Our client's business outcomes

Pricing operations secured for €300M of ARR ​
Significant margin lifts​
Over 20 new products priced, including AI solutions​
How did BearingPoint run the pricing operations of a B2B SaaS editor until it found its new Pricing Director?​
The challenge​

How did BearingPoint run the pricing operations of a B2B SaaS editor until it found its new Pricing Director?​

Our client faced the unexpected departure of its Pricing Director with no short-term replacement option and critical projects to deliver. BearingPoint urgently provided pricing experts to: ​

  • Ensure continuity by running pricing operations (under the client’s control)​
  • Gather and record internal knowledge to pass it on to the future director​
  • Share expert and supportive insights to improve current practices ​

Our client, a renowned publishing and software solutions firm in the B2B sector, faced a significant risk on revenues when their pricing director left with a 1-month notice and a non-staffed pricing department. With on-going critical projects (subscription model redesign, new offers to price, CPQ implementation) the client couldn't afford to leave pricing operations unattended. With no internal candidate ready to take over and a recruitment lead time of 6-9 months for such profiles, they turned to BearingPoint for urgent support.

How we helped

How we helped

To ensure continuity of service, we filled in the full-scope role including day-to-day activities and contribution to ongoing transformation projects.​

Daily pricing operations encompassed:​

  • Deal support (tailored prices, discount management…)​
  • Price revisions of the current offer catalogue​
  • Pricing performance management and adjustments​

In addition, transformation projects included:​

  • Implementing a new CPQ system​
  • Developing new subscription models (including token-based AI-offering)​
  • Pricing new products and services​

Within a few days we selected and validated with the client the most adequate profiles amongst our pricing team. ​

Then within the pricing director’s last three weeks, we set up an extensive ramp-up process to quickly get up to speed and running on their pricing operations while taking the necessary time to understand and adopt their ways of working:​

  • Getting hands on: 1st week of observation > 2nd week of collaboration > 3rd week of supervised autonomy (timing adjusted to the allotted transition time). This approach enabled us to quickly familiarize ourselves with the client's ways of working. ​
  • Being pragmatic: managing risks by first securing day-to-day operations (€300M ARR worth of pricing operations) and recurring tasks and then catching up on "build" projects.​
  • Mastering the industry’s specificities: understanding our client offering and market position within the industry, learning current trends & rules including pricing specific regulations by interviewing company key stakeholders and BearingPoint market experts.​
  • Drawing upon the culture of writing: formalizing unwritten rules and enhancing existing pricing documentation to facilitate the successor's onboarding.​
  • Taking a step back: delivering a flash diagnosis report to uncover potential unrealized value both on pricing and adjacent topics (marketing, sales, and operations…) leveraging our consulting quantitative analysis toolkit combined with an outside view.
The results

The results

Our client provided very positive feedback on our work: ​

  • €300M ARR worth of pricing operations secured plus a successful implementation of tactical price hikes generating significant margin lifts.​
  • > 20 new offers priced (products and services) in coordination with product owners and marketing teams, including an initiative related to AI-driven products​
  • Design and implementation of a new anti-churn pricing model, including business case development, sales staff training, systems impact assessment, and back-office playbook creation. ​
  • Contribution to the ongoing CPQ implementation project as pricing subject matter experts.​
  • Identification of significant areas for improvement - such as underreporting of users and overconsumption of tokens not billed to customer – and action plan to address them.​
  • After 9 months of continuous support, a smooth handover of the activities to the newly hired pricing director. ​

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