Pricing Software vs Price Optimisation Consulting
PROS, Pricefx, Zilliant or a consultant? How to decide what your business needs first.
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Two different jobs
Pricing software platforms such as PROS, Pricefx and Zilliant manage, calculate and publish prices at scale. They are built to run pricing processes: price lists, quoting, deal approval and analytics.
Price optimisation consulting decides what the prices and rules should be. It covers segmentation, price levels, discount policy, governance and the change management needed for the sales team to hold the new prices.
Which comes first?
Software first, when…
Your pricing strategy and rules are already clear, you have a pricing team to run the platform, and the main problem is speed, scale or control of an existing process.
Consulting first, when…
Margins are leaking, prices are inconsistent, nobody owns pricing decisions, or you are not sure what the right prices are. Software will automate whatever rules you give it.
Doing both
Many businesses start with an optimised price file and governance, prove the margin gain, then choose software to run the new rules at scale.
Cost and time
A platform is a multi-year investment with implementation effort. A price optimisation project typically has a first price file in market within 8–12 weeks.
How Project Blackbird fits
Project Blackbird delivers an optimised SKU and customer price file that loads into your existing ERP or quoting system, with no new software required. If you later implement a pricing platform, the segmentation, price rules and governance carry across. Read more about B2B price optimisation consulting.
Not sure which you need?
A 30-minute call can tell you whether to fix the rules first or the system first.
Let’s work together
Whether you're ready to optimise your pricing or want to explore what's possible, we'd love to hear from you.