Any complex product will have a variety of configuration options. Depending upon the number of choices in parts or components in your system the possible combinations can become staggering. The most common mistake made in attempting to reduce this complexity is to create a series of order numbers with a particular combination. The idea of making these pre-configured options is typically done without a great deal of thought about what the end result will become: a very long list of SKUs.
The intention was good: “let’s make it easy to order for our customers,” while the results typically are not so good: “I can’t decide which one of the 60 models I really need!”
Of course the other reality is that frequently the real convenience is being designed for back office operations. This should be a goal, but the real goal is to eliminate any difficulty for your customer to order not just your product, but the right version or configuration of your product. If you have a product model that is ordered and requires a custom adjustment because it doesn’t fit your customers needs, this is your indicator that you solved the wrong problem or that you didn’t solve the problem of complexity at all. In fact, you increased the number of steps for your customers, your sales team, and your back office team. When your operation is small this might work. As you grow this will amplify into lost revenue, poor customer service, and a real drain on the time of your entire work force. You will also have created one or more bottlenecks. Email chains regarding the variations will be created and at any given point the person who needs to make the adjustment may not be at her desk. If two or more people are required to intervene, or worse, just want to weigh in then things really get out of control. There is no excuse for a startup company to let this happen. None. Zero. Zip.
So how on earth can a combined configuration and quote system help to prevent this? Because to build it you will be forced to think through all the possibilities. As you do this you will realize there are far too many combinations to create a model for each customer’s environment. You will eliminate the inflexible spreadsheet models of your margins that contain all the wisdom of the CFO and which is sacred and disconnected from the other five systems you are running and that requires a constant stream of communications for exceptions, sales promotions, etc. In other words, you will have to create a real system that uses simple formulas to create ranges of options and will calculate in real time what it all means to the bottom line. You can’t buy this off the shelf no matter what you heard from any CRM vendor. Save time, money, and learn more about your own business by developing your own model. Then use the tools that are best suited to your environment to get the job done. Typically this can be housed with any SQL server. Free is good, supported is fine.
The total amount of data required to track customer sales, contacts, etc. is in reality a very small amount of information. Where your data is getting bloated is with metadata, document repositories, duplication of information into silos, etc. Gluing it all together can seem pretty daunting. But, if you plan carefully it doesn’t have to be hard. Once you complete a sensible model and a database schema to house your data you can create the views and reports necessary for each stage of the process. You won’t have people doing double and triple entry of the same information. Keep your sales people selling. Order the right equipment. Always know your margin of profitability in real time.