SAP solutions are at last available directly to consumers, the company announced this month. Its device-agnostic SAP Store offers about 100 business applications from SAP and others for individual users, who can configure these apps by themselves -- no need to call IT or hire implementation consultants.
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| “Now it’s all about us as individuals, and problems that we want to solve,” SAP Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Becher said. “And when we solve them, we don’t want to wait.” |
“It’s simple for consumers to get apps whenever the mood strikes them, but in enterprises it’s typically a different story,” CIO.com stated during SAPPHIRE NOW earlier this month. “The SAP Store is a key part of the digital-business push ... to allow enterprise users to buy software from SAP without the need for a purchase order, invoice or lengthy request-for-proposal process.”
Buying Simple
Talk about Running Simple, there’s no negotiating contracts at the SAP Store -- just transparent pricing and a one-click agreement. And not all customers will need to seek it out.
“You don’t always have to go to the store,” SAP’s Chief Digital Officer jonathan.becher said during a demonstration of the SAP Store at the SAP Digital kiosk at SAPPHIRE NOW. “In some cases, the store will come to you.”
One such case is the free version of SAP Lumira, a data visualization tool that combines real-time analytics with infographics, diagrams and other graphics to express what’s happening in data. Users can access extra features after paying for them through a pop-up window within Lumira.
“Historically, SAP has sold to companies themselves ... now it’s all about us as individuals, and problems that we want to solve,” Becher said. “And when we solve them, we don’t want to wait for our own IT department; we don’t want to wait for our own purchasing department.”
The tagline on SAP Digital’s kiosk said it all: “Want now. Buy now. Use now.”
“You should be able to go from purchase to being productive in 15 minutes,” Becher said.
Shifting Gears
Shifting to a business-to-consumer model, as well as digitally native products, is part of a SAP’s emphasis on simplifying the user experience. Toward that end, the SAP Store is based on the omni-channel market solution hybris Commerce Suite, along with the in-memory platform SAP HANA and SAP Simple Finance management software on the backend.
“The enterprise software giant is devoting the new SAP Digital business unit to this effort,” ZDNet stated during SAPPHIRE NOW earlier this month, “making it safe to assume SAP will focus heavily on the digitally native concept going forward.”
That heavy focus includes creating the position of chief digital officer, which Becher is the first to occupy. To see Becher’s demonstration -- and get a look at the future of business cards -- check out this video:
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