How ServiceNow CRM fixes broken CPQ

Generating a quote and contract shouldn’t feel like an impossible task. The current configure, price, quote (CPQ) process in customer relationship management (CRM) systems can be a maze of manual steps and siloed data.

According to Mercuri International, a typical B2B sales cycle in Europe now averages 156 days, up from 65 days in 2007. When clunky CPQ slows salespeople down, they have less capacity to focus on what matters most: delivering a seamless buying experience.

The ServiceNow AI Platform Zurich release introduced expanded CPQ capabilities. Let’s explore the challenges with broken CRM and how ServiceNow Customer Relationship Management can help accelerate the sales lifecycle from lead to fulfilment.

The problems with legacy CPQ in CRM

Traditional CRM tools help salespeople build a strong pipeline of leads. But when a customer is ready to buy, CPQ obstacles can turn the sales funnel into a bottleneck. Common problems include:

• Configuration difficulty: Sales representatives may struggle to accurately configure products using rigid, outdated tools that weren’t designed to manage complex items.

• Cumbersome pricing systems: To implement consistent pricing and discounting rules, teams will often share complicated spreadsheets around the organisation, creating risks for data security and version control. Subscription model pricing can be particularly challenging to manage because of the added complexity of renewals, amendments, and ramp pricing terms.

• Manual approvals: Multi-step, manual sign-off processes can lead to incorrect orders moving through the review chain. When incorrect orders are eventually rejected, the salesperson must adjust and resubmit the order for approval, delaying fulfilment.

Stalled deals can damage customer relationships. Revenue leakage may occur if it takes too long to configure products or prepare the final quote.

Sales organisations need a modern solution to streamline CPQ and keep sellers and buyers happy. The answer is an AI-powered CPQ experience that’s simple to implement for all products.

A better approach to CPQ

ServiceNow CPQ uses a powerful logic engine and AI to simplify pricing and configuration management. It accelerates the transaction management cycle using advanced rule capabilities that drive straightforward, AI-powered selling across channels.

Point-and-click setup makes it easy to manage and maintain CPQ, even for complex products. Guided configuration capabilities enable sellers to build quotes faster and spend more time with customers.

Organisations get a CPQ experience that’s scalable, quick, and accurate. A leading European telecommunications company uses ServiceNow CPQ to generate more than 5,000 contracts per month across 2,000 sales users—removing the bottleneck and accelerating sales.

ServiceNow CPQ in action

Let’s take a closer look at how organisations can transform the customer buying experience using ServiceNow CPQ. We’ll unpack the process through the lenses of a customer, a sales representative, and a fulfilment manager—spanning the entire lead-to-cash process.

Adam is a chief technology officer at an up-and-coming gaming company. He visits a storage provider’s website in search of solutions to support an upcoming release. A virtual sales development representative asks about his needs using natural conversation.

Based on Adam’s input, the virtual agent applies its contextual understanding of the product catalogue, as well as similar companies’ purchase habits, to make a product recommendation. With Adam’s consent, the virtual agent passes on his details to a partnered reseller that stocks the recommended product line.

Jessica, a sales representative at the reselling company, receives the lead and engages with Adam. She has a 360-degree view of his needs, his full chat history with the virtual agent, and an AI-generated summary of the proposal—all from the CRM workspace.

Jessica uses this data to configure the order. She knows to select a DC power supply and the necessary adapters and enable encryption on the hardware. She generates the final quote—which provides a single view of all items, terms, discounts, and partner installation costs—and submits it for approval.

Jason, the fulfilment manager, reviews the line items with a single product catalogue, powered by ServiceNow CPQ and Order Management, which ensures no details get lost between systems or teams. Jason approves the quote, the inventory is automatically checked, and stock is lined up for delivery.

Adam confirms the order and field technicians are deployed to complete a seamless installation. The correct infrastructure will be in place to launch the company’s new game.

ServiceNow CRM transitions businesses from complicated, easily broken quoting software to one intuitive platform for sales, quoting, and fulfilment.

Find out how ServiceNow can help you simplify and accelerate sales.