[Best Practices Roundup] CPQ & Intelligent Automated Negotiation

What’s in your toolkit to ensure deals are executed smoothly and profitably? For B2B company leaders, Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) software is likely high on the radar as well as methods for improving self-service channels like eCommerce or otherwise. CPQ is projected to maintain a steady 20 percent annual growth through 2020, and most companies anticipate their eCommerce sites will generate more than 40 percent of their revenue by 2025.

Of course, eCommerce in B2B can be a bit more complicated than in the consumer world, leading some to explore emerging strategies such as Intelligent Automated Negotiation for faster price negotiations within customer self-service portals.

To help you think differently about how software, technology and data science can work in concert to reimagine the status quo of deals and negotiations, we’ve rounded up a few resources.

Why the “P” in CPQ is Critical

When it comes to better deal execution, CPQ is likely at the top of your list. However, achieving the vision and promise of CPQ software is a path fraught with obstacles. The reason? According1 to Mark Lewis, a senior director analyst at Gartner, a significant number of CPQ implementations either cost too much, take too long, fail to achieve expectations or fail completely.

Zilliant CMO Lindsay Duran recently sat down with the CPQ Podcast for a wide-ranging interview that touches on all aspects of the “price” component of CPQ. Listen as she discusses the changing expectations for dynamic quoting in B2B, including:

• Why fair and rational prices are so important and how to consistently achieve them 
• Why CPQ systems can’t magically solve all pricing problems, especially in very complex organizations 
• Why companies often have more usable data than they realize to get started with a pricing project

Listen today on with your favorite podcast app or over your desktop browser.

Enabling Intelligent Automated Negotiation

Much like the logistical complexities found in B2B, establishing the most efficient and profitable system for prices, agreements and deal desks is complicated at best. Layer in the need to replicate the bargaining table in the digital world and hitting P&L targets with legacy approaches becomes impossible.

Through a combination of data science, price optimization and a highly available, robust REST API, companies can significantly reduce the inherent inefficiencies of the deal desk and self-service online portals. By doing so, company leaders stand to drive significant margin and operational benefits.

In this Commercial Carrier Journal article, Zilliant SVP of Products and Science Pete Eppele walks through the possibilities, including:

• Leveraging internal data and customer buying patterns to accurately measure price elasticity within each segment
• Driving a rate guidance envelope comprised of start, target and floor rates that allow for real-time customer negotiation
• Building with a configurable cloud-native integration technology to ensure systems communicate at lightning speeds via API Improving customer satisfaction through a fair, timely and seamless negotiation process

1 Gartner, “Best Practices for a Successful Configure, Price and Quote Implementation,” Mark Lewis, January 15, 2020