Why A Single Platform Is the Future of Revenue Management

Revenue management has changed, and I’ve seen it happen up close — first as the leader of revenue operations for Salesforce and now as GM of Revenue Cloud.

Not long ago, businesses could get by selling products through a linear sales process. Now, we’re monetizing everything from subscriptions to usage-based services, digital offerings, partner-led motions, and more. Revenue is no longer a single channel — it’s an ecosystem. And frankly, the old tools just can’t keep up. They’re rigid, siloed, and locked into outdated business models.

So what’s the solution? Point solutions you clumsily tie together? 

No. The solution is rebuilding revenue management tech so it serves as the connective tissue across the entire revenue lifecycle, unifying sales, service, partners, finance, and beyond to power revenue from anywhere. 

Macro forces are reshaping revenue strategies

First, a bit of context. Four massive forces are reshaping how companies sell, demanding a new kind of agility that legacy systems just can’t deliver. They are, in brief: the growth of omnichannel revenue and hybrid revenue models, global market and economic changes, and AI.

Revenue is coming from everywhere

In 2025, revenue doesn’t flow from just one channel. It flows from many: direct sales, partners, marketplaces, self-service portals, mobile apps, and more. Today’s buyers want to jump between channels seamlessly. Imagine a customer trying to navigate a multi-channel sale on a smorgasbord of tools that don’t talk to each other. It becomes clear very quickly that only a single, integrated platform can handle the handoffs — and make the experience seamless.

For example, a customer might start a quote via self-service but then reach out to a sales rep for help. If the company is leveraging a single revenue management platform, the rep can open the same quote, continue the conversation, and finalize the deal, all without losing context.  

Product and market complexity push for hybrid revenue models 

Companies are no longer selling just one-time products or subscriptions — they are also selling usage-based products. And they’re monetizing their product portfolio with a mix of all three. This hybrid approach can be a nightmare for legacy systems, but with an integrated revenue platform, you can sell consumption-based products, subscriptions, and one-time sales all on a single transaction.

Imagine a manufacturing company selling a machine (one-time), a service warranty (subscription), and a usage-based maintenance package billed per machine hour — all included in a single quote and invoiced with penny-perfect accuracy. That kind of flexibility is a game-changer for meeting evolving customer needs and simplifying operations. Can daisychained tech stacks manage it? No. But a revenue platform that supports multiple revenue models can. 

Global economic waves add pressure to sales teams

Tariffs, regulations, and market conditions shift quickly. Pricing and packaging decisions that once took months now need to happen in days — or even hours. Yet disconnected tech stacks make it hard to keep up. Enter a single platform solution — one with a centralized product catalog, updated in real time, that allows you to adapt quickly. Make changes to meet the market once and deploy across all channels in hours or days, not weeks.

AI agents become table stakes for revenue growth

Everyone talks about AI, but it’s important to distinguish true AI from workflow automation. Automation is like an “if, then” action based on a trigger, where the execution encompasses one or two rote tasks that don’t require complex logic. 

AI — more specifically, an AI agent — goes beyond basic automation by not just executing tasks. It assists, advises, and accelerates decisions using reasoning that analyzes and acts on comprehensive deal, product, and customer data autonomously.

For example, with access to a company’s complete product, pricing, and deal data, a quoting agent can generate quotes and amendments intelligently, ensuring compliance while streamlining approvals. That means reps can focus their energy on the human side of selling. 

This human-plus-AI collaboration is the future of revenue management — but it’s only possible when you bring your revenue management together on a single platform.

It’s time to eliminate the “messy middle”

Here’s the problem: Most businesses are relying on disconnected systems. They’ve layered point solutions, spreadsheets, and homegrown tools on top of one another and tried to connect them between CRM and ERP. They’ve created what I like to call the “messy middle.” 

This messy middle is expensive. It’s fragile. It opens your company up to risk and lost revenue. It creates data chaos that limits the potential of AI and agents.

All of this delays deals, which slows revenue.

It’s time for a mindset shift. We need to move away from the jittery juggling act of data and tools that plagues revenue management, to one platform where insights are available in real-time and AI has the clean data it needs to accelerate deals.

Our solution: a newly-minted Revenue Cloud, rebuilt as a unified, single platform that gives reps the product and pricing tools they need to close fast, and the insights sales and finance leaders need to determine the most impactful revenue strategies.

Reintroducing Revenue Cloud: Built for any revenue model, any channel, any process

Let’s start by acknowledging our roots: Salesforce CPQ was our original product in this space. It is a key part of what we now recognize as the second wave of CPQ, which emerged as quoting evolved to support subscriptions and recurring revenue models. While it is now end-of-sale, it remains fully supported for existing customers. You can continue to renew contracts, add licenses, and operate as usual — there’s no forced migration. This is a great product, it fits the needs of many of our customers, and it’s not going anywhere. 

What we’re delivering with the new Revenue Cloud is the third wave of CPQ.

We’ve taken everything we’ve learned from our customers — across industries and use cases — and reimagined revenue management for a new era. The result: An API-first, composable, and agent-ready platform that allows revenue to flow seamlessly across every channel, from sales reps and partner portals to self-service and field service. It’s not just a quoting tool — it’s a fully unified revenue platform that includes CPQ, contracts, orders, billing, and more, all built natively on Salesforce and designed to manage the entire revenue lifecycle.

Let’s take a closer look:

Adapt and scale fast with an API-first platform 

Revenue Cloud is API-first by design, and we mean that in the deepest possible sense.

When we say API-first, we’re not just talking about ease of integration. We’re talking about full exposure of every revenue-critical business process — quoting, pricing, ordering, billing — as modular, plug-and-play APIs. Every operation has an API. There’s no operation in Revenue Cloud that can’t be done through an API. This is what makes us more agent-ready than any other solution. Agents need to take action, and business APIs enable those actions, giving them the power to operate quickly, efficiently, and autonomously.  

This is the power behind Revenue Cloud. It’s not just a product — it’s a composable revenue platform, which means you can drop any capability on any channel where revenue is generated.

Want to quote a product inside Slack? There’s an API for that.

Want a partner to sell through their own portal? There’s an API for that.

Want to allow your customers to browse your catalog and see pricing? Yep, there are APIs for these, too.

Contrast that with legacy CPQ systems where it’s all or nothing, where the business logic is trapped, integrations are brittle, and you’re stuck working within one tool, one screen, one workflow. That doesn’t scale in today’s digital world.

With Revenue Cloud, you can even run your entire revenue process headlessly. Just connect your channels, add your agent on top, and go.

But API-first doesn’t mean API-only. Revenue Cloud also offers a modern, intuitive user experience fully embedded in Salesforce. So whether your team prefers clicks, code, or both, Revenue Cloud adapts to how you work.

Streamline selling across channels with a single product catalog

How do we support all channels? It starts with the product catalog, and it’s central to everything we do.

Our catalog lets you manage a single SKU across every channel. Let’s say you want customers to see a set list price, Partner A to see a negotiated price, and direct sellers to be able to apply discounts in certain cases. This Revenue Cloud unified catalog is what powers this, offering consistent pricing, packaging, and availability everywhere. And because it is composable and API-driven, you can expose different capabilities without exposing other capabilities. For instance, you can ensure customers browse and configure products but not quote, while partners quote and manage orders through their portals.

Power your workflow with the Dynamic Revenue Orchestration 

Speaking of orders, they don’t stop evolving after they’re placed. Dynamic Revenue Orchestration (DRO) is your order processor, designed to decompose complex orders, orchestrate fulfillment flows, and automate downstream processes like billing, revenue recognition, and compensation. With its drag-and-drop interface, deep automation, and custom rules, DRO puts you in control, letting you adapt quickly and deliver exceptional service, even after the sale is done.

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Dive into all of the features of our Summer 2025 release

From the product catalog to DRO and beyond, Revenue Cloud has more than doubled the features of Salesforce CPQ in just one year since launch. And with the upcoming Summer ’25 Release — our most substantial yet— we’re delivering powerful new capabilities across AI, configuration, consumption, and more.

Meet your new teammate: The Quoting Agent

This is one of the features I’m most excited about. We’re launching our first AI-powered revenue agent, built directly into Revenue Cloud Advanced (RCA).

The Quoting Agent is more than automation. It’s a true teammate that can:

• Use natural language to automatically generate quotes and amendments based on your business rules
• Ensure compliance and streamline the approval process

It’s fast, it’s intelligent, and it’s integrated directly into your workflows. And because Revenue Cloud is API-first, this isn’t the only agent at your disposal — you can build custom agents to handle everything from contracts to billing.

Make complex deals a snap with the Product Configurator

The Product Configurator in Revenue Cloud Advanced (RCA) is an absolute game-changer, especially for industries like high-tech and manufacturing.

Gone are the days when rules were the only option. We’re now introducing constraint-based logic to reduce rule volume, manage nested dependencies, and accelerate configuration. There are two interfaces to support different users:

• Visual Builder: Designed for business users (yes, clicks, not code)
• Configuration Modeling Language (CML) Editor: Built for developers who want full control over product configuration logic, rules, and models

We’re also adding real-time asset logic as part of a simplified admin experience, making configuration both more powerful and easier to manage. And if you still prefer to use rules, we have you covered.

Embrace consumption easily

Consumption isn’t a fad — it’s the new normal. If you’re delivering AI-powered conversations, cloud-based messaging, or event-driven customer experiences, you know customers want to pay for what they use. Revenue Cloud’s consumption management features make that model actually work. Here’s how:

• Granular grant binding lets you define usage rules down to the object level
• Real-time rating removes delays from outdated syncs
• The new wallet dashboard gives visibility into usage and entitlements in real time

Plus, it’s all traceable, end-to-end — transparency your customers (and auditors) will appreciate.

Make smarter decisions with embedded Tableau Next

Finally, you can’t drive revenue without good data. That’s why we’re embedding Tableau Next, our AI-powered analytics platform, directly into Revenue Cloud. Whether you’re a seller or a finance lead, you’ll have personalized dashboards that provide the insights you need for better decision-making. And because it’s API-first, these insights can be seamlessly integrated wherever you transact.

Here are four dashboards that can help you make smarter choices in real time:

• Pricing Analytics: Access key KPIs and insights to track and manage your pricing strategy end to end
• Subscription Revenue Analytics: Monitor trends like monthly recurring revenue, annual recurring revenue, and renewal rates to track business performance and revenue generation
• Embedded Order Analysis: View order fulfillment status directly from the order page
• Billing Central Dashboard: Track invoice health, identify issues, and optimize billing efficiency in one central place

It’s time to rethink your revenue management

The future of revenue is here. But too many businesses are still duct-taping spreadsheets, outdated ERP systems, and homegrown tools together. It’s brittle. It’s error-prone. And it just can’t keep up.

Revenue Cloud is something different. It’s:

• API-first, so you can sell anywhere
• Composable, so you can flex and adapt fast
• Agent-first, so you can move at today’s speed
• Integrated, so you can work seamlessly from product to cash

It’s the connective tissue that lets you unify sales, service, partners, and commerce into a single, intelligent revenue platform.

We’re not just talking about this — we’re using it and evolving it alongside our customers. If you’re ready to break away from the limitations of the past and build for the future, join us.

Let’s reimagine revenue together.