Elastic.co is a leading search company that builds self-managed and software-as-a-service offerings for search, logging, security, observability, and analytics use cases. They initially implemented Steelbrick CPQ with significant customizations to align with their unique business requirements. However, as their business evolved, the continued customizations led to severe technical debt issues, impacting their efficiency and operations.
Project Challenges
Elastic.co encountered several critical challenges with their CPQ system:
Governance Limits: The company frequently hit Salesforce governance limits when generating quotes exceeding $10 million. This limitation slowed down their quoting process and caused significant operational delays.
Performance Issues: The CPQ system experienced performance issues, with unreliable quote recalculations that disrupted their sales workflow.
Subscription Creation Failures: For certain products, subscriptions were not being created correctly, leading to billing and revenue recognition issues.
Incorrect Product Attributes: Misuse of product attributes resulted in the creation of unnecessary new products, complicating their product catalog and causing confusion.
Lack of Integrations: The absence of essential integrations led to invoicing issues, unbilled over-usage, and the lack of a master system for product pricing, affecting financial accuracy and customer satisfaction.
Solutions Provided by Bolt Today
To address these challenges, Bolt Today implemented a multi-faceted approach:
Workshops: Conducted comprehensive workshops across various departments and geographical locations to understand user journeys and pain points.
Customization Analysis: Analyzed existing customizations in the CPQ system and presented out-of-the-box functionalities to different business units. This analysis helped in creating a roadmap for simplification and standardization.
Integration Focus: Prioritized necessary integrations with key systems such as AWS, Product Management tools, and NetSuite to ensure seamless data flow and operational efficiency.
CPQ Optimization: Removed custom coding and replaced it with out-of-box CPQ features one at a time, ensuring business continuity. Provided walk-throughs of out-of-box functionality and collaborated with the business to fine-tune their processes for minimum customization. The rule followed was 90% configuration of out-of-box features and 10% customization.
Business Benefits for the Client
The solutions provided by Bolt Today resulted in significant improvements for Elastic.co:
Efficient Quote Generation: The optimized CPQ system enabled the generation of quotes within minutes, irrespective of their size, thus eliminating previous limitations.
Rationalized Product Catalog: : The product catalog was streamlined and kept in sync with NetSuite, ensuring accurate product data and simplifying catalog management.
Automated Renewal Quotes: Implemented customer-based pricing with auto-generated renewal quotes six weeks in advance, improving customer retention and satisfaction.
Operational Cost Reduction: Achieved a 35% reduction in operational costs by eliminating inefficiencies and optimizing processes.
Revenue Increase: Experienced a 15% increase in revenue by accurately accounting for over-usage and improving billing practices.
Conclusion
Bolt Today’s expertise and strategic approach helped Elastic.co overcome their technical debt and streamline their CPQ processes. Hector Perez Jr, Director IT at Elastic.co, praised the engagement: "Bolt team brought the right expertise to clean up the technical debt and designed an awesome user experience. I was impressed with their technical depth and knowledge of Salesforce CPQ."
Through the partnership with Bolt Today, Elastic.co not only resolved their immediate challenges but also set a foundation for future growth and efficiency. The optimized CPQ system now supports their evolving business needs, providing a robust platform for sustained success.
