CPQ - Configure, Price, Quote for Managed Service Providers

Has Managed Service Providers' moment arrived?

In 2021, the global market for Managed Services was valued at US$242.9 billion. It is now is expected to balloon to approximately US$354.8 billion by 2026, according to Markets and Markers. The lion’s share of the market is North American, but the Asia Pacific and European markets are also growing rapidly. 

It's an exciting, but also demanding time; as the market evolves and the world of connectivity and cloud services takes over, Managed Service Providers are forced to shift to new commercial models to provide relevant solutions to the problems that consumers and businesses face. 

Since many MSPs buy from - and interact with - multiple disparate vendors, they often find themselves held back by an inability to generate and consolidate quotes at speed. 

This is often due to a reliance on legacy systems and legacy processes in a landscape that has changed significantly. 

This needs to change.

Why are they so important now?

Recent changes in day-to-day business and office life have significantly accelerated the move towards a digital-first world, affecting businesses of all shapes and sizes, in all industries.

Businesses are having to respond to the kinds of changes that MSPs are well positioned to assist with, including:

• Rapid adoption of new technologies and digital stacks

• Elevated customer expectations regarding convenience, personalization and service quality

• Increasing complexity of communications channels and services offered

• Future-looking focus where the agility and capacity to incorporate new technologies is vital

• A shift from private cloud to public cloud, raising IT security requirements

This aligns with their offerings with prevailing market trends, in which there is a heavy focus on the following:

The challenges Managed Service Providers face

Due to the way many Managed Services Providers are set up, with the many vendors they buy from and interact with, and how they have grown over the years, they often find themselves hindered by their inability to generate and consolidate quotes quickly and easily. This is an occupational hazard of relying on legacy systems and legacy processes in a landscape that has changed significantly. 

Key challenges that MSPs need to overcome to maximize efficiency and revenue are:

• Multiple portals for each vendor they support

• Manual consolidation of quotes is required, increasing the chance of human error

• Service challenges by understanding what the customer has, should have or needs

• Absence of self-service portals for customers

• Manual pricing is required for each product and tool

• No reliable tracking of quote to order, since prices change regularly 

• No clear way to manage the customer lifecycle

• Inability to track and trace orders

MSPs are accustomed to managing their processes manually as seen in the image below:

With these outputs and prices, MSPs have to conduct manual pricing, product a quote, and send that quote to order by another set of manual processes. The worrying capacity for human error to enter into the process hinders their ability to maximize efficiency and revenue leading to extended time to win business, incompatible solutions being quotes, and a loss of deals to other nimble MSPs, to name the few.

How CloudSense can help

Through introducing digital operations, an advanced CPQ solution can offset the complexities that MSPs face, making life easier for themselves and their customers.

From start to finish, the headaches and swivel-chair processes that torment MSPs during the sales and delivery process are streamlined into something not only more manageable, but also efficient, reliable and user-friendly for customers. 

With the help of a CPQ solution, the product catalogs from all vendors are pooled into a single catalog, allowing MSPs to configure solutions from a single location. The manual element of pricing is overturned, approval requirements are mandated and price changes occurring during the process are taken into account. 

MSPs have a world of opportunity ahead of them; now is not the time to be held back by complex and inefficient operations.

Glossary of terms

MSP (Managed Service Provider)

As B2B Telecommunications businesses evolve to keep up with new technologies, the shift from private cloud to public cloud, as well as elevated customer expectations re. agility and the capacity to incorporate new technologies quickly, Managed Service Providers, who are capable of consolidating disparate tech strands into a single package, are quickly taking center stage.

Learn why Managed Service Providers rely on CloudSense to deliver sales transformation.

What does CSP stand for?

CSP is the acronym for Communications Service Provider. 

CSPs provide telecommunications, media, entertainment and other services over the network infrastructure, transporting information electronically.

You can download our free definitive guide for modern communications service providers here.

OSS (Operation Support System)

OSS is the acronym for Operation Support System. OSS covers the software and hardware used by Telecommunications Service Providers to monitor, control and manage their networks.

BSS (Business Support System)

BSS is the acronym for Business Support Systems. BSS are the customer-facing systems and channels Communications Service Providers rely on to sell and fulfill their products and services. 

NPS (Net Promoter Score)

NPS stands for Net Promoter Score, the benchmark used in Telecommunications and other industries to measure how likely customers are to recommend your business to a friend.

NPS measures customer experience by asking a series of questions that should be answered on a scale of 1-10. 

For example, how likely is it you would recommend [company] to a friend?

ARPU

ARPU stands for Average Revenue Per User.

Revenue generated per user is a useful way for companies to track growth. 

Calculation: Total revenue ÷ Number of subscribers.

AOV

AOV is the acronym for Average Order Value.

AOV tracks the average amount of money each customer spends per transaction with your company.

Calculation: Total revenue ÷ Amount of orders