Intelligent customer experience: Definition, benefits, examples
Your business – connected, insightful, and adaptive: Discover the power of intelligent CX.
SAP’s strategy around SAP’s product portfolio interconnects to drive intelligent and data-fueled decisions. One part of this suite is SAP Customer Experience, known as SAP C/4HANA, or SAP CRM. It’s a dedicated customer experience suite designed to revolutionize customer relationship management (CRM) as we currently know it.
What is the branding change? Why did SAP make this shift? And, why now?
“C” is for customer
SAP Hybris is now SAP Customer Experience, which is represented as a product suite called SAP C/4HANA.
The “C” stands for Customer and “4” stands for fourth generation CRM. The suite runs on SAP S/4HANA’s digital core. Follow this formula, and voila, you have SAP C/4HANA.
Within this unified suite, we have also simplified the former SAP Hybris product offerings (and acquired companies) into:
SAP Commerce Cloud: Evolved from hybris’ flagship on-premise offering to its recent launch on Microsoft Azure.
SAP Marketing Cloud: Now integrates to SAP Commerce Cloud and is open to partnerships.
SAP Sales Cloud: Unites former SAP Hybris Cloud for Customers with SAP Revenue Cloud, the on-premise SAP Hybris Billing solution, and the acquired CallidusCloud solutions.
SAP Service Cloud: Enables both field service and next generation, multi-channel customer engagement and support.
SAP Customer Data Cloud: Incorporates the acquired Gigya Solutions, which include Consent, Profile, and Identity features.
But also for clarity: SAP Customer Experience explained
From the analyst community, to customers, to the industry at large, we’ve heard you loud and clear that our naming conventions might not always be the most straightforward. We took that advice to heart and are keeping things simple in the hopes of bringing clarity to the conversation.
You may have seen the recent Overstock.com ads that poke fun at its name, trying to clear up confusion that it doesn’t sell overstocked goods. Hybris has always had a strong brand recognition, but some still affiliate the name only with commerce – which is certainly an important aspect of what we do – though it’s not the only thing. Commerce Cloud is one piece within the more comprehensive SAP C/4HANA suite.
At the same time:
- SAP Customer Experience is part of SAP
- It runs on SAP’s digital core
- To demonstrate the end-to-end connection that the Intelligent Enterprise provides, we’re mirroring the SAP S/4HANA branding, and making it clear that SAP C/4HANA is built on SAP’s cloud platform.
It’s time to modernize CRM
Beyond making it easier for everyone to understand what SAP’s customer experience solutions are and how they fit into the broader SAP ecosystem, it was important that we strike when the iron was hot – which is now.
CRM is the single largest enterprise applications market, and customer experience is a top priority in boardrooms across the globe. However, today’s CRM systems are siloed and centered around sales.
By placing an emphasis on customer centricity, a consistent experience, and trusted data, SAP is uniquely positioned to modernize legacy CRM solutions.
We’re ready for the fourth generation of customers – the consumers who think in terms of “Me2B,” not B2B or B2C. They’re in the driver’s seat, and enterprises must recognize that customer relationships can’t be managed – they must be developed and fostered, and they do not end once a sale has closed.
Making connections with customers is easy, but cultivating those connections into lifelong relationships is what matters most.
