Integrating two powerful tools, Salesforce CPQ (Configure Price Quote) and an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, like Microsoft Dynamics, is a clever strategy implemented by businesses using Salesforce that want to simplify and optimise their sales processes.
Most companies require guided sales and product configuration to optimise their sales process. Salesforce CPQ integration ensures that Microsoft Dynamics users can transfer data automatically between the two software without requiring manual input.
By integrating CPQ and ERP software, you’re empowering your sales team with a winning formula to focus less on admin and more on achieving their sales potential. With the right tools, Salesforce CPQ integration can be done swiftly and with little interruption to your day-to-day business operations.
WHAT DOES CPQ MEAN?
We already know that CPQ stands for "configure, price, and quote", but what does that mean, and what does it do? CPQ is a "guided selling" tool, used by companies to quickly and accurately generate quotes for orders. It ensures that errors are reduced and the sales cycle is optimal. CPQ software assists salespeople in their daily activities to ensure their time is used effectively.
When a customer requests a quote, a salesperson can use the CPQ software to find the price and complete the full quoting process with ease. Salesforce CPQ software can be programmed to consider various factors, including discounts, product quantity, and customisations.
CPQ software takes the legwork out of the quoting process while eliminating the risk of human error.
With Salesforce CPQ integration, accurate, error-free data can be extracted directly from Microsoft Dynamics. Sales reps have real-time access to data on customer’s order history and preferences. This overview empowers teams to make informed decisions and provide a personalised customer experience, improving the chance of customer loyalty and customer retention.
WHAT ARE THE KEY FEATURES OF SALESFORCE CPQ?
Hosted within the Salesforce Sales Cloud platform, Salesforce CPQ offers teams a variety of features. The main ones include:
- Product configuration: Automatically customise an order and streamline order management to provide structure and convenience for sales teams
- Automated pricing: Manage automatic quote creation, discounts, and promotions to ensure a seamless (and oftentimes personalised) customer experience
- Efficient quoting: Streamline your quoting process with automatic quote creation, tracking and more
THE BENEFITS OF SALESFORCE CPQ INTEGRATION WITH MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365 BUSINESS CENTRAL
Integrating Salesforce CPQ with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central combines and automates your customer relationship tool and sales operations. With information unified on one single system, all business functions can be executed efficiently and seamlessly.
Read also: Salesforce CPQ and data integration: how it can help you increase sales
ELIMINATE MANUAL DATA ENTRY
A major challenge that sales teams face is having to process and manage multiple tools, manually entering and updating existing data. The integration of Salesforce CPQ with Microsoft Dynamics removes these time-consuming processes by automating updates across platforms. This data includes:
- Customer profiles: Automatically sync your customer contact information, purchase history, and customer communication preferences to get a detailed overview of each customer profile. This will ensure teams can personalise the customer experience and pinpoint upselling opportunities.
- Products: Unify product descriptions, specifications, pricing, and updated inventory levels to avoid errors and provide accurate quotes.
- Quotes: Quotes that are generated in Salesforce CPQ will automatically populate Microsoft Dynamics for order processing.
Streamline the sales cycle
Salesforce CPQ integration with Microsoft Dynamics streamlines the sales cycle in several key ways:
- Automated administration: Automatically perform credit checks and order approvals across departments with ease.
- Updated inventory overview: Within Salesforce CPQ, teams can access real-time inventory data, allowing them to determine stock levels and handle customer orders accordingly.
- Quick quotes: Automatic quote generation saves time for sales teams and ensures that customers are assisted faster.
Improved output efficiency
With the automation of processes decreasing the number of errors, teams can spend significantly less time on troubleshooting and ‘putting out fires’. The integration of these tools will boost overall sales efficiency. Here's how:
- Data accuracy: Automated syncing of data ensures there are no discrepancies across platforms.
- Reduced manual input: Automation frees up valuable time for your sales team to focus on closing deals and building customer relationships.
- Optimised reporting: Data from both platforms allows for comprehensive sales reporting and better sales performance analysis.
Many other customer-facing processes related to sales and customer service can be automated with the integration of Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics. Having a unified platform optimises overall productivity and workflow.
Most businesses can benefit from a CRM and ERP integration. Many implement a Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics integration. Often, a sales team works mostly in their CRM system (for example Salesforce Sales Cloud). That's where they want to take care of their quotes, proposals, etc.
If their system is integrated with their ERP (for example, Microsoft Dynamics), information can be synchronised so that they only need to work in one system quickly and accurately. It can also improve sales cycles.
Salesforce - Microsoft Dynamics ERP integration can include the synchronisation of data such as:
- Customers and accounts
- Contacts
- Products and prices
- Open sales and service orders
- Sales History
- Payment history
- Additional master data to make our reporting more consistent
In order to automate the entire quote-to-cash flow, we have also integrated:
- Sales quote in CRM to sales order, service order or sales invoice in ERP
Advanced product configuration and guided selling in the CRM system can be easily done with the integration. This is because integration brings the product and basic pricing from the ERP system to feed that.
Do not hesitate to integrate ERP and CPQ because you think it will probably be too difficult or time-consuming. There are many benefits to it. It can even be done as a real-time integration.
Smooth Salesforce CPQ integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Web Services or OData, we simplify Salesforce integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365. We can also read data directly from the Microsoft Dynamics 365 SQL database, a faster solution when working with an on-site database or Microsoft Azure.
With Rapidi, you will:
- Benefit from both Salesforce CPQ ease-of-use and superior data visualisation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Have a single point of data entry whereby records in both systems will sync
- Have access to a free Salesforce App Extension that enables an overview of sales history and other CPQ information
- Create instant sales orders once a deal is closed in Salesforce
- Have access to customised integration according to your needs
Read also: Should data integration be complex?
CPQ BEST PRACTICES: WHAT DATA YOU SHOULD SYNCHRONISE
The first step is to ensure that new products and basic pricing are loaded and updated in Microsoft Dynamics 365. This will provide richer information for Salesforce CPQ to integrate, ensuring the smooth flow of operations.
This information is then synchronised automatically to the Sales Cloud, where the Salesforce CPQ is configured to handle your product configuration and pricing. This includes utilising special offers, enabling special bids within defined frames, etc.
When new quotes are made in Salesforce CPQ, the end result on the item line level will overwrite the default pricing in Microsoft Dynamics ERP when the quote is converted to an order. It is a powerful and flexible solution that gives a great user experience.
Trying to duplicate CPQ functionality in both the ERP and the CRM system is usually not recommended. It is best to choose one of the two options. Product configuration tools can be complex to configure as they are often dependent on the specific design and logic of the CPQ system.
Practically, it will be very difficult to keep two different CPQ systems working in exactly the same way. In that case, you would have to work with the lowest common denominator instead of utilising the full potential of one CPQ. Think about your usual work processes and your focus, and then decide which might suit you better.
Using Salesforce CPQ combined with Microsoft Dynamics as the ERP system will provide significant benefits. Read more about integrating Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics.
HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY SET UP A MICROSOFT SALESFORCE CPQ INTEGRATION?
Read this guide and understand how you can easily integrate your Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce CPQ with the Rapidi integration platform:
Thanks to our intuitive pre-configured templates, Salesforce CPQ can be easily integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central without programming. No matter how complex your data is.
Frequently asked questions
