It’s rare that 9 out of 10 CEOs agree on anything, but in a recent study done by Harvard Business Review Analytical Services, a whopping 92% of executives surveyed agreed that for a business to successfully “digitally transform,” the transformation must take place on two tracks: at the enterprise level, and at the business process level.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales is absolutely a solution that can digitally transform a business on the enterprise level. After all, it immediately becomes the repository for all critical sales and marketing information, the hub of a business.
By default, it transforms an organization as sales reps are using it to create leads and tracking opportunities, marketers are using it to list-build and communicate with prospects and customers, and executives are viewing its dashboards and other outputs to help them track the overall business.
So, what about transforming at the business process level? At iQuoteXpress, we won’t profess to have expertise in, say, optimizing a business process like creating marketing journeys for prospects. However, we will gladly share our expertise on quoting systems, and how they can digitally transform closing sales (which, we’re confident, most people would consider a rather critical business process).
Digital quotes: faster, cleaner, smarter
The business advantages of adding CPQ to Dynamics 365 Sales as the means to automate the sales proposal process are both simple to understand and immediately recognized.
What you’ll first see is that reps are able to send quotes more quickly. Why? Because instead of building an RFP response in Excel or Word, they can use professionally designed sales proposal templates included in your sales quoting system.
Which naturally leads to “cleaner” quotes: i.e., error-free quotes, with templated images and language that, ideally, have been created by people with specific expertise in copywriting and design. All a sales rep has to do is drag and drop product and pricing configurations, make a few tweaks to the copy, and a perfect quote is now ready for sending.
And, because of the sales analytics and quote tracking tools built-in to your CPQ solution, your system can become smarter over time, presenting only products and pricing that have been shown to convert prospects.
Additionally, these tools provide splendid support for sales managers as managers evaluate team performance. Because in CRM (D365 Sales), any sales rep can create a flurry of activity. But it’s in CPQ where you can more closely see how that activity is leading to signed quotes (a.k.a., closed business). And if you're a sales manager, are you more interested in how reps are managing the top of their funnel, or how they’re closing business at the bottom of it? (Yes, we know you said “both,” but if you had to choose…)
D365 Sales and IQX CPQ: low-code leaders
Finally, in the report referenced above, more than half of the business leaders surveyed also said their digital transformation was reliant on low-code solutions. I.e., cloud-based, templated, able to be customized by everyday people (rather than IT professionals) types of solutions.
With Dynamics, you have a proven cloud-based solution designed to make sales and marketing professionals’ lives easier. It typically has all you need right out of the box. And while you can still get it on-premise, it’s far easier and faster to deploy in the cloud. And a cloud deployment also ensures everyone can access, regardless of location.. BTW: cloud = low code. Really, NO code.
With IQX, you also have a cloud-based solution that has all you need right out of the box. Not only that, but IQX is a single sign-on CPQ for D365 Sales, making it feel like it came out of the same box as Dynamics.
Two tracks to digital transformation. Two tools to put on those tracks. Too much good stuff!
