Strategic Goal

To accelerate the quote-to-order cycle and improve sales accuracy through a unified, automated digital ecosystem

Challenges

The company faced significant operational bottlenecks stemming from an unstandardized and fragmented sales ecosystem:

  • Fragmented IT landscape: Sales representatives relied on multiple disconnected tools to prepare proposals, leading to delays and errors.
  • Lack of governance and approvals: Proposal creation lacked centralized oversight, increasing the risk of inconsistencies and compliance issues.
  • No proposal versioning: Sales teams could not track changes or revisit previous versions, limiting flexibility in negotiations.
  • Non-standardized processes: The proposal preparation workflow was not predefined or automated, creating heavy dependency on manual effort and human accuracy.
  • Decentralized client communication: Proposals could not be sent directly from the system, resulting in poor traceability and incomplete deal statistics.
  • Inefficient sales order creation: Converting proposals into Sales Orders required duplicate work in ERP, slowing down the order-to-cash cycle.
  • Limited reporting and analytics: Sales performance insights were only available through third-party tools, restricting data-driven decision-making.

Solution

The company partnered with CLARITY to implement an SAP CPQ solution, fully integrated into their digital ecosystem.

  • Smooth system integration: SAP CPQ consolidated data from multiple sources into a single workspace, improving usability and reducing complexity.

  • Automated master data exchange: Through SAP BTP, product, partner, and pricing data were synchronized with ERP in real time, ensuring data accuracy.

  • Real-time pricing integration: Connection with the pricing engine enabled up-to-date and reliable pricing directly in proposals.

  • Enhanced user experience: Advanced UI components simplified proposal building and allowed dynamic use of reference and alternative data.

  • Lifecycle product management: Sales teams could add catalog items, draft products, or product alternatives, with proactive alerts for discontinued products.

  • Historical data visibility: Access to past proposals and pricing trends supported informed decision-making and margin optimization.

  • Embedded governance: Rule-based approval workflows ensured compliance with corporate policies and increased transparency.

  • Optimized quote lifecycle: A predefined, linear process improved efficiency and minimized errors.

Results

The solution delivered measurable improvements across sales operations:
  • Operational efficiency: Eliminated the need to work in multiple systems, reducing time and effort spent on proposal preparation.
  • Single source of truth: Centralized access to all data within SAP CPQ minimized errors and accelerated proposal turnaround time.
  • Business agility: Enabled inclusion of not-yet-released products in proposals, supporting faster time-to-market.
  • Customer-centric flexibility: Historical data and versioning empowered sales teams to tailor competitive offers while safeguarding profitability.
  • Stronger governance: Approval workflows increased control over pricing and proposals, reducing the risk of non-compliant deals.
  • Accelerated order-to-cash cycle: Seamless ERP integration allowed one-click Sales Order creation once a deal was signed, significantly shortening fulfillment time.