In what usually is a rather uneventful month for challenging projects the world over, December proved to be pretty challenging for my team. We had to help a firm overcome a number of pain points they experienced with the SAP CRM, particularly those associated with the Service Equipment and Install Base functionalities. While helping the customer out, I thought I could list down these pain points and how we countered them, as I believe they could work as a crystal ball for other firms as we make all the difference in 2020. So, here goes!

The market around us has changed a lot. Customers don't want to extensively search for answers to their questions, nor do they want to wait days for companies to answer a question. If they can't easily find the answer and can't ask the question easily, they start researching alternatives. If this happens, the chance of successful sales is drastically reduced. For a company it, therefore, becomes increasingly relevant to engage with potential customers directly through the channel of their choice.

The rules of engagement have changed: technology is changing the game and customers are changing the rules. Today’s customer is digitally connected, better informed, and has higher expectations. To win these empowered customers, your salesforce needs to have access to real-time data. From an organizational standpoint, we have entered into a digital whirlpool, and to get the best out of it, we need to empower our employees with tools that can provide them with a competitive advantage in the market.

In today’s world of competition, most businesses spend a lot of time and money in attracting new customers. But, as long as a business is unable to retain its existing customers, it cannot attain success in the long run. The existing customers of a company are always the target market for its competitors. Therefore, it is very important to provide customers with the best possible service by being more responsive to their needs and expectations.

Let’s take a moment to look around us. Here’s what I see: We live in a digital world. The world of customer service has changed. Today’s economy consists of a population that is digitally linked, associated with social networks, and more cognizant than ever before. We are surrounded by savvy consumers and sophisticated buyers.

Cloud solutions are synonymous with cloud computing, i.e. internet-based solutions. Cloud solutions can be accessed via the internet — anywhere, anytime — on any device. This feature fulfills the requirements of organizations looking to deploy solutions for their internal customer service, marketing, and sales teams in a quick and efficient manner.

Having a configure, price, and quote system can automate and speed up the sales cycle of your business and improve customer relationship management. It can be challenging to choose a right CPQ solution and implement it on your own, but working with an experienced consulting partner should make it easier. A cloud-based CPQ solution can be customized according to the needs of your business, so you can be sure that it can effectively enhance sales in your manufacturing business. Once you find the right cloud-based CPQ, your business should be able to experience the following benefits: