E-3 magazine – Interactive virtual reality in the CPQ process

Following the E-3 Cover Story April 2018, analyst Frank Niemann (PAC, Munich), Ben Herrmann (variant expert, PhD student TU Vienna), David Sappl (GE Power) and Erich Schaarschmidt as well as Susanne Henkel (SAE) met for a roundtable discussion at the Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft in Munich. The moderator was E-3 chief editor Peter Färbinger. CAD data are the basic framework. The variant configuration is the individual quotation to the customer. In addition, there is good relationship management and appropriate pricing. Until an ERP system is a satisfactory quotation and sales system, it takes many additions and adaptions. SAP partner SAE has untied this knot.

The growth and profit leaps of many manufacturing companies from various industries are largely due to the fact that products or entire product system solutions are finding customers in increasingly varied forms. This development will not only continue, but will also be significantly intensified by the use of various digitalization options. Process-integrated and virtual configuration tools that expand the CPQ (Configure Price Quote) software usedas needed and offer increased potential for use and benefit in sales, but also in service – see the following discussion –will represent the standard in the future in connection with Sales 4.0. In addition, sophisticated product management must of course also be ensured in the context of ever greater digitalization.

The speed of innovation in Configure Price Quote software has always been high. Both the broad medium-sized business sector and corporate enterprises benefit from the constant innovations and further developments. The focus of Configure Price Quote software is on the profitable use of genuine process-integrated optical configurators with real-time interactions. Here, feature evaluations take place directly on the actual model using virtual reality technologies.