SAP CX: "We are on the right track".

Werbewoche.ch: Bob Stutz, at this year's, virtual SAP NOW you talked about SAP's customer experience innovations. What are your company's priorities in this area?

We want to move away from standard business models that distinguish between "business-to-business" and "business-to-customer" or, in some cases, "business-to-business-to-customer" - and toward "business-to-everyone. Anyone using SAP technology should be able to contact existing and potential customers very easily at any time, on any channel.

To what extent can SAP CX be part of a company's overall digital transformation strategy? 

SAP CX is in a unique position when it comes to helping customers achieve digital transformation. Our solutions are designed not only to help organizations transition to the cloud, but also to connect the front office with the back office. Whether our customers want to move completely to the cloud or use a hybrid model with front-office cloud solutions and back-office on-premise solutions, SAP CX solutions fit both scenarios very well. By the way: We are, of course, constantly developing our cloud solutions.

How do you think the pandemic has affected CX?

The Covid 19 crisis has forced many companies to shift their business models from in-store to online overnight and has accelerated the transition to cloud-based software. Commerce sites in particular sprang up overnight. Complex software systems with long implementation times were naturally not in demand due to the time pressure; instead, many companies had to get e-commerce sites up and running within a few days and at low cost. And often without their own IT department to provide support.

And how has the pandemic affected your or your team's work?

The CX industry is one of the few industries that was not negatively affected by the crisis. I am very happy to say that this is also true for our team and our strategy. We have been able to continue to pursue our plans and implement our product roadmaps, even though our work environment has changed overnight.

What can customers expect from SAP CX in the near future? What does the future hold?

We have some very exciting projects in the pipeline around customer data, customer engagement and commerce. The acquisition of Emarsys and the launch of our Customer Data platform as well as the new cloud commerce solution designed for "direct-to-consumer" are just some of the innovative offerings. Our customers can also look forward to many many innovations around our core CRM solution, where we are currently working on some very innovative MS Teams integrations. I think we are on a very good path there.

If you missed the virtual SAP NOW, you can find Bob Stutz's presentation - and other, exciting content - at Online at any time. For questions on the topic of SAP, CX and digital transformation, please contact Thomas Ofenloch, Head of CX Customer Advisory SAP Switzerland, is also at your disposal..