Great product and company

Pros

The KBMax configurator has been great, thus far. We are not only using it to provide configuration experiences within Salesforce but also to provide stand-alone configurators outside of Salesforce. This ability to re-use the configurator for different channels is key to keep our costs low as well as to provide a consistent experience across channels. The ability to generate output documents from KBMax (like BOMs) has proven to be a valuable asset as well. Our company has some pretty complicated product set, which requires complex rules and experiences to be built. So far, we have not run into a problem that we couldn't solve with the KBMax configurator. As a product owner, one of the most critical differentiators of KBMax (versus competitors) is the ability for us to prototype potential configuration experiences quickly. Anyone that works with configurators knows that there are many variables to consider and having the ability to try them and test them users quickly is invaluable. Just as important as the product, is the KBMax company itself. Everyone I've ever interacted with at KBMax has been great. Part of our company's choice to go with KBMax as a vendor partner was that they seemed to "get it". They picked up on our business needs quickly and understood our complicated configuration asks. Not only did they understand, they asked forward looking questions and have been pushing best practices upon us continuously as well.

Cons

We've noticed some deficiencies with multi-user authoring. For example, if you have multiple admins that are authoring or editing the same part of your configuration data model, you can potentially run into issues overwriting eachother's work. I'm not sure that any CPQ configurator solution does this well, though. However, we have provided this feedback to KBMax already to consider enhancing in future product releases.

Simple and adaptable for any of your business needs

Pros

Because the snap code is so simple to use, anyone can pick it up and contribute. Instead of needing a programmer to build the entire system and feed them information, you can have people of the right disciplines create their own configurators. There's no concern about syntax errors, etc. The flexibility of the code allows you to adapt to any of your business practices and get as granular as you'd like with things. You never really run into something that the software isn't capable of. The SolidWorks automation is very strong and can help produce a complicated product and bill of material. Many competitors can not handle the CAD and BOM creation that KBMax is capable of.

Cons

Although the Salesforce integration that we use is robust, it's not as fast as we'd like it to be when making revisions to orders. Because everyone uses the software in a different way, it can sometimes be difficult to get changes implemented by the KBMax team. Although it could be something critical to your specific business, KBMax may not deem it critical based on other customer needs.

Good flexibility but heavy to program depending on the requirement

Great people and support, but sacrifice some robustness of functions due to high degree of flexibility and customization that is possible (lots of troubleshooting).

Pros

Flexibility to customize as needed. Easy interface.

Cons

Need to be a very technical programmer to configure the rules and workflow. Analytics is difficult (e.g. exporting quotes data, need APIs, etc..). Would like to see more native BI possibilities or at minimum export to Excel functions.

Flexible

Overall KBMax has made a tremendously positive impact on how our company does business and it's alleviated a lot of the repetitive work that goes on day to day in our sales and production. It's also given us a far better way to define our products and given our sales team a way to visualize, for themselves and our customers, exactly what they're order in real time.

Pros

Snap code makes the software easy to use and pick up with little previous programming experience. The flexibility of the software allows you to utilize it for many different scenarios. There's a lot of room for customization depending on the needs of your company and the other software you may be working with. If KBMax doesn't directly integrate with another software there is often some way you can make them work together.

Cons

Response to some bugs can be slow. If you have a bigger issue it will typically be resolved quicker, but some of the small to medium issues can take months to get fixed or have progress on them. I would like to see a little bit more responsiveness from the devs in this area.

CPQ solution with valuable features

With this platform we helped our customer streamline their quote process in a connected solution from sales to back-office.

Pros

Easy to implement Multichannel solution Multi Device solution (Mobile, tablet, desktop) Generation of documents for non IT teams Capability to extend Salesforce 3D & CAD generation for manufacturing Can be used to configure, price and quote insurance, telco, energy offers

Cons

Take in account subscription and renewal processes