Cincom CPQ is a configure, price, quote (CPQ) tool designed to configure highly complex engineer-to-order products and handle the long, intricate sales processes that accompany contract manufacturing at the highest level. In addition to standard CPQ features like guided selling and CRM/ERP integration, its standout features include its cutting-edge 3D modeling and visualization tools, a built-in ROI calculator, and its ability to integrate seamlessly with other enterprise systems.
While it has a relatively small customer base (compared to other CPQ solutions for manufacturers), the majority of Cincom’s customers have more than 10,000 employees and do over $1 billion in revenue. Primarily aimed at manufacturing industries, including those focused on industrial equipment, medical devices, and specialty vehicles, Cincom CPQ has more recently expanded its utility to sectors like financial services, high-tech, healthcare, and communications. Its native tools for customer communications management, ERP, and custom application development enable enterprise manufacturers to create custom workflows and deploy full-fledged enterprise applications.
Why this product is good
Positives of Cincom’s CPQ Software
Product Details
What is Cincom CPQ?
Cincom CPQ is a cloud-based, customizable CPQ solution manufacturers can use to generate quotes, proposals, bills of materials (BOMs), sales contracts, SLAs, and other sales and business documents. It integrates with CRM, ERP, and B2B ecommerce systems like Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, SAGE, SugarCRM, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to seamlessly incorporate enterprise business intelligence into your sales processes.
Key features of Cincom CPQ include:
- Sales portal
- Guided selling
- Visual 3D product configurator
- Automated quote, PO, and BOM generation
- Product lifecycle management (PLM)
- Pricing and discount management
- Business intelligence
Sales portal. Cincom CPQ enables collaborative selling — salespeople, vendors, territory managers, customer service, and deal desk team members can work together to negotiate, build quotes, align on contract terms, and close deals.
Guided selling. CPQ admins from your organization can set product rules, so reps can build product configurations that are technically feasible and practical for your business. You can customize its interface with questions, filters, prompts, minimum/maximum quantity limits, and required/optional bundle components to ensure that the sales process is as efficient and effective as possible.
Visual 3D product configurator. Buyers can see the final product in detail, request additional information pertinent to their purchase decision, and validate product specifications before committing to an order. Reps can also play around with custom options and make changes to the configuration in real-time, providing a highly interactive and engaging experience for both parties.
Automated quote, PO, and BOM generation. Cincom CPQ’s quote builder automatically generates other documents you’ll need in the production process. And since it integrates with your ERP system, you can easily send POs to your vendors without switching applications or worrying about manual data entry errors.
Product lifecycle management. Cincom CPQ provides a product catalog that organizes products by categories, features, and related components for easier navigation and filtering. It also manages version control and expiration dates to ensure your offerings are up-to-date and error-free whenever you create proposals or contracts.
Pricing and discount management. The software can simultaneously configure prices for different product combinations and apply preset volume discounts, seasonal promotions, or customer-specific pricing to the quote. Automated approval workflows make it easy to pass along special one-time pricing requests beyond these parameters.
Business intelligence. With Cincom CPQ, you have a real-time dashboard that captures data from your quote-to-cash process (e.g., sales cycle time, average deal size). CRM integration ensures you also have the most accurate insights regarding your whole sales pipeline. You can view top performers, identify bottlenecks, and streamline your sales motion.
What are the advantages of using Cincom CPQ?
Cincom CPQ Benefits
Manufacturers can benefit from Cincom CPQ in several ways. The most important ones include:
- Pricing and product rules ensure consistent and accurate product configurations and quotes without the need for constant oversight or customization.
- 100% real-time accuracy in document generation means fewer manual errors and rework for sales, production, and fulfillment teams.
- Guided selling, quote automation, and data analytics remove friction from the sales process for customers and salespeople alike.
- 3D configuration ensures technical and non-technical buyers are on the same page about the product they’re buying, how it works, and how it’ll look.
- An interactive quote builder helps reps upsell, cross-sell, or uncover new sales opportunities while stakeholders on both sides can weigh in and negotiate.
- Integration with CRM, ERP, CAD, and B2B ecommerce systems ensures a consistent workflow across your entire operational workflow.
- Business intelligence tools give you new insights into your quoting and sales processes, which you can optimize as you see fit.
Prices
Cincom CPQ Pricing
Due to its customizable nature, Cincom CPQ uses a quote-based pricing model. Reach out to Cincom directly for pricing details.
CPQ Integrations
Competitors and Alternatives to Cincom CPQ
Although Cincom CPQ is an excellent solution for enterprise manufacturers selling complex products and services, it isn’t the only manufacturing CPQ on the market (nor is it the best option for everyone). Some companies don’t need such an advanced product configurator, while others might prefer more integration with AI, machine learning, or other advanced technologies. Some smaller manufacturers might not need any of this — they might get everything they need from a traditional approach to quoting their customers.
Top 3 Cincom CPQ Alternatives
FPX Intelliquip CPQ
Like Concom CPQ, FPX Intelliquip CPQ is a quoting tool purpose-built for manufacturers. Its 2D configuration makes it a more viable option for companies with slightly less complex product offerings and quoting needs. It’s a tool best suited to automotive and industrial equipment sectors, with standout dynamic pricing capabilities and instant budgetary quotes for project scoping. It’s a top seller on the Salesforce AppExchange, so Salesforce Sales Cloud customers will love how easily it fits into their workflow.
PROS CPQ
PROS Smart CPQ is about as good as it gets in terms of advanced technology. A standout feature of this software is its ability to present products in both 2D and 3D visual formats, alongside capabilities in CAD automation and AI-powered pricing strategies. PROS facilitates collaboration between engineering teams and distributors, enabling them to experiment with various configurations and assess their impact on pricing, profit margins, and the timeline of production. Leveraging data science, PROS Smart CPQ analyzes market trends and consumer behavior to recommend optimal pricing for different sales contexts.
Salesforce CPQ
Salesforce CPQ supports manufacturers big and small. It’s a simple, traditional CPQ platform that offers essential features like guided selling and product bundling. The best part? It’s native to the Salesforce platform, meaning you don’t have to leave your CRM application for anything related to quoting or order management (assuming you use Salesforce CRM). This makes it easy to generate quotes on the fly, as well as helps keep track of customer preferences and purchase history. If you need a more traditional solution that works natively with the Salesforce product suite, Salesforce CPQ is your best bet.
Valuable Insight From Real Customers
Gartner Peer Insights
Out of 9 reviews, Cincom CPQ has a rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars on Gartner Peer Insights. In their reviews, users note the software’s ease of use and ability to automate complex sales processes.
The reviewers and customer demographics are as follows:
Reviewer’s Company Size
- $50M-$1B: 100%
Reviewer’s Industry
- Manufacturing: 75%
- Construction: 25%
Reviewer’s Deployment Region
- North America: 75%
- Asia/Pacific: 25%
Gartner Peer Insights affirms that Cincom provides excellent customer support and continually adds features and improves the product.
FAQs
Common Questions and Answers
CPQ isn’t part of CRM, but it can be. Cincom CPQ, for example, offers a separate customer communication management platform, which businesses can use as a CRM. It also integrates with Salesforce Sales Cloud and other major customer relationship management tools.
Cincom CPQ offers CAD integration, integrations with B2B ecommerce platforms like Adobe Commerce Cloud, CRM platforms like Oracle, SAP, and Dynamics 365, ERP systems like Infor, Epicor, and Oracle, and additional integrations like Google Maps, Docusign, and MS Office.
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