely microservice-based, meaning users sign up and pay for features that they use. Salesforce CPQ has a few basic offerings, but the pricing is based on a subscription model and features are bundled together.
That said, the base offering for Salesforce CPQ is one of the the priciest CPQ options, and adding products from its partner ecosystem makes it even more expensive than other solutions. Getting separate software from Salesforce partners and integrating it may also be more expensive and cumbersome than finding a solution that can do it all.
It is difficult to know exactly how much customers can expect to pay for a Conga CPQ plan, as there is no single set of pricing points (and no public information about the subject). However, pricing starts at $35 per user per month, making it one of the most affordable starting out.
| Conga CPQ | Salesforce CPQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Product Pricing | Custom configuration – contact sales | CPQ: $75 per user per month (billed annually) CPQ Plus: $150 per user per month, billed annually CPQ + Billing Growth: Contact sales CPQ + Billing Plus: Contact sales |
| Implementation Fees | One-time implementation fee | Ongoing implementation fees for custom coding |
| Additional Licenses | Additional product costs on a per-use basis | Additional license fees for e-sign, contract management, buyer engagement tracking, and other licensing costs. |
To get the most out of Salesforce CPQ, businesses can expect to pay additional customization costs, licensing fees, and training costs in addition to the one-time implementation fee. In addition, higher-level feature sets require more complex setups and expensive integrations, making it best suited for those with larger budgets.
With Conga, you’ll only have to pay for the features you use. And since they are all part of the same platform, there is no need to integrate multiple services. This makes it a great option for businesses that are looking for an all-in-one solution without the extra costs associated with Salesforce CPQ.
Summary
Considerations for Choosing Between the Two Solutions
Overall, both Conga and Salesforce can be seen as powerful solutions for enterprise companies. Businesses using Salesforce like it for its endless customizability and integration capabilities, while Conga provides a one-stop shop that makes it easier and more affordable to manage pricing.
For medium and large-sized businesses, Conga CPQ makes the most sense. As a system that was originally built for the Salesforce platform before branching out, it offers a good combination of pricing flexibility and automation, even for Salesforce users. And since it doesn’t require third-party partners to add features like contract management (CLM), it can be a great option for businesses that want to keep everything simple.
Salesforce offers a robust software suite—including Salesforce CPQ—perfect for organizations of any size, especially those with complicated technologies and IT systems. Prior to making a purchase decision, it’s important to consider whether the implementation fees, update costs, and customizations will be worth the total cost of ownership (which may include help from external consultants).
FAQs
Frequntly Asked Questions
The main difference between Conga CPQ and Salesforce CPQ is that Conga is a one-stop shop for pricing automation, while Salesforce requires additional IT infrastructure to implement. Both platforms offer powerful features for enterprise companies, with Conga being the more affordable option.
Conga CPQ was originally built for the Salesforce platform, before finding success as a standalone CPQ that integrates with numerous systems. Conga CPQ in Salesforce refers to Conga’s ability to integrate with Salesforce CRM, allowing businesses to manage pricing, contracts, and customer data from the same platform while syncing information between the two.
Conga provides an array of robust, integrated solutions with Salesforce. Managing and sharing data as well as client documentation is a breeze, allowing for effortless processes that take the customer experience to new heights from beginning to end.
Conga was first released on the Salesforce AppExchange in 2006 and Salesforce Ventures remains an investor in the company. But Conga is its own platform, independent of Salesforce. Conga CPQ customers are not necessarily Salesforce customers and can use it with other CRM’s. However, Salesforce users will find a deep integration between the two platforms.
Salesforce CPQ is highly customizable, and depending on the complexity of your business needs, more complex setups may require additional integrations and training. However, with tools like the Salesforce CPQ Accelerator, companies can easily adopt the platform while staying within their budget.
In Salesforce’s training and certification modules, Salesforce CPQ development is its own topic. It is ranked among the most difficult, so completing those courses can provide a great foundation for understanding the platform.
Conga CLM (Contracts for Salesforce) is a great solution to manage and streamline contract negotiations, allowing you to close deals quickly while staying within your trusted Salesforce platform. By sending contracts directly from Salesforce and comparing versions, syncing data back into it all with a complete contract history available at any time. With Conga CLM in place, tedious contract management processes become much less difficult.
Rhonda Bavaro excels in boosting SaaS companies’ growth through innovative content marketing, thriving in the dynamic sales tech industry amidst evolving technologies that drive revenue acceleration.
