The third wave of CPQ: Driving efficiency with AI
Meredith identifies this moment as the beginning of the“ third wave of CPQ,” which stands for configure, price, and quote. The evolution she describes moves from initial digitization efforts that replaced spreadsheets to the second wave’ s focus on subscription and recurring revenue models.
“ Now, companies need more than just a standalone CPQ tool,” Meredith says.“ They need the flexibility to move quickly to respond to changing market dynamics and competitive pressure.”
This third wave distinguishes itself through the integration of AI agents across the entire quote-to-cash process. Meredith positions this development as moving beyond traditional point solutions toward comprehensive revenue platforms, capable of capturing sales from any channel with any revenue model.
The quote-to-cash process presents particular opportunities for AI optimization, according to Meredith, because it is“ data-heavy, rulesdriven, and operationally complex.” Every step requires validation of information from multiple systems while applying intricate business logic for pricing, approvals, contract term and compliance requirements. Traditional approaches create significant operational bottlenecks, with teams dedicating excessive time to repetitive tasks that, while low-value, must be executed with precision to prevent costly downstream errors in billing or revenue recognition. Meredith argues that consolidating the entire quote-to-cash process onto a single platform creates“ an incredible unlock for efficiency, completely disrupting revenue operations as we know them.”
The promise extends to increasing capacity across sales, finance, and operations teams while harnessing unified data with AI to drive what Meredith describes as:
“... smarter decisions... complex processes, and... revenue opportunities in real time.”
This represents a fundamental reimagining of how enterprises approach revenue generation, moving from reactive, manual processes toward proactive, AI-driven systems.“ This third wave is driven by the opportunity for AI and agents across the entire quote-to-cash process,” Meredith says.
Learn
more