Oracle CPQ vs. Shape Software

I think CPQ had worked so well for our company because of the widespread nature of our associates and tracking orders that were being placed in multiple time zones. My team specifically needed a way of analyzing these orders to track our progress in real time and sort out any supply orders before they became an issue. If you are in a centralized location with a smaller team then this may not yield much use to you.

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Shape Software is well suited when using "mainstream" ad platforms that have robust integrations. It also works well when budgets are set less frequently and are allowed to run unchanged for a set period of time. Shape Software gets less accurate when frequent budget changes need to be made and when using ad platforms with little to no support built into Shape Software.

• Leveraged automation to minimize headcount costs despite 10% year-over-year business growth, and enabled staff to focus on more strategic tasks.
• Established a flexible CPQ system that scales on demand to easily accommodate the company’s multiple global locations.
• Improved customer relations by reducing configuration time and allowing sales more time to meet with customers and close orders.

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• Platform integrations
• Pacing accuracy
• Automated notifications

• Significant setup time, cost, and maintenance. We have to use an implementation partner
• Does not always play well with other software, even Oracle software. While this is improved and being further improved, that it was a third party acquisition means things sometimes require a little extra care
• Additional setup documentation and first walkthroughs would be helpful, especially if it was all in one place

Incentivized

Invited by TrustRadius (TR) on Vendor's Behalf

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• Automated budget pacing could be more sophisticated - it tends to conflict with platform best-practices in my opinion.
• Integration with LinkedIn leads would give more accurate picture of conversion volume I believe.
• More customizable alerts

So far it is all good with BigMachines, looking for new features since Oracle acquisition has created a lot of expectations. We have outlined our limitations (out of box functionality) in our periodic customer successor advice meetings for a while, hope we get a resolution soon. Also, the BigMachines user license fee has increased a lot in the last three years.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

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The software UI can be as complex or as simple as you need it to be (depending on the business). It does require training others on quote configuration and the order in which to build out order positions prior to configuring a quote. Once users are trained;however, it is fairly straight-forward. The UI is still more static than other new wizard/drag-and-drop models, but it get's the job done

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

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Shape Software is very easy to set up and use. The core functions and features require little explanation. The options and settings are easy to find and the capabilities of the platform are apparent to the user after just a few minutes of use.

Other than one day two years ago and an hour or two a few times since then due to data center outages, it has been very reliable

It depends upon the day however there are so many failure points with online services, including our internet service, that this is probably closer to 9 with the latest version

Some specific support personal was good and fixed some problems fast using proper solutions. But when one of them went to sleep when we had critical issues and they do unreported commits to our production environment which caused issues and they were hiding it?? you can not give more than a two (maybe even that is too much). They also failed to add a feature for us which also bring the grade down.

I never had the need or opportunity to work with support.

They have pretty good training. Our business analysts have been able to go to entry and advanced level training. They have a train the trainer model. Our business analyst attended training, then trained the rest of our staff.

It was a much more technical implementation than we thought. It involved much more code.

Future releases have made and will make administering the tool easier.

EDL consulting had one good developer, but when he was moved off, they were horrible to work with.

The BMI sales team does a “BOA” or a “Business Operation Assessment” which is extremely valuable, not only for them to scope an implementation and get more reach within the organization, but it is also a documentation of business process that most organizations don’t have. It highlights inefficiencies and allows for correction during implementation.

Having a dedicated team (in-house) for implementation is key

Oracle engagement is ahead. They are active in the development of the tool and provide great support after implementation. They also listen to their customers and offer opportunities to feedback and provide input through activities like the customer advisory board forum.

Shape Software is very user-friendly and easy to set up. The controls and settings are very straightforward and the core functions (onboarding new accounts, creating new budgets, managing budgets, etc) are easily understood. The customizable alerts and budget intervals provide modularity for different situations and provide significant peace-of-mind. The automations are less impressive in that they generally conflict with ad platform automation in my opinion. Automated bidding and budgeting is hindered by third-party automations like Shape Software and the performance Shape Software features provide doesn't justify forgoing that technology in the ad platforms in my opinion.

• Increased Sales Rep efficiency. Being able to create multiple quotes ACCURATELY and quickly was a game changer.
• Large implementation time. It's a little difficult to fit BMI into a SCRUM style build, with multiple working models and prototypes of all 3 simultaneously.
• A larger fee for licensing and implementation cost. ROI wouldn't be realized in the first year.

• Reliable protection against overspend
• Precise budget control
• Cross-platform visibility