ConnectWise CPQ Overview

ConnectWise CPQ is a quote and proposal solution for technology service providers. It streamlines quote and proposal generation with extensive product and pricing catalogs and automated workflows.

ConnectWise CPQ is a quote and proposal automation software IT solution providers use to reduce quoting time, improve revenue performance, and manage their procurement pipeline. ConnectWise customers include managed service providers (MSPs), managed security solutions providers (MSSPs), AV professionals, and value-added resellers (VARs). Building sales proposals manually requires countless hours from your sales force each week. ConnectWise quoting with customizable templates, automated procurement, and effortless integration with PSA systems. It also tackles the unique subscription management challenges IT solution vendors face, like bundling, pricing, and billing for recurring services.

Seamless connections with top CRM systems like NetSuite, Salesforce, and ConnectWise PSA enable IT service companies to efficiently manage their quote-to-cash process. It ensures a seamless handoff between sales, finance, procurement, operations, and service delivery teams. Integrations with vendors like Ingram Micro and Tech Data take it a step further by pulling real-time pricing and availability data directly into quotes. And punchout integrations for Amazon Business, Anixter, and Dell enable your team to add line items straight from ecommerce sites.

Why this product is good

Positives of ConnectWise’s CPQ Software

  • Purpose-built features like customizable templates, digital quote delivery, e-signature, and integrations for real-time pricing eliminate quote-to-cash friction for your customers.
  • Combining CPQ with the power of ConnectWise PSA (its professional services automation solution) enables you to automate the handoff between sales, order management, and fulfillment.
  • Intelligent quote tracking and CRM updates keep you in the loop about client interactions, sales pipeline status for new prospects, and upcoming contract renewals.

Product Details

What is ConnectWise CPQ?

ConnectWise CPQ (formerly ConnectWise Sell) is a cloud-based configure, price, quote (CPQ) software for sales organizations in the IT services industry. It streamlines the configuration, pricing, and quoting process, ensuring accurate quotes and faster deal closure. The platform integrates seamlessly with other ConnectWise products, improving quote-to-cash efficiency and stakeholder collaboration. Additionally, it provides customizable templates and pricing rules, allowing businesses to tailor quotes to specific customer needs while enhancing the sales team’s productivity.

Notable features of ConnectWise CPQ include:

  • Product and pricing rules
  • Live pricing and availability
  • Third-party quote importing
  • Procurement automation
  • Custom sales workflows
  • Real-time updates
  • Sales quote reporting

Product and pricing rules. Like setting limit orders in stock trading, you can use ConnectWise CPQ to set product prices and run service discounts that maximize profitability and sales performance. The software ensures sales reps always price their quotes within your parameters, so you can protect your margins and forecast revenue without having to approve every quote.

Live pricing and availability. ConnectWise CPQ Product Sourcing streamlines your process by offering comparative views of products. It features up-to-the-minute prices and availability from leading distributors and vendors, such as Ingram Micro, Tech Data, D&H, and Synnex, all consolidated within a single quote.

Third-party quote importing. ConnectWise offers direct integrations with Cisco’s, Dell’s, HP’s, and other vendors’ quoting platforms, so your sales and procurement teams don’t have to spend time manually transferring it to your system. Instead, you can automatically turn vendor quotes into their own with branded templates.

Procurement automation. With ConnectWise Product Sourcing, you can effortlessly place orders right within your CPQ — it auto-populates product and shipping details. Customizable punchout catalog integrations make importing items into your quotes directly from e-commerce sites effortless.

Custom sales workflows. Within ConnectWise CPQ, you can create workflows for just about anything. “Success lists” help you assign and track progress on key tasks and activities (e.g., a proposal approval process or send-out). Multi-level approvals automatically route your quote to the right decision-maker for timely approval, then out to the buyer for final approval. E-signatures are embedded directly into the quoting software and can be routed to any system of record. And ConnectWise CPQ automation routes finalized orders to your department responsible for fulfillment, further reducing sales cycle time. In the near future, guided selling based on product and pricing rules will make it easier for your sales reps to create individualized quotes faster.

Real-time updates. With CRM integration, CPQ auto-updates the sales pipeline every time your sales team completes an action item or moves to the next step. Within CPQ, intelligent quote tracking notifies you whenever a client engages with your quote. After the sale, push notifications send alerts to the appropriate members of your team based on time (e.g., 3 days after activation), or based on hitting an important project milestone (e.g., implementation completion). And end-date reminders keep you on top of agreement renewals, warranty extensions, and equipment upgrades.

Sales quote reporting. Sales Reporting in ConnectWise CPQ leverages business intelligence to optimize data and display pre-designed views. A Microsoft Power BI workbook showcases essential metrics from your sales pipeline, while the pre-built dashboard organizes all pertinent data for analysis. It’s also highly customizable since it’s built on Microsoft Power BI. You can go beyond capacity and bookings to uncover key turning points in your sales cycle, like why you win or lose deals, who those customers are, and the reasons behind their decisions. You can also use it to monitor pipeline health, identify risks, and capitalize on opportunities.

03/02/2025 Update
Based on capterra.com

What are the advantages of using ConnectWise CPQ?

ConnectWise CPQ Benefits

For vendors in the IT space, there are plenty of benefits to using ConnectWise over another CPQ solution. The most important ones include:

  • Vendor integration, procurement automation, and branded document generation enable VARs and MSPs to bridge the gap between the parent organization and their customers.
  • Contract end-date notifications allow businesses to retain (and potentially expand) customer relationships and increase customer lifetime value.
  • Automation accelerates the quote-to-cash process, reduces errors, and funnels revenue into the business predictably.
  • Real-time, actionable pricing and product data from vendors ensures customers always get accurate quotes and your business can achieve price optimization.
  • An analytics platform built on Power BI gives sales leaders unprecedented insight into their sales reps’ performance and the success of various products and pricing models.
  • Cloud-based platform enables boundless scalability, robust security, automatic updates and backups, and no on-prem hardware.
03/02/2025 Update
Based on capterra.com

What industries are CPQ solutions best suited for?

ConnectWise CPQ for Industries

ConnectWise CPQ and its other cloud software tools primarily serve MSPs, which have consistently accounted for around two-thirds of its entire user base. However, there are also tech companies and IT service providers that can benefit from ConnectWise’s solutions and services.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

Strategic Vendor Integrations: ConnectWise CPQ integrates with Dell, HP, Tech Data, and several others. This gives you real-time access to product catalogs, pricing, and availability. This integration allows your procurement team to source products efficiently, create accurate quotes, and manage inventory effectively. By connecting these vendor integrations with your PSA system, you can automate the procurement process, from quote generation to order fulfillment, ensuring timely delivery of services to your clients.

Management Approvals: ConnectWise CPQ includes a management approvals feature that restricts quote templates and access for users, ensuring that all proposals meet your organization’s standards before reaching the client. This feature integrates with your sales and management workflows, providing a layer of oversight and control. For MSPs, this ensures that all client-facing documents are accurate, compliant, and professionally presented, maintaining your company’s reputation and reducing the risk of miscommunication.

Contract Renewal Automation: Managing contract renewals manually can be time-consuming and prone to oversight. ConnectWise CPQ automates this process by tracking contract terms and alerting your team to upcoming renewals. This feature integrates with your PSA, allowing for seamless updates to client agreements and ensuring continuous service without interruption. Automating renewals not only enhances client satisfaction but also secures recurring revenue streams for your MSP.

Technology, IT, and SaaS

Sales Notifications and Tracking: ConnectWise’s tracking and pipeline visibility features complement B2B sales cycles nicely. With real-time intelligent quote tracking, ConnectWise CPQ notifies your sales team when a client interacts with a quote. Having on-demand insight allows for prompt follow-ups, enhancing customer engagement and increasing the likelihood of closing deals. Integrating this feature with your CRM system ensures that all client interactions are logged, providing a comprehensive view of the sales pipeline.

Sales Coaching Automation: ConnectWise CPQ includes sales coaching automation, allowing you to create rules and triggers that automatically perform actions in your CRM. This feature ensures your sales team follows a structured sales process, providing guidance on best practices and next steps. By integrating this with your existing CRM system, such as ConnectWise PSA™, you can maintain consistency in your sales process, reduce the learning curve for new team members, and improve overall sales performance.

Streamlined Pricing and Configuration for IT Services: ConnectWise users in the IT services space can include various types of products and services in their quotes and proposals — managed services, project-based work, software licenses, training hours, and ongoing support, to name a few.  For ongoing services, you can set up recurring billing schedules so that your clients are automatically charged at regular intervals (through ConnectWise PSA or your own subscription billing system).

Prices

ConnectWise CPQ Pricing

As of January 2025, ConnectWise CPQ offers three packages:

  1. Basic: Suitable for up to 3 users, includes features like distributor quote import, built-in eSignature, real-time distributor pricing & availability, recurring revenue management, and integrations with ConnectWise PSA™ & Autotask.
  2. Standard: Allows unlimited users and encompasses all Basic features, plus sales coaching automation, reporting & business analytics, product catalog, email integration & management, and integrations with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and NetSuite.
  3. Premium: Also supports unlimited users and includes all Standard features, along with management approvals, sales team management, procurement automation, pricing & product rules, and ePayment capabilities.

Specific pricing details are not publicly disclosed because ConnectWise CPQ is microservice that’s part of the broader ConnectWise platform, which is tailored based on your company’s needs. For a personalized quote, contact ConnectWise directly through their official website.

Is there anyone else out there?

Competitors and Alternatives to ConnectWise CPQ

Although ConnectWise is an excellent CPQ solution for IT service providers, it isn’t the only one out there. Below we present several ConnectWise alternatives to help you select the right CPQ vendor for your needs.

Top ConnectWise CPQ Alternatives

Conga CPQ

Conga CPQ (formerly Apttus CPQ) is another cloud-based CPQ software platform, but it takes a simplified approach to product configuration, pricing, and quoting. Conga’s pricing is also more straightforward and affordable than ConnectWise’s, starting at $35 per month. If you’re running a tech stack with Salesforce CRM and other Salesforce products, Conga could be the best option for an easy-to-use quoting tool your sales team will easily adopt.

Nue CPQ

Nue has a suite of tools to streamline RevOps for technology companies using Salesforce. Nue’s Quote Builder allows for dynamic, on-the-fly pricing and discount configuration and real-time visibility into quotes and orders so sales teams can stay on top of every deal. Additionally, Nue’s Price Builder empowers your team to test different pricing models, ensuring flexibility and agility in adapting to market and business changes. With intuitive interfaces, effortless Salesforce integration, and a holistic solution that extends beyond quoting to manage the entire customer lifecycle, Nue offers a comprehensive and efficient platform for optimizing your sales process.

MonetizeNow CPQ

MonetizeNow is a platform designed for companies with usage-based and consumption-based pricing models. It’s an all-in-one no-code system that handles CPQ, billing, customer usage tracking, and revenue recognition out of the box. It also supports customer self-service and automates the invoicing and dunning process, making it a good fit for companies that need to scale recurring revenue and manage complex subscription billing. Within MonetizeNow, you can build customizable quote templates, which enables you to further streamline your sales workflow based on the type of customer or deal. MonetizeNow is a great fit for service companies with complex pricing models and a diverse customer base.

DealHub CPQ

DealHub CPQ is a versatile solution for the broader technology industry, including managed service providers, SaaS companies, and tech sales teams. Unlike ConnectWise, which is tailored specifically for MSPs and VARs, DealHub provides a customizable, no-code platform that adapts to various business needs. Beyond basic CPQ functionality, DealHub streamlines the entire sales cycle, from quote creation to revenue collection, with advanced features like subscription management, upselling tools, and revenue dashboards. Additionally, DealHub’s integration with multiple CRMs and seamless third-party integrations make it an ideal choice for businesses looking to optimize their quote-to-cash process.

CloudSense CPQ

CloudSense is an excellent alternative to ConnectWise, especially for technology, managed services, and telecommunications businesses. It streamlines the sales process by reducing cycle times and delivering faster quote-to-revenue results. CloudSense stands out with its synchronized data, providing a comprehensive view of client information for personalized service. It also excels in managing complex configurations, particularly for telecommunications and managed services, enabling quick and accurate pricing and quote generation. Additional features include deal scoring to prioritize opportunities, native Salesforce integration for seamless data flow, and QuickQuote for fast cost estimates, all designed to optimize sales efficiency.

Valuable Insight From Real Customers

Gartner Peer Insights

Out of 41 reviews, ConnectWise Sell (which includes CPQ) has a rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars on Gartner Peer Insights. In their reviews, users note its usefulness in confirming real-time product pricing and availability. However, some reviewers note that implementation can be difficult.

The reviewers and customer demographics are as follows:

Reviewer’s Company Size

  • <50M: 46%
  • $50M-$1B: 39%
  • $1B-$10B: 7%
  • Over $10B: 5%
  • Gov’t/PS/Ed: 2%

Reviewer’s Industry

  • IT Services: 63%
  • Telecommunication: 10%
  • Construction: 5%
  • Miscellaneous: 5%
  • Other: 17%

Reviewer’s Deployment Region

  • North America: 85%
  • Asia/Pacific: 10%
  • Latin America: 2%
  • Europe, Middle East, and Africa: 2%

Gartner Peer Insights affirms that ConnectWise CPQ helps create a good customer experience from quote to service delivery.

30/01/2025 Update

FAQs

Common Questions and Answers

How does ConnectWise CPQ help shorten the sales cycle?

CPQ helps businesses shorten the sales cycle by automating manual elements of the quoting process, eliminating clerical errors and process inefficiencies, and helping sales reps generate accurate quotes and proposals for each customer in just a few minutes.

What other business applications integrate with ConnectWise CPQ?

ConnectWise integrates with popular CRMs like Salesforce and NetSuite, vendors like Amazon Business, Cisco, Dell, and HP, distributors like Accutech and ADI, product data from Etilize, Avalara for tax compliance, equipment financing through GreatAmerica Financial Serivces, and client payments through Wise-Sync and ConnectBooster.

How does ConnectWise CPQ integrate with other ConnectWise products?

ConnectWise CPQ integrates seamlessly with other ConnectWise products, creating a unified and efficient experience for managing your sales process. Here’s how:

ConnectWise Manage (PSA):

Streamlined workflow: Quotes generated in CPQ can be automatically converted into projects within Manage, eliminating manual data entry and saving time.

Improved resource management: CPQ can access resource availability data from Manage, ensuring accurate estimates and avoiding scheduling conflicts.

Enhanced communication: Information like service tickets and project updates can flow between both platforms, fostering better communication and collaboration.

ConnectWise Sell (CRM):

Synchronized data: CPQ synchronizes contact information, opportunity details, and historical data with Sell, providing a complete picture of your customer relationships.

Personalized quotes: Leverage data from Sell to personalize quotes by including customer-specific details and preferences.

Improved lead conversion: Track quote progress and easily convert closed deals into new opportunities within Sell.

Overall benefits of integration:

Reduced errors and redundancies: Eliminates the need for manual data entry between systems, minimizing errors and discrepancies.

Increased efficiency: Streamlines workflows and saves time by automating tasks across different platforms.

Improved visibility and control: Provides a unified view of your entire sales process, offering greater control and decision-making capabilities.

It’s important to note that the specific integration capabilities may vary depending on the versions of ConnectWise products you are using. 

CPQ Integrations
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