T-Mobile featured prominently at SAPPHIRE NOW 2014 earlier this summer. During the keynote, Kari Escobedo, VP of IT Development at T-Mobile, addressed the capacity crowd following a riveting video featuring CEO John Legere, showcasing the Un-carrier successes over the past year. 
T-Mobile’s efforts to get closer to their customers are emblematic of this year’s SAPPHIRE NOW Innovation, Simplification and Cloud themes.
The company with the fastest nationwide 4G LTE network in the United States is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless through both product and service innovations. SAP is redefining the way organizations handle complexity and simplification and the synergy was apparent during a presentation on device lifecycles through a global supply chain delivered by Andreas Sauerbrei, Director of IT Development at T-Mobile.
Sauerbrei is the person responsible for complex supply chain solutions yet his magnetic personality belies that of your average IT person. During Sapphire Now he delivered a presentation where he discussed how T-Mobile is able to “Track and Trace” smart phones and tablets with SAP Object Event Repository and SAP HANA Sidecar.
The SAP Newsroom team caught up with Mr.Sauerbrei behind the scenes in Orlando and asked him about his thoughts on the themes of the day as well as the future. Below are his responses to a few “Run simple.” style questions.
What are your thoughts on Innovation?
“The key to innovation is having a partnership between the business side and IT. I’m more or less the face of IT to the business side. And that’s where SAPPHIRE NOW comes in, to learn what’s coming next and where your customers are going. We come back with ideas- for example, what we can put next in the Cloud.”
What does Track and Trace do for you?
“A key business factor is learning all we can about the lifecycle of devices. So for us it’s critical to have the ability to track those devices throughout their entire lifespan, from warehouse to the retail store, to when the customer activates or buys insurance. SAP Track and Trace immeasurably improves our visibility of the end to end lifecycle customer device.”
How does this help you “Run simple.”?
“The SAP Object Event Repository (OER) solution has allowed us to get even closer to our customer. Rather than pulling time consuming reports, T-Mobile representatives can spend time with the customer and better understand their specific pain points. This is great news for T-Mobile customers, as Track and Trace data is now combined with existing data to help cater to individual customer needs and preferences. Clearly we’re talking about better simplification here and our goal is simple too.”
What opportunities do you see with the Cloud?
“We’re looking at the Cloud in many areas across the board-from supply chain to CRM to Spend Management to email. So I think there will be a huge opportunity for Cloud in many areas including via Ariba. In fact, the connectivity that occurred between SAP and Ariba was a game changer for T-Mobile.”
As Andreas eloquently explained,with SAP OER and SAP HANA, T Mobile is also now better able to make device lifecycle management decisions and enable new capabilities for managing serialized assets include device tracking, streamlining device warranty processes and alert reminders for customers. They can also better monitor their network to track and measure process irregularities across many locations within their 70,000 points of distribution.
SAP Track and Trace all starts with a unique serial number embedded within each device during manufacturing that’s used at later key times with a simple scanning system. Retail associates now have instant insight into devices in the stores and the phones or tablets are now also easily tracked during the return and refurbishment process.
A few benefits of the SAP Object Event Repository solution include:
. Scalable platform for high volume, real-time events capable of processing more than one million events per day 10X faster.
. Single source of device related event data delivering enhanced collaboration and transparency across lines of business, channels and brands.
. Improved visibility of customer, logistic and device events such as receipts, shipments, trade -ins, returns and transfers.
. Exception based reporting, dashboards, alerts and workflow capabilities, including inventory aging, theft or loss.
America’s fastest growing wireless carrier is building on the idea that sophisticated technology doesn’t have to be complicated technology. As seen at SAPPHIRE NOW 2014, device lifecycle management simplification results in better outcomes and a closer walk with your customers, or when it comes to T-Mobile over 49+ million customers!
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