Relationship between configurators and success

It's almost five years since Aberdeen Group published it's much talked about study about the challenges faced by companies delivering tailored products.

Since the study was published, the competition has intensified and the globalization increased, which adds to the conclusions in the report.

Among the companies in the study, the ones with the highest ranking on certain criteria where rated as "Best-in-Class". The studies showed, among other things, that these companies:

• Had 96 % lower write-offs due to errors in orders compared to the industry average
• Could offer 3.5 times as many customizable features per product
• Responded almost three times as quickly with a quote

For companies that assemblies to order (ATO) the challange is to quickly generate accurate quotes that captures what the customer really wants!

A key to success within ATO is the introduction of a standalone sales configurator.

When comparing companies within the ATO category, it turned out that those who used a standalone sales configurator showed a 32 % higher profit margin compared to other companies.

With a configurator integrated all the way from sales to manufacturing, the profit margin increased with 52 %.