Service providers are expanding to a multitude of new sales channels in search of growth and to preserve margins by favoring lower cost alternatives. A broad channel strategy can include e-commerce, call centers, dealers, retail stores and even direct sales. However, going to market across multiple sales channels adds layers of complexity to the business. A robust product catalog and configurator system is required to support multichannel guided selling processes, and to segment and deploy offers quickly across all channels. Continue Reading »
Telecommunications Companies: Let’s Grow Business across Multiple Channels
New Blog Series: 5 Dirty Little Secrets about CPQs
So you know a little something about configure, price, quote (CPQ) applications. You know:
- What they are
- How they can help your company
- Perhaps you’re already evaluating one
But now you want the inside scoop.
You’ll be surprised at all the things no one will tell you about CPQs. In this blog series We’ll tell you what the other CPQ vendors won’t.
These lessons come from real life experiences with businesses over a wide range of industries such as Insurance, Telecommunications, Media, High-Tech, Manufacturing etc.., that are seeking the rewards of not just sales efficiency—but sales effectiveness—through CPQ.
Enjoy, share and comment. Here’s Secret #1!
CPQs require proper care and feeding.
Or they get mangy.
You don’t want to stunt your CPQ’s growth, now do you? CPQs must be cared for, not just dropped in and forgotten. They require data, insight and collaboration to be most effective.
Product experts: Pay attention—You’re on the spot here.
A CPQ must first be loaded with product data including:
- SKU numbers
- Data sheets
- Prices
- Photography, videos and other digital assets
Hey Telco: Cost Reduction and Modernization are Calling…
A recent study by a prominent IT research organization found that many telcos spend too much of their IT budget maintaining legacy applications at the expense of IT innovation to grow the business.
Nowhere is this more obvious than where selling and ordering systems intersect OSS* and BSS** systems. Technologies for selling and ordering are in some
cases so costly to maintain and so unwieldy that they actually present roadblocks to agility. Think of it—the system slows down the sale. Continue Reading »
How to Accelerate Time-To-Market for Telecommunications Companies
Lengthy product launches and time-consuming update cycles cost telecom operators customers, opportunities and revenue. Inefficient business processes, applications and IT architectures create roadblocks to improved business agility and responsiveness. In many companies, the time to launch a new offer is measured in weeks or even months. That’s a glacial pace in today’s market. Product launches are often slowed by the need to segment pricing and promotion rules and to deploy these rules across multiple sales channels.
Everything you ever wanted to know about CPQ solutions that no one ever told you
You know what CPQ apps are. They help you Configure Price and Quote your products and services— streamlining your sales processes and reducing the quote-to-cash cycle. But you’ll be surprised by all the things no one wants to tell you about CPQs.
At Cameleon Software we decided it was time for CPQ buyers to know what the other CPQ vendors won’t tell you. Continue Reading »
Why business agility is key for the communications industry?
Recently at the Mobile World Congress, I chatted with the CIO of a well-known European cable operator. He stressed that business agility is currently a top priority for the communications industry.
Why is that?
Service providers need to dramatically reduce the time it takes to launch new services, and more quickly react to competition and changing market conditions. The commoditization of traditional voice business coupled with the high costs of inefficient, fragmented processes and systems are squeezing profit margins. Customers are now more price conscious and are willing to switch to providers that offer innovation and a superior customer experience. The pressure to deliver begins as early as the selling and ordering processes.
Kicking-off 2013!
Gartner predicts a 4.2% growth in IT investments in 2013, highlighting that enterprise software applications and devices (including tablets and smartphones) will be the most impacted items in terms of IT spending. Forrester shares a similar vision and forecasts a 25% increase in SaaS applications spending.
2012 has been a year of major success for Cameleon both in North America and Europe and also on the stock market where our stock ended up being the most important growth of all French stock markets with a 208% increase! All this in a global economic environment that’s still rather depressed.
However, this experience combined with these forecasts encourages us to remain ambitious and reasonably optimistic for the months to come. Continue Reading »
