Product Configurator Software

Manufacturers are highly facing competitive differentiation these days. Making their product stand apart has become mandatory for them to survive in the industry. In this scenario, if the finished product is not as per the customers' expected quality or specifications, the business has to undergo delays in project completions, wastage, false starts, and many times even reworks, resulting in a waste of time and money.

In this age, when the customers' preferences matter a lot for the businesses, delivering the right products at the right time is essential, making the use of product configurator software is highly significant. Here, in this buyer's guide, we have included all the vital topics that would allow you to select the best product configurator software that can help you overcome even complex product manufacturing challenges.

A product configurator is a tool that helps the manufactures to portray the features, functionality, and qualities of a product virtually to its customer before the manufacturing process.

The best product configuration software allows you to customize the product, and it enables you to make choices relating to its features, design, color, size, and other features. It also allows you to identify what is feasible and what is not, helping you optimize the entire production process.

Moreover, the top product configurator software allows you to estimate the product’s total manufacturing cost and provide the most accurate quote to the customer.

The product configuration software can be divided based on three aspects: Deployment, Price, and Functionality.

A) Deployment

i) On-premise Product Configurator Software:

On-premises product configurator software is installed and runs on computers on the premises of the person or organization. Deploying an on-premise product configuration software would require you to invest in technical infrastructure and human resources having skills to deploy, run, and maintain the software within your premises.

ii) Cloud-Based Product Configurator Software:

Cloud-based product configurator software refers to applications deployed on the distant servers owned by the software vendors. The users can access the software using their devices and the internet from wherever they want. The benefit of using cloud-based remote work apps is that it would save your infrastructure and technical staff costs. The cloud-based software vendors would manage the task of managing and upgrading the product configurator software.

B) Price

i) Free Product Configurator Software:

Free product configurator software may include basic features. Still, it can be beneficial for freelancers, and startups, as they don't need to invest a considerable amount in staying on top of their work. If you are looking for a free option in this category, you can consider the free and open-source product configuration software available or a cloud-based free software like ShapeDiver. 

ii) Freemium Product Configurator Software:

Freemium product configurator software may include features for some limited days or some restricted features for the premium user. For example, Sketchfab, inkXE, CET Designer, Product Configurator, Zakeke, 360 Product Software, DriveWorks, CPQcart, Product Customizer. You can try using one of these freemium product configurator software before investing in a particular software to minimize your risk level.

iii) Paid Product Configurator Software:

When it comes to selecting a paid remote work software, you need to choose one from the following options:

• Purchase licensed copy of a product configurator software

• Hire a team of developers or a software development company and pay them a mutually agreed amount for their services

• Purchase monthly/yearly subscription of a product configurator software.

C) Functionality

i)  Readymade Product Configurator Software:

Readymade product configurator software includes pre-designed features that cannot be customized as per your business logic.

ii) Customized Product Configurator Software:

The features of the customized product configurator software can be tweaked as per your business preferences. Usually, free and open-source product configurator software that allows changing code comes under this category.

iii) Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) Solution:

Knowledge-based engineering addresses the issue of capturing the knowledge created and used during the product development process and to facilitate re-use of the knowledge in the development of a new product of a similar product family. Knowledge re-use of KBE can save considerable time, cost, and effort at the design phase.

iv) ERP Product Configurators: 

ERP Product configuration tools are meant for enterprise-level organizations having high-end requirements of managing their complicated product configuration tasks with minimum risk.

v) Product Visualization Solutions:

Product visualization solutions is the act of using renderings, images, and artwork to communicate your products to customers visually.

i) A powerful product configurator helps visualize a product in a 2D/ 3D form based on the option selected. It also allows the user to zoom in and out and rotate the product and see all the products’ specific features.

ii) The top product configurator displays the product catalog, allowing the manufacturer to choose the parts, features, and specifications required to configure the final products.

iii)  The product configurator software also automates the process of generating quotes based on the product parts and specifications selected. It also calculates the discounts and taxes based on the set rules, eliminating human errors.

A product configurator software is a tool that facilitates the automatic configuration of products.

The tool allows the user to design and configure 2D and 3D models of products to be manufactured.

It also allows you to add new features and change the existing functions and dimensions of a  product to build a customized product. 

Product configurator is a tool that helps the manufactures to portray the features, functionality, and qualities of a product virtually to their customers before the manufacturing process. 

The best product configuration software allows you to customize the product before the manufacturing process, and it allows you to make choices relating to its features, design, color, size, and other customizable features; it will enable you to identify the realistically possible tasks, which is optimizing the entire production process.

The use of product configurator software is highly significant because of the below-mentioned reasons -

i) Easy to use:

Product configurator software provides the ease to make changes as per the customers’ requirements. It permits the customer to make any kind of changes they want with many customization options. It also enables the customer with the new specifications. And lastly, when all the modifications are made, the software will grant you to visualize the product with augmented reality and virtual reality.

ii) Minimum risk:

Product configurator software allows you to check for the product specifications before the product’s manufacturing, minimizing the chances of rework and wastage.

iii) Helpful in future orders:

Product configuration software also helps the product’s configuration by saving the previous specifications and suggesting them in later production, making the production process easier for future orders.

The benefits of product configuration software are: 

Accuracy & Time-Saving

Product configuration software automates the process of calculating the price of the product based on the components and time likely to be used in the manufacturing process. Manually calculating the estimated cost of a product might be prone to errors causing discrepancies with the customers and loss to the business.

Minimizes risks

The best product configurator software minimizes the risk of getting the wrong product as it allows you to check the specifications of the product before the manufacturing process. Product configurator software will enable you to visualize your customized product with augmented reality and virtual reality. It will also prompt you with various options for your customization with the help of artificial intelligence. Hence, the risk involved with manufacturing any product decreases.

Saves earlier customization

As the product configuration software allows you to save the customization done earlier, it becomes easy and less time consuming for you to configure similar products in the future.

While selecting the product configurator software, the key considerations are:

Integration With Other Tools: 

The product configurator software you use should integrate with other applications and tools you use in your organization to get advanced functionality and save your time & efforts.

Mobile Access: 

The product configurator software you choose should be mobile-friendly and work on different platforms like iOS, Android, Windows, etc., allowing you to work without any technical glitches.

Accuracy:

An accurate product configuration software would allow you to display the right information about the products to your prospects, win more conversions, and grow your business.

Speed:

The product configuration software you select should allow collaboration within the teams, clients, and stakeholders working on the same project. This helps in suggesting and implementing changes to the products quickly and accomplishing predefined goals with speed.

Flexibility:

The product configurator software you select should be flexible enough to support multiple currencies, pricing models, recurring billing, etc., helping you to create quotes as per the customers' preferences and your working methodologies.

Scalability:

The growth of the business is inevitable. Whether you own a small, medium, or enterprise-level business, the product configuration software should suit your business size. But at the same time, you need to ensure that your product configurator has the ability to scale with your business; otherwise, it would get obsolete quickly, and that would not be worth your investment.

Deployment:

Software deployment includes all of the steps, processes, and activities that are required to make a software system or update available to its intended users. Software deployment is one of the most critical aspects deciding its level of usability. So, you need to ensure that the deployment method offered by the product configurator you select should suit your organization's infrastructure, resources, and technical capabilities.

Price:

The software price should be one of the considerations compared to the product configurator software’s facilities. The price should be according to the specification and the features available with the software.

Functionality:

You need to ensure that the functionality of the product configurator software you select should be user-friendly and suit your business logic.

Latest trends seen in the product configuration software are:

Augmented Reality (AR): 

Product configuration software with augmented reality features enables you to virtually showcase the impact of different options like colors, patterns, and other specifications on the product and how they react with other components in the surrounding environment. This would help in increasing sales and decrease product return rates. ECommerce companies highly use it for selling products like clothing, furniture, etc.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality enabled product configurators allow providing an immersive experience to the customers as if they are really using the products. When there are diversified product configurations required to showcase to the customers located in different geographical locations, VR supports manufacturers and sellers in providing product experiences to the customers and make changes to the product configurations on a real-time basis from any place in the world.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The term may also be applied to any device that exhibits traits associated with a human mind. Artificial intelligence in product configuration Software helps store and collect all the previous manufactured orders and suggest the relevant modifications when another customer uses the product configurator software. Artificial intelligence helps keep and analyze the customers, preferences, and then present the appropriate transformation.

Cloud Computing: 

Product configuration software working on cloud computing concepts can provide users with a high level of product customization freedom. It can integrate with manufacturing resources within a cloud environment enhancing the capabilities of configuring products and interaction between manufacturers and customers.

Machine Learning:

Machine Learning (ML) features in a product configurator allow manufacturers to reduce the time between request and delivery as it helps in building the products with the exact configuration required. It also helps in automating the process of ordering the raw material below a particular threshold and meeting project commitments.

Not using product configurator software has many drawbacks:

Lack of real-time experience:

One of the benefits of the product configurator software is that it gives you a real-time experience of your product. It becomes challenging to convince customers to buy the products without showing them how the product works practically, and so your sales figures cannot improve without a product configurator software.

Increased risk:

When you use the product configurator software, you get to add many customizations and visualize your product. But, by not using the configurator software, you increase the risk of manufacturing the wrong product.

Prone to errors:

Product configurator software also helps calculate the customized product giving you the correct quotation of the product, whereas manual calculations can result in wrong estimations and quotations.

Fewer customization options:

Not using product configurator software means not having the facility to display different variations in the product virtually. This increases the cost of transport and waste of time and money both.

• A configurator software allows your customer to list the exact specifications they are looking for in a product. 
• A product configuration software helps save time to calculate the cost easily without any human errors. It also minimizes the risk of getting the wrong product as it allows you to check the specifications of the product before the manufacturing process. 
• It also allows you to capture the knowledge created and used during the product development process and facilitate re-use of the knowledge in developing a new product of a similar product family.
• Configurators are great for the complex product as it eases the vendor’s work by allowing the product to be pieced together by the customers themselves. 
• Product configurator software helps your team collaborate and work, ensuring the correct manufacturing of the product.
• Configurator makes for great marketing, as it brings out the creative spirit in people. Customers get artistically invested in “their” product creation. It helps in great marketing because people get connected to their product as they design it.

There are many product configurator software available with monthly subscription as well as a yearly subscription and one-time subscription plans. Starting with Monthly subscriptions, which range from $79/month to $599/month. For example, Sketchfab is available for $79/month, Expivi is available for $99/month, 3D Product Configurator is available for $103.85/month, inkyROBO is available for $299/month and Synoptive for $599/month. 

If you are not comfortable with the monthly subscription charges, you can also go for a yearly subscription offered by CET Designer at $ 1075 / Year. 

You can also go for a one-time subscription offered by LiveArt HTML5 Product Designer at $1270, inkXE at $2999, and Sofon Guided Solutions at $ 30,0000. 

As all these product configurator software tools differ in terms of features, specifications, and facilities, you cannot consider only the price at the time of selection; you need to check features and specifications to make the right selection. 

There are many product configurator software available that includes a free version with limited features. For example, a product configurator tool like Zakeke offers 14 days of a free trial. Within the free trial period, you can check whether the software's features suffice your business needs or not.

To ease your process of selecting the best product configurator, we would like you to go through the Goodfirms’ list of the best configurator software because -

• Goodfirms has an experienced and skilled team of researchers that includes only those configurator software built using the latest technologies and features.
• Goodfirms follows a professional and systematic approach while curating this list of the best product configurator software.
• The users’ legit ratings and reviews for each configurator software mentioned on Goodfirms' list would give you clear visibility over the right software.
• As Goodfirms consistently updates the configurator software list with emerging software and technologies, it becomes easy for you to select the trending functionality.