kb max
KBMax makes selling complex products easy so you can provide your customers with an unparalleled buying experience, reduce response time to minutes instead of weeks, and raise your conversion rates. We are transforming business one customer after another, and having fun doing it.
Product configurator software, usually included as part of CPQ software, allows companies to market, sell, and manufacture their products more effectively and efficiently. Product configurators transform traditional product inquiries into real-time, auto-generated estimates, product descriptions, bills of material, and even more — if you belly up to the right manufacturing CPQ solution.
Without delay, these are the 6 absolute “must haves” for product configurator software if you are a manufacturer:
1.) Visual Product Configuration
Visual product configuration is a very powerful tool for salespeople, distributors, or customers to self-select options and view immediate results as they build out a product in 2D or 3D space. Modern product configurators allow for dynamic updating of almost any element of a product and sale: base options, add ons, pricing, upgrades, discounts, and more – the list can be truly endless.
This elevated visual product configuration experience is what all buyers are demanding. Many people are accustomed to an eCommerce experience when purchasing consumer goods that these lofty expectations are now expected as part of the buying experience, even for the most complex of products. Frustratingly, even though CPQ and visual product configurators are considered cutting-edge technology for most organizations, it’s quickly becoming a baseline expectation that manufacturers provide this level of customer experience.
2.) Flexible Product Rules Engine
A rules engine is the most critical aspect of a product configurator as it defines all of the rules and conditions to allow for the proper configuration, pricing, and outputs of the order. CPQ rules engines can be tricky, though. Many vendors offer product configurators as part of their CPQ solution and most claim to have rules engines to drive the experience. Upon further inspection though, these CPQ vendors are typically using basic filtering, bundling, and/or custom code and scripts to allow for control of the buying experience in the product configurator. Make sure that it can handle your complex product rules.
The rules engine is one of the areas a buyer looking for product configuration should pay the most attention. Make sure you are taking on a rules engine that is simple to administer, maintain, and will require little to no special training in order to use. Make your vendor show you, in detail, how they orchestrate their rules prior to buying so there are no messy surprises during implementation. Learn how KBMax solves this with Snap.
3.) Document Generation Lending to Manufacturing Automation
Your sales people, partners, or customers spent time providing valuable data in a very controlled environment when using your product configurator. It would be foolish to ignore the rich data collected during configuration and fail to use it to expedite and improve downstream processes. Product options, customizations, and other related info capture from the product configurator should be able to be pushed to your CRM, ERP, PLM, or other critical business systems.
But that isn’t all. Best-in-class CPQ solutions will use the configured product rendering, including all of the selected options and customizations, to generate an actual CAD drawing that can be used to work out details with the customer or the engineering team until the order is final. This important CAD information can be sent to the production team in order to aid in manufacturing automation and quality assurance.
The production team will also benefit from other auto-generated documents (if the solution is able to provide them), such as detailed pick lists, bills of manufacture (BOMs), cut sheets, shipping/packing lists, assembly instructions, blueprints, and product renderings.
4.) Integration with Critical Business Systems
Your product configurator could, but definitely should NOT, operate in a silo on its own. Your CPQ solution should have the proper APIs and connectors to allow for easy mapping of data, real-time syncrony, and simplified integration with other custom systems, databases, and apps. Let’s talk about this from an I/O standpoint – the data flow going in and out of the product configurator:
These are examples of how you might bring in data to dynamically change the configuration for the person using it:
•Product options or attributes from a PLM or other database that the rules engine will use to dynamically update options in the interface
•Customer information from a CRM that can be inserted into dynamically generated PDFs
These are examples of how sending out data can dramatically improve the collaboration and cycle-time surrounding the product life cycle :
Your solution needs to be able to connect with core systems (CRM/ERP/PLM)
•CRM – for proposal/quote data (SKUs, line-item data, renderings) and customer preferences for a personalized experience
•ERP – as order information to generate POs, invoices, packing/shipping lists, and more
•PLM – to query product designs in PLM in order to satisfy individual and customized customer requests for product variations
5.) Sales Automation Processes
When we talk about Sales automation in regards to product configuration, we often are looking to aid the process in these key areas: Dynamic Pricing, Auto-generated Proposals, and Workflows.
In order to introduce sales automation, it is assumed that the first three items of this Must Have list are already in place. You cannot control dynamic pricing, auto-generate proposals, or orchestrate these transactions without the previous core building blocks in place. I guess that’s why we call them “Must Have’s”, huh?
Dynamic Pricing
•Pricing should update on the fly as product selections are made
•Pricing should be controlled by a central set of pricing rules for maintainability
Proposal Generation
•Product configuration data should flow through to auto-generate proposals in your CPQ/CRM system
•In a perfect world, all information from the transaction would be sent as an order object to these other business systems and can include the orders’ line-item details on product options, visual renderings, pricing, discounts, taxes, and more.
Workflow
•Workflows should notify teams, approvers, and customers what needs to happen during the product life cycle
internal and external emails, approvals, and signatures for the estimating, discounting, and ordering phases of the life cycle
Handoffs of production information to manufacturing team
Delivery of CAD drawing to sales and production teams as needed to close the deal or build out the product
6.) Omni-Channel/B2B2C Capabilities
What is omni-channel or BCB2C sales?
Omni-channel sales means that you can expose your product sales through multiple audiences and channels. This could include internal sales teams, partners and distributors, and even direct-to-customer audiences. Digital interactions and sales with these audiences can take place on an internal portal, extranet, or internet facing websites.
B2B2C sales has come to mean different things to different people. Some believe that B2B2C refers to an eCommerce strategy where both B2B and B2C models can be employed to facilitate a complete product transaction. This is the definition that is most akin to Omni-channel.
Others define B2B2C as a business model where a company will access a consumer market via another business, rather than doing so directly.
How do product configurators and CPQ enable omni-channel or BCB2C sales?
The best-in-class CPQ solutions will employ a single platform that can serve salespeople, distributors, partners, and direct customers independently, yet simultaneously. When these potentially diverse set of experiences are controlled by a single product configurator, then they can also controlled by a core set of rules with some variations for each audience. This makes the solution infinitely more maintainable – especially when spread across these divergent audiences and end points.
In order to be available to these outside sales channels, it is imperative that your product configurators are able to be embedded on your internal or external websites. This allows for every audience to self-service and configure their product as needed. This is a must-have for this direct model.
KBMax is a global B2B eCommerce service provider in USA, delivering the best e-commerce solutions for growing your businesses. Our main aim to focus on helping our clients and give a high quality of business services. To know more detail visit kbmax.com
A configured software makes customize complex products from vast catalogs for straightforward and painless processes. Find out how configured software that automates product configuration, pricing, and quoting can help you sell more and manufacture faster.
A CPQ is a term used in B2B industry to describe software systems and deliver accurate quotes. If you are looking for CPQ software or CPQ platform, you should know 8 things about CPQ. For more detail visit, kbmax.com
We are breaking down the key things you should consider before implementing CPQ software.
Learn more about our solutions here: kbmax.com/
Our visual CPQ delivers an awesome buying experience, a faster sales cycle, and a more efficient manufacturing process.
Learn more here:
https://kbmax.com/
A CPQ encourages the integration of contract life cycle management, which can make negotiation a painless process for both the buyer and seller. If you are looking to get a CPQ tool to improve b2b e-commerce experience, then look no place else other than KBMax!
#b2becommerceintegration #b2becommerceexperience #saasb2becommerceplatforms
Are you interested in learning how CPQ can transform your eCommerce site? Check out KBMax + Xenith in conversation at the 2021 B2B Online Virtual Summit. For more information visit kbmax.com
#B2BOnline #CPQ #b2beCommerce
The right CPQ tool is by no means a bad ask for any company. However, integrating your CPQ system with your ERP system is a sophistication to the next level. We tell you why you should do it NOW!
Whether you choose to implement your CPQ software by yourself or select a system integrator to install it, it will affect your costs and the speed to getting it released. That's why KBMax built an Admin platform. Watch to learn more!
A product configurator software is a solution that makes it easier to offer customization options to buyer and implementing the right configurator software streamlines sales and production processes while creating an awesome buying experience for customers. Here’s everything you need to know about configurator software and how to choose the right one for your business. For more information visit kbmax.com
KBMax Snap is a web & touch-enabled visual rule language for developing business & product rules in enterprise software. It is designed to be easy to use for people of all skill levels, yet full-featured so complex tasks can be accomplished with ease. Snap can be used to build pricing rules, discounting and approval logic, and connecting to any third-party system such as CRM, ERP or an e-commerce platform.
Learn more about KBMax Snap at https://bit.ly/3fbVYkU
Watch now:
The quote to cash software accelerates the sales productivity to automate tasks and personalize every offer for every customer. Integrated AI-based Quoting Software throughout the sales journey empowers your team to personalize quoting offers, automate approval cycles, minimize order and invoicing errors, and increase retention with a swift and automated replenishment process. Check here how you can employ quote to cash software to close more deals.
Check out how KBMax is the "Super C" for Salesforce CPQ with our end-to-end CPQ solution that handles complex product rules, visualization, CAD automation, and website embedding. For more information visit:
To make the process of sales easier, organizations have started using various sales automation software. While they have been witnessing a marked improvement in their conversions, not all of them are aware of the true potential it holds. We help in digging a little deeper.
A CPQ software makes a positive impact on your eCommerce business and automates product configuration, pricing, and quoting. KBMax provides CPQ software solutions that simplifies and automates the sales cycle. If you want to know how will it speed up our sales cycle and can it handle your incredibly complex, customizable products, visit kbmax.com
CPQ, a robust platform is one of the most versatile software available and can intensify your team’s expertise to streamline the sales operations while empowering them to provide precise quotes at lightning speed. CPQ implementation might seem to be a bit complicated for people using it for the first time but to understand the strong potential of this platform, it’s essential to take note of a few essential things.
Epicor and KBMax exist to serve the essential businesses that make, deliver, and sell the things everyone needs. If you want to achieve a 105% increase in deal size, 40% increase in conversion rate, 35% increase in production, and 38% faster sales cycles, then join us in connecting your shopping cart to your shop floor.
In this demonstration, it is shown that KBMax’s product visualization makes it easy for the customer to visualize and configure his desired production in real-time. With 3D configuration, customers can interact with the digital 3D model by changing components like colors, angles, sub-parts, and much more.
Manufacturers who automate their quote-to-cash process are seeing an increase in sales by 168% and sales cycles accelerate by 38%. Read on to find out how: https://bit.ly/3gztLWq
CPQ(configure, price, quote) is a sales tool that streamlines and automates three core processes at the heart of manufacturing operations: configuring complex products, calculating their prices, and producing quotes for customers. With Epicor CPQ, you can improve your sales process and get error-free quotes within minutes. If you want to know more, visit kbmax.com
There is so much that a CPQ tool has made possible for the manufacturing industry. But what are the challenges that it helps overcome in the first place? We have divided them into two phases from the entire process. Let’s have a look.
For more information, visit https://kbmaxblog.wordpress.com/2022/03/10/overcoming-challenges-in-manufacturing-with-cpq/
The 4th Industrial Revolution has not been a one-day process. It has stemmed from gradual ones that happened much before that. This is why the time has become of the essence for manufacturers of all kinds. In this post, we tell you about it all, and how combining the two is something worth a lot of positivity.
It's a question that has kept manufacturers on their toes in recent times. However, Epicor CPQ has been making the lives of users and manufacturers easier with its immersive interface and class-leading experience. Visit www.kbmax.com for more!
https://kbmax.com/resources/what-is-cpq
Epicor product configurator CPQ has been making the lives of manufacturers simpler than ever. If you are yet to understand what it does, or what the hype is all about, read this one to know more!
http://prsync.com/kbmax/epicor-product-configurator-cpq--have-you-heard-about-it-yet-3604036/
KBMax makes selling complex products easy so you can provide your customers with an unparalleled buying experience, reduce response time to minutes instead of weeks, and raise your conversion rates...
