Upgrades to WebSource CPQ focus on further reductions in quote-to-order cycle time, handling of varying levels of complexity
Milwaukee — September 27, 2005 — Quote-to-order enablement specialist Webcom has released the latest version of its flagship solution for configuration, pricing, quotation and proposal, adding new capabilities to allow enterprise customers to support unlimited nested configurations, advanced cost and margin analysis, solution wizards and updated checkout and shopping cart experiences unique to a user group.
Webcom provides software solutions intended to simplify the quote-to-order process for the selling of complex products and services. Requiring only a browser, WebSource CPQ allows salespeople, channel partners and consumers to configure, price, quote and propose products or services.
Version 5.0 of the solution offers enhanced triggering of workflow and approval process with data not resident within the system, such as information collected via Web services integration. The new version also provides checkout, order placement and shopping cart experiences unique to a specific user group, unlimited nested configurations and the single-click addition of simple products to the quote or shopping cart.
Elsewhere, version 5.0 offers updated product cost and margin analysis to support the discount approval process utilizing the solution's pricing engine, as well as a greater level of personalization of custom fields. Finally, the latest version provides for user-defined solution wizards to simultaneously configure multiple products/services through a single set of questions offering a greater level of productivity.
Alisa Garcia, director of sales planning at supercomputer company Cray, a Webcom customer, said that as an early user and contributor to the solution wizard functionality, Cray was impressed with the productivity gains they believe they will see over what WebSource CPQ already is delivering.
"Through one single set of questions, a highly configurable Cray supercomputer can be automatically configured with the desired processors, memory, external storage, software and cabinets, without needing to specify each area individually," Garcia said. "It makes the usability of the tool much more appealing to our sales team."
"We have long been recognized by industry experts as having been able to tackle the challenging problem of handling the toughest configuration problems, while elegantly handling simple quotations where others in the industry have over-engineered to handle the mixing of the simple with the complex," said Aleks Ivanovic, CEO and founder of Webcom. "WebSource CPQ V5.0 continues to build on the core requirement of handling the simple and the complex in a single environment."
Robert Bois, senior research analyst with AMR Research, has reported that the customer management market saw double-digit growth last year for the first time in five years. "Overall, customer management application license revenue grew 8 percent in 2004 after losing 2 percent in 2003 and 12 percent in 2002," Bois wrote in "The Customer Management Applications Report, 2004-2009." "Combining both license and hosted software revenue, which totaled $3.9 billion in 2003, the $4.4 billion market in 2004 represents a healthy 12.6 percent increase."
Companies utilizing Webcom's products and services include Rockwell Automation, Danfoss, Corning Cable Systems, Verity, Grayhill and GE Industrial Systems. Founded in 1997, Webcom is a privately held corporation headquartered in Milwaukee
Additional Articles of Interest
— Working to improve demand visibility at your company but stumped on how to improve demand accuracy? For some tips to get you started, read "Overcoming Forecast Error with Real-time Forecasting," an In Depth article on SDCExec.com.
— For more information on demand planning and forecasting, see the analyst articles in the April/May 2004 and February/March 2005 issues of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
— For an in-depth look at how Nortel Networks is increasing the effectiveness of its lead management program, see the SDCExec.com article "Closing the Sales Loop at Nortel Networks."
Milwaukee — September 27, 2005 — Quote-to-order enablement specialist Webcom has released the latest version of its flagship solution for configuration, pricing, quotation and proposal, adding new capabilities to allow enterprise customers to support unlimited nested configurations, advanced cost and margin analysis, solution wizards and updated checkout and shopping cart experiences unique to a user group.
Webcom provides software solutions intended to simplify the quote-to-order process for the selling of complex products and services. Requiring only a browser, WebSource CPQ allows salespeople, channel partners and consumers to configure, price, quote and propose products or services.
Version 5.0 of the solution offers enhanced triggering of workflow and approval process with data not resident within the system, such as information collected via Web services integration. The new version also provides checkout, order placement and shopping cart experiences unique to a specific user group, unlimited nested configurations and the single-click addition of simple products to the quote or shopping cart.
Elsewhere, version 5.0 offers updated product cost and margin analysis to support the discount approval process utilizing the solution's pricing engine, as well as a greater level of personalization of custom fields. Finally, the latest version provides for user-defined solution wizards to simultaneously configure multiple products/services through a single set of questions offering a greater level of productivity.
Alisa Garcia, director of sales planning at supercomputer company Cray, a Webcom customer, said that as an early user and contributor to the solution wizard functionality, Cray was impressed with the productivity gains they believe they will see over what WebSource CPQ already is delivering.
"Through one single set of questions, a highly configurable Cray supercomputer can be automatically configured with the desired processors, memory, external storage, software and cabinets, without needing to specify each area individually," Garcia said. "It makes the usability of the tool much more appealing to our sales team."
"We have long been recognized by industry experts as having been able to tackle the challenging problem of handling the toughest configuration problems, while elegantly handling simple quotations where others in the industry have over-engineered to handle the mixing of the simple with the complex," said Aleks Ivanovic, CEO and founder of Webcom. "WebSource CPQ V5.0 continues to build on the core requirement of handling the simple and the complex in a single environment."
Robert Bois, senior research analyst with AMR Research, has reported that the customer management market saw double-digit growth last year for the first time in five years. "Overall, customer management application license revenue grew 8 percent in 2004 after losing 2 percent in 2003 and 12 percent in 2002," Bois wrote in "The Customer Management Applications Report, 2004-2009." "Combining both license and hosted software revenue, which totaled $3.9 billion in 2003, the $4.4 billion market in 2004 represents a healthy 12.6 percent increase."
Companies utilizing Webcom's products and services include Rockwell Automation, Danfoss, Corning Cable Systems, Verity, Grayhill and GE Industrial Systems. Founded in 1997, Webcom is a privately held corporation headquartered in Milwaukee
Additional Articles of Interest
— Working to improve demand visibility at your company but stumped on how to improve demand accuracy? For some tips to get you started, read "Overcoming Forecast Error with Real-time Forecasting," an In Depth article on SDCExec.com.
— For more information on demand planning and forecasting, see the analyst articles in the April/May 2004 and February/March 2005 issues of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
— For an in-depth look at how Nortel Networks is increasing the effectiveness of its lead management program, see the SDCExec.com article "Closing the Sales Loop at Nortel Networks."
- More articles about Webcom.
