Maximizing Revenue Cloud for VARs: Bridging the Gaps of Salesforce CPQ Solution for ICT Resellers

When we talk to Value-Added Resellers (VARs) in the ICT industry, one thing is clear: managing the quote-to-cash process is a never-ending challenge. Salesforce’s Revenue Cloud has been a game changer in this space, especially with the recent updates that have replaced the old Salesforce CPQ. From our experience, VARs need solutions that not only simplify their operations but also align with their business model. 

 

The New and Improved Salesforce Revenue Cloud and Its Benefits for IT Resellers 

Salesforce has released major updates to Revenue Cloud powered by the Einstein 1 Platform, bringing AI into the quote-to-cash process. IT resellers can benefit from Salesforce CPQ features for middle-office functions like quoting, order management, billing, and revenue recognition. In StrataVAR’s work with VARs, we’ve seen this make a real difference for businesses with complex monetization strategies. 

Some key features of Revenue Cloud for VARs include a unified product catalog, which simplifies product management by bringing all products into one place. The advanced pricing engine can handle complex sales scenarios with ease. Dynamic revenue orchestration automates revenue processes to increase efficiency and reduce errors. With enhanced omnichannel capabilities, customers get a consistent experience across all channels.  

However, from our conversations with VARs, it’s clear that, while these features are impressive, Salesforce Revenue Cloud still lacks certain important capabilities essential for fully meeting VAR-specific needs. For many ICT VARs, critical areas like advanced multi-currency support, high-volume quoting, and streamlined catalog synchronization require tailored enhancements to reach the platform’s full potential. Addressing these gaps is crucial for maximizing operational efficiency and helping VARs achieve seamless, end-to-end quote-to-cash functionality. 

 

Ten Key Areas Where VARs Need More from Revenue Cloud 

While Salesforce CPQ includes many favorable features for hardware resellers, below is an outline of the areas in which Salesforce Revenue Cloud services are not enough for tech resellers. 

1. Off-the-Shelf API Integrations with Vendors and Distributors 

When we speak with VARs, we often hear that seamless integration with vendors and distributors is essential for a robust quote-to-cash system. Off-the-shelf API integrations provide real-time access to the latest product data, pricing, and availability from multiple suppliers, eliminating the need for VARs to pull information from multiple sources manually. 

Salesforce Revenue Cloud for ICT VARs provides a foundation for this. However, in our work with VARs, we’ve seen that adding API integrations can amplify that efficiency. By incorporating these integrations into Revenue Cloud, VARs can reduce manual data entry, speed up their sales cycles, and maximize the platform’s capabilities for their business. 

2. Intelligent Parsing of Supplier Quotes (BoM Files)

When APIs aren’t available, VARs rely on intelligent parsing of Bill of Materials (BoM) files from suppliers, with a need for seamless import from formats like Excel, PDF, and XML. From our experience, VARs need a solution that can quickly and accurately extract relevant information from these files, reducing manual data entry, errors, and improving overall efficiency.

Using a Salesforce CPQ solution for Cisco resellers or IT VARs will enable automating BoM parsing in Revenue Cloud. This service for VARs builds on Salesforce’s foundation, enabling VARs to move faster and more accurately. While there are many Salesforce Revenue Cloud advantages for resellers, a common request is for enhanced features to intelligently parse and extract data from large, complex BoM files. With intelligent BoM parsing for various file types in Salesforce CPQ, VARs can avoid delays and errors, leading to better workflows and happier customers. 

3. Handling High-Volume Quotes with Up to 50K Line Items 

VARs often tell us that one of their biggest challenges is managing quotes with 50K+ line items, especially in the ICT industry, where hardware and software configurations are complex. This challenge intensifies in maintenance contracts, where each instance—such as 1,000 modems—may require a separate quote line. As a result, even a single product type can significantly increase the quote length, adding complexity and time to the process. 

From our experience, ICT VARs are looking for Salesforce Revenue Cloud solutions that efficiently manage these high volumes and complexities. Supporting large quotes is essential for their business scalability, allowing Salesforce Revenue Cloud to better meet their needs. 

While Salesforce Revenue Cloud has strong quote management, we consistently hear from VARs that Salesforce CPQ struggles to handle quotes beyond a few thousand line items, especially for high-volume maintenance contracts. By supporting up to 50K line items in Revenue Cloud, we provide VARs with the scalability needed to simplify their quoting and sales processes, even for the most complex transactions. 

4. Dynamic Multi-Dimensional Calculations for Revenue Cloud Enhancements 

Dynamic, multi-dimensional calculations are essential for tailoring pricing to the unique needs of VARs. These calculations allow VARs to adjust each pricing parameter—cost (for VAR), Price (for end-customer), discount, markup, margin, and more—as either a percentage or a specific value. Each adjustment automatically updates the other corresponding values in real-time, enabling VARs to generate accurate and competitive quotes without manual recalculations. 

ISV solution enhances Salesforce Revenue Cloud by providing full control over the calculations. VARs can select which parameter to adjust within the equation and define which corresponding values should update based on that change. This flexibility supports a dynamic, easy-to-understand approach, making it straightforward to implement and adjust quotes according to diverse pricing requests. 

This capability is especially valuable during the quoting process, allowing VARs to respond to various pricing demands efficiently and streamline the sales process. While Salesforce Revenue Cloud for VARs offers robust quote management, it currently lacks multi-dimensional pricing as a standard feature. By adding dynamic, multi-dimensional calculations, we enrich Salesforce CPQ, making it more adaptable to VARs’ complex pricing needs, reducing manual work, and allowing VARs to focus more on customer engagement. 

5. Real-Time Vendor Rebates Support (e.g., Cisco VIP) 

In today’s fast-paced ICT landscape, being competitive means taking every cost-saving opportunity. Vendor rebate programs like Cisco’s VIP program offer VARs a way to increase profitability. However, many VARs struggle to fully utilize these programs due to the manual nature of tracking and applying rebates, often resulting in missed rebates or delays that impact their bottom line. 

To make the most of these opportunities, VARs need a more strategic approach—one that integrates rebate management into their daily operations in real-time. By having up-to-date rebate information automatically reflected in the quoting process, VARs can ensure they’re offering the best price to their clients and optimizing their own margins. This proactive rebate management turns vendor incentives into a real-time advantage rather than a back-end reconciliation task. 

Embedding real-time vendor rebate functionality directly into CPQ Revenue Cloud for VARs would simplify quoting workflows, allowing them to offer dynamic, cost-effective solutions to clients and turn rebate management into a driver for growth and profitability. 

6. Support for Dated Multi-Currency Inputs/Outputs at the Quote Line Level

As ICT VARs expand globally, managing multi-currency transactions within a single quote grows increasingly complex. For international clients, the ability to support dated multi-currency inputs and outputs in one document is essential to deliver timely and accurate quotes that reflect real-time market conditions. 

Salesforce Revenue Cloud currently supports multi-currency quotes with fixed, date-bound exchange rates. However, any changes to the currency table apply uniformly, without the flexibility to adjust rates dynamically for separate transactions within the same quote. 

Salesforce CPQ solutions for hardware resellers offer an external more advanced multi-currency (AMC) functionality. This solution extends Salesforce’s capabilities by enabling dated, transaction-specific currency inputs and outputs. This added flexibility helps VARs accommodate real-time exchange rate shifts, enhancing pricing accuracy and client satisfaction in international transactions. 

7. Exporting Quotes to Excel and Custom Formats 

Many VARs need to export quotes into custom formats or Excel for internal reporting or to meet client requirements. This flexibility allows them to adapt to different customer needs and internal processes, enhancing the functionality of Revenue Cloud for VARs. 

By having exports in multiple formats, VARs can eliminate manual data manipulation for quoting, streamline workflows, and ensure consistency in quote presentation. Revenue Cloud for VARs includes basic quote exports but lacks support for Excel or custom formats. Adding this capability would reduce manual work and help VARs create client-ready documents faster.

8. Vendor-Specific Catalog Synchronization

VARs can operate under direct agreements with vendors or distributors like Cisco, Juniper, or TD-Synnex, enabling them to sell directly from their catalogs without needing to request quotes. This streamlined access to up-to-date product info and pricing ensures the sales process remains efficient and accurate. 

Having vendor-specific catalogs embedded within the platform simplifies the quoting process by eliminating manual data updates or cross-referencing. Your work as a VAR becomes much easier and more effective, as you can focus on delivering tailored solutions to your customers without administrative delays. 

9. Enhanced Data Consistency through Downstream Integration (e.g., ERP)

A holistic quoting process relies on accurate, real-time data flows throughout the business process. By integrating to an ERP system, VARs can enrich their quoting process with critical data like tax rates for example (upstream) and seamlessly push sales orders (SO) and purchase orders (PO) to the ERP system (downstream). 

This integration supports efficient data consistency across the sales cycle, reducing errors and enhancing overall operational efficiency. Unlike Revenue Cloud’s standard capabilities, this off-the-shelf capability ensures seamless coordination between quoting and core business processes, strengthening the entire sales operation. 

10. Full Renewal Management with End-of-Life (EoX) Notifications 

Managing renewals in the ICT space can be complex, especially when it involves End-of-Life (EoX) notifications. VARs need comprehensive renewal management capabilities, including EoX notifications, to keep track of upcoming renewals and ensure expiring products are replaced or upgraded as needed. This functionality enables VARs to offer a higher level of service to their clients and reduces the risk of disruptions caused by outdated products. 

While Revenue Cloud for VARs provides strong renewal management tools, it lacks comprehensive renewal management and EoX notifications. Enhancing the platform with timely renewal management helps VARs stay ahead of their clients’ needs, minimizing the risk of missing key renewal dates and opportunities. 

StrataVAR Recognizes the Need for Tailored Salesforce CPQ Solutions for ICT Resellers

Salesforce Revenue Cloud is a robust platform that serves as the foundation for an efficient quote-to-cash process. By incorporating additional features like API integrations, large-scale quote support, advanced multi-currency capabilities, and real-time vendor rebates, VARs can further optimize their workflows and better meet the specific demands of the ICT industry. These enhancements don’t replace Salesforce Revenue Cloud but build on its existing strengths to create a more tailored, powerful solution for ICT VARs. For more information on how Salesforce CPQ solutions can help your IT reseller business, contact StrataVAR

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