The effort
and cost of implementing CPQ is driven mostly by the quality of the documentation
of your product. And let’s be honest – your product is not well documented.
So, is
everything hopeless? No, because your company probably has a “Tom”. Who is Tom you
might say? Let me tell you a short story.
One of my
first projects at Tacton was with a company that produces really big machines, we’re
talking €5,000,000 and 10,000 options big. When planning the project, the
project manager sketched a project plan where the whole configuration model was
supposed to be finished in three months. I tried to convince him that this was completely
unrealistic, especially considering the team consisted of 3 people, the
experienced product expert, me and a junior modeler. I did not convince him, and
instead got ready for a tough project.
I clearly
remember one of the first days of the project, when we were working on some oil
tanks that the big machine needed. I asked the product expert about which oil
tanks were available, and what the rules were: “Yes, they’re right here in a
special Excel sheet I have in my laptop, and the rules are in my head”.
The product
expert was a man in his early sixties that had been with the company for over
thirty years. He knew everything about these big machines. He knew all the
options, all the sales reps; and in practice, most important quotes passed by
him before being sent to their customers. His name was Tom.
We did finish
the project in three months – and it was entirely due to Tom. Not only because
he knew everything, but also due to the internal political strength of Tom. If
Tom said that the company should not sell customized electrical cabinets –
well, then it was a decision. No design by committee, no delayed decisions.
I bet you
have your own Tom in your company. Take care of him or her. But watch out, the ‘Toms’
are usually ready to retire within a few years. Are you prepared for what
happens when he or she does?
Maybe it’s
time to contact us at cpq.se to document all this knowledge in a CPQ tool? You’ll
get a smoother and more efficient sales process as a nice bonus.
Note: Tom’s
real name is something else (he might even be a woman).
