What is a CPQ and how does it improve your digital budgets

In industrial and B2B sectors, digital budgets are often a headache: complex configurations, catalogs with thousands of variants, and pressure to respond quickly.
This is where the CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote). More than just a budget generator, it's a solution that connects the company's tools and ensures coherent, traceable and scalable proposals.
In this article you will discover What is a CPQ, how does it work and how it can improve digital budget management in your business.
What is a CPQ
A CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is software that helps sales teams configure complex products or services, calculate the correct price, and generate a digital quote ready to send to the customer.
In practice, it means that the salesperson no longer has to manually review catalogs, Excel sheets or ask for internal confirmations to put together a budget. CPQ concentrates all product logic, pricing, discounts, and business rules into a single system.
Result: each proposal is built faster, without errors and with full traceability.

Problems with not having one
Organizations that work with complex products or services face recurring problems in digital budgeting:
- Errors in budgets and configurations, which erode customer trust and reduce margins.
- Slow processes dependent on key people, which creates bottlenecks in the commercial phase.
- Lack of alignment between sales, production and marketing, with promises that later prove unfeasible.
- Loss of control over margins and discounts, lacking clear and centralized rules.
- Catalogs that are difficult to handle manually, with multiple combinations and variations.
- Inconsistent customer experience, which complicates buying decisions.
- Lack of reporting, which prevents identifying patterns and improving the business process.
- Fear of digitizing due to the complexity of the offer, especially in industrial sectors, where it is thought that a system will not be able to collect all the configuration logic.
Want to see CPQ in action? In our interview with Mercura CPQ we show how this tool works from the inside and how it helps manage complex budgets in B2B environments.
Sectors that benefit the most
There are sectors where the using a CPQ is especially valuable.
Manufacturing industry
Where the catalogs of components and technical combinations are very extensive.
Construction and machinery
With projects that require custom configurations and variable prices according to specifications.
B2B service companies
As business software, they offer multiple licenses, modules and terms of service.
In all cases, a CPQ turns the sales process into something clear, agile and controlled, bringing efficiency to the company and trust to the customer.
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What kinds of complexities does a CPQ solve
A CPQ system is designed to manage the most common challenges in industrial and B2B environments, where complexity is the norm:
- Catalogs with thousands of variants, impossible to control manually.
- Demanding technical configurations, which must meet engineering requirements.
- Advanced pricing and discount rules, adapted to different customers, markets and business conditions.
- Integration with CRM and ERP, ensuring that information flows consistently across the organization.
- More streamlined approval processes, which avoid internal bottlenecks.
- Coherence between sales, production and marketing, so that all areas work on the same basis.
- Consistent and traceable digital budgets, which reinforce customer trust and facilitate control.
In short, a CPQ converts what was once a slow, error-prone and difficult to scale process into an orderly, precise workflow aligned with business objectives.
How a CPQ adapts to other tools
The usefulness of a CPQ is multiplied when integrated with existing systems in the company. It doesn't work as an isolated solution, but rather as a piece that connects the dots of the business process.
CPQ + CRM
Customer and opportunity information flows directly into the CPQ, which returns consistent and traceable budgets.
CPQ + ERP
Inventory, cost and availability data are incorporated into the calculation of prices and configurations.
CPQ + PIM and digital catalogs
Along with a PIM, product attributes and variants are centralized, avoiding duplication and errors.
CPQ+ eCommerce tools
A CPQ allows you to extend the configuration logic to the digital channel, with automatic quotes or online product configurators.
This integration ensures that each business proposal is not an isolated document, but rather a coherent extension of the company's entire technological ecosystem.
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Signs that your company may need it
There are clear signs that the budgeting process has become an obstacle.
- It takes several days for the sales team to prepare a proposal.
- Customers receive different budgets depending on the sales rep that serves them.
- Production is faced with configurations that are impossible to manufacture.
- There is no visibility as to how many opportunities are lost in the proposal phase.
If any of these situations are repeated in your company, it's likely that a CPQ can make a difference.
B2B complexity is no longer an excuse
In B2B and industrial environments, digital budgeting doesn't have to be a slow, complex, or error-ridden process.
Complexity is part of the business, but it should not be transferred to the customer or become an obstacle to growth.
We're here to help
In Novicell we work with complex B2B companies, from industrial sectors to manufacturing.
We know how to detect critical points in the budgeting process, which integrations to prioritize, and how to structure business logic so that a CPQ provides value from day one.
If you recognize any of these challenges in your company contact us and talk to our specialists.
Cómo podemos ayudarte
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