“What? SAP offers software that replaces telephone systems? You must be kidding!” ...
... that’s what we initially thought, too. Then we discovered that SAP BCM is not only a cost-efficient replacement for traditional phone systems, but one that delights customers while making call center agents’ lives easier. It’s a win for all!
It all started small
SAP IT needed to replace its legacy call center infrastructure. We looked at various options. SAP BCM promised to not just be a replacement, but a move to a true multi-channel contact center platform – one that even integrates with SAP CRM.
Today, we’re continuing to roll it out to more and more contact centers around the world, whether for internally facing helpdesks (HR, Finance, or IT), or externally facing teams in Sales and Marketing. Once the first systems were installed, demand increased by far more than what we ever imagined.
Intelligent Routing
When a call comes in to SAP BCM, the system’s “intelligent routing” feature automatically sends the call to the appropriate department or representative. That saves time and frustration for our customers.
Then, through the interface with SAP CRM, the rep can immediately address the caller by name, and access his or her complete history. So there’s no need for the caller to search for an account number or other ID – and no waiting while the rep accesses the caller’s file.
Other key features that make SAP BCM a pleasure to use include:
- Mobility: Our reps can take and place calls whenever and wherever they are logged on to the SAP Network
- Directory/addressbook: Our reps can search and dial their contacts directly
- Copy and paste: Our reps can copy and paste numbers from websites, e-mails, and documents
- Profiles: Our reps can define BCM‘s behavior via “Profiles” For instance, they can forward a call to any number/device such as their mobile phone, or they can redirect to voicemail
- Shortdials: reps can dial into Web collaboration sessions with just two mouse clicks
- Voicemail: Our reps can listen to voicemails in BCM, in Outlook, or from their mobile phones
- Choice of client: Our reps can choose between the lightweight “Convergence” client or various flavors of workplace environments with fully embedded telephony, e-mail, or chat functionality.
No Switching, No Handsets
Best of all, there’s no need to keep or replace costly telephone switching systems (PBXes) or costly phone handsets. The entire BCM application is supported on our servers – including virtual servers – and works through the rep’s desktop or laptop PC, with a variety of certified headsets.
That way, our people can use it anywhere they have a reasonable quality Internet connection – whether in the office, at home, or on the road. And if the employee’s Internet connection is unavailable, it can even ring their mobile device or home office phone.
Continuous Improvement
Together with SAP development we continue to upgrade and improve SAP BCM, adding features that make it more intelligent, convenient, and reliable. For instance, we’re adding improved metrics, and enabling native integration with SAP BusinessObjects for dynamic reporting.
And, we’ll be adding even more sophisticated quality assurance features for supervisors, enabling them to review recorded calls – or monitor them in real time.
Going Global
The initial ignition for our SAP BCM implementation was a simple mandate from co-CEO Bill McDermott to “digitize our e-centers.” We started with inbound and outbound telesales and telemarketing teams, we then expanded to HR and Finance Shared Service Centers. And we are continuing with the rollout of SAP BCM to a wide range of other departments, including the travel office.
The latest SAP BCM deployments were done exclusively remotely. Our team members in Belgium, for example, remotely deployed a SAP BCM system for the SAP office in South Korea and trained users without a single physical trip being needed.
Facts and Figures
In total, as of December 2013,
- there's 17 sites live with SAP BCM, that's 2,500 users
- the system processes more than 200,000 calls per month, that's 2.5 million minutes
- plus, BCM routes 2,000 e-mails, 5,000 voicemails and 700 chats.
And we have only just begun.
Want to know more about SAP BCM? Click here.