Gartner defines configure, price and quote (CPQ) applications as software that enables sales organizations to automate and optimize the creation of quotes and capture of orders. A CPQ application is a sales tool that captures the new goods and services a customer wants to buy or the changes a customer wants to make to existing goods and services. While generally focused on assisted sales channels, CPQ capabilities such as product configuration and pricing must be shared with the self-service commerce channel. The new purchases and changes must be priced and a binding contract must be formed with the customer before sending an order to downstream fulfillment systems.
MDMS products are IT components of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). The core MDMS is responsible for cleansing, calculating and providing the data persistence of commodity consumption data. Additional MDMS capabilities now include disseminating metered consumption data for internal as well as external use. Meter data can be used to support billing, as well as analytics use cases, such as load profiling, consumption tracking, forecasting, asset loading and revenue protection, including the detection of tampering, theft or leakage. Beyond supporting internal utility needs, MDMS plays a role in open consumption data by supporting the sharing of consumption data with customers, partners, market operators and regulators. In most markets, data sharing is done with standardized data exchange formats.
Utility customer information systems (CIS) manage internal and customer-facing account operations for utility meter-to-cash processes. CIS handles customer contracts and billing against consumption data and facilitates revenue generation and collections. They support order processing, rate design, billing, payments, credit and collections. CIS includes customer self-service and communication preferences for account management and notifications. Some vendors expand to include advanced customer engagement and product and service offerings on a flexible product platform. Modern CIS is adaptable, offering deployment options from on-premises to full SaaS. CIS is central to revenue management, leveraging metered consumption data against a backdrop of service and product parameters. As utilities digitalize, CIS is evolving to encompass a broader spectrum of services, extending beyond traditional meter-to-cash processes. This expansion, often referred to as “services to cash,” necessitates innovative approaches to meet customer demands, including dynamic pricing and enhanced savings opportunities.