The nature of software integration is pretty simple on the surface: you bring together two, three, four, 7,332 systems so that they work as one. Scratch just beneath that surface, though, and it’s rare to find that integrated systems always truly work “as one.”
In the worst cases, it’s like an app store where you use everything separately: yes, a user may only be using one machine, but each platform or application on it is doing its own thing, and communication between apps is sketchy to non-existent. Data is siloed, functionality is siloed, users are baffled.
In the best cases, integrated software simply becomes more like a feature-set for users. It doesn’t feel like an outside app. There’s no additional sign-on, and data isn’t stored separately. It’s simply The New Normal. Like adding IQX as the CPQ for Dynamics 365 Sales. One sign-on, same navigation, all the data in the same place, users are delighted.
Integrating CPQ with D365 Sales: the “act of”
“There will be some integration tasks and associated costs.” This phrase, and variations thereof, are rarely met with a smile by any business owner. While D365 is flexible and can incorporate a seemingly endless amount of software (check the AppSource), it’s not always plug-and-play.
In some cases, integrating new software may require some light dev work via an API (not a deal-breaker for most SMBs), but in others, custom coding may come into play, throwing schedules and budgets out the door.
Adding CPQ to Dynamics, however, can be as easy as simply saying “yes.”
The best CPQ vendors out there will do the heavy lifting for you. Because a CPQ system isn’t something you simply plug-in to Dynamics: there are sasales proposal templates and product and pricing configurations to create and upload, reporting dashboards and workflows to build, etc. etc. etc.
Make sure your CPQ vendor includes all of the above in your integration costs. Otherwise, you may be getting nickeled-and-dimed into oblivion.
Integrating CPQ with D365 Sales: the “everyday use of”
The meaning of integration has changed over the years, and with great cause. Where it once primarily meant adding software A to software B, it now means integrating data streams, integrating security and permissions, integrating workflows, and integrating the solution itself into the mindset of your users.
To twist an old saying a bit: if a software is integrated and no is there to use it, does it make ROI? The answer is “No,” of course (whether a tree makes a sound is still up for debate).
Once you have integrated the back-end of your solutions/software/systems, it’s absolutely critical you focus on user adoption: a.k.a., integrating/introducing your users to the new set of features and functions now at their fingertips.
The beauty of adding CPQ to Dynamics — assuming it’s a single sign-on CPQ/D365 integration — is that users (specifically, sales reps) are going to use it by default. Why? Because CPQ automates the sales proposal process, and every rep is always trying to send as many proposals as possible.
“Wait,” you might say, “How do I force them to use it? I have them all ‘using’ CRM, but they hardly do so. What makes CPQ different? Won’t they just find a workaround?”
True: you’ll have some “old school” types that will still want to build proposals in Word, send via Outlook, etc. But CPQ has been shown to help improve closing rates by ~25%, and, to be blunt, that’s all salespeople care about: CLOSING. And they’ll use any and all tools at their disposal to close more deals, including the CPQ system now integrated with Dynamics.
We could even say that CPQ is like sales proposals on steroids, but we’ll save that for a later post.
