Salesforce CPQ

Pros

Integrates well with the suite of Salesforce products that are already on the market. I have both implemented and have been an end user purchasing through the CPQ tool and both experiences have been worthy of praise.

Cons

On the implementation end like any other product it has to be done right the first time to avoid costly mistakes and missed deadlines. It's a hot in demand product but not many consultancies no how to do it right. Make your best decision to pick the right team to implement and help adopt this as a useful tool

Pros

The broad scope capabilities of Salesforce allow for a multi-departmental integration and deployment functionality with multi-scope database options. Integration with third-party systems is phenomenal, and the allowance of homegrown development is almost limitless when designing to the needs of your organization. Speed of deployment and development is only mitigated by internal knowledge but a large knowledge base and user set globally assist in speed of change.

Cons

Despite the large scale integration options with salesforce there can be a slowed user capability due to functional UI. This can of course be customized to meet the needs of your internal customers, but still requires considerable training to the tools available. Ensuring internal department integration and assistance will speed an organization to use.

Pros

Lots of customization options and flexibility. Native to the SalesForce environment. Pricing on a per user basis.

Cons

We spent over 9 months planning and working with a Systems Integration Partner (SIP) recommended by SalesForce. The project involved an Executive sponsor, various team members from different departments, a Project Leader, and our SalesForce Admin. We carefully planned the design of the system and each step of the way worked closely with the SIP but we couldn't get it to work. To many options, rules, settings, etc. We were promised that it wouldn't be hard. WRONG!!!!
WE WASTED VALUABLE STAFF RESOURCES FOR NOTHING! We advised SalesForce of this and they still won't let us out of our 3 year contract even after paying for 1 year of development that netting bupkis. This Software is lots of promises with no ROI.

Pros

I love the concept of starting the quoting process and having that all captured in the CRM database. Also, that it looks and feels like SalesForce so the sales people are not scared off by it immediately.

Cons

The spin-up was very difficult. It did not work as seamlessly as advertised. Ultimately, it required us to rely on a consulting agency that did not show the same level of quality and customer service that one would expect if dealing directly with SalseForce. It turned out to be much more costly than expected to implement this "plug-in."

Pros

It is very easy and user friendly, even if you're new you can grasp easily. We have so many different SKUs, pricing from different product families, various discounts etc all are been taken and we are happy. Multiyear quoting, contracted pricing and others are very simple using CPQ

Cons

Contracted pricing isn't flowing from partner to customer account.
Incremental quote for Multi year deals should be made available with CPQ rather with CPQ plus.