New Tool Eases Price Quotes For Multivendor Solutions

Darren McBride, CEO of Sierra Computers, a Reno, Nev., solution provider, would love to get his hands on a multivendor solution configuration/quoting tool that would make his sales reps more productive.

McBride said those price quotes can take less than an hour for a simple computer configuration to several days for a more complex solution. He has looked at a number of tools, but none has passed muster with his sales team.

"I'm willing to spend the money," he said, "but I wouldn't invest in anything unless my purchasing and sales account executives think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread."

McBride isn't alone. For years, solution provider CEOs and sales reps have complained about the time-consuming and byzantine process of putting together multivendor technology solution sales quotes. In fact, by nearly all accounts, the majority of sales reps still use a mish-mash of vendor configurators and then dump the output into an Excel spreadsheet. That means reps often skimp on adding products to a quote for fear of compatibility issues.

What's more, they're often forced to run even the most basic solutions through presales engineers, who may face a logjam of quotes to approve and end up spending an inordinate time on smaller, less profitable deals rather than nailing down the big ones.

Leslie Swanson, president of Exalt Solutions, Cambridge, Mass., believes she can change all that.

Exalt, a multivendor solution configurator/quote provider, has already been tapped by Westcon Group and CDW and is finalizing a deal with Salesforce.com for its AppExchange. The company also is hoping that a $2 million investment from CRN parent United Business Media in March will help propel its platform to a critical mass of vendors, distributors and solution providers.

As part of the deal, UBM acquired newly issued shares of Exalt representing a 25 percent equity stake and an option to purchase an additional 15 percent. In addition, CMP's Channel Group, which publishes CRN and crn.com, is working with Exalt to market its Solutions Sales Platform.

Swanson said Exalt's service eliminates the timely back-and-forth between sales rep and sales engineer, taking multivendor solution quotes that used to require days down to minutes. In addition, she said, the platform provides more visually compelling quotes because of its 3-D dynamic visualization capacities. And its XML foundation and architecture offer the ability to dynamically change pricing and configuration rules in a fast-moving market.

"Our system is on-demand and browser-based, so you don't have to worry about having to use a clunky spreadsheet," said Swanson. "Some of the solutions quotes I've seen literally have dozens of tables and tabs and are filled with errors. Think about a VAR having to quote an HP server with a particular rack and networking equipment. You might have to combine four or five configuration tools, use Visio or AutoCAD and navigate a half-dozen different Web sites. It's a very ugly process."

Ugly indeed. Swanson believes as much as 75 percent to 90 percent of multivendor solution quotes are still compiled with a spreadsheet or word processing application.

One of the big advantages of the Exalt platform is it allows vendors and distributors to solve the configuration conundrum without a huge capital investment. Exalt is selling the service on a subscription-fee basis typically for $15,000 to $25,000 a month.

Next: How Exalt's tool benefits VARs