Oracle Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) is a cloud-based application that helps sales teams create professional, consistent proposals and quotes that meet the needs of an organization and its customers.

Many organizations embrace Oracle CPQ during their digital transformation journey as an alternative to outdated processes, like quote spreadsheets. While Oracle CPQ can certainly help businesses maximize their revenue potential, this complex solution isn’t without its challenges. 

In this post, we’ll discuss what Oracle CPQ is, its benefits, how it works, and some of the common pitfalls companies encounter when implementing Oracle CPQ.

What Is Oracle CPQ? 

Oracle acquired its CPQ when it purchased BigMachines in 2013. Today, the solution offers guidance to sales reps at scale, automatically.

Oracle CPQ is a solution designed for enterprises and medium-sized businesses. If you have more complex pricing configurations, already use Oracle solutions, or want a quoting application that integrates with multiple systems, Oracle CPQ could be a good fit for your business. 

Oracle CPQ helps with product selection, pricing, discounts, ordering, and approvals. It integrates with enterprise CRM (Customer Relationship Management), enterprise ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and enterprise eCommerce platforms to offer end-to-end assistance with the customer journey. 

Since Oracle CPQ operates in the cloud, sales reps only need internet access to manage proposals and quotes, which can make sales teams more agile. 

The Benefits of Oracle CPQ

Many organizations switch to Oracle CPQ for these benefits: 

• Self-service options: Oracle CPQ offers a self-service feature, which makes it easy for customers to generate custom quotes independently. They can configure the exact package they want, which ensures accuracy. It also frees up sales to only contact customers that are ready to take the next step. 
• Increased sales agility: Oracle CPQ aligns all sales requirements in one place, which can help reduce errors and speed up the sales cycle through automated rules. 
• Improved margins: The application contains built-in guardrails to protect your margins at scale. It also allows for pricing customization at the same time, which allows sales teams to flex pricing based on customer needs — without worrying about profitability.

How Does Oracle CPQ Work?

You can sign up for Oracle CPQ independently or along with other Oracle Cloud Applications. Combining multiple Oracle solutions into one package is generally preferred so your systems integrate seamlessly. 

While the features you have will vary depending on your subscription, Oracle CPQ comes with these base features: 

• Intelligent configuration: Oracle CPQ comes with built-in intelligence and guided selling to help sales teams succeed. Its one-click quoting options and reusable rules make it easy to repurpose configurations for different products. 
• Automated, real-time pricing: Trust that your sales teams always have the latest up-to-date pricing information. Its optimal pricing tool helps with discounting, localization, and seasonality. Oracle CPQ’s analytics also look at price-scoring KPIs, pricing comparisons, and more to predict future win rates. 
• Seamless quote approvals: In Oracle CPQ, you designate who approves quotes at certain stages. It’s smartphone-friendly too, so you can manage all approvals on the go.
• Integrations: This solution integrates with your CRM, ERP, and eCommerce platforms to keep all the data in one dashboard. Oracle CPQ also integrates with several e-signature solutions. In this way, the system unifies all customer data from multiple platforms in one place. 

Oracle bills its CPQ as the only solution on the market that combines payment information with sales information. It also supports multiple languages, which makes it a fit for organizations that sell internationally. 

Implementation Challenges with Oracle CPQ

Oracle CPQ bridges the gap between customer-facing information in a CRM and back-end fulfillment systems. The system is flexible and feature-rich, with this being a positive in what end-users are provided, but also something that creates the need for experts to assist with implementation and user adoption. It’s best to work with a knowledgeable Oracle implementation partner to mitigate these issues from the start. See how Argano 4 Oracle can help you build a solid digital foundation for Oracle CPQ and contact us today for further information.