SAP data optimizes personalized interaction with customers

Companies in almost every industry use SAP systems as the foundation for their central business processes and for storing customer, contract, and product data.

As a core application, the SAP system stands for stability, security as well as reliability and is primarily used by the company's own employees. At the same time, an enormous need has arisen for companies in both the B2C and B2B markets to enable interaction with customers around products and services via digital channels.

Among the most important requirements in digitization projects for customer relationship innovation are speed and high agility in response to customer requests and constantly changing customer needs.

However, where the core processes of companies are concerned, agility is rarely the means of choice for implementing change. The stability of an SAP system and agility in the digital age thus seem to be in conflict. What is needed here is a mediating authority that builds a bridge between the stability and reliability of the core systems and the agility and dynamics of customer requirements.

An open source content management system (CMS) such as Drupal provides the solution. On the one hand, it offers the functions needed to deliver personalized information via browser or app over digital channels. On the other hand, it also provides the necessary connectors for connecting to SAP systems - more precisely, to the SAP Cloud Platform - via which data is extracted from SAP systems, prepared and made available to customers.

Content, commerce and communities are interlinked in this mediation instance in order to deliver personalized content at the right moment via the channels preferred by customers. The advantage of an open source system at this point: Since the program code is openly accessible, system integrators and companies can flexibly master new challenges. This applies both to the adaptability of the CMS itself and to the ease with which it can be extended and integrated into the SAP world.

Application scenario service portal

Typical application scenarios are the service portals for support and maintenance of machine and plant manufacturers. For each system used by a customer, article or EAN numbers are stored with the manufacturer for all components and parts.

If, for example, a component fails, a replacement can be procured very quickly via the service portal implemented with the CMS. But other service inquiries about prices, availability, delivery status or ordering a data sheet can also be handled very conveniently via the service portal.

Furthermore, typical standard orders for the replacement of consumables can be executed via the service portal. Manufacturers can also set up predictive maintenance solutions for their customers.

Another application scenario for the mediation instance between the SAP system and the user are apps for service technicians and thus for mobile employees. Service technicians are used, for example, for complex incidents that cannot be resolved using standard means.

The technician can then use the app to call up the detailed service history in the SAP system, for example. Furthermore, apps are also suitable for sales consultants who can show 3D presentations to prospective customers and customers or use a product configurator to determine the appropriate configuration.

The crucial point here is that it is always the CMS as the mediating instance that reads the SAP data and writes back the customer orders in a prepared form, regardless of whether the request arrives via browser in the service portal or via the app of a mobile employee.