Recently, we partnered with Centrify to see it through a CPQ implementation as a result of a product restructuring. Founded in 2004, Centrify is the only industry-recognized leader in both Privileged Identity Management and Identity-as-a-Service. Its goal is to provide, using the power of identity services, a single platform to secure every user’s access to apps and infrastructure in today’s boundaryless hybrid enterprise. Through this, it hopes to bolster business securities while also increasing the productivity of employees.

On the heels of a massive overhaul of its product structure, Centrify was experiencing the following difficulties:

• Integration issues: Centrify was initially a Steelbrick customer, and when it bought the CPQ platform, integration was done by an in-house team. While this team did a good job with the setup, it was was not built to scale. As Steelbrick grew, a lot of the new features and functionalities were not integrated into Centrify’s system because of the unique nature of its products and how it sold those products. This was creating a lot of missed opportunities.

 

• Large product catalogue: Centrify’s price book contained about 2,000 items with expected growth and a new pricing model. It’s not that Centrify had so many products, but rather there were many different combinations and various product offerings that made up the price book. For example, Centrify uses a different SKU for the duration of subscription and a different SKU for each level of service it provides. This introduced a wealth of complications for and concerns about how Centrify could quickly and effectively build a quote.

 

• Little understanding of implementation: Having operated under the same processes for years, there was confusion about the disruption of those processes and how the new platform was going to help.

 

The solution

Simplus was able to help Centrify in the following ways:

• Aid in pricing model overhaul: Centrify was looking to restructure queues, release new products and features, and sell existing products and features in a new way. Simplus helped build a pricing model that simplified SKU structure and catenated additional SKUs based on rep selection at the header page. From there, the system would automatically recalculate the quote based on the selection at the header page. This simplified the configuration process for sales reps and SKUs could be quoted to partners or customers.

 

• Build product bundles: We helped construct a collection of different product selection pages. For example, Simplus built a dedicated page for all subscription items and groups of products. Once selected, the system would automatically identify the SKU for that particular bundle and attach it to the quote, eliminating the need for the rep to remember SKU numbers.

 

• Consultancy: Simplus advised Centrify on best practices throughout the implementation process.

 

The result

• Streamlined quoting process: A simplified SKU system meant quicker time to quote for Centrify. It no longer has the need to reconfigure quotes for existing customers who want to renew or upgrade services. Centrify can just clone existing quotes and build on them. This has brought the entire process of building a quote from minutes to seconds.

 

• Increased sales productivity: A streamlined quote process enables reps to be more productive and deliver more quotes per day. This shifted rep’s focus to value-added selling vs. administrative duties.

 

• Improved customer relationships: Shortened sales cycles allow Centrify to become easier to do business with, which drives greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

 

“We were forcing our reps to make a decision based on this long list of SKUs. You know, people are people—we make mistakes. A sales rep would accidentally click a two-year instead of a three-year subscription, or a standard service level instead of a premium service level. It was really just becoming a problem on the backend.”

—Mark Gremban, Senior Sales Operations Manager