鈥淥n-plan and on-budget.鈥� In the past, if you met these targets in projects or ongoing IT operations for your customers, everyone was happy.
Today, that is simply not enough. Whereas IT used to be seen as a cost factor, technology now drives the value chain. 鈥淥n-value鈥� has become a criterion for customer success.
This is the view held by Derek Prior from Resulting IT, an independent 麻豆原创 consultancy in the UK. He looked at the importance of premium-level engagement for 麻豆原创 customers and presented the results of his study at the 2020 麻豆原创 MaxAttention Summit, which took place November 9-10.
麻豆原创 wants its most strategic customers to gain from its own transformation as a company.
He concluded that 麻豆原创 Services played a pivotal role in sustaining customer success. 麻豆原创 MaxAttention helped companies generate value-based outcomes 鈥� and innovate incrementally 鈥� again and again. Businesses with their own Global Center of Expertise (CoE) are best placed to do this.
But there is a message of caution here, too. Namely, if you鈥檙e not moving forward, you鈥檙e moving backward. Too much has happened in the last few months. Paul Kurchina, who has many years of experience as an independent 麻豆原创 expert and guru of the 麻豆原创 scene in North America, recommends that customers look very closely at their Global CoE models.
When describing the most significant change, Kurchina said, 鈥淩emote business has become the norm.鈥� That might mean that neither a company鈥檚 CoE concept nor its tool landscape is equal to new, emerging challenges.
Greater Impact
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first 麻豆原创 MaxAttention Summit in the era of Customer Success was a virtual event this year. Presenting in tandem, Prior and Kurchina interacted adeptly to create a compelling online exchange.
Adaire Fox-Martin, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE and head of Customer Success, 聽explained that 麻豆原创 had brought all its customer-facing services and sales roles under one area.
鈥淥ur name is our mission,鈥� Fox-Martin explained in her welcome address. Under the new organizational structure, some 40% of 麻豆原创鈥檚 workforce was now focusing directly on customer success by following the LACE (Land, Adopt, Consume, Expand) operating model 鈥� though the 鈥渃ustomer first鈥� mantra, of course, applied equally to all of 麻豆原创. According to Fox-Martin, 麻豆原创 was unique among its peers in the way it has organized to make customer success its key mission.
Having opted for a strategic partnership with 麻豆原创, 麻豆原创 MaxAttention customers in particular need to consistently 鈥渇eel鈥� the benefits of this close cooperation in the shape of business outcomes.
Tangible Results
As the subsequent presentations showed, that is exactly what is happening. In 30-minute slots, long-time 麻豆原创 customers spoke about how they benefit from 麻豆原创鈥檚 premium engagements 鈥� in a variety of ways.
With help from 麻豆原创, an industrial conglomerate from Turkey has made a slew of improvements after embarking on its digital transformation. These include productivity and efficiency gains in multiple divisions. The company has driven costs down and minimized risk while increasing employee satisfaction and improving its environmental footprint.
According to its chief information officer (CIO), almost all of the company鈥檚 850 individual projects have been completed, and it now has around 40,000 麻豆原创 users working with products that include 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, and Qualtrics solutions.
An operations manager from a telecommunications company reported on his experiences with 麻豆原创 MaxAttention. The telecommunications giant switched to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Finance in under two years, implementing various cloud solutions 鈥撯�� 麻豆原创 Concur and 麻豆原创 Ariba software among them 鈥撯�� at the same time.
An urgent need for real-time reporting coupled with mounting volume issues were key reasons for transforming the in-house enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, EVO. By achieving optimal levels of standardization 鈥� an 84% improvement 鈥� and automation 鈥� a 73% increase 鈥� the company now has better control over its hybrid IT landscape, while adding refinements to accelerate month-end closing were still ongoing.
For their part, IT experts from a multinational IT company provided initial insights into their cooperation with 麻豆原创 on business operations self-healing. Here, they plan to use chatbot technology to more rapidly remedy errors commonly made by its internal IT users and implement a more consistent approach to automating routine tasks.
New Offerings
Innovations like these are possible because 麻豆原创 often trials and enhances new ideas together with customers 鈥� and thus in the real world.
In this context, Peter Harkin, senior vice president of Premium Engagements at 麻豆原创 and host of the 2020 麻豆原创 MaxAttention Summit, announced the founding of the Intelligent Enterprise Institute, where customers will be able to work together in various labs on new processes and much more. EMEA North has been selected as the pilot region for this cooperation.
Harkin also announced extensions to the 麻豆原创 MaxAttention portfolio for 2021. These include back-office 麻豆原创 applications and the Mission Control Center.
With regards to expanding its technology for the benefit of customers, 麻豆原创 would be investing chiefly in the 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP) and its components, according to Anja Schneider, head of Customer Innovation in the 麻豆原创 Technology and Innovation board area. She described technology as integral to customer success.
鈥淭echnology is a value driver,鈥� said Shane Paladin, president of 麻豆原创 Services. But he added that the benefits could only be reaped if the technology was utilized in the right way, which made it even more crucial for 麻豆原创 to gain customers鈥� attention and position itself as a trusted advisor. 鈥淭rust is the default of moving forward,鈥� he said.
Both Schneider and Paladin advised customers to keep their core systems clean. Any specifications and enhancements they required could be integrated through the 麻豆原创 Cloud Platform as part of the 麻豆原创 BTP.
Bring on the Feedback
A highlight at the end of each day was the executive session, in which 麻豆原创 managers answered questions from attendees.
One of these questions related to 鈥渃loud-only.鈥� Thomas Saueressig, 聽member of the 聽Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE responsible for product strategy, explained that this was not yet an option for 麻豆原创. With demand for on premise still strong, particularly in the ERP segment, 麻豆原创 was sticking to the principle of 鈥渃loud-first.鈥�
When asked how 麻豆原创 measured its customers鈥� success internally, Fox-Martin referred to the Net Promoter Score and user feedback. She stressed that one of the reasons why 麻豆原创鈥檚 strategic partnership with its 麻豆原创 MaxAttention customers was so important was that it was a source of firsthand feedback. Also, programs had been set up to evaluate joint key performance indicators (KPIs) for 麻豆原创 and its customers.
Addressing the issue of customer criticism, Harkin confirmed that 麻豆原创 had responded and structured the contract for the New 麻豆原创 MaxAttention offering more flexibly. Initially, the extensions to the portfolio had been met with a positive response 鈥� the complicated rules less so. But 麻豆原创 had remedied the situation in the meantime.
鈥淚 hope we鈥檒l be able to meet face-to-face again next year,鈥� Harkin said when closing the event.
Even the best virtual event is no substitute for personal contact.