Digitalization Guide - SkyMaker AB

How to destroy a sales configurator implementation project

Posted by Kristoferon 2024-06-142024-09-27in digitalization-guide

Since product configuration, and many other IT-projects in manufacturing, requires lots of technical knowledge it is crucial for success to have a willing and change oriented engineering team onboard when implementing a new sales tools for quotations and configuration (CPQ).

So if you don´t respond well to guidlines of what to do when implementing CPQ, we thought that you might enjoy the opposite approach and focus on what guarantees certain failure.

To guarantee disaster in your sales configurator implementation project the Engineering team can do the following.

Typical setup for Visual CPQ with Customer/Distributor Portal

Posted by Kristoferon 2024-04-272024-06-15in digitalization-guide

With the rapid developments in technology these days there exists no single software solution that handles everything for a modern manufacturing company. You need to combine a few different specialized systems to achieve everything from marketing to logistics. Therefore we have provided a system overview of the typical functionalities required for a full setup of a Visual CPQ from CMS (website) to ERP. See our CPQ dictionary for abbreviations.

How to handle complexity in product configuration development

Posted by Kristoferon 2023-03-032024-07-10in Uncategorized

Developing a product configurator can be challenging due to the many design decisions along the way. Two of the most critical aspects that impact implementation time and skill requirements are:

Implementation strategy for the rules in the configurator
Skill level of the intended user

That is why we have put together some examples to help you determine the complexity level based on the approach you take to the configuration, and hopefully guide you in the way you tackle your development project.

Project plan Template – CPQ implementation

Posted by Kristoferon 2022-10-262024-05-02in Uncategorized

When creating your first product configurator that should help sales, distributors and even customers to configure products and request quotes there are many ways how to tackle the implementation project.

We have therefore created a generic project plan to be used as a template (see below) targeted towards manufacturing companies. To avoid ending up with a long and costly IT project that isn’t used by anyone we have divided the project into a series of steps to maximize the chances of success and to get value of the implementation as soon as possible (start to use the implementation already after step 2).

Guidelines when developing your first customer self service app for CPQ

Posted by hugoon 2022-09-142022-10-28in Uncategorized

Customer self service applications come in many shapes and sizes. But they all enable the customer to do more of the sales work themselves which leads to increased customer engagement and should free up considerable time and resources for the internal sales team.

Taking the step from internal sales applications to public ones can however be challenging since it requires a new perspective (the customers) on pretty much everything in an app compared to what previous solutions have been optimized for (the experts). There are lots to be learned along the way when releasing the first customer self service application.

To minimize the risk of a huge development project that costs a fortune, takes forever to complete and is used by nobody afterwards, we have collected some general principles below that can help smooth the ride when developing your first customer self service application. Use the principles below together with our project plan template for implementing a CPQ.

Separating configuration rules from inputs

Posted by Kristoferon 2022-08-082023-03-04in Uncategorized

When working with complex configuration its usually hard to separate visible input fields and variables from hidden rules and formulas. A product expert usually relies on experience when configuring a product, instead of strict rules and formulas. But when anyone should be able to use a product configurator the complexity needs to be greatly reduced, resulting in the requirement of a limited set of easy to understand input fields and a extensive set of hidden formulas that captures all the rules.

IT Map for Manufacturing Companies

Posted by hugoon 2022-05-302024-05-02in digitalization-guide

We often get asked about the IT structure and systems needed to make product configuration and process automation happen. How are different parts connected to each other? Which departments in the company uses which systems? And how do they relate to the flow of products from purchase to delivery? Have a look at this IT map for manufacturing companies – this what we can expect to find when we look at the IT structure of a manufacturing company.

Customer journey – Questionnaire for B2B products with quotations

Posted by Kristoferon 2021-09-092021-09-09in Uncategorized

When working with changes in the sales process its essential to have a clear view of the customer journey. Therefore we have created a short questionnaire for some of the basic questions that the sales team should discuss and try to answer.

This can result in a list with the typical steps to a closed deal that can be used when discussing changes.

Leverage your manufacturing company with modern online tools

Posted by hugoon 2021-09-072022-04-21in Why

Do you want to grow your manufacturing company while maintaining flexibility and efficiency? Is hiring new employees costly and time-consuming?

With modern online tools in the cloud you can automate your sales and back-office operations so you can focus on growing your business. You can increase your sales while keeping costs low. In this article we address some of the common growing pains of manufacturing companies, and what you can do to grow smarter and more efficiently.

Common User Stories for B2B CPQ

Posted by Kristoferon 2021-08-262021-09-07in digitalization-guide

When developing new products and solutions for others its always good to have some kind of description on what the intended users might want to do with the solution. A good way to handle this is to create a list of numbered User Stories that can be referenced and used for discussion throughout the project.

We have collected a few common user stories here that apply for online configurable products where the users should be able to customize and request quotation themselves without prior knowledge of the product.