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In this guest post by #PPSCHI22 Pricing Breakout Speaker Fred Puech, Founder of Keenalytix, we learn three ways pricing does help with your business and three ways it does not. Pricing is probably the area where the disconnect between what business stakeholders expect and what analytics can deliver is the widest. Very often, this disconnect comes from a deep misunderstanding of what analytics really is and what it can deliver, fueled by the hype about data being the new oil and “quants” having superpowers. The reality is a bit different. Pricing analytics can indeed be a very powerful tool for any given business, but a good starting point is to level-set the expectations about what it can actually deliver. Analytics, really. The literal meaning of “analytics” is “the resolution of anything complex into smaller elements”. In other words, one analyzes a problem by decomposing it into smaller elements to understand how they are connected to each other. For a modern analyst, these elements are called variables and the connection between them is called a model. In the specific case of pricing, one can classify the variables into three separate groups: (1) pricing metrics (e.g., discount rates, net customer prices, gross margin rates), (2) business KPIs (volume, revenue, margin) and (3) other relevant customer and product characteristics (e.g., customer channel, industry, location, product category, brand, etc.). A pricing analyst’s main job is then to take these variables, try and understand how they interact with each other (the model), and derive insights that will eventually lead to pricing decisions. The modeling part is obviously the most difficult task, especially if one wants to move beyond simple correlations and build predictive pricing models. Ask anyone who has ever tried to come up with an accurate quantification of price elasticity. What Pricing Analytics Can Do At a high level, pricing analytics answers one question, and one question only: should we take price up, down or stay put? Of course, the answer does not depend only on pricing analytics (business objectives come first), but it is here to support the decision-making process. Diving a little deeper, we can then define pricing analytics in terms of the three types of questions it can address: Learn - what is currently happening? This is usually the starting point for any good analytical process. It helps build the analyst’s intuition before moving on to the more advanced modeling. It is the question that traditional business intelligence and reporting dashboards are meant to answer. Understand - why is it happening? This is where we start building more advanced pricing models using data mining and statistical modeling techniques. However, we are still very much looking at the past (and present). Decide - what should we do? Decision-making is best supported by advanced modeling techniques, such as predictive and prescriptive models and other machine learning approaches. All these approaches have in common the fact that they try and predict future outcomes instead of merely understand past ones. What Pricing Analytics Cannot Do Everything beyond and beside these three broad questions is in essence “out of scope” for a pricing department. Specifically, pricing analytics cannot: Be accurate without limits. Pricing analytics, if done well, can give you excellent predictions of the impact of your foreseen 3% price increase. 5%? No problem. 10%? Still okay, but we’re starting to get less accurate and more directionally right. For anything above 50%, you might as well use a Magic 8-ball (you shouldn’t; use pricing research instead). Predict the unpredictable, or its consequences. Case in point: pricing professionals the world over struggled mightily to do their job and navigate the consequences of the pandemic over the last two years. Who can blame them? We went from a highly deflationary environment during the global lockdowns of 2020 to inflation rates not seen since the 1970s in 2021-22. Replace Humans Yes, pricing can be automated by using a pricing software…up to a certain point. Pricing analytics and software cannot fully replace human judgement or fully predict human behavior. This is equally true in B2B, where relationships and negotiations are still an integral part of conducting business, and in B2C, where companies can face significant consumer backlash when leaving their pricing algorithms unchecked (remember when Uber started charging hundreds of dollars for a ride on New Year’s Eve?) Analytics is the process of defining variables and the connections between them. In the case of pricing, it can help a business learn about its current pricing situation, understand it and eventually make future pricing decisions. It can be a powerful tool, when used properly and with the right set of expectations. To learn more about ways to implement pricing analytics within your organization, join Fred Puech in Chicago at the PPS Spring Pricing Conference and Workshops event on April 27. Fred will be holding a full-day workshop on “Practical Pricing Analytics”, in which he will present a framework that makes pricing analytics easier to implement in order to drive results.

Demand for pricing software has continued to grow as companies strive for a more data-driven pricing approach. Over the past year, the market has increased by $345M, with 981 new entrants vying for market share. According to PriceFX, the total cost of implementing pricing software can run from $100,000 to $1.5M. With such a high upfront investment, one would think the returns would justify the cost. Unfortunately, 92% of pricing software fail to meet targeted KPIs within three years. What are the reasons behind this? To better understand the challenges pricing solutions face, we can look at Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, which has had similar struggles over the years. CRM software has existed in one form or another since the 1980s and experienced many consolidations over the years (like pricing software is experiencing now). What was once a group of 30 to 40 public CRM companies has now slimmed down to only 5 to 7 meaningful vendors. How did these companies succeed where others failed? What lessons can pricing software companies learn from the shortcomings of CRM software? #1: Disconnect Between Features And Process Many substandard CRM systems use flashy features to attract customers toward purchasing their product. There is no logical reasoning behind the CRM’s conception and feature offerings – but they look good and sound great. For example, many CRM systems have integrated call-script functionality for sales reps, restricting how they respond to customers and making the sales process more robotic than relationship based. The same issue exists with pricing software, where the average solution has 20+ features. While loads of features attract customers initially, it is only the useful ones that will retain them. Every additional feature that does not bring value to users will complicate your solution. To understand which pricing software is right for you, it is important to understand your business process. That way, you know what you need to drive ROI and won’t be tempted by the feature-loaded options. #2: No Collaboration One of the biggest reasons why CRM implementation fails is the inability of departments to collaborate with each other. A CRM system is most effective when all teams use it together with a structured plan behind it. Pricing software faces similar challenges. Specifically, it is the lack of collaboration between Sales, Marketing and Finance that undermines success. Sales want lower prices to close more deals and hit revenue targets while Marketing and Finance want higher prices to increase brand equity and profit. This lack of alignment creates an organizational disconnect that leads to missed opportunities, underperformance, and additional costs. Pricing software should be used to align the three departments in a structured way (uniform process, one source of truth, etc.) to prevent siloed thinking. #3: Poor Ongoing Training & Support When you have been doing back of the envelop work for your entire career, the idea of learning a complicated software platform like CRM is daunting. For a CRM to be successfully adopted, there must be hyper support present. Proper training / support is also the secret sauce to pricing success. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. Companies tend to hand off the solution outputs to their team and hope they will magically come to life in the market. In reality, pricing solutions often output recommendations that the team does not understand / like or thinks are not feasible with customers. There needs to be cross-functional support available to help the organization gauge whether these concerns are tangible or just emotional. If tangible, then the team can assess ways to modify the system or the internal process to create new guidelines for pricing. If emotional, then a coaching / culture shift is required. #4: Terrible Data What happens when CRM systems use inaccurate or incomplete data? As the saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” In fact, having bad data might be just as problematic, or more, as having no data at all. For example, your CRM system is intended to give you a better, more complete picture of who your customers are and what their pain points are. If your CRM is riddled with inaccuracies, you will probably focus on the wrong person and dedicate precious time and effort to someone who is not interested in making a purchase while ignoring a would-be customer. Pricing requires leveraging data from various sources - sales data, delivery data, product cost information, reimbursements & discounts, etc. to get optimal insights. Unfortunately, accurately integrating these diverse data sources takes substantial time and oversight. Companies often underestimate the importance of this and do not take the proper steps to ensure it is done right. As a result, what would have been a high-value pricing solution ends up being a black box with misleading outputs. Pricing Software Will Continue To Evolve Having pricing software does not guarantee success. Organizations need to evaluate pricing solutions based on current gaps and opportunities and pick the one that meets their exact needs. If you want to learn more about how to ensure pricing software success, Join Avy Punwasee in Chicago at the PPS Spring Pricing Conference on April 29. His session, “Successfully Implement Pricing Software” will dive deeper into what companies can do to ensure their pricing software is a support system rather than another tool to master. *Click the video below to watch his message* Contact Avy: apunwasee@revenueml.com

A Guest Blog post written by Avy Punwasee, Partner at Revenue Management Labs and Speaker during #PPSEuro21 B2B companies are experiencing 360-degree inflationary cost realities spanning raw materials, labor, energy and more. It’s a challenging situation making global headlines: “Inflation Notches A Fresh 30-Year High” - CNBC 10/29/2021 “Freight Rates Up More Than 90% In One Year” – Hortidaily 10/11/2021 “Raw Material Inflation To Continue, Despite ‘Some Stabilisation” – ICIS 10/26/2021 Even worse, the high-risk, time-sensitive decisions are put on the shoulders of business leaders with no playbook on inflation. The truth is most B2B companies are ill-equipped to simply absorb these rising costs. Some companies passed the burden to customers through increased prices but most companies granted their customers additional pandemic pricing relief. This move dug, and continues to dig a slippery, deep, unsustainable pricing hole. If you submit to discounting and payment reductions to benefit customers, be careful; it threatens your current bottom line and long-term viability. It’s important to note companies increasing prices are still barely outstripping rising raw material & labor costs. For example, a new client recently onboarded is growing revenue consistently but their margins are down 5%....it’s tough out there. Inflation is a new challenge for many younger companies and hasn’t been a crisis de jour in their lifecycle. The worst aspect…many underestimate both length & severity of the corresponding financial impact compounded by fear of action. Paralyzed by analysis becomes commonplace as the playbook on inflation is thin and authored during the 1980’s recession. Combine these variables, longer sales cycles, cheap debt and long-term contracts and you have today’s situation. Often it takes at minimum a quarter for raising prices to realign and recover. You need to act now. The current market favors nimble pricing moves. Here’s what you need to do: 1. Refine Value Quantification Versus Market When setting a price for offerings, B2B companies rarely focus on value, leaving money on the table. To close the gap between price and value, companies must first understand how their offerings are differentiated compared to competitors. Doing this will give companies a better understanding of what customers value. Key Takeaway: COMP INTEL (use a site like spyfu.com for a mile-high check). 2. Protect Price Integrity Share the cost burden with the Customer; don’t own it all. Use your intel and insight to protect your price integrity and create deals benefitting you and your customer. 3. Address Price Leakages Take time to examine and forecast how customer investments impact final pricing. Many companies have missed opportunities during the pandemic and erroneously focus on the list price and invoice price. How does an offering listed at $100 end up only netting $50? To fix the discrepancy, evaluate your concessions to plug price leaks and maximize profits. 4. Enable Front Line Sales Execution 63% of salespeople are uncomfortable negotiating with Customers on price-related terms: avoiding the discussions by giving concessions. If your sales reps become Price Champions you can dramatically decrease discounting and turn higher profits. Final Thoughts Although the impetus of inflation is a painful call-to-arms, we’ll help you in combat while maintaining sustainable profit levels. In the long term, let’s improve your quality of organizational planning while empowering sales reps to become better negotiators. If you want to learn more about B2B pricing, Join Avy Punwasee this December during the PPS European and Global Pricing Conference Event #PPSEuro21 Join us for the session “B2B Pricing In Inflationary Periods” to dive deeper into each of the above 4 steps. Send an email to Avy: apunwasee@revenueml.com

Below are the survey results from our #PPSFVC21 attendees and notes from PPS President Kevin Mitchell. Well over 300 attendees from more than 100 companies joined us for the Professional Pricing Society’s 2021 Fall Virtual Conference from October 12-15. This was our third Virtual Conference and our first with a new visual platform. Sincerest thanks to our partners from across the globe: our member companies, our attendees, our speakers, our sponsors, and the PPS Team for all that you did to make our event such a great experience. We miss connecting with everyone in person, but our Fall conference did offer four great days of educational workshops, informative breakout sessions, inspiring keynotes, and interesting networking discussions. Please search #PPSFVC21 on LinkedIn and other social media for pictures, blog posts, reactions, and other information. As a reminder to our attendees, we recorded all of the keynotes and breakouts – you have until January 12, 2022 to view the recordings from your PPS Member portal. Many conference attendees took advantage of our post-conference surveys to give us their feedback and recommendations regarding our event. PPS relies on your feedback for future event planning, so please feel free to reach out to me directly with your thoughts. The 2021 Fall Virtual Conference received very positive reactions overall and here are some of the highlights: • Overall, the 2021 Fall Virtual Conference received very good ratings with a 4.01 average rating on a 1-to-5 point scale. o 81.3% of respondents rated the Virtual Conference either “Very Good” or “Excellent.” ▪ No one rated the 2021 Spring Virtual Conference as “Poor,” but one respondent rated the event as “Fair.” All of the Certified Pricing Professional full-day Workshops received very high ratings of at least 4.00. Our most highly rated workshops were: o Ofer Levi and Ian Tidswell’s “Powerful Commercial Price Policy” Lydia Di Liello’s “The Art of the Win: How to Negotiate with Anyone and Get Your Way” All 6 Keynote Addresses were also very well-received with scores of at least 4.00 on a 1-to-5 point scale. The highest rated keynotes were o Stephan Liozu’s “Pricing: The New CEO Imperative” (4.52) o Holly Krafft’s “Analytics for Business Success: Are You and Your Leaders Asking the Right Questions?” (4.43) • Breakout Presentations were exceptionally well-received, with average ratings of 4.38 on a 1-to-5 point scale and no ratings below 4. The following breakout presentations received scores of at least 4.65: o Scott Miller’s “From Steel to Silicon: Pricing in the B2B Digital Era” Benjamin Garden’s “Leveraging Analytics to Identify Pricing Opportunities in B2B” o Avy Punwasee’s “Pricing in Inflationary Periods” and o The Infusion Panel’s discussion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion featuring Hillary Gretton, Katie Wei, Susana Lopez, Kalpana Sundar, and D. Keith Pigues moderated Dr. Michael Tatonetti. Additional Conference events received more mixed ratings in the “Good” to “Very Good” range, again on a 1-to-5 scale: The Overall Conference Agenda was rated 4.03 o PPS Customer Service received a 4.47 rating Attendees felt that our event offered a Very Good (3.88) Value for the Price Paid Networking only received a 2.91 Rating with several attendees noting that it was more difficult to network in a Virtual format. We received lots of positive and constructive qualitative feedback as well: o Our attendees appreciated the ease of use and connectivity of our new virtual event software Several attendees demonstrated a strong liking for the diversity of participants and speakers, with an influence on practitioner experiences. Attendees appreciated that all keynotes and breakouts are recorded for OnDemand viewing, and several attendees expressed strong desires to return to in-person meetings and fatigue with Virtual formats. Thanks to everyone that joined us and supported the 2021 Fall Virtual Conference. We value your feedback and suggestions, and we will continue to work hard to ensure that our events are a great investment for you and your team. Please join us this December for our 2021 European & Global Conference scheduled for December 1-3, 2021. Stay tuned for more information about 2022!

PPS Board Member and Founder of Capital Pricing Consultants with more than 25 years experience, Lydia Di Liello, recently interviewed four fellow senior pricing experts to get their perspective on what CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) is really all about. In this guest blog post, she highlights insights from those interviews to educate pricers about what aspects of pricing CPQ does and does not help, and explores the fact that, while CPQ is often supported by software, it is equally a mindset of defining, setting and controlling business processes to achieve repeatable, consistent price for highly configurable products. The five main reasons why Configure Price Quote (CPQ) systems do not fix pricing problems: CPQ is a process not a software CPQ requires a deep dive into current business processes Artificial Intelligence (AI) does not work on old data or bad processes CPQ requires investment and dedication CPQ must utilize pilot runs of software to be successful CPQ: Configure Price Quote is the new “old” buzz word. What is it and why doesn’t it fix my pricing problems? Why is business process so critical? Has COVID-19 had an impact on CPQ? The answers to these questions are surprising. To begin let’s talk CPQ history. Configure, Price, Quote (C.P.Q.) is a term that was coined in the 1970s for software utilized by manufacturing companies to produce and quote a part to a customer. Since pricing back then was a simple markup or cost-plus calculation, the pricing piece of CPQ was essentially a calculated field that transferred to the quote document. The magic and power were in the configuration and quoting, taking complex bills of material and neatly accounting for them on the quote document in a format the customer could readily understand, and that manufacturing could easily trace. Modern CPQ is a process, supported by software technology that smoothly integrates three separate functionalities of product Configuration, Pricing and Quoting. Andrew Bonde, Vice President Pricing and Product Management Cornerstone Building Brands, notes the biggest change is in the “P”. Pricing has become highly sophisticated and many of the “CPQ software systems utilize artificial intelligence or AI to adeptly support and manage complex pricing models” inclusive of customer spend, lifetime value, geography, segmentation, and product type. This is a far cry from the antiquated cost-plus models. Bonde cautions, “Don’t put a Cadillac engine on your horse and buggy,” noting that an “encompassing corporate strategy, strongly engaged leadership and mature business processes” are critical foundations for an effective CPQ project. CPQ buzz rationale is simple. Two words: integrated data. The power of disparate, traceable data at your fingertips on demand is nirvana. Prior to CPQ, data were all disjointed: some in ERP, some in SAP, too many in Excel spread sheets. Jerry Cheatham, Staff VP of Finance, Industrial North America for Sonoco, suggested, “A critical benefit for public companies is that price changes and price controls are now ‘official’ with date, time, and user logon electronically recorded.” This is both great news for publicly held companies and also an auditor’s dream. No more security obscurity or Excel spreadsheets to trapes through. Recently, all surveyed interviewees affirmed that CPQ will not solve all pricing problems. In fact, it will make matters worse when going live with CPQ technology. Steve Haggett, VP Pricing, Revenue Management and Sales Operations Iron Mountain, stated “Process should be 90% of the project and technology should be 10%.” Identifying, defining, tracking, and recasting business processes to support the new future state of a project is time consuming and tedious. Following a business process from a salesperson’s conversation with the customer through the CRM system into the ERP system and then into the CPQ system is neither a simple nor a pleasant task. It is the most critical step and the one often glossed over due to challenges. Warning: This is where CPQ projects fall apart from a budgetary, timing, and effectiveness standpoint. Due the diligence in process work or the price will be paid in extended timelines, cost overruns, and limited careers. Patience Mutiso, Director Revenue Management at CHEP, agreed “CPQ does not solve pricing problems,” but it does “remove the pricing knowledge from an individual’s head” and ensure that a pricing person is no longer viewed as “the pricing spreadsheet.” This idea of flushing the knowledge from our pricing staff’s heads and getting it into systemized processes with technology supporting and enforcing those processes is critical. The final theme that each interviewee noted was the importance of running pilots as standard practice for all software implementations. Lynn Guinn, Commercial Excellence COE Global Strategic Pricing Leader at Cargill, noted “Do it! Run pilots. Budget heavily for enhancements. The process is iterative.” As we learn more, we gain the ability to change more and to build upon what we learn. Price modeling is critical, as it focuses on the future state in the software rather than simply looking at historical data which limits visibility. It is better to learn the problems that arise in the “future state” and make adjustments during a pilot run rather than once the software is live. And one piece of good news. Categorically every person interviewed indicated that COVID-19 had no negative effect on their decisions. In some instances, CPQ caused implementation and timelines to speed up. Lydia Di Liello is the CEO and Founder of Capital Pricing Consultants and a Member of the PPS Board of Advisors. She can be reached at lydia@capitalpricingconsultants.com.

The 2021 Spring Virtual Conference event was another one to remember. Pressing forward with serving the pricing community during a global pandemic, this wasn't our first time offering Virtual Pricing events but it was one of our best! Over 300 attendees from more than 130 companies joined us from May 4-12, 2021. President Kevin Mitchell said, "My sincerest thanks to our member companies, our attendees from across the globe, our speakers, our sponsors, our partners, and the PPS Team for your continued support and great work around our event." The PPS Team aims to provide the best conference experience for the entire global business community; we happily build our events based on the thoughts and opinions of our valued, global business community. Overall, the 2021 Spring Virtual Conference received very good to excellent ratings with a 4.45 average rating on a 1-to-5 point scale, one of the most highly rated events in our 37-year history. Attendees particularly enjoyed learning from the keynote presentations, learning in our Workshops and Breakout sessions. The entire PPS missed connecting with our growing community in-person, but the virtual learning experience, stretched over six value-packed days were a wonderful experience! To view more snapshots of the virtual event #PPSVirtual21, search the hashtag (#PPSVirtual21) on LinkedIn (Facebook and Twitter too). A reminder to all attendees, you have until June 11th to view all the recordings of the Keynotes and Breakout sessions from the PPS Membership Portal. Any questions, please reach out to our Membership Team. We look forward to seeing you again for the 2021 Fall Virtual Conference! SAVE THE DATE: October 12-15, 2021!

Tim Smith, PPS Board Member and Founder of Wiglaf Pricing, shares what qualifies him as a pricing professional to work on the revitalization of the world's leading pricing designation for even greater industry impact. He absolutely approves this message. Read the full article HERE. Learn more about the world's leading pricing designation, the Certified Pricing Professional Designation, or CPP: https://www.pricingsociety.com/cpp

In this guest submission by Frank Frohman, pricing leader and business development manager, access detailed research to support essential facets of digital price management. Download the Whitepaper below!

Most industries and enterprises are facing disruption today due to pressure from global competition, digitization of commerce, new technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). Add to it the current situation of COVID-19 which is driving digitization faster than ever. In this context, we saw how technology could power faster price changes in this blog post. However, identifying and implementing a systematic solution with the right technology, pricing tools and processes is just the beginning of a pricing transformation, which requires significant changes within an organization. In this blog, we will explore how to build the ecosystem necessary for change including the steps involved in a pricing transformation journey. We will look at a framework for managing change through a pricing transformation and the benefits companies expect to gain from price management automation and pricing transformation initiatives. Framework For Approaching Change Management In Pricing. When we think of change management, buzz words like ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, reinforcement), PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act), DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) come to our mind. Change management is relevant in many industries that there are even Graduate certificate courses in change management offered by Institutions. In spite of all these great references, tools and techniques, change management in pricing always has something unique to offer - simply because of the number of parties it impacts within and outside the organization. To simplify change management for pricing initiatives, we are going to look at a 4- pillar framework called STEP - Strategy, Technology, Execution, People. Strategy: This is a critical pillar in the change management framework. Every other pillar we are going to look at will be directed by Strategy. Strategy plays a crucial role in every phase of change management. Technology: In the world of pricing, it is important to deliver consistently on a variety of dimensions like Time to Market, Value, Profitability. Technology becomes the backbone enabling change management swiftly and efficiently. For any pricing initiative, it is important to assess and be ready with the needed infrastructure, pricing tools and deployment strategies – so the time is spent on interconnecting systems and facilitating automated solutions. Process: Establishing processes with proper controls in every step for pricing is crucial to managing change successfully. It can span from product and engineering to operations to sales to legal. Defining this clearly with a RACI (RESPONSIBLE ACCOUNTABLE CONSULTED INFORMED) like structure becomes important so there is little to no time spent in revisiting the rules while in the middle of a change. From my experience, below are the key area to focus on. Focusing on short term wins and celebrating them Striving to create efficient, repeatable processes that are audit-able Integrating systems as much as possible so there are fewer opportunities for manual controls. Following an agile methodology by creating minimum viable products and making sure the various product iterations reach the customers regularly in the form of improvements. Have a solid test framework to eliminate defects People – No change management can be successful without the support of people. People make the change happen. This is an important lever for any change management – more so for pricing. I will divide this into 3 phases: Pre-Change Management: Given the depth and breadth of impact pricing has inside and outside an organization, it is important to create a pricing organization- many companies do not have a dedicated team for pricing. Not having a dedicated team can become a bottleneck. A change means more time, more effort and not having a dedicated team means lesser bandwidth to focus. If there is a dedicated pricing organization, it is important to Hire the right talent and retain it – this can be achieved only if everyone in the team understands the importance of change management. We need to think about “what’s in it for them” for all critical stakeholders. Are they going to WIN something (ease of use, time…)? LOSE something (control, comfort level, influence etc.). Understanding this better, will allow us to plan better. During Change Management: Align with allies and collaborate with every team that has a direct/indirect impact due to pricing. Another important attribute of pricing is the direct impact on external customers. Any change in pricing impacts the end customer directly. It is important to keep them in mind while implementing the change. It is important to make “everyone be part of the journey”. Post Change Management: Follow up and facilitate conversations on how the change management is getting implemented. Listen to feedback from stakeholders and incorporate them in the plans (strategy, technology, process and people). Have empathy towards everyone involved in making the change happen. Lessons Learned From Change Management For Pricing 1. Exhibiting “one-team” behavior always (MOST IMPORTANT) - If there is just 1 thing, I should call out for a successful change management in pricing, that would be this – because this lays the foundation of the “One goal” we are all working towards. We should focus on that and help each other in the process. Differences of opinions/goals that typically exist across various departments need to be resolved upfront and everyone should embrace the chosen strategy before implementing change. 2. Continuous communication (MOST CHALLENGING) – keeping the thread alive and ensuring everyone is part of the journey is crucial. Keeping everyone in the loop should be part of the process being established so there is awareness and same level of understanding across the organization. 3. Early engagement (MOST UNDERRATED) – always remember to be “loud, clear and upfront” with teams, never postpone conversations or assume there is no impact for a team – it is better to reach out and inform, than feel left out. This will improve collaboration and distributes the problem solving across the board. Information transmission doesn’t happen voluntarily. Finding allies in each group that can relay the message, so the change is perceived as coming from within as well vs imposed on the team by an external body. 4. Establishing process norms and guidelines for the overall change management + individual sub operations is required. I think of this as” running a company” – where there is a rule book/process for how teams should interact amongst themselves for what they are responsible for, at the same time have rules to keep their own home in good hygiene. Establishing intra and inter team process rules and expectations and following them without stepping in one another’s areas is important for successful change management – specifically for pricing because it is very often “hot” and “time sensitive”. Finally, messaging and re-messaging (MOST TIRING BUT MOST NEEDED) to ensure these are practiced will help for an easier change management Concluding Thoughts: Having said all of this, I want to close by saying that change is coming always due to the 4Cs 1. Your own competency is improving 2. Compute revolution (AI/ML) 3. Ever existing competition 4. Evolving customer expectation/needs “Change horizon is massive and is coming anyways - it’s up to individuals and organizations to be willing to change. About The Author: Kalpana Sundar is director of product management in the Pricing organization at PayPal. She is responsible for building and scaling products and platforms that facilitate price management, pricing sciences and analytics. Kalpana earned her Bachelor of Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy and her MBA in Customer Relationship Management from Symbiosis, Pune.

Almost every industry and business is facing disruption today due to the global pandemic. Many small businesses are unable to sustain in these difficult times and the businesses that have managed to keep their doors open are faced with tremendous pressure. During these times, large enterprises offering B2B or B2C services could step up to help those in need. What better way to do that than by lowering or waiving fees? It is important to perform price changes in a timely fashion for it to really benefit customers. In this context, it only makes sense to discuss how technology could power price changes in an organization, making it very nimble and efficient. There are multiple levels in the pricing excellence framework. As organizations grow and mature with their pricing strategy, they tend to move higher up in the ladder by delivering value on time to their customers. Building system integrations with appropriate checks and balances puts companies in a position to tweak pricing as needed. This calls for the importance of investing in platforms and technology to power pricing. How can technology power faster price changes? It’s critical to incorporate agility when making price changes. Here are three key factors to consider: 1. Investing In Pricing Software Solutions To Assess Impact Pre Price Change When there is extreme pressure to make price changes, it is important for businesses to validate the changes they make in terms of their bottom line. Imagine doing that on a deal by deal basis manually or as a guesstimate – of course it is going to be time consuming and prone to errors. To avoid rushed decisions, investing in a well thought out pricing software can easily help analyze the impact. Building integrated systems that can connect with data and provide visibility into the P&L become very crucial. Name any kind of pricing: headline, negotiated, product, vertical – having an automated mechanism to pull up the numbers and to back up the decision is crucial. 2. Using A Robust Platform To Perform Timely Price Changes As important as it is for companies to innovate and deliver value to customers, it is equally important to do so in a timely and scalable manner. When the need for time and scale play together, it can get really intimidating sometimes. Looking back at some of the biggest price changes that have been done, I can only be reminded of what Operations team members told us about the days and nights that were saved with the right set of pricing tools in place. Investment in technology can save teams a lot of time and quickly help customers in need. 3. Building Analytics And Insights To Track Post Price Changes What was described above was still a prediction or forecast based on historical data – it is not real. As important as it can be to know the impact before a change is made, it is equally important to have a system in place to measure and report on the actuals. Converting data into information and information into insights will allow companies to close any gaps they may have in their forecasting process. Building capabilities to perform descriptive look back analytics both proactively and reactively will add value to the entire stack. It will also feed into determining the right capabilities to make massive price changes. For example, if there is a trend that indicates the need to change specific price points across certain countries – this will feed into the platform to have a capability that can be flexible enough to make those changes easily and quickly. Last but not least, is the need have a solid process to implement solutions involving all three points above – because they are going to disrupt the way things would have otherwise happened, i.e. at a slow pace with several man-hours going into them. Identifying and implementing a systematic solution with the right pricing tools and processes is just the beginning of a pricing transformation, that requires significant changes within an organization. Change management is crucial to reduce resistance to change, facilitate the organizational transformation, and ensure the adoption of the new systems, tools and processes in organizations that are inherently wired to preserve the “status quo”. About The Author: Kalpana Sundar is director of product management in the Pricing organization at PayPal. She is responsible for building and scaling products and platforms that facilitate price management, pricing sciences and analytics. Kalpana earned her Bachelor of Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy and her MBA in Customer Relationship Management from Symbiosis, Pune.

We're excited to announce that we've now awarded 1700 members their Certified Pricing Professional (CPP) Designations! . Below is a spotlight on our 1,000th CPP Alumni, Marianne Gynde, of Medtronic! We proudly celebrate this accomplishment through her diligent, hard work. About Marianne: Marianne Gynde is a Senior Manager, Pricing of Contracting & Tender Management for Nordics, Baltics & Poland at Medtronic, and has earned the designation of CPP through her hard work and diligence. Based in Denmark, Marianne has been with Medtronic since 2004 and has joined the ranks of the best and brightest in Pricing. “The CPP experience has been great. The program was professionally setup, and gave me new knowledge, new tools, and inspiration for how to do my daily job even better.The face-to-face training I was lucky to participate in has given me a broader network within my own country, and I now have peers in different industries that I can share ideas with, and get further inspiration.” - Marianne Gynde, Medtronic Since 2003, individuals like Marianne have joined the elite designation of the Certified Pricing Professional and used their knowledge to impact the field of Pricing. The CPP certification program is the standard for advanced knowledge and expertise in the field of Pricing. Carrying this designation indicates knowledge and skills in pricing across industries, and is achieved through any combination of online courses and live workshops at our yearly conferences. The certification is maintained by completing 2 credits every 2 years after the initial certification. The re-certification helps PPS maintain the integrity of the program and keeps each alumni informed on current trends and best practices. About The Professional Pricing Society: The Professional Pricing Society (PPS) is a member association of professionals committed to distributing pricing expertise throughout the business world. We provide leading-edge pricing and revenue management best practices. PPS produces up to five major annual pricing conferences in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. PPS also offers more than two dozen, full-day training workshops every year, taught by leaders in the pricing community. These workshops serve as the foundation for PPS’s Certified Pricing Professional (CPP) designation. For more information about the CPP Certification Program, please Visit: pricingsociety.com/ or Contact: Michael Tatonetti michael@pricingsociety.com

Hundreds of professionals from the pricing community joined PPS this Fall for the 2020 Fall Pricing Workshops and Conference Virtual event. We did things differently this year and moved the entire Conference event online! Tapping in to a fresh lineup of well-known Speakers throughout the sales, marketing and pricing industries, we proudly featured Keynote Presentations from Seth Godin, Robbie Kellman Baxter, Tien Tzu and Charlene Li. Hundreds of attendees were captivated by their messages. All Workshop registrants had the opportunity to take a quiz to earn CPP (Certified Pricing Professional Designation) Credits post Workshop sessions and we welcomed new members into the family during our live run. To further meet the needs of our pricing community, we kept the Breakout Sessions and Workshops' familiar setup allowing various featured Speakers to deliever expertise specifically to the crisis of our times. Thank you to all of our Speakers, Sponsors and attendees and thank you to all of our pricing community family. Access the Membership Vault to view over 30 compelling speakers and more than 50 hours of content of the presentations from this epic event. We're keeping you top of mind, especially now when connecting in-person is not an option. Be sure to register for the European and Global Virtual Summit event - free to everyone! https://pricingsociety.com/pages/european-global-virtual-summit