Entering the cloud
My first project working with the SAP Cloud portfolio introduced me to one of the world’s biggest and most successful chemical companies. Throughout its history, this German company has invented many famous and helpful tools that we use in our every-day lives. Today its innovations support a wide variety of industries, including automotive manufacturing and supply, consumer products, sports, and leisure.
Starting with customer service
Looking to improve customer experience, the company needed a way to manage all customer requests in one system. The SAP Cloud for Service solution was a natural fit. The project involved a complete online overhaul, which included a rearrangement of all the company’s Web sites, as well as a redesign of its communication center. The communication center handles a wide variety of inquiries from customers and prospects, so it needed a system that could manage and serve requests from multiple channels, including e-mail, online forms, and telephone. SAP Cloud for Service will now route inquiries from any channel to the right department, allowing the teams to address them efficiently and effectively.
Providing flexibility and scalability
It was also crucial that the solution be flexible and scalable in order to keep up with changing business requirements. Due to time and budget restrictions, the company chose a staged deployment approach for the SAP Cloud for Customer solution. It was decided to launch SAP Cloud for Service in the first phase as a stand-alone solution and then concentrate on further extensions and process integration..
Future enhancements that are already in planning include:
· - Introduction of mobile applications to provide users with anytime, anywhere access
· - Integration with the SAP Customer Relationship Management application to keep account managers constantly up-to-date on their customers
· - Social media integration to further improve customer service
· - Social media analytics to provide greater insight into customer needs and improve future go-to-market strategies
Succeeding as a team
Close collaboration between SAP software consultants and the customer team is key to a successful implementation of SAP Cloud for Customer. It is not just about setting up the system and handing it over – we must always keep the users in focus and be sure their needs are being met. With this in mind from the start, we configured the initial system and then held a series of workshops to train key users. We walked them through how to configure every required function, and saw, yet again, that “learning by doing” is essential to getting any system up and running and users up to speed. Once training and orientation was complete, it was time to let the users take the solution for a test drive.
There were a few custom requirements that needed further development, providing a great opportunity to engage with the customer team in a true partnership. Working closely to make sure the system did exactly what users needed it to do resulted in a successful project overall and a very positive customer experience. And working to solve current business objectives while helping the company prepare for the future was a positive experience for all of us.
A bright future
Having taken its first step into the cloud, there is a whole new world of opportunity just ahead for this giant of the chemicals industry.
In the end, the implementation of SAP Cloud for Service freed our customer from an isolated application, giving it the flexibility it needed to serve its own customers better. Plus, the careful user training and friendly user interface resulted in fast and wide acceptance across the company. Now ready to take on the future in the cloud, this is one happy and enthusiastic SAP customer.
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