BGSF acquired Horn Solutions in December 2022, opening up our workforce solutions services to include Strategic Finance & Accounting, Transactional Accounting & Business Administration. Horn also has very strong experience in Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) Software, which helps sellers quote complex and highly configurable products as well as maximize revenue with accurate quotes and real-time pricing. Learn more about CPQ software from an interview with René Aguiluz, a lead CPQ expert at Horn Solutions.
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René, what is your official position at Horn Solutions?
I serve as the Director of IT Professional Services. Essentially, I work with clients who need a highly configurable CPQ solution. I ensure their data readiness, oversee the implementation and then help them establish a support team for ongoing support.
How did your experience and background lead you to CPQ?
During my 20+ year career, I have led multiple software selections and implementations for the Big 4 as well as boutique firms. That experience led me to be the steward of the PROS/Horn partnership for the last three years.
What do you see as the biggest CPQ-related challenge for companies? And what is Horn’s advantage in that area?
I would say the biggest challenge is the post-implementation support for a heavily customized solution. The larger and more complex a product offering is, the more configurable the CPQ solution needs to be, and it can be challenging to find support for that. For example, the PROS Platform is a unified SaaS solution that drives selling experiences and is the leading provider of CPQ software. Horn Solutions is a PROS Partner which allows us to provide insights into PROS that other firms just don’t have.
What type of advantages does the partnership with PROS provide Horn Solutions?
I think the most valuable aspect of our partnership is PROS’ willingness to do deep dives with us into complex client issues to help us better understand a particular client’s configuration or maybe a product limitation. Our partnership is centered around ensuring our mutual client has as much success as possible. Horn Solutions is one of just a few firms that has this type of partnership with PROS, which allows us to successfully transition CPQ software support to an internal function.
So, I hear you saying that you move support from PROS to an internal function. That has to speed up issue resolution and create more efficiency in general, yes?
Yes, definitely. Software vendors typically shift their focus to licensing once implementation is complete. They support their products on an out-of-the-box level, but the only way to support a highly customized solution is to create a team that is fully engaged with that particular client. That’s part of what I do – help create those support teams so CPQ-related issues can be resolved as efficiently as possible.
Are there any other Horn advantages?
I would say the data readiness team is another one of our benefits. We worked with PROS to develop a tool that gauges a client’s data readiness and provides an estimate of the amount of time and effort that will be needed to get their data ready for implementation.
What do you see on the horizon for Horn CPQ Solution?
Initially, CPQ was only an option for enterprise-level companies, approximately 80 percent of whom are now using CPQ software. As more firms like Horn Solutions take on implementation and support functions at a lower price point than the software providers, the barriers to entry are lowered, making accurate quoting and real-time pricing a possibility for more companies.
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