Best Quote-to-Cash Software

For a modern company with a sales component, the selling process can be complex and drawn out. This process usually involves contact with numerous sales representatives and other employees, all utilizing different software platforms for specific tasks throughout the sales cycle. The more representatives, processes, and systems involved, the greater the likelihood that there will be confusion, stress, or preventable account complications. Quote-to-cash software is designed to consolidate this workflow, and streamline the process of quoting, ordering, and reordering products or services for consumers.

The complete revenue lifecycle has various names depending on the organization. These names include: order-to-cash, lead-to-order, inquiry-to-order, and quote-to-order. All these terms essentially mean the same thing. As a sales team works through the process from introductory calls to paid subscriptions, it is increasingly valuable to implement process automation and team collaboration. The solutions in this category offer tools for overseeing and completing the contract lifecycle while centralizing tasks related to the process. Additionally, these solutions typically integrate with customer relationship management or CRM software along with other internal systems to enable quick reference for employees while updating customer and order fulfillment data in real time.

As the customer relationship develops and moves from initial communication to closed deals, quote-to-cash platforms benefit finance teams (e.g. accounts receivable), customer service teams, and sales departments. Quote-to-cash platforms improve the efficiency and communication of the selling process by streamlining practices such as inventory management, pricing standardization, and cash flow reporting. This software improves proposals and allows for more accurate contract lifecycle management. By unifying and synchronizing the quote-to-cash process, sales departments run smoother and close deals faster, while ensuring maximum customer satisfaction at every stage.

Key Benefits of Quote-to-Cash Software

• Consolidation of tasks related to the sales lifecycle
• Automation of laborious sales processes
• Eliminating bottlenecks related to sales, invoicing, order fulfillment, and reordering
• Improving visibility and accuracy of customer proposals and contracts

The platforms featured in this category offer diverse tools for streamlining and automating the quote-to-cash process. The following are some common features found in this emerging space.

Guided selling — By integrating with external systems and indexing past contracts and quotes, certain quote-to-cash products offer in-the-moment assistance with selling, especially as it relates to pricing, discounting, and assembling accurate final quotes. This involves configuration rule sets for complex pricing and intelligent repositories of up-to-date product and pricing information. As quotes and contracts are assembled, certain solutions help verify the accuracy of the information entered, along with feedback such as upsell recommendations.

In some cases, products include centralized quote storage. Using these databases, sales team members can easily reference past quotes using a number of filters, and use the information gathered to help influence future proposals. They might also include or integrate with product catalogs, sales playbooks, contract management software, or other resources that can be leveraged in the proposal and contract-completion processes.

Workflows and approvals — For many sales contracts, particularly those involving important customers or substantial quotes, a finalized proposal may require review from sales management or product engineers to ensure the correct amounts are quoted. Depending on the structure of an organization, this can be a complicated process that leads to bottlenecks and miscommunication, which can impede the deal and endanger the customer relationship. Certain quote-to-cash platforms include approval workflow features that notify relevant parties when a quote requires review and approval. These features help prevent rogue discounting or other forms of misquoting, ensuring a positive customer experience and optimal revenue collection.

Pipeline monitoring — At any given moment, there are a number of in-process sales happening in an organization. Quote-to-cash solutions offer a transparent view of the sales pipeline, allowing salespeople, sales managers, financial teams, and others in an organization to track customer interactions. This visibility not only benefits sales team members with scheduling their tasks or customer follow-ups, but helps leadership keep tabs on these relationships and make strategic decisions based on the size, scope, and details related to the pipeline at any given moment.

The following business solutions are closely related to the quote-to-cash process. It might benefit a company to consider one or both when addressing their sales strategy.

Configure price quote (CPQ) software — This is a specialized technology that focuses on the quoting component of the sales lifecycle. These platforms offer intelligent assistance about which products to recommend and what quoted price to offer when assembling sales proposals based on customer needs. In addition to helping craft a proposal and find a price quote, certain products in this category help evaluate the profitability of a deal and offer real-time suggestions that aid in the quoting process. These tools typically integrate with CRM or ERP systems to ensure salespeople find relevant products or customer information when crafting a sales proposal. As quotes are completed, relevant data can be exported from the CPQ platform into corresponding systems.

Quote-to-cash consulting providers — Quote-to-cash consulting providers offer businesses advisory and implementation expertise related to the quote-to-cash process. The exact services change based on a specific agency and the various needs of a business. These can include assistance with choosing the right software tools or refining a sales team’s processes to maximize the benefits of their technology. As modern sales tools continue to evolve and companies develop new strategies around them, quote-to-cash consultants offer valuable, timely assistance to improve both employee adoption and sales numbers.