The News
SAP has recently announced the completion of the acquisition of Callidus Software, Inc.
Unsurprisingly, CallidusCloud?S belongings shall get consolidated underneath the umbrella of SAP Hybris leveraging the client relationships that the present management institution, which shall maintain to manual their group, has constructed.
CallidusCloud is a frontrunner in sales overall performance management and in the CPQ region and moreover has a few extra thrilling assets, extensively their settlement lifecycle control presenting, which ties nicely into the CPQ piece.
The CPQ software has a (first) running integration into SAP?S Cloud for Sales, which were given introduced in September 2017 and that receives continuously progressed.
One reputedly smooth, yet powerful characteristic of the CPQ software program program is the indicator for margin health that gets updated as a income representative works upon a quote. The software program?S potential to generate multi-level workflows primarily based upon modifications of fees or agreement clauses creates an green workflow, which includes the client when using the portal based totally delivery of documents at some point of negotiations. All in all the software application is geared closer to making the income system efficient.
CallidusCloud?S answers will be presented standalone as well as incorporated into SAP solutions and a roadmap shall get delivered at SAPPHIRE NOW in June 2018.
I have done a brief initial analysis of this acquisition right after the plan got announced and followed up with some musings about how CPQ can be delivered in a customer experience fashion.
The Bigger Picture
With CallidusCloud?S CPQ SAP now has at minimal three configuration engines that can get used by customers:
· ERP Variant Configurator
· SAP Hybris CPQ
· CallidusCloud CPQ
A fourth one comes into the picture if I upload the Internet Pricing Configurator, IPC, a Java engine which runs embedded in SAP CRM and this is, the usage of ?Condition method?, on the complete nicely matched to the configuration engine inside ERP. For tech aficionados: The consumer exits which are to be had to govern how the access sequences are used, are going for walks in a different way, and require Java talents, rather than ABAP abilties.
SAP Hybris CPQ can be visible as a complicated version of IPC, which have been given moved beneath the Hybris umbrella as SAP successfully sees CPQ as an critical a part of the glue among frontoffice and backoffice. Still, even though being a Java engine, it is deployed on premise simplest ? As a protracted manner as I recognize, on the identical time as CallidusCloud is, of direction, a web based machine.
To my incredible understanding SAP has approximately three,000 clients which is probably the usage of the ERP Variant Configurator and/or SAP Hybris CPQ and/or IPC.
I am extra than satisfied to get corrected on each of those two quantities of facts.
On top of SAP’s own configuration engines there are partner engines, for me most notably, In Mind. In Mind is a cloud based CPQ engine with a focus on the manufacturing industry. It is built on top of the SAP Cloud Platform. The company got founded by former SAP people with significant experience in the manufacturing industry and configuration. One could say that one of their objectives is to close the gaps in the configuration area that SAP did not address. I had the pleasure of working with some members of their team and am still impressed about their knowledge and dedication.
Then there are of course more 1/3 activities.
In precis, customers have choice.
But, they've got preference. Which manner a mission: Which software to look at in which situations? Of path the only of a type products have wonderful strengths and weaknesses. The regular conundrum of software program application selection.
And proper now there is little recommendation on what to do, as a minimum up to and until SAPPHIRE NOW.
My PoV and Advice
One issue is for high-quality: Going beforehand, CallidusCloud may be strategic for SAP; perhaps no longer to the quantity as Hybris E-Commerce have become lower back even as it have become acquired, but CallidusCloud will make up an vital pillar in SAP?S method.
SAP Hybris CPQ and the Variant Configurator are on premise products. They are mainly strong in terms of heavy obligation configuration and to Solution Configuration. They also work nicely within the SAP ERP (and supposedly S/4HANA) environment. With graphical consumer interfaces that may get bolted on top of them, companies that have complex configuration requirements and that don't need or need a cloud primarily based engine get one of the more powerful equipment which is probably spherical. Being a Java engine, SAP Hybris CPQ also can be included into a Hybris Commerce surroundings.
If CPQ might be used net based totally totally and out of places of work by means of salespersons then the number one desire for an SAP client is CallidusCloud. Doing the entire manner, including the preliminary contract generation piece and retaining an outline at the kingdom of negotiations, is a massive benefit.
CallidusCloud moreover also can stay a excellent choice for non-SAP customers. Being an prolonged popularity Salesforce accomplice the combination into Salesforce at this factor is rather higher than the aggregate into SAP Hybris ? Although that is in all likelihood to change. Additionally, I actually have heard mixed debts about Steelbrick, Salesforce?S personal CPQ solution.
However, CallidusCloud CPQ is far lots much less about answer configuration as SAP Hybris CPQ, regardless of the fact that I actually have seen a few prototype capability that shows a circulate this course.
If a cloud solution with stronger configuration talents than CallidusCloud currently gives is needed, then there may be In Mind.
With or with out CallidusCloud CPQ it's far profitable for customers to have a observe their CLM solution, which can be applied standalone.
Advice for Customers
This leads me to the following suggestions for SAP customers:
· If you already run SAP Hybris CPQ, continue using it until you realized a meaningful ROI, as it will stay around. There are too many customers for SAP to abandon it.
· If you do not yet have a CPQ and are at least initially not too heavy on the configuration then CallidusCloud is the first option to look at – unless you are cloud averse, in which case it is SAP Hybris CPQ. But be aware that the setup of CallidusCloud is, and will likely continue to be, easier than the setup of SAP Hybris CPQ.
· If you are heavy on configuration and solution configuration, want a cloud based CPQ solution, and ideally are in the manufacturing industry, then have a good look at In Mind. The caveat that I, sadly, need to make here is that the position of In Mind as a company got somewhat weakened although they are still on SAP’s price list.
Advice for SAP
It is ideal that SAP intends to provide a roadmap already at SAPPHIRE NOW. In order to alleviate fears and mitigate the FUD that the opposition probably creates, it need to be pretty unique, competitive, but credible.
The roadmap have to specially bear in mind guidance to customers on whilst to select which of the winning answers. It is nearly inevitable that there can be an overlap of use cases that can not get resolved; nevertheless that is a miles needed piece of recommendation.
The second crucial thing is, of path, detailing how specifically the integrations into SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales and SAP Hybris Commerce will increase. Tight integration is a key asset.
Third, I?D wish to pay interest about an clean-to-enforce license conversion application for the ones customers who have just offered in to SAP Hybris CPQ, knowledge that they will no longer want its whole powers, and want to migrate. While this could no longer be a exceptional wide kind of clients, it might show a giant patron orientation, help toward the however gift picture of SAP being tough to cope with, and be a brief and easy manner into reference implementations.
Lastly, and knowing that that is a tough proposition, the announcement of an easy migration direction from SAP Hybris CPQ to CallidusCloud will be the icing on the cake.
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