When you make the decision to implement Salesforce Quote-to-Cash to manage your Configure-Price-Quote needs, you want to immediately begin quantifying the return on your investment. You want key performance indicators (KPIs) to share with the C-suite that greenlighted the project. You want hard data to rebuff the skeptical end users who haven’t yet bought into your vision for Quote-to-Cash. And, ultimately, you want quantitative proof that your digital transformation is working.
Previously in our digital transformation blog series, we discussed how to use Quote-to-Cash to supercharge digital transformation across your organization. To know that your efforts are paying off, you need to develop multiple ways to measure performance effectiveness. Fortunately, Quote-to-Cash, like all Salesforce products, will position you to get the outcomes you desire. A 2016 study by the firm IDC found that Salesforce customers, on average, begin experiencing payback from their investments in Salesforce products in 13 months or less, and, by the end of the first four years, financial benefits outweigh costs by three to five times. In this blog post, we’re going to look beyond basic ROI (return on investment) calculationsand instead focus on creative strategies for measuring the return on your Salesforce Quote-to-Cash investment. Let’s explore five ways to measure Quote-to-Cash ROI and generate a range of KPIs that will reflect your progress with digital transformation:
1.Track end user adoption rates: Strong user adoption is the only way to ensure long-term success with Salesforce Quote-to-Cash, as we discussed in the prior post in this blog series. When users buy into and embrace Quote-to-Cash workflows, digital transformation accelerates in lockstep. Thus, end-user adoption rates should serve as one of your earliest KPIs for how quickly you can expect to start seeing Quote-to-Cash wins.
2. Measure reductions in error rates: A key reason that businesses implement Quote-to-Cash is to streamline and automate their very complex, error-prone Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) functions. Human error is responsible for basic copy-and-paste mistakes when transferring data, for misconfiguring quotes with invalid product options, for accidentally authorizing non-allowable discounts, and so much more. During audit-style reviews of your CPQ functions, you should be tracking how much your error rate for quote and invoice generation drops after implementing Quote-to-Cash. Your goal should be to quantify how much Quote-to-Cash helps curb lost revenue and sales opportunities.
3. Quantify reductions to administrative overhead: Quotes, invoices, and billing are just a means to an end. Employees don’t want to spend copious time generating quotes and invoices, and they certainly don’t want to jump through hoops on the back end to collect and recognize revenue. Because Quote-to-Cash is specifically designed to alleviate and mitigate all of these pain points, you should be quantifying how much Quote-to-Cash helps reduce administrative overhead. When employees are spending less time on complex, labor-intensive processes, their time is freed up to focus on building relationships with customers and providing top-notch customer service. Salesforce has reported that Quote-to-Cash users on average are able to generate quotes 33% faster and boost their productivity by 25%.
4. Assess the benefits of enhanced business intelligence: Salesforce Quote-to-Cash serves up valuable business intelligence on a daily basis. The platform uses artificial intelligence to suggest cross-selling and upselling opportunities to customers, as well as automates the process of configuring optimal product bundles. Furthermore, Quote-to-Cash includes dashboards that track the performance of individual reps and whole teams in real time. You should be quantifying the benefits of this enhanced business intelligence in multiple ways. You can measure how Quote-to-Cash increases in the size of contracts, how the system lands new customers and accounts, and how Quote-to-Cash boosts overall employee productivity. You also can track how Quote-to-Cash intelligence serves as the primary basis for driving strategic decision-making and long-term planning within your organization.
5. Monitor customer and employee satisfaction levels: Salesforce Quote-to-Cash is built to simplify workflows for employees so they can focus on selling and providing a top-notch customer experience. Once employees adopt Quote-to-Cash and get comfortable with the new workflows, they realize they’re spending significantly less time on laborious manual tasks, from configuring product bundles to writing and revising contracts, managing invoicing and revenue recognition, and responding to customer questions and concerns about orders. Furthermore, customers begin to have overwhelmingly positive interactions with your company as they get the information, offers, and updates they want in an efficient, frictionless manner. You should be monitoring how both employee and customer satisfaction levels change following Quote-to-Cash implementation; employees and customers alike are likely to be happier and more loyal with Quote-to-Cash.
Basic ROI calculations are critical for gauging success with any technology initiative, but Quote-to-Cash implementation can be monitored and tracked with multiple other types of KPIs. To ensure you’re getting a full picture of how Salesforce Quote-to-Cash is driving digital transformation in your organization, you should be tracking end-user adoption rates, monitoring your error rate, quantifying reductions to your administrative overhead, assessing the benefits to your organization from Quote-to-Cash business intelligence, and monitoring customer and employee satisfaction levels.
We hope you have enjoyed Simplus’ 10-part digital transformation blog series. This series was written to ensure you can use Quote-to-Cash to supercharge digital transformation in your organization. If the insights and advice in this series have convinced you that Quote-to-Cash might be right for you, please reach out to Simplus. We’re here to help you achieve all of your digital transformation goals—and prove the value of your Quote-to-Cash investment.
Missed a previous post in Simplus’s 10-part digital transformation blog series?
1. Signs of a weak return on digital transformation investment
2. 4 reasons every business should be using Salesforce as the foundation of digital transformation
3. 5 strategies for reinventing the customer experience
4. Why you need Salesforce CPQ to enhance CX
5. 5 tips for getting a green light to implement Salesforce CPQ
6. 5 features of CPQ that will supercharge your Salesforce digital transformation
7. 5 reasons why you should integrate billing into Salesforce CPQ to optimize digital transformation
9. 6 approaches for maximizing end user adoption of your Salesforce Quote-to-Cash platform
0 Comments