What is a configurator?

What is a configurator?

A configurator enables clients to compose products or services themselves: online, in real time and without the involvement of a salesperson. From simple product options to complex 3D configuration: the type that fits depends on your product, your target group and your sales process. On this page you read which types exist, when you choose for custom work and what a configurator trajectory looks like.

In the background a configuration engine runs: a set of rules that determines which combinations are possible. That engine can be simple, but also very complex with thousands of components, dependencies and exceptions that together form a unique product.

Why configurators accelerate B2B sales.

A configurator does 24 hours a day what a salesperson does in a quotation conversation: explore options, explain consequences and propose a suitable combination. Without time pressure, without errors in the calculation, without unnecessary email rounds. Through self service configuration, sales costs go down.

When do you choose a custom configurator?

Standard CPQ tools Configure Price Quote software platforms that support quotation configuration work well for standard problems. But as soon as your product logic becomes more complex than the platform can handle, you start to bypass the rules. With workarounds and scripts that become increasingly difficult to maintain.

You need custom work if your product logic is too complex for a generic platform, if you need deep integration with your ERP or PIM, if the user experience is a core part of your proposition, or if the output of the configurator such as a quotation, order or 3D model must flow directly into other systems.

How does Cube build a configurator?

The real complexity is not in the front end, but in the engine: the logic that determines which combinations are possible, how the price is calculated, and which output is generated.

Making business rules explicit,

Which options exclude each other? Which choice affects the price of the next step? When is a combination technically possible but commercially undesirable? These rules often exist scattered: in the minds of product specialists, in Excel sheets, in legacy systems. The first step is to translate them into a rule set that the configurator can enforce.

Integration with existing systems.

A standalone configurator creates extra work rather than less. That is why standard integrations with ERP, CRM, PIM, and quotation tools are used. For Nou this means a real-time connection with AFAS for prices, stock, and conditions. For Pure Energie the engine runs on energy rates and consumption profiles that fluctuate continuously.

A front end that feels simple.

At Techmar, customers assemble their complete 12-volt lighting system and take a visual overview to the point of sale. At Thermen Resorts, guests combine treatments, dining, overnight stays, and packages into a single booking, with upsell that feels like service.

Where the real value lies.

The configurator not only replaces a manual process, but makes combinations visible that a salesperson would not spontaneously offer. Not digitizing a form, but expanding what a customer can do independently.