Chapter 16

An Enabling Systems Architecture

It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in five years.

—JOHN VON NEUMANN

Throughout the past 10 years, strategic pricing has been a top priority for many companies. During this time, companies have made significant investments in their enabling processes and systems architecture to ensure that the bottom-line benefits of their pricing strategy are truly sustainable and have become deeply embedded in business operations.

High-performance companies have adopted sophisticated pricing solutions not only as a means to achieve significant and quantifiable bottom-line benefits but also as a source of competitive advantage. By eliminating Excel spreadsheets, ad hoc business intelligence reports, and e-mail as the primary ways to communicate pricing guidelines and approve pricing, such companies have increased total operating income from 1 percent to 3+ percent. Furthermore, the capabilities provided by pricing solutions allow companies to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and competitive threats. Without institutionalizing pricing strategy by implementing the appropriate supporting technology, companies will find the half-life of pure pricing strategy efforts to be shorter than they need to be.