Customer self-service is the trend - also among B2B suppliers of modular product systems. Around 70 percent of their customers find it more convenient to buy via a website than from a sales representative. Accordingly, surveys show that manufacturers and suppliers achieve up to a 30 percent increase in sales when they offer customer self-service. The ability to customize products and systems is worth up to a 20 percent premium to customers on average in the industry.

Many manufacturers now rely on CPQ systems such as the P'X Industry Solution from Perspectix. They combine interactive 3D technical configuration, layout planning and visualization with costing, bill of materials and quotation generation to meet customer requirements. This effectively supports the sales organization, but customers' opportunities for involvement remain limited, especially in the important after-sales business.

Self-service in the Web Configurator

This is why Perspectix has extended its CPQ solution to include a Web Configurator. Using the existing database, manufacturers can prepare a modular portfolio of offers for customer self-service. Customers choose from preconfigured modules, make adjustments, and group them in the installation space. Thanks to an integrated augmented reality function, the product - such as a piece of system furniture - can be viewed virtually in the subsequent installation environment. A high degree of user-friendliness and a fast result ensure qualified inquiries from the Internet. This is because the project file is sent to the sales organization at the push of a button, which creates the corresponding offer after checking it in the P`X Industry Solution. This is just as successful for new, individual product systems, such as loading space equipment for tradesmen's vehicles, as it is for assembly technology components or the ordering of spare parts. The online platform works hand in hand with the sales organization and allows seamless transitions as the level of complexity increases.

Consumer Communicator support

Then Perspectix extends the communication options with a Consumer Communicator. Here, the sales organization makes configuration proposals and associated documents available in a project-related web front end. Without spatial or time constraints, customers check their project using 3D views that can be rotated, zoomed, marked, and commented on.