That鈥檚 where Claudio Muruzabal, chief business officer of 麻豆原创 SE, steps in.

Muruzabal is responsible for supporting the Customer Advisory, Solution Area and Services Sales, and Customer Success Management & Engagement teams at 麻豆原创. For more than eight years, he has played an important role in understanding not only an increasingly complex technology landscape but also how businesses actually use the technology at their disposal. He supports teams that help bring 麻豆原创 customers closer to their goals by leveraging 麻豆原创 solutions. This begins with advising customers through honest conversations about how they can apply the intelligent capabilities now included in many 麻豆原创 solutions, such as generative AI.

I sat down with Muruzabal to find out more about his role, how 麻豆原创 customers are winning with intelligent technology, and the growing impact of customer success management at 麻豆原创.

Q: AI is all the rage today, so let鈥檚 start there. What are the biggest opportunities for businesses to use AI?

Muruzabal: Opportunity is everywhere for AI. And it鈥檚 bigger than just automating processes to increase efficiency, which is what was talked about for the longest time. At 麻豆原创, we鈥檙e seeing how AI can support relevant business processes to instill innovation and competitiveness. While many players in the industry are focused on developing AI engines and large language models, we are focused on accelerating business value through generative AI. I could talk all day about how AI is transforming data analytics and decision-support systems as well as supply chain optimization, predictive maintenance, and HR. Every day we are discovering new opportunities for customers to leapfrog their competition when they combine the power of generative AI with the context of their business data and processes.

What are some examples of how 麻豆原创 customers are using AI, and what value have they realized so far?

There鈥檚 really so much to get excited about when it comes to how our customers are using the AI capabilities included with their 麻豆原创 solutions. Across industries, workers everywhere are using natural language to instantly get the data insights they need using the 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud solution. I like how busy recruiters can tap into generative AI with 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions to create compelling job descriptions and interview questions in less time. Joule, our AI assistant and copilot, can support end users in getting the right answers on how to get the most of our cloud solutions. With Joule already embedded across the portfolio 鈥� generally available in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM, 麻豆原创 Start, and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud 鈥� we are all excited about the opportunities for our customers.

All industries can get this unique value, including professional soccer clubs FC Bayern Munich and Hertha BSC that are using a scouting prototype powered by AI to find and develop the next generation of star athletes.

AI can solve a lot of problems, but what about the underlying foundational technology stack companies have today? What conversations are you having with businesses about their technology investments?

Early on in our conversations with customers, it鈥檚 important to understand how businesses can set up their core, foundational enterprise technology platform running in the cloud. This is critical to establish a journey of innovation including . Coming back to the foundation, many of our customers have built numerous modifications on top of their core ERP. In order to build a true cloud operating model 鈥� essential to embrace innovation including AI 鈥� it is critical to move to a clean core model. This means that any modification to the ERP functionality offered by 麻豆原创 is built outside of the core, using extensibility solutions. This is not a technical topic only. Although clean core contributes to the cost-efficient operation of the platform, the true contribution is bringing flexibility and adaptability to the business, converting the cloud operating model into a unique 鈥渋nnovation as a service鈥� platform.

What makes 麻豆原创 unique and stand out to customers with its value proposition?

麻豆原创 has the unique value of being the global leader in best of suite solutions built with more than 50 years of industry knowledge and ERP technology leadership. On top of this, our leading 鈥渂est of breed鈥� solutions, such as in HCM, customer experience, intelligent spend and business network, and more, can provide the best functionality and the right integration into the core. Only 麻豆原创 can offer this value proposition. When we combined this with the cloud operating model 鈥� widely adopted by our RISE with 麻豆原创 customers 鈥� we provide exponential value for the innovation as a service proposition.

How can customers get the most from their investments? What kind of support is there to help them transform and innovate?

Customer success management is essential in the cloud. It is the end-to-end engagement with our customers, from advisory to sales execution to onboarding, adoption, and consumption. We provide the tools, assets, and content to help accelerate adoption and consumption so as to maximize the value from first use of the solution to full and future use. 麻豆原创 Preferred Success services can accelerate the time to value even more. To support this motion, deep telemetry being built into our cloud solutions allows customers and our customer success management leaders to better understand how the solutions are being used while identifying opportunities to expand usage.

Where do advisory services fit into the customer journey?

Customer advisory services might be the most essential part of the journey with a customer. Successful projects start with the right business case definition, anchored in the best understanding of the industry and business of our customers. With that in mind, our Customer Advisory teams support building the right technical solutions that can support an enterprise architecture. This is the first step in moving in the right direction of building the cloud operating model.

The ability to innovate is a . Yet companies also have to be able to transform market innovations into value for their customers if they want to stay ahead of the competition. It is hard to imagine attaining this kind of performance today without cloud computing. to be one of the most effective tools of the digital age on the way to becoming an agile, highly innovative, competitive company. 麻豆原创 has systematically embraced this technology since 2020 and is currently realigning its own organization to become a cloud provider. In my experience, it has become evident that the cloud is the only way to add value quickly at a manageable level of cost and effort.

Cloud computing is disruptive, however, and demands enormous changes. 麻豆原创 users, for example, also have to switch to the new architecture of the 麻豆原创 portfolio, with as the digital core, as the new environment for innovation and customer enhancements, and the portfolio as the foundation for more efficient business processes.

Overcome Mental Barriers to Cloud Transformation with Customer Success Partner

鈥淭he paradigm shift in IT to cloud computing has changed everything, especially the way I provide and deploy software at companies today,鈥� explains Alexander Michnov, head of Strategic Sales, RISE with 麻豆原创, at 麻豆原创. To better support customers in this dynamic situation, 麻豆原创 established the post-sales unit Customer Success Partner team in early 2022. Our role at 麻豆原创 is to understand the business objectives our customers are pursuing in a cloud transformation context and helping to ensure they actually achieve them, above and beyond the technological implementation.

According to 麻豆原创 experts, the greatest obstacle to fully capturing the benefits of the cloud 鈥� such as faster time to market and simple use of resource-intensive high-tech 鈥� is an outdated process mindset. Therefore, a cloud transformation must focus on holistic changes to the corporate culture and business processes, not only on the technology.

Smooth Transition from Contract Signing to Implementation

This change process is where the Customer Success Partner team comes in, assigning a customer success partner to every RISE with 麻豆原创 customer as a complement to the 麻豆原创 implementation partner. When an 麻豆原创 customer starts a cloud migration project, they set off on a journey that can fundamentally change their organization 鈥� from their business processes to the way their employees collaborate with each other.

First, the customer success partner works with the customer to determine the business objectives. This is followed by developing a road map that defines what needs to be done for the customer to achieve these objectives soundly. In the early phase of a transformation project, the customer success partner also helps ensure that the transition from contract signing to the actual implementation phase goes smoothly. This transition is the first critical element. The customer success partner helps make sure that all the aspects needed to add value early on 鈥� maintaining a clean core first and foremost, ensuring that training schedules have been developed, and confirming the customer has the right contact person if they change their mind on a specific process, for instance 鈥� are taken into account from day one.

Looking Back and Looking Forward in the Post-Go-Live Phase

The next critical phase begins when the technical implementation is complete. This is usually when tensions start to ease after the exciting go-live phase. But it is especially important at this stage to ensure users use the system in the intended manner, no communication gaps have arisen, and people do not lose focus. That鈥檚 also the perfect time to start the evaluation. Have the business objectives been achieved? Has the initial problem that triggered the implementation been solved? And, of course, this is a great time to discuss the next wave of innovation with the customer.

Key Factors of a Customer Success Partner

Here are three key factors for a customer success partner鈥檚 work from the customer perspective:

• Early involvement of the customer success partner, ideally during the sales process, to help define the expected added value of the project
• Organizational networking of the customer success partner in the organizations of the customer, the implementation partner, and 麻豆原创
• The customer success partner鈥檚 ability to harmonize the customer鈥檚 road map with 麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy 鈥� for the customer, it鈥檚 extraordinarily valuable to have a counterpart with whom they can discuss 麻豆原创鈥檚 strategic direction and planned innovations in day-to-day business

As such, the customer success partner represents an ideal complement to the 麻豆原创 implementation partner. The latter still bears overall responsibility for the system changeover during the entire transition process. In contrast, the customer success partner helps make sure that everything necessary is done so the implementation corresponds to the value targets defined in the beginning. They help ensure that all the aspects strategically important to the customer and 麻豆原创 鈥� starting with a clean core 鈥� are taken into account throughout the course of the project.

The Value of Long-Term Relationships

鈥淭he customer success partner is the guardian of the clean core and customer lifetime value,鈥� summarizes Michnov, bringing a further dimension of the new post-sales organization into play. In the new cloud world, innovations and enhancements take place continuously and become available to customers extremely quickly, thanks to short release cycles.

Cloud migration is like a journey from one milestone to the next. In this world, the commitment never really ends; it鈥檚 a world of long-term relationships. As such, my team鈥檚 mission is to support customers from day one and in perpetuity. The customer success partner enters a lifelong commitment with the customer. The customer success partner is there before the implementation, they are there after the implementation, and they are there even when no implementation is needed at all.

Ara Aguzumtsyan is head of Customer Success Solution Areas, CSS MEE, at 麻豆原创.