Scalability in a Customer-First Era
The Customer Comes First.
It’s an old saying often used to describe the B2C shopping experience, but it could equally apply to today’s B2B market.
What’s been a driving force during my entire career — including thirteen years at SAP — has been a desire to put the customer first. And just because SAP is a massive company doesn’t mean we can’t simplify the buying process and provide top-notch service for every individual, all at scale.
Going From 2K to 2M
SAP does not just engage with the top 2,000 CIOs globally anymore, but with more than 2,000,000 developers, plus other users and multipliers. All of them now demand their unique B2B buying journeys match the ease and simplicity of their B2C experiences. That’s why we expanded our scope at SAP to truly enable our customers to conduct business digitally with us across all business areas. Our organization is designed to scale our current capabilities and will allow us to digitally enable SAP sales processes. All of our digital channels are uniquely positioned to capitalize on SAP’s market position and are designed to scale.
Machine Learning is also poised to help capitalize on SAP’s market position and ability to scale. In the past, we could rely on individual salespeople to tailor information, guiding and interacting with every customer. Now that we increasingly interact directly with every user and developer, Machine Learning will help us to democratize this kind of service to everyone.
The Shifting Customer Journey
It’s no secret the B2B market is changing, but it’s our job to respond appropriately and continue to deliver great products and services. According to a 2017 Forrester report, B2B e-commerce will reach $1.2 trillion and account for 13.1% of all B2B sales in the US by 2021. And B2B buyers who research their purchases online will rise from 38% to 55% over the next four years, and 64% of B2B buyers research half or more of their work purchases online before buying.
So, what does this mean? If B2B sales are growing, and the majority of the buyers are already online doing research, SAP will now enable the customers to buy what they want, when they want it.
Take our self-service direct purchasing method. A customer that is looking for an analytics solution, for example, can check out SAP.com, find a full product section with transparent pricing, purchase the product, and receive a purchase confirmation and provisioning information. The self-service motion is powered by a new digital customer experience. Software product pages hold all relevant information and next steps in one place, so it is easy for customers to find the information, select the product and make a purchase decision. Clear calls-to-action lead into a fully integrated try-and-buy experience right on the product page. This allows for a seamless user journey leading to purchase.
SAP is ready to help bring digital transformation to the rest of SAP by giving customers what they want and expect: a direct, omnichannel experience to purchase SAP and partner offerings. Our team will be showcasing the end-to-end digital journey on June 5–7, 2018, at SAPPHIRE NOW, the premier SAP user conference where IT and business executives gather to learn more about the SAP landscape.
Please drop a note in the comment section and I’ll respond to as many questions and comments as possible — thanks!
