Vlocity CPQ vs. Salesforce CPQ: Which Is Better for B2B Businesses?

To run a successful B2B business, you need to perfect the quote generation process of large-scale orders across a vast distribution network reasonably quickly. 

In the recent past, sales executives used to interact with key decision-makers in customers’ companies to understand their requirements. This interaction was then followed by forwarding the customers’ requirements to the finance team, who would take factors such as quantity, discounts, and customer history from their record history to check how they can customize the pricing for the said B2B customer. Finally, once the finance team crunched the numbers, your sales team could return with a firm quote to the customers.

What’s wrong with it?

Though there is nothing wrong with it, this process takes several days to complete, and when you are dealing with different departments to get a quoted price, the customer might find a competitor to get a better deal. As a result, you must start the process again to save the customer from switching.

Imagine if this was a significant business order that could be crucial to your company’s success. Unfortunately, it is easy for customers to change their minds about certain specifications in their order. If that happens, your inefficient quote process wouldn’t be able to deliver a new quotation on time.  

So, how does one avoid re-running the process repeatedly and meet a customer’s demands to create an appropriate product mix? Of course, you can always use shared spreadsheets among the key stakeholders, but that would only mean bringing old-school toys into a modern-day playground. This is why you should think beyond!

Enter CPQ!

CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote, and it assists the sales team by defining three aspects of a transaction:

• Configure: The products that a customer wishes to buy from your company
• Price: The amount of money it is going to cost them
• Quote: Sharing the details of the proposal in a quote

CPQ software is a sales tool that allows the sales team to generate quotes accurately and quickly. CPQ tools work in tandem with a variety of ERP programs, CRM platforms, and other business applications. Quotes generated using a CPQ platform are error-free and automatically take into account factors such as discounts, quantities, customized requirements, revenue types, optional features of products, and incompatibilities. 

Several studies have shown that companies using CPQ tools dramatically decrease their quote generation time. On top of that, they experience over 95% reduction in approval time and twice as fast quote-to-cash processes. 

A wide range of CPQ tools are available in the market and companies can evaluate their requirements to choose the best fit for their respective business. In this post, we will look at the market's two most popular CPQ software—Salesforce CPQ and Vlocity CPQ—and identify the differences. Without further ado, let’s dive into the details of these CPQ tools to help you understand them better. 

Difference Between Vlocity CPQ & Salesforce CPQ

Salesforce CPQ

Among the two, Salesforce CPQ is a generic full-blown CPQ application used across multiple industries. It sits on the Salesforce platform and supports core custom objects like Quotes. Let’s look at the key features of Salesforce CPQ:

• It is easy to use with guided flows
• You can consolidate different applications seamlessly 
• It helps reduce the overall costs for businesses dealing with B2B clients
• You get access to a user-friendly UI

Salesforce CPQ is a customer-centric tool with excellent performance. It is easy to install and can be easily configured with different integrations. The only downside some users experience is an occasional slow response, but it can be easily rectified if a team of experts configures the tool. 

Salesforce CPQ is native to Salesforce and easy to customize and edit, just like a wide range of objects in the Salesforce platform. For companies already using Salesforce, opting for Salesforce CPQ is a no-brainer as they are already familiar with the platform and wouldn’t have to spend time on an additional learning curve to understand the new functionalities. 

Vlocity CPQ

On the other hand, Vlocity is an industry-specific platform that provides tailor-made CPQ solutions for every industry. It is a time-efficient system that leverages robust cloud applications. Vlocity CPQ helps businesses with:

• Managing the costs of their products
• Driving forward with better processes
• Increasing revenue by adding agility to business processes
• Choosing a wide breadth of services focusing on bringing more customers

In a nutshell, Vlocity CPQ provides you with a product roadmap and future vision with financially viable solutions. It is easy to integrate with your systems, and the post-sales services have been reported as adequate so far.

Apart from the generic points mentioned above, some industry-specific features of Vlocity CPQ include:

• Ability to create Digital Commerce APIs and Headless CPQ Cart for B2B and B2C companies to manage pricing rules.

• Seamless integration with Order Management systems across different industries.

• Enabling customers to modify assets and amend their long-running B2B orders after they have been submitted. 

• Allowing customers to modify their plans to medium or large or based on platforms like mobile+internet without interrupting their services.

• Generating quotes for B2B customers from multiple sites at the same time, without handling multiple screens and records. 

Now that you clearly understand how Salesforce CPQ and Vlocity work, it is time to opt for a platform that best fits your business.

Next Steps

Integrate Salesforce CPQ with your existing systems in a matter of days and not weeks with an extended Salesforce development team. Experts at Growth Natives thoroughly audit your current Salesforce instance to identify the system's shortcomings and deliver tailor-made solutions that can transform your business into a revenue-generating powerhouse.
To know more about our services, email us at info@growthnatives.com. You can also learn more about our Salesforce and marketing automation services by visiting our website.