A look back at ITCelerator’s CONGA CPQ project at WABTEC, a world leader in the rail industry
The international rail leader has launched a strategic project in 2021 to improve the sales process, in particular the creation of quotations and price lists, reducing the time it takes to submit offers and lowering the risk of pricing errors.
Wabtec (known in France as “Faiveley Transport”, before its takeover by Wabtec Corp.) chose ITCelerator to integrate and implement the CONGA CPQ (Configuration – Price – Quotation) solution. A major project with worldwide deployment.
ITCelerator met the major challenge ofa complex IT architecture, with more than twenty ERP systems, by centralizing price management and ensuring data consistency. After just 6 months of using Wabtec CPQ, the time taken to create quotations was improved by 38%, demonstrating a significant acceleration of the overall process. The platform offers a high degree of flexibility, with adaptable pricing, a dynamic approval workflow, and seamless integration with various ERP systems. Users have embraced Wabtec CPQ, underlining its positive impact on customer satisfaction and the company’s competitiveness in the global rail market.
Stefan Isaksson, Bid and Pricing Manager at WABTEC FT Nordic, looks back on the project and the successful collaboration between WABTEC’s European, Indian and North American teams and ITCelerator:
ITCelerator: Could you tell us a little about WABTEC, its positioning and its offering?
Stefan Isaksson: WABTEC is a global company that has established itself as an undisputed leader in rail technology. Founded in 1869 in the United States, our company is committed to providing state-of-the-art technological solutions for the rail industry.e.
Our wide range of products covers various aspects of mass transit systems, demonstrating our commitment to operational excellence and sustainability.
As a pioneer, WABTEC occupies a strategic position in the railway industry, offering essential solutions to railroad operators worldwide. We are proud to contribute to improving the safety, efficiency and sustainability of their operations. Our position as a global leader is reinforced by our 27,000 talented employees around the world. In 2019, our revenues reached $8.2 billion, illustrating the trust our partners and customers place in our products and services.”
ITCelerator: What were the challenges facing WABTEC? Project background?
Stefan Isaksson: “The strategic project that WABTEC initiated in 2021 to improve its sales process was associated with a number of issues and challenges. The main challenge was to optimize the creation of quotations and price lists on a global scale, while reducing lead times and minimizing the risk of pricing errors.
The context of the project was particularly complex, characterized by a IT architecture comprising no fewer than twenty ERP systems, each a separate source of product and customer data. This multiplicity of sources led to a lack of consistency in data, from product designations to attributes, making it imperative to establish a common repository to ensure the uniqueness of information.
A major challenge also lay in the multiple manual entries made in the various tools and ERPs, leading to an increased risk of errors and a loss of efficiency. What’s more, the absence of a unified sales process across the various sales units made overall management even more complex.
Faced with these challenges, the prerequisites expressed for the success of the project were important. The centralization of price management, the reliability of data to make it unique and easily accessible, and the integration of a tool compatible with Salesforce and several ERPs were imperatives. Finally, to guarantee the efficiency and consistency of the process, it was essential to centralize and facilitate access to all products for all sales staff.”
ITCelerator: Could you explain the solution implemented by ITCelerator?
Stefan Isaksson: “The solution deployed by ITCelerator is based on the integration of the Conga CPQ system, with customization by the ITCelerator teams to meet WABTEC’s specific needs.
The Conga CPQ platform offers a number of major functionalities, implemented to optimize the sales process on a global scale.
- Integration with the product repository : the product database is integrated with the product repository, ensuring data consistency and uniqueness.
- Quantity pricing in increments, offering flexibility adapted to different needs.
- Complex, customized pricing logic according to Wabtec’s specific needs.
- Support for various types of quotation: from immediate quotations to long-term framework contracts, the platform supports various types of quotation.
- Mass product loading: Mass loading of thousands of part numbers, with dynamic quality control of pricing and sales data.
- Dynamic approval flow: Quotations are subject to an approval flow based on several dynamically calculated criteria.
- Integration with the group’s common price reference system.
- RFQ (Request For Quotation) processing for compliance requests.
- Integration with price history system to ensure complete traceability. Pricing takes into account existing prices and their history.
- ERP integration: The platform integrates seamlessly with the Wabtec Group’s various ERP systems (Oracle, M3, Octal, SAP, etc.) to automate order taking.”
ITCelerator: What is a typical WABTEC CPQ user’s career path?
Stefan Isaksson: “The sales representative starts from the customer file in Salesforce CRM, then seamlessly accesses the Conga CPQ platform to create a pre-filled quote. He can then add product lines via a “virtual basket”, and even access products not included in the catalog but available in the common repository. Pricing is configured, then the quote goes through a validation workflow based on predefined parameters. Once validated, the quote is sent to the customer for approval. On signature, an order is automatically created, completed and integrated into the ERP system.
ITCelerator: What are the benefits of the project 6 months after launch?
Stefan Isaksson: ” After 6 months’ implementation of Conga CPQ in the WABTEC FT Nordic division, the tool has demonstrated significant benefits in terms of automation, optimization, rationalization and data reliability.
- We have reduced the time taken to produce quotations by 38% (a quotation can include up to 2,000 items!), demonstrating a major acceleration in the overall process.
- This optimization was made possible thanks to the integration of 7 tools and interfaces, replaced by 1 collaborative CPQ platform integrated with Salesforce CRM, providing reliable data and interfacing with PLM and ERP (SAP, Oracle, etc.).
- In terms of rationalization, all sales units have immediate access to all products (+6.5 million references!), facilitatingthe creation and reliability of quotations, even for products not yet managed in the ERP dedicated to the sales unit. This evolution has considerably simplified the process, increasing the flexibility and responsiveness of our teams to specific requests.
- In terms of customer experience, our customers benefit from improved visibility, with reduced lead times for generating price quotations, sometimes up to 3 days less for certain parts. This significant improvement in our offering has not only boosted their satisfaction, but also our competitive position in the market.
In conclusion, 6 months after its launch, we can say with satisfaction that WABTEC CPQ has been adopted by the entire network. As a number of users put it: “We wouldn’t go back!
ITCelerator: Can you tell us about your collaboration with the ITCelerator team?
Stefan Isaksson: “First of all, working with a bilingual French-English team was essential to managing and understanding an international project.
Secondly, ITCelerator has demonstrated strong expertise in CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), with in-depth knowledge of both the Conga CPQ solution and Salesforce. This combination of skills enabled us to manage the complexity of our business and our functional and technical environment.
Another strong point was ITCelerator’s ability to quickly understand the ins and outs of our project, as well as its challenges and constraints. The team is stable and attentive. It stands out for its analytical skillsand valuableadvice on data reliability. They ensure that the data required to implement the necessary CPQ is cleaned up, making a significant contribution to the success of our project.
We also particularly appreciated the advice and best practices offered to improve the use of Salesforce. We had a few bottlenecks that the team helped us overcome.
Last but not least, our proven Agile methodology provides a solid structure and the flexibility needed for a successful project. This approach fosters effective collaboration, rapid adaptation to change and iterative delivery, helping us to achieve our objectives on time.”
