Cuts purchase order production time down from two days to minutes

Highlights

• Uses Apttus Configuration, Pricing, Quoting and Contract Modules inside salesforce.com to complete the quote to order process
• Eliminated the need for Excel Spreadsheets for quoting and pricing
• Stopped revenue leakage with rapid purchase order creation
• Effectively manages terms in existing agreements to improve customer renewals

Challenge

Healthcare Management Systems, Inc., (HMS) develops information technology solutions for community hospitals and specialty healthcare facilities.   Their products and services help their customers improve care and deliver value by connecting hospitals, physicians and the community.  HMS was faced with a lack of control over pricing because approvals were being handled offline.  The entire configure, price and quoting process was cumbersome and relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets.  Delays in the purchase order creation were putting deals at risk with the potential for lost revenue. Sales management was often in the dark regarding the overall pipeline with a critical need for more visibility and accuracy in forecasting. 

Benefits 

Overall the salesforce has improved productivity substantially. Purchase order production time used to take two days, now it takes a few minutes.  While HMS started out looking at pricing solutions for their initial project automation, they now view benefits of integration with contract management as key to completing the whole process and achieving maximum benefits.   

The new found ability to effectively follow terms in historical, existing agreements was an unforeseen and very valuable benefit in managing the customer renewals process.