ConnectWise CPQ vs. Privia (discontinued)

The most powerful features are the fact that you can see when your clients have viewed your quote, and that it can pull in real-time information about the products you are selling. It is all online-based, so you can use it from anywhere which is a big advantage over other quoting tools that I have used. We don't use the procurement capabilities, but for quoting pricing and customer visibility it works fantastically.

Incentivized

It is VERY important to make sure you think through the map for how your system should be configured. Time spent carefully determining exactly how you want it laid out and how you will use the system will make your implementation and roll out much more successful. You should understand how your process currently works and determine any preferred process changes before your implementation.

• ConnectWise Sell does an excellent job of neatly presenting quotes and proposals to the end user. There are multiple different options for the look and function of the quotes. There are also options for custom quote templates that are designed directly for your organization.
• ConnectWise Sell does a reasonably good job of connecting to and working with Autotask. It took our organization about 6 months to figure out the correct way to flow from quote to invoice with our systems. Sell will easily pull in your customer information from Autotask into a quote and allow you to send the quote direct from your email.

Incentivized

• Document Repository with standardized Folder Structures: Privia has the ability to create customized & standardized Privia workspaces with set training documents and folder structures as a foundation for each project. This helps assure that the process remains intact without jeopardizing quality throughout the lifecycle of each project / proposal.
• Customized Workspace Permissions: Privia allows the Workspace owner to maintain control over who is able to view, edit, add / remove documents, add / remove additional users, etc. This is particularly helpful when dealing with classified information such as financial data, as well as ensuring that corporate strategies are protected when it comes to subcontractors. There are many instances where subcontractors would like to share certain information with the prime, but would like to keep their data separate from other subcontractors also working on the same project / proposal.
• Commenting / Editing and Lock Feature Tools: Privia has the ability to allow multiple users to comment and edit upon the same document simultaneously. This is highly useful when it comes to proposal review teams. At the end of each review team, the comments are consolidated and the document lead can lock the document for editing so that no changes may be made while the comments are taken into consideration, accepted, or rejected.

• I'd like to see ConnectWise Sell develop a more user-friendly environment for advanced form and template design that doesn't require developer skills or consulting engagements. in order for us to develop these forms makes us reliant on consultants. These engagements are worth the cost, but sometimes we just don't have time to wait for them to be delivered.
• I'd like to see ConnectWise Sell automatically generate a quote for items such as warranties or services that are expiring in ConnectWise Manage. This would save us a tremendous amount of time preparing quotes.
• I'd like to see a new version automatically created when changes are made to a quote with the ability to reverse or revert back to a particular version. Sometimes people make mistakes and delete or change something they shouldn't have. Or customers want a change to version 1 only to change their minds when you send them the updated one, and want to go back to the original one.

Incentivized

• When using the pure web version of Privia (that is, without installing the thick client on a PC), the comment feature is null and void. This is because without the thick client installed, the pure web platform cannot interact with MS Office products. This creates hassles during reviews when users show up with a laptop and don't have permissions to install software.

We are in our 4th year with Quosal and fully expect to renew again and again. With their development of additional features such as the Order Porter, Visual Quoting and others, we see the adoption rates continuing to rise while making our time to quoted shorter and shorter. Quosal and ConnecWise's vision of automated quoting is an exciting frontier that we are very happy to be a part of

Privia has proved, uniformly, to be an asset. I look forward to my next experience with it. While, as I stated, users can feel advance trepidation when using Privia, those problems evaporate immediately when Privia is activated.

Quosal is a very solid product with a LOT of functionality. Quosal has two main products that they offer, 'Quosal Sell' and 'Quosal Create.' If you are looking for an "out-of-the-box" or "ready to use" quoting software, I would recommend Quosal Sell. If you are interested exploring advanced functionality and integration or have a resource on staff willing to assume an "admin" role, I would highly recommend Quosal Create.

It is very intuitive and I found it very easy for my decidedly non-technical users to work with. Training was quite easy even for technophobes or complete newbies. I have a team of about 500 users on this system who are primarily writers and project managers, frequently not computer savvy at all.

We rarely, if ever, had unplanned outages when we were using Privia. When we did, our support staff were attentive and quick to resolve the problem no matter the hour.

I dont think we use this tool to potential

Incentivized

Have to wait till 11pm EST time to get someone knowledgeable. That sucks truly. Almost half my day is gone. They need to provide premium support, where I can contact a "real" Quosal rep, anytime of the day or night 24/7

Incentivized

Each company is assigned an account manager whom you can contact directly with any questions, comments, and/or concerns. You may contact them directly via email and they will submit a ticket via their system for you or you can submit a ticket through their system and they will contact you immediately. All issues are resolved in a highly timely manner, and the customer service is impeccable. All accounts folks are well-trained from a customer service and technical standpoint and will escalate the issue as necessary depending on their expertise - though, that is rarely a necessity. Should they be unavailable, you will be notified prior to their leave / departure and assigned a secondary contact in the meantime. Overall, I was beyond impressed with Privia's customer support services.

Great implementation, the Quosal team has a smart and well planned process to guide your team through the process. More importantly, they understand the challenges with change and user adoption.

Incentivized

It is critical to plan your implementation carefully and take the time to understand the product. You have to make sure you get the initial set up and design correct so that the tool supports your business practices. If you do this up front, you can have a very successful and easy implementation.

When it comes to the quoting layout Sell gives you so many more customization options. The item inventory is also easier to maintain. Sell is by far the best selling module that I have used thus far and it has helped keep us more organized.

Incentivized

Its been too long since we did our due diligence, I don't even remember the names of the competitive products. Privia stood out at the time and meeting users at their annual conference was a strong reference for the product.

Connectwise Sell is listening and building their software to fit the needs of their customers. Sell is consistently looking to us for feedback and making sure their product is working for us as partners/customers. We feel we are generally behind on getting to know their updates and software upgrades. They are a great vendor and wonderful corporation.

Incentivized

• Customer satisfaction improvement. It's an impressive and professional way to present information that our customers appreciate. They not only have a clear way of knowing exactly what is being proposed, but now have another method they can use to easily track and organize approved/ not-approved quotes.
• Improved brand consistency. We have a reputable, trusted image that projects across our client portfolio (not to mention within our community) and this system helps to promote and maintain our transparency and professional image.
• Following up and referencing past quotes is made easy and quickly, which has benefited us from a time-cost savings perspective.

Incentivized

• Increased employee efficiency is #1. For example, without having to manage cumbersome piles of separate, track changes comments and revisions, Privia saves time and money in the review process.
• Improved reporting. Privia's web interface and pipeline management capabilities allow for generation of customizable reports to garner greater visibility and insight into business development activities.
• Overall the product is a bit expensive and robust for some smaller businesses, though the functionality is definitely worth the cost.