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.
Seamless connections with top CRM systems like NetSuite, Salesforce, and ConnectWise PSA enable companies in the IT services industry to efficiently manage their quote-to-cash process by promoting 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
Product Details
What is ConnectWise CPQ?
ConnectWise CPQ (formerly ConnectWise Sell) is a cloud-based configure, price, quote software specialized for the IT services industry. Your sales team can use it to deliver customized quotes and proposals to prospective clients and customers without the extensive data entry and processing spreadsheets require. You can also use it to streamline product sourcing and access real-time product data.
Notable features of ConnectWise CPQ include:
- Product and pricing rules
- Live pricing and availability
- Third-party quote importing
- Procurement automation
- Customizable 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, featuring up-to-the-minute prices and availability from leading distributors and vendors like 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.
Customizable workflows. Off-the-shelf approval rules, guided selling based on product and pricing rules, automated billing, and recurring billing setup for long-term customers are just a few of the ways ConnectWise enables you to create logical workflows, empower your sales team, and speed up time-to-revenue.
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. 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.
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:
- With industry expertise and a purpose-built platform, ConnectWise specifically solves IT service providers’ unique needs.
- 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 give businesses every opportunity 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.
- Having 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.
- The entire ConnectWise platform (including CPQ) is cloud-based, meaning boundless scalability, robust security, automatic updates and backups, and no on-prem hardware.
What industries are CPQ solutions best suited for?
ConnectWise CPQ for Industries
ConnectWise CPQ is designed to address professional services providers’ challenges in the quoting process. Here’s how it caters to them:
Software & IT (SaaS)
Streamlined Configuration for IT Services: IT services can involve various components like software licenses, training hours, and ongoing support. ConnectWise uses guided workflows that walk sales reps through service package configuration based on customer needs. This ensures accuracy and reduces errors in complex IT service and SaaS quotes. Pre-built templates can be customized to include frequently offered IT service packages or configurations, saving time and ensuring quote consistency.
Automated Pricing: SaaS products often have tiered pricing based on features, user count, or subscription length. ConnectWise integrates with billing systems to automate these calculations, eliminating manual work and ensuring consistent pricing. It can also handle recurring revenue streams.
Subscription Management: ConnectWise CPQ simplifies managing subscriptions for SaaS products. It helps generate quotes outlining subscription terms, pricing, and renewal options. It can also be integrated with customer portals for self-service subscription management.
Managed Service Providers (MSPs)
Automated Configurations: ConnectWise CPQ automates tedious tasks like product configuration and pricing calculations. This frees up MSP’s sales teams to focus on building relationships with clients and closing deals.
Guided Selling: The software can guide salespeople through the process of configuring services based on customer needs. This helps ensure all relevant services are included in the quote and eliminates the risk of missed opportunities.
Streamlined Workflow: ConnectWise CPQ integrates with other ConnectWise products, such as their Professional Services Automation (PSA) software. This allows for a smoother flow of data between the sales and service delivery sides of the business.
Prices
ConnectWise CPQ Pricing
ConnectWise CPQ offers three pricing tiers: Basic, Standard, and Premium. The Basic plan allows for a maximum of three users, while Standard and Premium plans include unlimited seats and added features.
Each ConnectWise CPQ pricing tier requires a custom plan. Reach out to ConnectWise directly for a personalized sales quote.
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. It also won’t do you much good if you aren’t in the IT industry — a SaaS company, for example, would need a platform that offers support for subscription management and usage-based billing. Part of selecting the right CPQ vendor means researching competitors and alternatives.
Top 3 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 (compared to ConnectWise). Conga’s pricing is also more straightforward and affordable than ConnectWise’s, starting at $35 per month. What’s great about Conga is it’s built with Salesforce in mind (Salesforce is actually an investor, and it’s a best-selling product on the AppExchange). 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 adopt right away.
IBM CPQ
IBM CPQ is another vendor that’s popular among companies in the IT services industry, and for good reason. Its ability to generate custom-tailored service contracts is among the best in the business, and its native integration with the rest of IBM’s advanced business tools means your entire sales, procurement, and fulfillment process will be synced up. It’s also a good fit for B2B manufacturers, wholesalers, and retail/ecommerce vendors because of its ERP integration library, built-in order management system, and the flexibility to configure custom products.
FPX Intelliquip CPQ
FPX Intelliquip shares many of the same properties as ConnectWise, but for manufacturers and distributors. It integrates with suppliers and middlemen in the supply chain, aligns internal product data with vendor pricing and availability, and accounts for customer purchase history when generating quotes. And integration with front- and back-end business systems gives users a bird’s-eye view of their sales process. FPX’s CPQ platform is suited for companies with a large number of configurable products across various complex channels (multiple brands, languages/currencies/taxes, etc.).
Valuable Insight From Real Customers
Gartner Peer Insights
Out of 36 reviews, ConnectWise CPQ has a rating of 3.6 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: 47%
- $50M-$1B: 39%
- $1B-$10B: 6%
- Over $10B: 6%
- Gov’t/PS/Ed: 3%
Reviewer’s Industry
- IT Services: 61%
- Telecommunication: 11%
- Construction: 6%
- Miscellaneous: 6%
- Other: 17%
Reviewer’s Deployment Region
- North America: 82%
- Asia/Pacific: 10%
- Latin America: 5%
- Europe, Middle East, and Africa: 3%
Gartner Peer Insights affirms that ConnectWise CPQ helps create a good customer experience from quote to service delivery.
FAQs
Common Questions and Answers
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.
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.
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.
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.
