The Customer Experience Strategy for SAP Business ByDesign

I talked yesterday about the type of  experience SAP is trying to create for its customers.  Today, I want to talk about why such an experience is needed. 

The  Journal (subscription required) quoted Henning:

"We're not just launching a new product," Chief Executive Henning Kagermann said in an interview. "We're creating a new business model and a new market."

To pull that off, SAP itself is going to have to learn a new bag of tricks. The company can no longer build the software and collect its fees all at once. It must now help firms set up and use the software on a continuing basis, something that is usually done at big companies by fleets of consultants. And its sales force, used to courting big, tech-savvy customers, now must sell in large volumes at lower prices to more inexperienced customers.

But its not just what we are doing.. its how we are to do it.  Henning said it, "We're creating a new business model" and one of the foundations of that model is an entirely new customer experience.  I've referenced this before but it is worth repeating...we recognize that the economics of the software market have changed. We recognize that it is a conversation economy and that consumers consume our information and software using similar tools and techniques to the way they consume a car or a phone.  We recognize that our customers are holistic!  This is an important point.  I don't know about you but I'm the same person in the office as I am at home (for better or worse :) ... I don't check my personality or capabilities at the door.  So the consumer orientation I have when my wife and I shop for a home stays with me. We recognize that in order for SAP to be successful in this market, customers must be in control of the buying cycle and that the notion of a "sales cycle" evaporates out of the SAP vocabulary.  So our customer experience strategy is a simple one but difficult to execute given our corporate DNA:

1. Put the customer in control - of the content they desire, the community he/she wishes to join, the product he wants to touch and feel. Make it a DIY experience with support as needed.
2. Provide a free personalized trial - not a generic demo system the way Netsuite does it but a real, honest to goodness complete system, that I can tailor to my needs and then take into production seamlessly
3. Be credible - recognizing that in some instances customers don't view us as credible, therefore  we need to enable them to speak to peers by implementing web 2.0 capabilities throughout the buying cycle to help empower customers to make the right decision for themselves
4. Implement a volume machine - again, not easy given our heritage but from my vantage point within SAP, the company is moving mountains to drive change. But this machine should enable an Explore-Evaluate-Experience shopping experience for each and every individual who wants it, focused on their moments of truth which enables them to move thru their buying process with ease.
5. Know our customer's needs and be proactive about it - understand who they are ensure they get the information and support they need without the Marketing Speak.  We joke about a 12-step program for SAPaholics - in order to rid  oneself of SAPanese. That effort is actually underway with a lot content tonality training because as I've said here... content sets the context of any experience.

So now that we are moving into the market and carefully scaling for volume, we will have the opportunity to adjust these strategies and dial up or down on each accordingly.  Time will tell.

Comments

[Thomas Otter]

Steve.
excellent. Here comes the cluetrain. big time.

[Steve]

Thanx Thomas. Re: cluetrain- not a moment too soon.