Conga CPQ vs. Responsive

Conga CPQ is flexible in the price setup. We achieve a lot of customized pricing setups using CPQ. Usage flowing into billing works well also. The Conga cart is a huge painpoint for us. We bill each route and trip we run individually so we have a very large amount of manual, complex cart configuration.

Incentivized

1. RFPIO is perfect for searching for specific information when you are responding to an RFP. Search engine is powerful. We narrow our search using several customized filters and know we are getting a thorough search. 2. Excel responses work very well in RFPIO. 3. Typical RFPs that are formatted in Word are challenging to run via RFPIO. We struggle with this. 4. We have yet to master the template.

Incentivized

• Fully integrated with Salesforce.com. Allows for the seamless update of all objects on the SFDC platform. As primary quotes are updated, so to are the opportunities.
• Supports integration with Avalara for Sales Tax and Docusign for E-Signature.
• Supports the quoting of product that requires customization that results in a dynamic cost, MSRP and customer price.
• Significant amount of R&D is being invested in to the platform. Many of the items on our wish list have already been incorporated as a standard feature or on the near term roadmap.

• Import/export - the configurations during import and export are invaluable. This saves us so much time during export with the amount of things we have pre-formatted. Additionally, this tool can handle export into native formats OR customized templates for Word, Excel, and PDF. This means we can export into Excel from outside tools, as well as utilize client/broker formats when needed - without minimal copy/paste (RFP friends... can I get an amen??)
• Auto-response - once a questionnaire is uploaded, the system can auto-respond based on past responses. It gets smarter over time as more responses are in the system. We find this picks up 25-40% on the low end and 90% on the high end (especially when we are responding to the same broker or consultant who has their preferred template)
• Keyword Field Mapping - the system allows you to map fields into your export template as well as your responses. The system auto maps these when exporting. We use this feature a lot to map salesperson info (custom fields for the stuff we want on the cover sheet/letter), client name, client nickname (the company, the client, the City, the County, etc.). This makes it easy to have customized responses without extra effort on our side.
• Guest Question Authors - the system allows you to send single questions to guest users easily so that they can answer via a web browser on a computer or laptop without signing in. I also particularly like that I can track it as a comment which helps me go back later and find my open items.

• The GUI design of Apttus is configurable but prescriptive. If you want a very specific look and feel, it will take some effort to do so. There have been some modern design updates recently using AngularJS. Check it out to see if it works for you.

• For questions that contain generalized words, the ability to pinpoint better responses with AI.
• As an end user, I always start with the Answers tab. It would be nice for RFPIO to open on the Answers tab, because I always go there first (learn my preferences).
• It would be nice to have guided paths the first time I open after new enhancements have been added.

Incentivized

It is a stable repository management tool but needs to upgrade its search engine to make it more efficient and user friendly. There can be an advanced search option which allows me to find agreements based on Contract numbers, Company name and Agreement Type as well as by affiliates

UI is friendly. Basically that alone is enough to renew because it is easy to use and gives accurate and fast results. The effective cross collaboration from other colleagues in my organization also makes for this tool to be extremely effective. Now that I understand how to use it, I can also easily train others on how to use it effectively.

Incentivized

Conga CPQ is a great tool but lacks good support and [a] very limited knowledge base which doesn't include day to day errors which users face, thus leading us to support and take more time in turn. Also cart performance can be improved drastically which will enhance the user experience as the user doesn't have to wait for the pricing.

Incentivized

As a native Salesforce.com app, it's up as long as Salesforce.com is running.

We had to use an outside vendor to implement the software and we paid them for a while during the initial choppy months. I was learning as I went along and then we could occasionally reach out to Salesforce if we really needed to. I think the support is there, but you obviously have to pay for it if the admin team doesn't have enough experience.

Incentivized

The response time and attitude from the RFPIO team is extraordinary. I always feel like I am their only customer - that's how exemplary their customer service is! When we have a suggestion, it is addressed and escalated - ultimately it is resolved to meet (and exceed!) our expectations. The RFPIO team works collaboratively with us, coaching us on new features until we can use them with confidence. Webinars. User conferences. Clear and useable communication. Every method of "training up" is leveraged so that users can feel comfortable and are successful using the tool. AMAZING!

Incentivized

We attended 5 hours worth of webinars early on.

We had to understand how objects worked to figure out how to structure our data.

I would have liked more in-depth training but it would have been an additional cost

You need to have IT involved. The implementation partner downplayed the role that IT would have to play. We needed data migration, user set-up, customizations within Apttus for legacy migrations. Luckily we had a developer on our staff for Salesforce.com.

We were able to complete an RFP during our free trial. We were already leaning toward RFPIO but that pushed us over the edge.

It has been too long for me to remember all the various CPQ products we evaluated. But our short list came down to Salesforce CPQ and and Conga CPQ. At the time, we considered them both pretty close to equivalent solutions for meeting our needs, so negotiation mainly came down to price of the solution, and estimates to implement. Now that we are migrating to Lightning, the balance has tipped very strongly in Salesforce CPQ's favour.

Incentivized

At the time, three years ago, we evaluated Loopio as an alternative to RFPIO. Loopio didn't have the same resources as far as dynamic branding, content segmentation ability and was less price competitive than RFPIO. RFPIO also has an unlimited user model where you are not charged per user like many other RFP automation solutions. This makes the price much more scalable and also allows for creative engineering as far as use of the system

Incentivized

• It cost the company almost $1million in 3 years of licensing. It then cost us the business to implement it in 2.5 years over $5 million dollars internally with resourcing involved to roll out globally. There was no ROI, that was just to implement it as the business continues to not adopt the product.
• The adoption level of the product is ~25% of the business actually using the product.
• Business areas ended up hiring and spending something near $150k/year in human resources to use the system for the sales team because of the low adoption.

Incentivized

• Our response time has gone from 2 weeks, to around 24hrs of addressing an RFP
• We have seen considerable savings with reallocated headcount and reduced effort spent on other critical areas
• Our previous process had a blind spot when it came to visibility. Now we have 100% visibility across the organization.

Incentivized