End-to-end Customer Experience in Practice

One thing is certain: The process must be designed end-to-end - from the sales opportunity to series production. The solutions that can be used to map this in the SAP system are shown in a demo case from Valantic for the virtual Customer Focus Day SAP Using the example of an automotive supplier, SAP solutions for supply chain management, SAP Sales Cloud as part of SAP Customer Experience Solutions (CX), SAP Ariba and SAP IBP (Integrated Business Planning) will be used.

The ultimate goal of companies is to sell - in the best case, repeatedly - products or services to existing and new customers. What is the best way to achieve this? The answer is quite simple: with a consistently good buying and service experience, customers will almost certainly become buyers again and, in the best case, recommend the company to others. So the customer experience should always be at the center of all logistics business processes.

Sales and supply chain work hand in hand

The first point of contact for the potential customer is the sales department. In the example scenario, they process the sales opportunities in the SAP Sales Cloud cockpit. The planned purchase quantities are recorded and compared with individual customers. The forecast provided by the car manufacturer and previous business developments are also visible in the system. As soon as the sales opportunity becomes more concrete and an order volume has been determined, the integrated business process of Sales Inventory and Operations Planning (SIOP) kicks in to check the feasibility of the desired order volume and match it with the available capacities.

Through a customer relationship management (CRM) system - in this case also SAP Sales Cloud - in interaction with SAP IBP, demand forecasts are synchronized in SIOP. Information on sales opportunities flows into medium-term demand planning and Sales can respond quickly to customer inquiries.

Plan future requirements logistically and economically

When it comes to planning and finance, the SIOP process is at the forefront. With the help of SAP IBP, a forecast for future requirements is created. The Demand Plan and the capacities in the supply chain (Supply Plan) can thus be balanced and the financial and economic influences determined. For detailed planning, additional tools for special planning areas such as SAP Ariba for supplier management or SAP Analytics Cloud for detailed financial planning are used in this scenario.

Respond faster to increased demand 

Should the demand ever increase, the responsible supply planner can use SAP IBP to perform a capacity check, increase the demand planning on a percentage basis, and check this for feasibility. In the next step, the purchasing planner is automatically included in the process: In SAP Ariba's Alert Cockpit, he receives a notification that future demand is greater than the production quantities committed by the supplier.

For further planning, automatic smoothing can be performed with SAP IBP for Response & Supply both within a plant and across plants. The result is a feasible plan taking into account the defined restrictions.

End-to-end as the key to customer satisfaction

Not only in volatile markets do integrated end-to-end processes help to react better and faster to the effects of market changes on one's own company and the supply chain. Thanks to end-to-end processes, uniform figures are used at all planning levels to improve planning quality and speed. Possible fluctuations in demand can be simulated in advance. Production resources and procurement costs are optimized along the entire value chain. End-to-end thus ultimately stands for greater customer satisfaction and sales: Commitments from sales are possible quickly, are always reliable, and agreed delivery times and quantities can be met.

Live demo at the virtual Customer Focus Day SAP (06.10.2020)If you would like to see this scenario directly in the SAP system, you can here secure a place free of charge.