Introduction
Compare DealHub CPQ vs. PROS CPQ
Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software is a crucial tool for businesses, offering the capability to generate quotes for orders quickly and accurately. These applications often work harmoniously with CRM, ERP, accounting, and invoicing, ensuring integrated data and precision.
DealHub CPQ and PROS Smart CPQ both fall within the scope of CPQ software, serving a common fundamental purpose of streamlining the quote generation and sales process. While their core functions align, how they deliver these services (and the exact services they deliver) sets them apart.
DealHub CPQ is well-known for its comprehensive suite of features, including contract lifecycle management (CLM), billing automation, and subscription management, all intertwined within a unified sales engagement platform. The amalgamation of these features creates a holistic revenue management solution designed to simplify and expedite the entire sales cycle.
PROS Smart CPQ leverages AI and machine learning algorithms to offer an enriched omnichannel selling experience. The brand’s distinctive feature is its robust product configurator. This tool empowers companies to create intricate visualizations of complex products for their prospects, helping them understand the scope of their often customized product offerings and translating them directly into straightforward quotes.
Product Overview
Overview of each CPQ Solution
Although DealHub and PROS share the same basic CPQ functions, that’s about it. DealHub’s product configurator helps sales reps sell faster, while PROS helps customers understand and visualize complex products. Their functions are also designed for different types of sales—DealHub helps sales orgs create efficient systems. while PROS drives a customer-focused selling approach for abstract products and services.
Defining DealHub CPQ
DealHub is a scalable, no-code CPQ solution that effortlessly integrates with a company’s sales processes and scales with them. It is particularly beneficial for organizations with an extensive sales infrastructure, including those that depend heavily on SDRs or field sales reps for revenue growth, such as B2B software firms and solar companies.
DealHub automates time-consuming manual processes and provides a comprehensive toolkit for closing deals, enabling sales reps to focus their efforts on selling. Its no-code environment empowers operations teams to adapt swiftly to changing business needs, such as pricing and product updates, in real time.
DealHub supports revenue growth through improved discount governance, quote version control, and advanced approval workflows, making it easier for Revenue Operations (RevOps) teams to implement immediate changes based on sales and revenue projections.
Though DealHub caters to several different customer types, its product is specifically tailored to meet the needs of software companies, many of which share common business use cases and overall company structure.
Beyond its core CPQ features, DealHub’s primary differentiators are DealRoom, its digital sales room technology, and subscription management, which makes it easier for subscription SaaS companies to recognize revenue correctly, pair buyers with the right products, and automate contract renewals and digital payments.
Defining PROS CPQ
PROS CPQ is all about the omnichannel selling experience, underpinned by insightful data that fuels stronger sales implementation and revenue growth. It’s an ideal solution for B2B sales in industries selling physical products, such as airlines, automotive, consumer goods, medical devices, and healthcare.
AI is a fundamental component of PROS CPQ. Its churn forecasting algorithms identify declining customer behavior patterns while accounting for seasonal patterns to deliver accurate recommendations. Clustering algorithms help identify similar product portfolios and highlight differences in buying behavior, assisting reps in discovering new methods to increase sales.
PROS CPQ can automatically create opportunities with the optimal product mix and price points, reducing the guesswork and facilitating smarter sales decisions. Its 3D product configurator helps prospects visualize complex products, enabling reps to make more effective sales pitches. In a sense, PROS digitizes a process that has previously always been manual.
Product Features
Comparison of Key Features
In addition to its core CPQ functionalities, DealHub differentiates itself through two standout features: DealRoom and subscription management.
DealRoom is DealHub’s proprietary digital sales room technology that elevates the efficiency and effectiveness of the sales process. By providing a centralized, interactive space for all sales interactions, DealRoom streamlines the communication between sales reps and buyers, thereby accelerating deal closures.
DealHub’s subscription management feature proves invaluable for subscription-based SaaS companies. This feature simplifies the complex revenue recognition process, effectively matches buyers with the most suitable products, and automates contract renewals and digital payments. In doing so, it ensures compliance with revenue recognition standards, enhances customer retention, and streamlines the billing process.
Think of PROS as a magnifying glass for sales representatives, equipping them with powerful tools to enhance customer loyalty while boosting the bottom like. The platform’s dynamic pricing capabilities allow pricing teams to rapidly deliver profitable, market-informed prices consistently coordinated across all sales channels.
PROS’ AI-powered pricing management and optimization features allow pricing leaders to deliver personalized, market-relevant prices in real-time. Whether it’s sales teams, eCommerce platforms, partners, or customers, everyone receives tailored prices, ensuring a personalized customer buying experience across all channels.
Here’s a breakdown of each product’s features:
| DealHub CPQ | PROS Smart CPQ |
|---|---|
| Centralized revenue management platform offering quote-to-cash, billing, subscription management, and sales engagement capabilities. | AI-powered CPQ solution offering an omnichannel selling experience for industries with complex physical products and professional services. |
| Seamless integration capabilities with various third-party applications, including CRM, ERP, accounting software, DocuSign, and invoicing. | ERP integration and automation for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors with the power of AI. CRM integration with top providers. |
| Rapid implementation and setup with no code required, ensuring fast and efficient deployment. IT implementation and training required for larger teams. | Long implementation time with the help of corporate CPQ professionals, standard for enterprise software. |
| Guided selling flows assist sales reps in creating accurate proposals and quotes with all data synced to the company’s CRM. | Advanced product configurator powered by AI and machine learning for accurate and efficient product configuration and visualization, including 3D models. |
| Scalable solution designed to accommodate sales team growth and expansion. | Enforces compliance for industries with strict regulations, ensuring all deals adhere to established guidelines. |
| DealRoom facilitates the entire sales process with digital proposals sent via attachable files or links. | PROS automatically checks product availability and lets sellers know if customizing is an option. |
| Out-of-the-box contract management, document generation, e-signature, and multi-dimensional pricing models. | Unified platform combining product data, marketing content, and legal agreements into personalized, branded proposal templates. |
| Predictive sales playbooks accelerate the sales process by guiding sales reps. | Streamline the process between buyers and vendors with automated bill of materials creation, parts quoting, customer-specific sales agreement terms, and order submission to ERP functionality. |
| Comprehensive subscription, renewal, and order management capabilities with rules-based quoting for complex sales. | Adapt customer-specific sales discounts and prices with subscription features. |
| Offers buyer engagement insights to equip sales reps with actionable data for refining future sales engagements. | Embedded price waterfalls reveal the impact of discounts, markups, and price agreements on final net prices and margins for comprehensive price management. |
| Automated approval workflows push buyers through the funnel faster. | Manage subscription plans, including one-time and recurring pricing models, fixed-rate, tiered, and usage-based plans. |
| Cross-functional collaboration during the quoting process, complete with audit trails for accountability and transparency. | Guarantees adherence to pricing initiatives, ensuring consistency across all sales channels. |
| Web-based platform. | Web-based platform. |
| Phone, mobile, and online customer support Knowledge base Training and enablement from DealHub experts | Phone support FAQ Forum Knowledge base Customer help portal Developer portal |
Customer Size
Ideal Customer Profiles
Understanding what types of businesses each software is purpose-built for makes the buying decision process much easier. For DealHub, the ICP is often a SaaS organization that offers microservices—multiple smaller software products that fit together based on the company’s structure—on a subscription basis.
Consider a scenario where sales reps at such an organization are conducting outbound initiatives and generating Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). Account Executives (AEs) perform product demos and utilize DealHub CPQ to select products and plans that align with the prospect’s needs, use cases, and total company or user base size.
Instead of engaging in lengthy negotiations and back-and-forths, the organization uses DealHub CPQ to streamline these processes, generating contracts in mere minutes with DealHub’s document generation features. All communication transpires within DealRoom, keeping the interaction organized and efficient.
As the subscription nears its end, DealHub’s subscription management and billing features automatically reach out to the customer, enhancing the chances of subscription renewal. This way, DealHub CPQ continues the customer engagement process and improves customer retention rates.
PROS CPQ is advantageous for any company selling, distributing, or manufacturing unique or customized physical products, such as medical devices, consumer products, or industrial equipment. In this case, PROS CPQ’s AI-powered pricing capabilities come most into play.
For instance, a distributor dealing with thousands of SKUs would enlist the help of PROS CPQ to calculate, update, and manage extensive price lists efficiently. Consider a distributor utilizing PROS CPQ to put their most profitable price forward, automatically adjusting to real-time inventory counts, fluctuating fuel costs, and other external factors that can erode profit margins.
They can eliminate over-discounting, introduce new revenue streams, and maintain competitive market pricing by keeping tabs on volatile material costs. All of these actions work together to improve win rates and grow profits.
Customer Support
Support Features & Resources for Each Solution
Implementing CPQ software usually requires significant IT support, as the new system needs to be properly integrated with existing technologies and adopted by the entire sales team. A robust customer support service provided by the CPQ software company can ensure a smooth transition, minimizing disruption and expediting the learning curve for all users.
DealHub provides a high level of customer support, particularly for midsize and enterprise companies. They have an in-house team of experts who collaborate with new customers during onboarding, ensuring the product is set up correctly and that users understand how to leverage it effectively.
PROS CPQ also offers solid customer support, which is particularly useful given the complexity and sophistication of its software. The company provides numerous customer support options, including live chat, ensuring that users can quickly and easily get the help they need. Access to onboarding and implementation specialists is also provided, facilitating a smooth transition and setup process.
Moreover, PROS offers a comprehensive customer support portal where users can find a wealth of resources, tutorials, and solutions to common issues. There’s also a dedicated developer portal, ensuring that technical team members have the resources they need to integrate and maintain the PROS CPQ system effectively.
Pricing
Breakdown of Pricing Options
Understanding the cost of CPQ solutions is key to making an informed decision for your business. DealHub operates on a quote-based pricing model, which means that each potential customer needs to engage with a sales representative to receive a price tailored to their specific needs. This approach considers the unique characteristics of each company’s sales process and operations, ensuring the solution is personalized for optimal benefit.
PROS, on the other hand, provides a mix of quote-based pricing and set per-user-per-month pricing tiers. Their first two offerings are $60 and $75 per user per month, respectively. Despite being more expensive than other CPQ solutions, PROS CPQ is still more affordable than several enterprise platforms, including enterprise solutions like Salesforce and Oracle.
Here’s a breakdown of each company’s pricing and additional costs:
| DealHub CPQ | PROS CPQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Product Pricing | Contact sales | Higher costs for API and app development. |
| Implementation Fees | One-time implementation fee | Additional license fees for price optimization and industry-specific features. Higher tier requirement for many of the AI and automation features the product boasts. |
| Additional Licenses | No additional license fees | Essentials: $60 per user per month (billed annually) Advantage: $75 per user per month (billed annually) Ultimate: Contact sales |
Summary
Considerations for Choosing Between the Two Solutions
The key differences between DealHub CPQ and PROS CPQ are pricing models, integration capabilities, scalability, and product configuration capabilities.
When selecting the right CPQ solution, decision-makers need to focus on two pivotal aspects: integration and scalability. A well-integrated CPQ solution seamlessly collaborates with your existing business infrastructure, ensuring data consistency and accuracy across platforms. As for scalability, software that can’t grow as your business does will have to be replaced again.
DealHub CPQ offers a vast array of features and benefits that are tailored to meet the specific needs of midsize and enterprise organizations. The software is highly-integrated, making it easy to connect with existing business systems, and its scalability.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
With DealHub’s Revenue Hub, you can easily track every digital interaction that occurs during the buyer’s journey. This results in a better understanding of the customer’s journey and allows for the acceleration of the deal stages. Integrating DealHub with Salesforce CRM provides a complete view of the customer’s requirements.
When selecting a CPQ software, the most standard features, include:
Pricing Engine: Allows companies to automatically generate accurate quotes based on customer needs.
Product Configuration: Enables users to quickly and easily configure products, making it easier for customers to make purchases.
Guided Selling: Provides rules-based guidance to sales reps, ensuring they make the best decisions possible for their customers.
Workflow Automation: Automates mundane and repetitive tasks, freeing up time to focus on strategic activities.
Document Generation and Management: Streamlines the process of generating and managing quotes, contracts, invoices, bills, NDAs, and more.
Integration Capabilities: Enables users to connect with existing business infrastructure (e.g., ERP systems) for data accuracy and consistency.
Reporting and Analytics: Provides real-time insights into sales performance and customer interactions for better decision making.
Security and Access Control: Ensures customer data is kept secure from unauthorized users or malicious actors.
CPQ solutions help businesses streamline the quoting and ordering process. By automating mundane tasks such as product configuration and guided selling, companies can speed up the sales cycle and reduce errors associated with manual order entry. CPQ software also gives valuable insights into customer behavior for more informed decisions about pricing, promotions, and product development.
CPQ software transforms the sales process, so companies using it benefit from improved efficiency, accuracy, and scalability. Here are a few benefits of using CPQ:
Consistent and accurate pricing
Real-time visibility and pricing
Streamlined processes
Improved security
Greater efficiency
Improved customer experience
Currently, the biggest disadvantage to CPQ customers is the lack of a mobile app on most platforms. Even some of the largest names in software haven’t adopted one yet. This means that users need to access CPQ through a web browser, limiting their ability to use the software while on the go.
Andrew is a professional copywriter with expertise in creating content focused on business-to-business (B2B) software. He conducts research and produces articles that provide valuable insights and information to his readers.
