Configure One Celebrates Twenty Years

Configure One is celebrating its 20th anniversary May 8, 2020. Over the past two decades, Configure One has become a pillar of CPQ software innovation. By and large, the run has been incredible, even when you include the wild rides of the dot-com bubble, the Great Recession, and now COVID-19. We can’t wait to see what the next 20 years bring our way!

We asked our founders and longest tenured employees about their time with Configure One. Check out their answers below!

Mick McDonnell

Founder/Owner, VP of Product Development
Year Started at Configure One — 2000

What positions have you held during your tenure?

I was one of the three founders, and in the early days we all wore a multitude of hats. I was, and continue to be focused on product development, but I have worked as a project manager for Configure One clients, was the IT manager, accountant, HR manager, and payroll administrator at various times along the way.

What made you decide to start Configure One?

We saw an opportunity to build a product configurator around computer aided design (CAD) software that would allow people who weren’t experts in CAD leverage the power of 3-dimensional CAD design, so that was the original goal. It expanded greatly from there – while the early versions of the product required CAD, we quickly broke that dependency and added features & functionality far beyond what CAD could do.

What were your visions in 2000 and have you met/surpassed those visions?

Candidly, we didn’t know what we didn’t know back then and while we had aspirations, we didn’t have a clear roadmap as to where we wanted to take the company. We wanted to build a product that people could use to improve their lives, improve their businesses, allow them to make more money, allow them to build better products, and we’ve achieved that. What I personally didn’t appreciate at the time was how impactful our offering could be on our customers. When you look at some of the metrics – how dramatically our customers have been able to reduce quote cycle times, or how they’ve been able to gain appreciable market share without increasing headcount – that’s really exciting stuff, and we love to be in a position where folks rely on us, it keeps things fresh & challenging!

What were some challenges you faced in the early days?

We started the company during what we’d look back at and recognize as the .com bubble. Fortunately, our success wasn’t dependent on our raising millions of dollars from angels or VCs, but the effect of the bubble was, nevertheless, a degraded economic outlook & that affected everybody. Other than that, we were a small startup, and we had to convince prospective customers that we were worth betting on. Fortunately, many folks were willing to make that bet, but a few weren’t, and it was frustrating when we looked at a potential customer, saw how we could revolutionize their business in many ways, but they were risk averse & decided not to move forward.

From your perspective, what are Configure One’s greatest accomplishments over the past 20 years?

We’ve always been honest with our customers, even when that meant delivering bad news. We don’t seek to make mistakes, but we still do on occasion, and when we do we’re upfront about it, accept responsibility, perform root cause analysis, and strive to do better going forward. So, in terms of accomplishments, we’ve never sacrificed our integrity.

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

The industry has changed considerably. When we began, there were 2 or 3 companies that we could point to as competitors. Now, there are 2 or 3 dozen, if not more. There’s been a lot of consolidation in the industry over the years, and while in the early days we spent a lot of time educating prospective customers as to what CPQ was and why they should look at it, today most folks are familiar with the general concept & have been exposed to the technology.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

The company holiday parties, or other gatherings where employees would bring their families stand out as some of my best memories. We have a tremendous cadre of people who work at Configure One, and meeting their families is something that I greatly enjoy.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

We continue to develop the product, improve what it does today & add capabilities that provide more value for our customers & allow them to be more productive. The ‘job’ has never gotten stale…we continue to innovate, learn new things, challenge our assumptions, explore new technologies, expand our customer base, learn about new industries. In many ways, the future looks much like the past in terms of continuing to grow the product and innovate, and it continues to be exciting!

In what ways has Configure One grown over the past 20 years?

I don’t know if we’ve grown, as much as continued to innovate and evolve. In the early days software development followed a waterfall methodology, but we’re now agile. While we remain very horizontally organized, and largely informal, we have more folks in leadership positions than we did early on – and that’s a good thing! We’ve expanded the business globally, do a better job at marketing ourselves, and are well known in our industry.

What’s the favorite part of your job? What excites you the most?

Far and away, my favorite part of the job is our people. I have the pleasure of working with the best group of folks I’ve ever known. It’s not just their professional capabilities, though those are world class – its really who they are as individuals, what they’ve been able to accomplish in life, both personally and professionally, their ‘can-do!’ attitudes, their competitive nature, their desire to grow and to win. It makes my job much, much easier when we’re surrounded by such outstanding people.

Where do you expect Configure One to go in the coming years?

We’ll continue to innovate, continue to amaze & delight our customers, continue to attract marquis customers, continue to grow the product and the business. In many ways it sounds like more of the same, but technology changes at such a rapid rate, and we race ahead to keep abreast of it & ensure we’re delivering product to our customers that allow them to grow their businesses and to better leverage their investment. We’ll continue to add terrific talent to the company, continue to expand into new markets, and most importantly, continue to Exceed Expectations!

Daniel Howe

Founder/Owner, VP of Professional Services
Year Started at Configure One — 2000

What made you decide to start Configure One?

Continually meeting customers that wanted to achieve a vision for CPQ and drawing automation, but not having a company or solution that delivered the vision.

What were your visions in 2000 and have you met/surpassed those visions?

One of my visions for the company was to deliver solutions for customers and to be a great partner for them. I came from a company (PTC) that had incredible technology, energy and people. But the culture was brutal to the customer and employees. It was my goal to take the good parts of PTC and improve the customer partnerships, project delivery, and employee experience.

From a technology perspective, we greatly exceeded my early expectations. We started out doing mostly services and online technology was still in it’s infancy. To see the internet and technology evolve has been a great experience.

From your perspective, what are Configure One’s greatest accomplishments over the past 20 years?

Putting together a great team and technology solution.

Our culture.

What were some challenges you faced in the early days?

Right after starting the company, the tech bubble burst and spending dried up. Ultimately we survived that downturn and it gave us an opportunity to figure out what we were doing and make a lot of mistakes without major impact.

Educating companies on what we do and overcoming the skepticism that it couldn’t be done and lack of knowledge about the use of the internet for manufacturing companies.

Getting customers to put their trust in a new and small company.

What’s the favorite part of your job? What excites you the most?

Working with the people at Configure One.

Relationships with customers.

Delivering an awesome solution for our customers and seeing that result bring value to the company.

Greg Hull

Solutions Group Manager
Year Started at Configure One — 2000

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Technical Operations, Project Manager, Professional Services Manager, Solutions Group Manager

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

For us, early on CPQ was really just a way to automate CAD. It became clear that we needed to separate our rules from the CAD rules and develop our own rules engine. To me this was one of the changes that was key to having success.

Our vision from the beginning has been to automate the “quote to order” process for manufacturers of custom items. This started out as a way to capture and validate the requirements and generate drawings and bills of material. This progressed to pricing, quotes, quote documents, routings, orders, and order acknowledgements. Each of these features represent an innovation that makes our software more and more valuable for our prospects and customers.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

Christmas celebrations, time out on sales calls early on when functionality was low and you had to really think on your feet, getting to know customers and helping them to solve their business needs.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

More sophisticated customers and competitors. Integration with many different systems, including CRM.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

Increased ability to scale our solution and increase the speed of our offering.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

It has been a pleasure working for Configure One. The people are unmatched. You won’t find a group of more talented people.

Chris DiEllo

Vice President, Global Sales
Year Started at Configure One — 2001

What positions have you held during your tenure?

I started with Configure One on 9 July 2001 as an Account Manager. My title then changed to Account Executive, continuing my focus on new customer acquisition, and managing existing customers. As our sales team grew, I was assigned to the US east coast and given the title of Director of Eastern Region. When Configure One was acquired by Autodesk, my title was Product Specialist and then when I transitioned to manage our sales team, I took the position of Sales Leader. When we spun-out of Autodesk, my position was Director, Global Sales and has transitioned since to Vice President, Global Sales.

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

This first change that comes to mind is terminology. The acronym “CPQ” did not exist 5+ years ago. Product Configurator, Configurator, Selector were used to refer to the market. The second significant change is the large increase in number of providers within the CPQ industry space. In addition, the industry reach has expanded substantially. No longer only utilized for “products” that are being configured, but services, software, and other non physical offerings. Another significant change is how organizations have recognized and adopted a CPQ application as a mission-critical component within their business process. Finally, another substantially change is expectations of the user experience, for example having a B2B experience that emulates a B2C experience (due to mainstream use of e-commerce sites such as Amazon) and an immersive, visual configuration experience.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

Hmm, how to compress almost 19 years of fond memories into a few sentences. First and foremost is the feeling of ‘family’, camaraderie, and confidence in knowing we had/have each other’s back and we will always give 100%. These feelings stem from both work-related experiences as well as our company outings, from Whirlyball, to Cubs games, to parking lot barbeques, and more. In addition, it’s been great remembering how we’ve grown as a company, in number of employees, capability of our solution, and the range of customers and industries we support. All the while, I’m impressed how we’ve been able to maintain the consistency of good people (employees) at Configure One… hard working, conscientious and genuinely want our customers to succeed, cut from the right fabric, and team players. Lastly, it’s always heart warming to remember and hear from our customers about the positive impact we’ve had on their organizations and their success.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

The most obvious evolution is the large increase in number of providers. The CPQ industry has expanded, significantly. As the providers have increase, the definition and variation of the meaning of what a CPQ application does has broadened. Recently, a common change in the industry is that independent CPQ companies are being acquired so that ERP/CRM companies have a CPQ offering. That is evidence of the importance of CPQ within the process of doing business.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

In addition to coming to work every day, I’m looking forward to three things: (1) the innovation of our technology in two areas: (a) increasing the use of 3D visualization during configuration by our customers, including Augmented Reality (AR) and (b) the eventual ability to run our app as an engine or ‘headless’ with another UI or custom UI, (2) expanding the Configure One ecosystem through both technology & solution partners, and (3) earning the business & partnership of new customers so that we can help them overcome their challenges.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

Thank you. Thank you to everyone at Configure One for allowing me to be part of a special company who helps other companies and makes it fun to come to work every day.

Robert Helmink

Business System Analyst
Year Started at Configure One — 2003

What positions have you held during your tenure?

I started at Configure One as an Application Engineer and moved through various titles such as Principal Engineer and Lead Architect, but all performing the same role of developing the core software and enhancing it for customers. My current title of Business System Analyst is intended for me to answer the questions of how our software works and why.

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

User experience seems to be a big deal as of late. People have a certain expectation of how software should work. This isn’t limited to CPQ, but definitely applies to CPQ. Visualization-A/R is another area that has become very important in the industry. Hopefully our RT2D, RT3D and our CAD capabilities will help us stay on top of this.

Jeremy Wernick

Solutions Delivery Group Visualization Manager
Year Started at Configure One — 2005

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Solution Architect, Solution Architect Manger, Solutions Delivery Group Visualization Manager

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

The two largest changes in the CPQ industry are the adoption of CPQ by the major ERP vendors and the uptake of visualization. In the early 2000s, most large ERP vendors dismissed CPQ as unnecessary (the CPQ term did not even exist). As the decade moved on, ERP vendors built or acquired numerous CPQ solutions. Also, early CPQ solutions were very basic and lacked visuals. Configure One changed this with CAD automation and dynamic 2D images and, later, 3D web visuals.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

Rather than one specific memory, I look back on my whole tenure at Configure One with great fondness. The spirit of comradery and excellent support that all of my colleagues and the owners provide made Configure One a wonderful place to be.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

I have seen a lot of turn over and instability in the CPQ industry. Competitors have come and gone. Competitors have been acquired and neglected. This instability stands in sharp contrast to the consistent stability that Configure One has provided to our customers for twenty years.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

I look forward to CPQ solutions that scale effortlessly, that interact with other applications through robust and open APIs, and support advanced visualization technologies. I am specifically looking forward to combining Augmented Reality and CPQ.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

I look forward to many more years of working closely with my colleagues to support our customers.

Cristiano Albrecht

Solutions Delivery Group, Director
Year Started at Configure One — 2007

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project Manager, Sr Project Manager, Consulting Program Manager, Professional Services Manager, Solutions Delivery Group – Senior Manager, and SDG Director.

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

I believe the user experience became the focal point. Visualization is now a “must have” where users can see what they are configuring in real-time. Product & Services Configurators are now available to unauthenticated users via companies websites and through CRM integration leads can be captured, opportunities created, and orders being placed all with few clicks. I think because technology has evolved so much the overall experience is totally different if you take in consideration mobility as an example. Today users can access the CPQ application from any device (e.g. phone, tablet, laptops, desktops).

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

There are so many!! I guess the day I had completed 10 years and I got an unbelievable gift from the founders! Nothing but a custom C.F. Martin Guitar!!! This was and will be unforgettable.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

There is certainly a big transformation, more competition for sure. The CPQ segment is rapidly adapting as society needs changes. From cutting time, introducing efficiencies to allow users to get what they need in no time. CPQ isn’t a ‘stand-alone’ platform anymore, it is now highly integrated and plays a key role.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

Our business is driven by technology, needless to say that I’m excited on what is about to come. There are so many cool things in development that will certainly benefit our customer and get us additional market share.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

I like to acknowledge the Configure One’s founder’s generosity, employee-centric management, and tenacity! Configure One is here to stay, and with no doubt will continue to be a leader in the CPQ field.

Jon Lidbury

Director, EMEA
Year Started at Configure One — Jan. 2007

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Director

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

When I first saw Configure One at a former customer, Flexible Lamps, I was extremely impressed and did not know such tools existed.

We have seen the competition grow over the past 13 years in terms of new competitors and what they offer but I still believe we are as strong as any of them and are working to keep it that way.

Real Time 2D and 3D have been instrumental in helping us sell more and drive this new technology into current customers.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

Taking on our 3rd UK employee.

Watching the company grow.

Every deal one of the sales guys gets!

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

Definitely more competition but more importantly customers being more clued up on CPQ technologies.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

New technologies like AR and new Configure One technologies are also exciting like GraphQL and new integrations and partners will help us drive the company forward.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

Configure One are part of my family. They have always made me feel like family from the top-level management through to people I work with daily. I feel very lucky and privileged to have joined the company and for Mick, Dan and (then) Ron to take a chance on opening an office in the UK after meeting with me for a couple of hours in August 2006. It was a very challenging first few years through 2008/2009 but we came through it stronger. We have 16 people in the UK now and I see us continuing to grow in the coming years.

Austin Roche

Director, EMEA. Configure One Europe Ltd.
Year Started at Configure One — January 2007

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project Manager
Director, EMEA

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

Introducing special request functionality to enable us to support customers with complex custom or engineer to order requirements. Enabling manufacturers to further dedicate their specialist resources to more value added tasks.

Advanced visualization. It is sometimes difficult to picture in your mind how complex product features and options relate to each other. So, being able to visualize millions of product permutations, in real-time, in 2D or even 3D, has revolutionized the user experience and provided a competitive edge.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

The incredible welcome when I joined the company in 2007. Dan, Mick, Ron and entire Configure One team (much smaller then of course) shared a welcome evening out, that I’m probably still recovering from today.

Every project has its challenges, and it’s great to know that the entire Configure One team is there to help. Knowing that they will go out of their way to get it solved, gives me AND our customers, great confidence.

Introducing me to the Chicago Cubs. Certainly, different to a soccer match in London.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

When a manufacturer is looking to implement a CPQ solution, there are many on the market to consider and it can be difficult to find the right partner. Many systems will enable a company to configure, price and quote, but there is much more to consider: How do you easily replace a component that is becoming obsolete in hundreds of existing configurations and BOMs? How do you reuse data, and feature compatibility across all of your product range, saving you having to manage things multiple times? Luckily sites like G2 Crowd are valuable resources. They help identify the more mature technologies and provide a platform for unbiased customer experiences to be shared.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

As Configure One continues to lead the way with advanced visualization capability, I am excited to see our augmented reality offerings develop further. To see a uniquely configured product, in-situ, will be a game changer.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

The owners have led by example and have created a very positive working environment, where our work-life balance is very much respected. I feel very privileged to go to work every day with my friends. Experts in their field and people who I hugely respect.

David Ray

Director, Enterprise Solutions
Year Started at Configure One — 2008

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Enterprise Architect
Global Enterprise Solutions Manager
Director, Enterprise Solutions

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

Over the last 12 years, this sector of the software industry has changed significantly. In the earlier years, configuration and quoting could exist on its own, with little consideration given for integration to the enterprise. Today, CPQ systems must integrate not only to ERP and CRM systems, but consider all aspects of the enterprise. From a channel perspective, the focus has changed from an internal one, to an omni-channel focus that considers internal, external, customers and extended channel CPQ use cases.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

Configure One has a unique culture. Whether it is our Product, Professional Services, Integration or Sales teams, we have sought out motivated experts to provide our customers with the best product and services in the industry. Our founders not only believe in this, they have built a foundation from the early days through today that continues to look for and hire this kind of talent. But we are not all about work! Whether it is our company BBQs brought to you by Cristiano and Bob, or the epic Cubs outings, we redefine work hard and play hard!

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

About 4 years ago, there was a significant shake out in the industry. TDCI, Big Machines, Chameleon and Steelbrick were all acquired by larger software companies to fill out their product offerings. The impact on this consolidation is that there are far less “Best of Breed” CPQ offerings with the full feature set of Configure One. While there are less full-featured offerings like Configure One, there are many more niche players that can provide more targeted and limited capabilities.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

Looking forward to how the most contemporary technologies can continue to provide better CPQ offerings for our customers. Additionally, we are excited to continue to expand the universe of where CPQ fits within the Enterprise. We look forward to this expansion, and what it means for our current and future customers.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

What an accomplishment Configure One! Happy 20th Anniversary! To Mick, Dan, Ron, and those earlier members of the Configure One team, thanks for the foundation you built, the path to the future, and for asking me and others to be part of this incredible journey!

Celeste Conrad

Director, Customer Success
Year Started at Configure One — 2011

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project Manager
Sr. Project Manager
Professional Services Manager
Customer Success Manager
Director, Customer Success

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

What has been most interesting to me is to see how the use of a configurator applies to so many different industries and actually impacts our own lives in how we interact with different businesses online. While the configurators we may deal with are quite simplistic compared to Configure One, it is amazing to me that the concept of configuring a product is something that we may do on a regular basis. This shift in selling means that it is becoming more of a standard and less of a “nice to have” for our customers.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

There are honestly too many to list, but I’ll give it a try!
My second day at Configure One I was traveling with Dan Howe to attend my first Kickoff Meeting. I remember meeting Chris DiEllo at the airport. Looking back, I feel so fortunate that my first customer experience was with Dan and Chris. I have learned so much from them and continue to!

One of my favorite trips was traveling with David Ray and Patrick Burns to meet with Wagstaff in Spokane Valley, WA for a working session. We had long days filled with productive meetings, awesome runs on the path by the river, and late nights working in the hotel lobby while eating pizza. It helps when you have a great customer and the people at Wagstaff have been terrific to work with.

I have so many wonderful, crazy, and exhausted memories of participating in the Ragnar Relay for 7 years as a Configure One team. Sleeping was minimal, but consisted of sleeping outside or sharing a tent or sleeping in a hallway or maybe in a church. We had animal encounters, lost runners, injured runners, and very smelly vans… but it was a blast, every time!

Any additional thoughts or comments?

I have never seen a company quite like Configure One and it all starts with Mick and Dan. It is difficult to put into words, the appreciation and respect that I have for them. They truly care about each employee at Configure One and demonstrate it in so many ways. Thank you for starting the company, thank you for caring, and thank you for ALL that you do!

Charles Sabosik

Implementation Manager
Year Started at Configure One — 2012

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project Manager, Senior Project Manager, Implementation Manager

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

I used to have to explain to people what “CPQ” means but in a short period of time it has become as recognized as “CRM” and “ERP”.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

As a customer: taking Steve Plichta to Six Flags Great Adventure after work. As an employee: It sounds cliché to say, but Configure One is a family. Nothing shows that more than our Christmas parties. We genuinely care for each other and really enjoy spending time together. I am truly blessed to be part of such an incredible group of people.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

I’m very excited about the direction we are going. The turn-key group will grow as more and more customers will want us to design those solutions.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

Congratulations to Mick and Dan (and Ron) for 20 years! You can see why this company has done so well: the software is incredible, the people are amazing, and this company is run like none other I’ve ever seen. Thank you for counting me among you!

Brant Strausbaugh

Principal Software Engineer / Co-Team Lead
Year Started at Configure One — 2012

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project System’s Architect / Principal Software Engineer

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

The BBQ outtings, Christmas Party.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

Leveraging newer technologies making our customers more productive and profitable.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

Working at Configure One has been a pleasure from day one. I’ve worked with some of the most talented individuals while working at Configure One. I would like to Congratulate the founder on 20 years and here’s to 20 more.

Patrick Burns

Customer Success Manager – Integration
Year Started at Configure One — 2013

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Integration Specialist, Senior Integration Specialist, Customer Success Manager

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

LOTS of integration. At the start, it was 50% or so of customers, now it is upwards of 90% with at least one integration to Configure One. In addition, a lot more folks using external-facing configurators as lead generation tools.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

I always enjoy the cookouts in our parking lot – the team of chefs we have hiding among us makes some great food!

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

Bigger companies getting involved in the CPQ space (Salesforce CPQ), and being more involved with partner sales (NetSuite, etc.)

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

Putting the power in the hands of our customers to use Configure One as a platform for all their CPQ needs, via technology/documentation and additional support channels.

David Rowles

Senior Project Manager
Year Started at Configure One — 2013

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project manager, EMEA professional services manager and Senior Project manager

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

The introduction of RT3D and more focus visual appearance of the UI has become very noticeable over the last few years.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

My fondest memory is one that reoccurs. It is how welcome I have been made to feel, when I visit the US office and I feel part of the family.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

Customers are expecting more for less. CPQ is more commonly used and as staff move between organizations and they have used different systems and expectations are high. I’m pleased to see that we are meeting these requirements.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

More visualization and power to manipulate the UI. More customers as this create variety in our working day but also help grow the application as no 2 customers are the same.

John Caron

Principal Software Engineer
Year Started at Configure One — 2014-2016/2018-Present

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Applications Architect/Principal Software Engineer

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

During my relatively short tenure I think the move toward more browser based 3d rendering of products has been very impressive. RealTime 3D has made it easy for customers to visualize and interact with configured products as they are being built. This is very powerful.

What are some of your fondest memories with Configure One?

It has always been about the people for me. We have pulled various team building pranks over the years. Sealing off Mick’s office with cardboard and wrapping Alex’s desk and all items on it with foil both stand out. Not to mention the Cubs games and feats of strength.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

Exposing easily consumable APIs, such as GraphQL, have made it easier to integrate with third party applications.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

I’m looking forward to getting the new React based UI released and in the hands of customers. The many performance and usability improvements will be hugely beneficial in the usage of our sotftware.

Kiana Mostajabian

CPQ Product Owner
Year Started at Configure One — 2018

What positions have you held during your tenure?

Project Manager and CPQ Product Owner

Looking back, what are some of the most significant changes to the CPQ industry during your tenure? Any major innovations, changes, etc?

Seeing the CPQ world adapt visualization in 3D, AR, and VR formats to drive product innovation has been a major trend over the past few years and continues to drive sales into 2020.

What have you seen in the CPQ industry as a whole?

More Companies joining the round table to innovate the CPQ industry in many different segments than previous years.

What are you looking forward to in the coming years? Technology, growth, etc.?

Looking forward to the power of AI and Automation and how it will exponentially grow and effect the manufacturing and CPQ world.

Any additional thoughts or comments?

Congratulations Configure One to an amazing first 20 years! Looking forward to innovating through the next 20.

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?

CPQ Guide

Download our PDF on essential CPQ functions sought out by top manufacturers to increase revenue and accelerate sales.
 
Download Guide

CPQ Solutions

Understand the CPQ market and decide which features are important for your company with our CPQ Solutions white paper.
 
Download White Paper

Online Demo

Schedule a live demo with one of our CPQ experts and learn how we can drive your digital transformation!
 
Schedule My Demo

CPQ Guide

Download our PDF on essential CPQ functions sought out by top manufacturers to increase revenue and accelerate sales.

CPQ Solutions

Understand the CPQ market and decide which features are important for your company with our CPQ Solutions white paper.

Demo

Schedule a live demo with one of our CPQ experts and learn how we can drive your digital transformation.