What is CPQ?
In short
CPQ stands for configure, price, quote: software that lets salespeople build a product from options, calculate the right price and create a quote straight away. Rules in the system prevent combinations that are not possible and discounts outside the agreed limits.
What does CPQ software do?
- Configure: the salesperson or customer chooses options, and rules ensure the combination is technically possible. Choose a particular engine, and the parts that do not fit it disappear.
- Price: the system calculates the price using price lists, tiers, discounts and margins. A discount above a threshold first goes to a manager.
- Quote: one click produces a quote in your house style, often with drawings, specifications and a digital signature.
When does CPQ pay off?
CPQ pays off for products with many variants and options: machinery, kitchens, window frames, installations or software licences. Signs are quotes that take days because the technical department has to check them, errors that only surface in production, or salespeople who each use their own spreadsheet. If you sell products with a fixed price list, ordinary quoting software is enough.
What should you look out for?
Someone has to maintain the rules and prices. Ask how that is done and whether it is possible without a developer. The integrations matter too: the quote must go to your CRM and the order with the right bill of materials to your ERP system, or someone retypes everything.
Which software helps with this?
CPQ is available as standalone software and as a module of a CRM or ERP system. For simple products with a fixed price list, quoting software is usually enough.
Compare in the category
CPQ (product configuration) software
Including CPQing Solutions, Hive CPQ and Elfsquad Product Configurator.