CPQ Just Got Smarter—And It’s Coming for Your Job

How AI and CAD integration are eliminating traditional AE workflows. 

For years, CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) software was hailed as the silver bullet for complex product sales. But in 2025, it’s no longer enough. CPQ is evolving and the next stage isn’t just faster, it’s smarter.

Welcome to the era of CPD: Configure, Price, Deliver. It’s not just a new acronym. It’s the death knell for outdated quoting workflows and the beginning of the end for bloated application engineering departments.

If you’re an AE still manually building custom quotes, or a sales leader relying on tribal knowledge and spreadsheets, read carefully: smarter software is coming for your job. And it’s called Spokbee.

CPQ vs. CPD: What’s the Difference?

Let’s break it down.

In short: CPQ is a quote. CPD is a fully automated sales-to-production pipeline.

The Problem With Traditional CPQ

Let’s face it. Most CPQ systems still depend on:

• Separate spreadsheets for pricing logic
• Manual CAD updates for every customization
• Constant back-and-forth between sales and engineering
• Weeks-long quoting cycles

These aren’t just annoyances. They’re business risks. Delays kill deals. Errors cost revenue. And reliance on overworked AEs keeps your operation stuck in the past.

Why CPD Wins

A modern CPD platform like Spokbee doesn’t just eliminate the friction—it eliminates the need for humans to manage it.

With Spokbee:

• Sales teams generate quotes in seconds
• Customers configure complex products themselves online
• BOMs, drawings, and ERP handoffs are auto-generated
• Engineering sets logic once and never touches it again

It’s like embedding your smartest AE into your website—minus the six-figure salary.

It’s Not Just Faster. It’s Smarter.

Spokbee is the only CPD platform built directly inside PTC’s Onshape. That means:

• Native CAD connectivity (no exports or plug-ins)
• Real-time 3D rendering and pricing
• No-code setup for instant logic updates
• 100% accuracy from customer to manufacturing

Your configurator becomes the single source of truth and the backbone of your digital sales process.

So… Who Needs AEs?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: AI and CPD aren’t “support tools.” They’re replacements for the manual quoting workflows that AEs have owned for decades.

We’re not saying AEs disappear overnight. But 90% of what most AEs do today—quote-building, spec-checking, CAD tweaking—can now be handled by a cloud-native platform that works 24/7 and never sends follow-up emails.

What remains? High-level design work, strategic consulting, and product innovation. In other words, the good stuff, not babysitting quotes.

The Bottom Line

CPQ had its moment. But the future belongs to CPD.

If you're still throwing engineers at quote problems, you're solving the wrong problem. It's not a people issue. It's a workflow issue.

And that workflow is obsolete.

Ready to level up?
Explore Spokbee 2.0 and experience the next evolution of product configuration—one that doesn’t just quote smarter, it delivers smarter.