CPQ and the Governance Dilemma

Gabriel Marechal

8/28/20261 min read

CPQ and the Governance Dilemma

CPQ usually starts as a speed project and ends as a governance problem.

CPQ is one of those systems that can make a team look very efficient on paper. Until it can’t.

The pattern is familiar:
✅ sales wants flexibility
✅ ops wants consistency
✅ finance wants control
👍 nobody wants a quoting process that requires tribal knowledge

So the org builds exceptions. Then more exceptions. Then a quote process that only works when the right people are available. And then we get a system that is too rigid to do anything... something like a brick made of steel? IYKYK 😅

My preference is simple: design CPQ to be understandable before it is clever. And also use modern technologies, that always helps...

Because every extra layer of logic has a long tail:
😓 harder support
🐌 slower onboarding
⛓️‍💥 weaker handoff between teams
😱 more risk when the original builder leaves

Salesforce orgs with technical debt feel this the fastest.

The more complex the quote path gets, the more important simplification becomes.

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Questions?