A product configurator is the perfect way to prevent endless revisions to quotations, errors or ambiguities in production. Thus, to save a lot of time and money. As a manufacturing company, with product configuration software you’ll never have to worry about your pre-production process again. And with the product configurator of Elfsquad CPQ, you know your configurator is build the right way.
Product configurator software is software that enables your engineers, sales reps, dealers and customers to put together complex configurations error-free. Product configuration software makes it possible to compose complex products with a high product variability, often used in combination with guided selling. Which means you guide buyers and sellers efficiently through the configuration process. A product configurator is also being used to make the transition to configure-to-order, which is a manufacturing process where products are configured according to customer requirements.
Your customer is in one of the most, if not the most, important phases of the customer journey: the quotation phase. Why provide him with only a table and details of the chosen options if you also can send him a rich and personalized quotation document which directly generates multi-level BoMs?
Product configurator software offers great benefits for manufacturing companies. Apart from direct benefits, like reducing run-time for sales and engineering, and error-free order-intake, there is a lot of underlying potential that come with the use of a product configurator:
Manufacturing companies who work within a configure-to-order process are always able to deliver quickly, meet customer needs and work error-free within all the business activities. That really makes a difference.
In addition, manufacturing companies that work Configure-to-order can respond very well to all trends that come along. Thanks to a fully automated pre-production processes, these trends can be seen as opportunities.
Your business does not sell a simple bicycle, but complex machines, installations, or conveyors. Which makes selling your product very time-consuming and prone to error for salespeople, dealers, and the customer themselves. By using a product configurator you eliminate all errors from the sales proces. Integrations with ERP and CAD result in a flawless follow-up from engineering.
A product configurator that isn't web- and cloud-based is never as scalable as a product configurator that is.
Another big benefit of a cloud- and web-based product configurator is its scalability. Or even hyper-scalability, if you will. The necessary calculating power can be scaled up, directly and endlessly.
When using a cloud-based solution, you will always be working with the most recent version of the software. Developers are constantly improving their software, and are able to very quickly and simply share this with you in the cloud. In other words, you are always able to utilize the newest functionalities, and will always be up to date privacy- and security wise as well.
Cloud-based product configuration software can easily communicate with other applications through APIs. With a traditional solution this becomes much more complicated, as it works from its own isolated database. With the product configurator of Elfsquad CPQ you are able to integrate with Autodesk Inventor, Salesforce, Solidworks or 3000+ other business applications.
We know the importance of visualizing your products in a 3D configurator. So yes, Elfsquad CPQ can be used as a visual configurator. We actually build an Online Showroom extension that you can use plug and play, to directly connect your end customer to your product and create your own visual sales channel. We explained all of that in the video below.
It definitely should be. As an international manufacturing company you must provide your dealers or resellers with the tools to create configurations and flawlessly generate quotations for your product. All within your own management. To see how this is done within Elfsquad CPQ, just watch the video below.
CPQ software always contains a product configurator, but not the other way around. Standalone product configurators are often more technical and are mainly used by engineering and production. CPQ software also links a commercial factor to it, such as making a quotation and calculating a price.
Product configuration is one of the USPs of Elfsquad CPQ. Elfsquad has developed in-house solver technology: which we call Archer AI. Archer AI even does focused suggestions for optimization of your formulas.
Elfsquad CPQ is based on the API-first principle. Which means you have endless integration possibilities. And that’s a good thing, because a growing manufacturing company experiences a growing IT landschape. Integrate with 3000+ applications, from SalesForce to Dynamics for Sales and from Autodesk Inventor to Business Central.
View all integrationsAfter a successful Proof of Concept we chose Elfsquad, as we find it to be an advanced and elegant platform. A platform that provides an intuitive user experience while users gain control over the data and how this is displayed in the form of a Q&A game.
A big challenge we would have without a configurator is always needing an engineer to help with quotes. Elfsquad enabled us to streamline the quote-to-cash process. The 30-day trial really helped us to get to know the software.
A custom-build configurator is obsolete the day you have it. With Elfsquad CPQ we always use the latest software, so we are more future-proof with a CPQ SaaS solution.
‘During the first sales conversations we had the best feeling with Elfsquad. We did not have the idea that any other party, competitors both national and international, knew exactly what we needed.’
A LeapBox always has to fit, so that gives infinite possibilities, and if we had to do that by hand, I think we would get many incorrect BOMs.
Curious as to how we would recommend that Elfsquad takes care of your pre-production process? Contact us to schedule a demo.
Bring in the Elfsquad