Here is the most simple success formula ever. It will drive business success by strengthening customer and industry trust. It will efficiently combine SAP project teams and customers. The formula is: Engage, engage, engage.
This eager concept has been put into practice at SAP. And it works well. Since April 2009, the SAP Customer Engagement Initiative (CEI) is working to bring together project groups with customers early and regularly in the development process. That means that SAP project teams can work on projects and prototypes matching exactly the market requirements and needs based on feedback given by customers. The initiative fosters close interaction between SAP projects and customers or partners by providing a structured approach and a legal framework.
With regard to SAP Research, this holds true for the team from SAP Software Engineering and Tools in Dresden, where they are working on new technologies for the international freight transport and logistics domain. Together with SAP customers, the research team works on collaboration services for a future on-demand platform. That way - both - customer requirements and direct feedback can be taken into account when developing new services. “When I first learned about the Customer Engagement Initiative at SAP, I immediately saw a great opportunity for bringing SAP Research closer to SAP’s customers. Involving customers at this very stage can be quite complicated both from a legal and an organizational perspective. The CEI takes care of all these aspects which allow us to fully concentrate on the collaboration with our customers,” explains Michael Stollberg, Senior Researcher and responsible for the CEI Project in Dresden.
Some of many services include administrative and coordinative support of the project team. A core service is to help in finding experienced customers that offer feedback and are interested in being involved.
„For SAP, this initiative is a tremendous chance because we can go out and get feedback from real customers and partners. This collaboration guarantees that we include feedback that is relevant and needed for the projects to succeed,” states Barbara Körner from the CEI.
The SAP Customer Engagement Initiative enables SAP customers or partners to help SAP better understand future business challenges.
Are you interested in the participation in CEI projects and providing feedback to SAP? Please send an email to cei@sap.com and get informed about the next opportunities to engage in SAP projects – the registration for the next round of CEI starts in October 2012.
So engage, people!
