As EX evolves, understanding who 鈥渙wns鈥� it is crucial to developing strategies that improve day-to-day HR operations and create a more engaged and satisfied workforce.

The 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HR Research team conducted the “” study and shared insights on the evolution of EX as a concept, who the owners are, how it is measured, and how AI might play a role in its future.

In the past, HR was the sole area responsible for employee experience and engagement in most organizations. This has evolved into a new ownership model endorsed by HR leaders, with four additional stakeholder groups that must coordinate their efforts to drive EX effectively: managers, IT, leadership, and employees themselves.

Role of HR in EX: Manage Process and Listen to Employees

From recruitment and onboarding to performance management and benefits, HR has always been seen as the primary owner of EX. But to truly enhance EX and demonstrate measurable results, HR must put particular focus on its responsibility for conducting employee listening. Only by listening to employees 鈥� either actively, through surveys and town halls, or passively, through social sentiment and monitoring tickets 鈥� can organizations understand the impact of their EX strategy and track towards their strategic goals.

As HR measures, reports, and acts on employee listening results, they should make sure to bring employees along: enable them with better information and encourage them to take a more active role. Otherwise, they might become fatigued by endless surveys that yield no results.

With solutions like the , HR gains access to AI-powered insights and action planning听that help identify essential EX factors and enhancing EX factors. Essential factors are the 鈥渢able-stakes” requirements that heavily impact employee experience and include fair pay, psychological safety, and adequate tools. Organizations should aim for 100% satisfaction in these factors. Enhancing factors are “nice-to-haves,” like flexible work arrangements, career development, and meaning and purpose. Focusing on a select group of enhancing factors can provide a unique value proposition for employees and candidates within an organization.

Role of Managers in EX:  Shape Day-to-Day Experience

Managers play a critical role in shaping the day-to-day experiences of their teams. Our research shows that managerial factors such as clear communication, support, and competence directly impact key essential EX factors like team relationships and psychological safety. Yet, many managers still face challenges in both resourcing and training that keep them from improving EX.

To bridge this gap, the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HCM suite provides personalized insights through manager dashboards that track team sentiment and help organizations identify and develop top managerial talent. By equipping managers with the right resources, organizations create a culture of positive experiences and address the most impactful EX factors.

With , organizations can offer managers resources for enablement and continuous development, tailored to their individual learning preferences and needs. To help managers empower their teams in upskilling and reskilling, AI-driven recommendations from the assist employees in discovering new growth opportunities, preparing them for future roles while helping those managers stay informed about internal mobility possibilities. This supports employees’ development and enables managers to find specific opportunities for their direct reports, creating a dynamic, growth-oriented environment that drives individual and organizational success.

Role of Leadership in EX: Set the Vision

Leadership sets the vision of what employee experience should look like at an organization. Alongside HR, leadership establishes the strategic goals and outcomes that the company expects from its EX strategy. Company leaders should be aware of employee listening results and communicate to the workforce regularly about how their feedback is being considered. In doing so, leadership establishes the importance of EX and encourages trust and transparency.

Role of IT in EX: Manage Technology and Harness the Power of AI

IT is responsible for the tools and technology that make up much of an employee鈥檚 working experience. As AI technology advances, it has come to play a more significant role in that experience. AI is helping organizations create a dynamic, inclusive, and future-ready workforce. helps improve employee and candidate experiences by optimizing interactions and delivering highly personalized experiences and career development plans. By integrating AI-driven HR solutions, organizations can improve essential and enhancing EX factors, from seamless onboarding to customized learning paths.

Improving the Experience of Every Employee: N(EX)t Steps

To truly transform EX, organizations must encourage a holistic approach with cross-functional collaboration, leveraging HR tech solutions that empower all stakeholders 鈥� HR, managers, IT, leadership, employees 鈥� to take ownership of the employee experience.

Now that you have more clarity on different departments’ roles in improving day-to-day operations, you can leverage this to learn more about the essential and enhancing EX factors with hands-on exercises and expert insights based on research from the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HR Research team.

Mayara Alves Tabone is a Solution Marketing specialist for 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors at 麻豆原创.

At a purchase price of US$18.15 in cash per share, the transaction corresponds to a Qualtrics equity value of approximately US$12.5 billion on a fully diluted basis, representing a 73% premium over the 30-day average trading price prior to 麻豆原创鈥檚 announcement to explore a sale (approx. 62% premium relative to the unaffected closing price on January 25, 2023). 麻豆原创鈥檚 stake will be acquired for approximately US$7.7 billion.

鈥淪ilver Lake has both the operational expertise and the track record with software companies to help Qualtrics extend its leadership in the XM category it pioneered,鈥� said Christian Klein, CEO and Member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE. 鈥淪ince we acquired Qualtrics in 2019 the company has more than tripled its revenue while delivering profitability. 麻豆原创 intends to remain a close go-to-market and technology partner, servicing joint customers and continuing to contribute to Qualtrics鈥� success.鈥� The number of companies and brands using Qualtrics software has risen from 10,000 at the time of 麻豆原创鈥檚 purchase to over 18,000 today.

The agreement resulted from a robust process that was initiated on January 26 and identified the joint proposal by Silver Lake and CPP Investments as most attractive. The transaction has been approved by the Qualtrics board, including a committee of independent directors, as well as the 麻豆原创 Executive and Supervisory Boards.

While the transaction is subject to customary regulatory clearances and expected to close in the second half of 2023, 麻豆原创鈥檚 financial results for the first quarter, due April 21, are expected to present Qualtrics as a discontinued operation.

Barclays acted as financial advisor to 麻豆原创 on the transaction, Shearman & Sterling acted as 麻豆原创鈥檚 legal advisor.

Visit the 麻豆原创 News Center. Follow 麻豆原创 on Twitter at .

About 麻豆原创

麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent, sustainable enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 麻豆原创 customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 麻豆原创 helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 麻豆原创 helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

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According to a pulse survey conducted by the , 76% of employees want flexibility in where they work and 93% flexibility in when they work. The desire for flexible work is strongest among women, working parents, and employees of color who have shown gains in feelings of belonging working remotely. Specifically, 81% of Black respondents say they want flexibility in where they work, compared to 75% of White respondents.

This data is in direct contrast to what most executives report that they want in post-pandemic workforce policies. Of those currently working fully remotely, nearly half of all executives surveyed (44%) want to work from the office every day, compared to 17% of employees. And 75% of these executives say they want to work from the office three to five days a week versus only 34% of employees.

So, what are companies to do? How can they make informed decisions about what鈥檚 best for leaders, for the business, and for their employees?

Applying a Sustainability Lens to Work Location Decision

One way of looking at the issues of return to office or hybrid work is from a business sustainability perspective. For example, if forcing people back to the office will make critical employees more likely to leave their jobs, you have a real flight risk issue impacting the sustainability of your business. Your business must have enough people with the right skills at the right time to propel it forward.

Another perspective to consider is how today鈥檚 business environment has been transformed by climate change, nature loss, and more. The planet needs change, and people demand change. What if, when making decisions about who comes into the office and when, executives considered the carbon footprint generated by employee travel and commutes, weighed against the energy usage working from home, along with the sustainability causes that their employees support?

This would require implementing next-generation holistic steering and reporting that maps operational and experiential data to show progress on goals such as reducing the carbon footprint of the business. Imagine executives having climate and natural capital accounting at their fingertips, including individual and collective employee carbon footprint tracking.

This is the kind of holistic steering and reporting that groups such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) want companies to integrate into their strategic decision-making. Integrating economic, environmental, and social performance data into decisions 鈥� referred to as Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics 鈥� can help executives serve their own goals, respect their employees鈥� preferences for when and where they work, and contribute to reaching sustainability goals that make the world a cleaner, greener place.

How 麻豆原创 Can Help

In 2020, 麻豆原创 committed to enable companies to report on the WEF鈥檚 Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics. As promised, we have delivered to help enable holistic enterprise-wide sustainability performance management. 麻豆原创 also made it easier to become a sustainable business and reduce carbon footprints with , which can enable businesses to move toward lower carbon emissions and more sustainable operations. 麻豆原创鈥檚 data-driven approach lets businesses embed sustainability comprehensively and gain actionable insights across the entire value chain to enable companies to transition to low-carbon business processes.

Faced with an ambitious sustainability agenda and carbon-lowering targets, one 麻豆原创 customer wanted to go further and consider the employee wishes for home/office work, and the carbon emissions generated from their commute to work against the energy efficiency of their home offices. The company had committed to lowering its enterprise carbon emissions and wanted a mechanism to support managers鈥� operational workforce planning processes.

麻豆原创 built a proof of concept (PoC) application in just one day once the employee survey was collected. The PoC decision support application was realized as follows:

Employee address data was acquired from records using the standard delivered API. 麻豆原创 Data Quality Management and microservices for location data were used for both data cleansing 鈥� a big bonus since the customer was able to cleanse inaccurate addresses in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central 鈥� and data enrichment to geocode the home and work addresses with the latitude, longitude, and altitude information. The world of geo-location services was opened.

Demographic measures and dimensions were acquired from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics using the standard 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud connector.

While trying to understand employee sentiment on workplace and flexibility preferences, a survey was created using Employee Experience Management Solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics. The survey allowed for employees, whose jobs enabled them to work from home, to answer questions relating to their preferences for the number of days a week they wanted to work from home and their commute (means and time of travel). The insights gathered allowed us to understand that the travel time to work 鈥� not distance 鈥� is a major factor in determining retention risk amongst various demographic groups and so the information was valuable input for the flight risk tool they had in 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud enterprise reporting.

was then able to use external Web services and geo-location services to calculate the travel distance and travel time to work by various means of transport. One of the services was then able to determine the carbon emissions for the means of travel that the employee had specified. The commute travel time by job grade is a leading predictor of flight risk and is easily added to the flight risk prediction dataset.

The systems also gathered information of all the corporate and possible work locations. This opened the possibility for work location optimization, but it was not part of the scope of the PoC.

The data was then blended using 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform, specifically 麻豆原创 Data Warehouse Cloud, and anonymization views were defined to protect actual home addresses from being shown. Real-time 麻豆原创 HANA data anonymization allowed the application to use actual addresses to accurately calculate the travel metrics while safely anonymizing sensitive data for dashboard visualization and drill-down.

A dashboard was built and refined to analyze and interrogate the employee commute measures and identify specific employee carbon emissions each working day. Geospatial representation and visualization were built and demonstrated with interactive zoom and data filters. A what-if scenario was demonstrated with graphs and metrics calculated in real time to show the specific carbon emission impact of changing the percentage of time spent working remotely.

As shown in the below process, this PoC was achieved using various 麻豆原创 solutions, including 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions on 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform.

In Summary

Executives can make better decisions about the impact of employees going back to the office and how often, considering the social and actual carbon emissions from commutes in their people planning. Using 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions for employee information to geocode the distance of employees from the office and utilizing to layer experience insights to determine preferences, they can analyze carbon emissions for different types of commutes and make data-driven decisions to fuel their sustainability initiatives.

As shown in the below figure, executives can even look at this data by employee gender, race, and age. This helps them better assess, for instance, how many employees have strong preferences and who would become a flight risk should the business choose to mandate regular employee in-office attendance.

Finally, the figure below shows the simple what-if scenario to demonstrate how quickly and effectively analytics interfaces can be built, in this case, incorporating a slider bar and immediate impact of the change for the pre-filtered employees.

This kind of sustainability data and analysis empowers executives to find the 鈥渟weet spot鈥� in decisions that balance their preferences against employee preferences and align them to important goals such as reducing their carbon footprint.

Suddenly, what鈥檚 best for all becomes quite clear.

Learn more at .

Tammie Eldridge is part of Solution Marketing at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

With approximately 4,600 employees in Australia and 182,000 worldwide, Veolia ANZ has extended its sustainable business commitment to both customers and workers. The company鈥檚 COVID-19 crisis response team in Australia and New Zealand began using this past year to stay connected with workers and address their challenges.

鈥淚t鈥檚 critical that we constantly communicate with employees to understand their challenges and act quickly to address their needs,鈥� said Alexandre Moreau, chief people and safety officer at Veolia ANZ. 鈥淲e needed a quick and easy solution to keep people connected, whether it was managers and their teams or customers. Qualtrics helped us make sure that our people were okay and receiving the support they needed.鈥�

Sustainability is in Veolia鈥檚 DNA. The company鈥檚 business portfolio includes providing environmental solutions across water, waste management, and energy. With operations and treatment facilities nationwide, it serves customers of all sizes 鈥� from local cafes and food chains to industrial facilities. One of its business units helps municipal water customers provide safe drinking water for their communities and industrial clients to more sustainably manage water in their operations, while its energy division helps companies build energy resilience and become carbon neutral.

Listening Translates Employee Feedback Into Engagement

As a designated essential service during the pandemic, Veolia ANZ provided the same level of support for customers despite significant challenges, including social distancing, schedule disruptions, and lockdowns. During the height of the crisis, it needed even more flexibility to respond to highly changeable situations. For example, workloads increased in the health sector because of pandemic-related activities. Meanwhile, some employees were working remotely, while others had to be in the field. The company used XM solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to stay in touch with employees.

Kate Moonen, head of Marketing and Digital Experience at Veolia ANZ, was part of the company鈥檚 pandemic response team. Speaking during , she discussed how short, but targeted surveys helped the company stay in touch with its diverse workforce that includes truck drivers, machine operators, engineers, lawyers, and sustainability experts in urban and remote locations.

鈥淲e really wanted to understand that our people, particularly essential workers, were feeling supported,鈥� she said. 鈥淒id they have enough PPE equipment to do their jobs safely? What were their concerns about their mental health and well-being? Based on that feedback, it helped our team formulate what we were going to communicate and what actions we needed to take to continue to support our people.鈥�

Initially, the team was surprised at the high employee engagement levels with the surveys. Over time, the company rolled out new activities based on the feedback. These included regularly scheduled, anywhere, any device communications with senior leadership through live webinars and question-and-answer sessions. In response to employee requests, executives also sent short video messages that employees could watch on their mobile phones, with personalized stories from company leaders about their lives outside of work and how they adapted to the changed working environment.

鈥淧eople felt they wanted to take the opportunity to be heard,鈥� said Moonen. 鈥淲e would often share regular communications with them about what came out of the latest pulse and what we were going to do about it. If you鈥檙e asking people for their time, it鈥檚 critical to demonstrate what you鈥檙e doing with that feedback to meet their needs.鈥�

Continuous Dialogue Through Employee Surveys

Just like any aspect of sustainable business, employee engagement is not a one-and-done effort.

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing strong employee engagement every time we roll out a new survey,鈥� said Moreau. 鈥淚nstead of waiting a year to connect with employees, Qualtrics has given us a more agile response tool with a quick pulse check that our people appreciate and we can rely on for updated feedback to make better decisions. We want to know how people are feeling in a fast-changing business environment.鈥�

Go Digital for Fast Action

Moreau said companies should be explicit about what employees have shared and how they鈥檙e taking action. Even if there isn鈥檛 an immediate answer, people appreciate the transparency.

Moonen also advised employers not to overthink the survey process.

鈥淪ustainable business is all about agility,鈥� she said. 鈥淐ollecting the feedback and acting quickly is far more valuable than spending months iterating questions. Digital technology gives us the ability to constantly evolve and adapt as customer expectations, market conditions, and employee experiences shift.鈥�

Future of Work Is in Employee Experience

In the wake of the pandemic, many employees yearn for a greater sense of belonging. They want more help with their individual career goals and to have pride in their workplace. Getting the employee experience right is part of every organization鈥檚 transformational journey to sustainable business.

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Around since 2014, this racing event is similar to Formula 1 in many respects: The competition takes place in the city centers of some of the most iconic places in the world and the cars are single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel speed machines.

But the Formula E cars, which can reach speeds up to 175 mph, are powered solely by electric batteries. For the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, this sport is an opportunity to demonstrate some impressive technology 鈥� on the racing circuit, of course, but also in the business operations that support the team鈥檚 car and drivers.

The Business Side of Racing

鈥淲hen we decided to join the racing circuit in 2019, we had two challenges,鈥� says Laura Goodrick, chief financial officer of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team. 鈥淲e were putting together a brand-new racing team, but at the same time we were essentially creating a startup company.鈥�

To get this dedicated support organization up and running very quickly, the race team chose . Goodrick explains that the solution offered both fast implementation and support for a team that is constantly on the go.

鈥淲e have business operations in the UK, in Germany, and at racing venues around the world,鈥� Goodrick says. 鈥淪o being cloud-based has really given us an advantage.鈥�

Today, virtually the entire team relies on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud to put the data they need right at their fingertips. This helps them drive financial control on the international race circuit and efficiency across a global supply chain.

Understanding the New Fan

The team is also using leading-edge technology to learn more about a new generation of racing enthusiast.

鈥淲ithout the fans, there would be no sport,鈥� says Ian James, team principal of the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Race Team. 鈥淭o understand what the fans want from the sport is hugely important.鈥�

And the demographics associated with the new sport are pretty interesting. For example, data released by the ABB FIA Formula E Championship after its fifth season revealed that 72% of its followers on social channels were .

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team is using solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to help create the ultimate customer experience.

鈥淲e get instant feedback that helps us identify where we are setting the benchmark and where there are gaps and room for improvement,鈥� James continues.

Innovation, Innovation, Innovation

Formula E racing is all about innovation and the technologies that are likely to dominate sustainable transportation down the road.

鈥淔ormula E gives us a platform to showcase the technologies driving our Mercedes-EQ brand,鈥� says Goodrick.

And the segment of the business is growing at racetrack speed.

(Daimler AG owns the Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG brands), the company will be bringing more than 10 different all-electric vehicles to market by 2022, and customers will have the choice of at least one electric alternative in every Mercedes鈥態enz model series.

All-electric vehicles could be the future of auto racing and the future of our daily commute.

John Ward is part of 麻豆原创 Customer Marketing CoE.
.
*Top image courtesy of Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team

Tactically this makes complete sense given that deskless workers do not sit in front of computers. But legally it could be problematic given the regulating many deskless employees. In essence, the same actions that improve the employee experience could also increase company compliance risks.

Most deskless workers in the United States are considered 鈥渉ourly鈥� or 鈥渘on-exempt鈥� workers. This means they are paid based on time worked and do not meet the U.S. government requirements. Hourly employees are subject to a to ensure they are paid fairly for their time. We are not lawyers and are not providing legal advice regarding how to interpret and respond to these regulations.* That said, the essence of these laws is if hourly employees spend time on a mobile phone doing work-related activities, then they should be paid for that time. While this may make sense on the surface, it can become complicated when one starts to consider issues related to tracking time spent doing work via a mobile phone while away from the workspace. How can an employer control wage costs when employees could potentially clock in at anytime from anywhere?

This dilemma places companies on a slippery slope of worker enablement versus compliance risk. Research and commonsense show the benefits of providing deskless workers mobile-enabled work solutions. Enabling them to do things like training, answer emails, schedule shifts, or enroll in benefits while in the field or outside their scheduled shifts can be enormously convenient for them. After all, this is how most salaried employees work, particularly since the rise of . Deskless employees benefit from and want access to mobile solutions. But doing the thing employees may want could create significant legal risks for the employer.

The following are a few ways we have seen companies handle this challenge. Note, we want to re-emphasize that we are not lawyers and these are not legal recommendations, rather practical ideas used by other employers.* Consult your corporate counsel when deciding what makes sense for your company.

• Ensure your timekeeping policy prohibits 鈥渙ff-the-clock work鈥� and requires employees to report any time spent working, even if off-site or outside regular work hours. Non-exempt employees should certify their time records are accurate.
• Provide deskless employees with company-owned mobile devices that they pick up and drop off when they start and finish their shifts.
• Link mobile applications to the company time and attendance solutions so employees can only access the applications when they are formally on the clock.
• Provide training to employees on when they should and should not use mobile applications. Reinforce this with guidelines and warnings that pop up in the applications themselves.
• Monitor application usage and contact employees who appear to be using them at the wrong time or in the wrong way.

These methods may help resolve the apparent conflict between what employees want and what the law requires. At a more general level, ensure employees and managers approach this topic with a sense of understanding and mutual support. Managers should be sensitive to protecting the employee鈥檚 time by avoiding intrusions outside normal work hours. And employees should be aware of the legal risks the company faces if they spend time on work tasks without receiving compensation, regardless of how they may feel about it.

Like most aspects of employee experience, the solution is not found by pitting company needs against employee interests; it is found through employees and companies working together to support their complementary goals.

If you are interested in hearing more about the experience of deskless workers, be sure to listen to the exploring the topic of deskless workers or download the 听white paper.

*The information contained in this article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.

Most of the employees declared during the pandemic were in deskless jobs. Yet these essential employees receive little technology support compared to their desk-sitting colleagues.

Approximately 80% of the world鈥檚 employees do not sit at a desk, but is focused on deskless workers. We rely on deskless workers for tasks that directly impact the health, happiness, and welfare of ourselves and our loved ones. Yet we give them very little job support compared to their desk-based colleagues. Fortunately, changes in the nature of work are driving investment to improve the employee experience for deskless workers.

Where We Are Now

A recent by 麻豆原创 provides insight into what it is like to be a deskless worker. The study notes the nature of deskless jobs varies depending on things like level of customer interaction, skills specialization, and work environment. When compared to the attitudes of desk-based employees, deskless workers tend to be much less satisfied with wages and bonuses, training and career development, opportunities to share ideas with management, and communication from the company about the business and the performance of themselves and their teams. The highest levels of dissatisfaction are among deskless workers in jobs associated with high turnover located outside of corporate offices, like retail service and health aids, or low levels of customer interaction, like manufacturing and distribution.

Statistics from this study paint a grim picture of the current state of deskless workers. 鈥淥nly 33% of deskless workers feel comfortable talking to their manager about their salary. Forty-eight percent of deskless workers could not afford to lose the pay if they stayed home, and only 13% benefit from paid sick leave policies.鈥� Only 鈥�61% of deskless workers in the United States intend to stay within their current job鈥� although 鈥�69% of deskless workers would be less likely to leave their organization if employee communication would improve.鈥� When confronted with statistics like these, it is little surprise that many industries find it .

Why It Is Changing

There are many reasons why deskless work is often seen as less enjoyable and fulfilling than desk-based work. It is often physically demanding, frequently pays less than desk-oriented jobs, and usually requires conforming to fixed work schedules. The fact that deskless workers are away from computers and offices also creates challenges in engaging and communicating with leaders and colleagues. However, three shifts in the nature of jobs are likely to profoundly improve the experience of deskless workers.

There Are No 鈥淯nskilled Jobs鈥� in a Digital World

Historically, many deskless jobs were referred to as 鈥渦nskilled鈥� because they required no formal educational qualifications or requirements. Calling jobs unskilled led many companies to . Rather than investing in employee development, companies focused on using automation to make deskless jobs simpler to reduce costs of hiring and training workers. This focus on automation ultimately led to an interesting . The role of deskless workers now often focuses on non-routine problems that machines cannot handle or involves doing things that require uniquely human traits and talents, such as displaying empathy. This is making deskless work much more skilled and is increasing the importance of training, developing, and retaining deskless workers.

Job Quality Is Driven by Employee Experience

As the pace of business competition increases, companies rely on deskless employees to be fully engaged in their work, doing things such as paying high levels of attention to manufacturing and maintenance tasks, delivering exceptional customer or patient care, and finding effective solutions to transportation or construction challenges. Employees do not do these things well if they feel .

There Are No Walls in a Hybrid World

The events of 2020 created a that blends remote and on-site work experiences. This initially created between deskless workers and their desk-based colleagues who were able to work from home. As the world settles into a new hybrid approach, companies are now seeing opportunities to better engage all employees regardless of their physical location. This is leading to a greater sense of belonging among employees who work outside of corporate offices, which includes deskless workers.

These shifts create pressure on companies to improve employee experiences for deskless workers. How companies respond will determine whether they become opportunities for growth or threats to survival.

Where We Are Going

It has been said that technology is created when we need it. This is true when it comes to . The following are three particularly valuable ways technology allows companies to rethink the nature of deskless work.

Create shared virtual workspaces where everyone has a voice.
Use mobile technology to ensure deskless workers have access to the that support hybrid work. Leverage these platforms to bring deskless and desk-based employees into a 鈥渟hared workspace in the cloud.鈥� And enable that make it easy for deskless workers to express ideas, opinions, and experiences in a constructive and actionable manner.

Improve talent management and development in the flow of work.
Implement mobile-enabled that help managers engage, develop, and support deskless workers. Leverage that allow deskless workers to integrate training and development activities into ongoing job activities.

Design more fulfilling jobs.
This involves addressing the lower wages and difficult work schedules historically associated with many deskless jobs. Two technology solutions are highly relevant to overcoming these challenges. First, integrated data solutions enable companies to determine how changes in compensation and scheduling impact operational business metrics such as sales, customer retention, manufacturing productivity, and safety incidents. These make it possible to balance the costs of paying higher wages with the benefits of improved deskless worker experiences. Second, enable the design and delivery of service and sales-based commission plans that help ensure deskless workers are appropriately rewarded for their contributions.

Given how little technology investment deskless workers have received in the past, it is clear we can and should do more to support them. Paying greater attention to the needs of deskless workers will be critical to the business success of companies. The world is going through a major transition in and how it should be performed. Rethinking deskless work, whether skilled or 鈥渦nskilled,鈥� is a critical part of this transformation.

Interested in hearing more about this topic? Be sure to for an upcoming interactive panel discussion exploring the topic of deskless workers on August 11. Or, download the 鈥溾�� white paper.

Steven T. Hunt, Ph.D., is part of Technology & Work within the 麻豆原创 Innovation Office.

But how do we put these very human attributes to work and solve the toughest business challenges? As HR leaders, we must rethink how we define employee experience and what it means when part of this formula is left out of the equation.

Experience Redefined

We are overdue for a reset on the definition of employee experience. Although the world has become increasingly individualized, employee experience is currently rooted in听how the organization is doing broadly.听HR leaders听have become experts in evaluating engagement and leadership trust scores and yet we still don鈥檛 know where our employees experience joy at work and what might be depleting their day. Have we missed the mark? Not entirely, but the additive qualities of what makes each one of us tick, what motivates us, what we as individuals expect and want from work has been largely missed.

Experience design has historically started with persona development: defining employee wants, needs, beliefs, values, and pain points. But this generalized practice conflicts with creating individualized experiences. How do organizations focus on the unique attributes of each employee if they鈥檙e lumping them into vague categories? Employees are all truly unique and don鈥檛 want a career journey guided by a generic avatar.

When organizations match the individual to their most optimal environment it leads to : increased job satisfaction, organizational identification and commitment, , and job performance.

This individualized approach is what we refer to as human experience management (HXM). It鈥檚 not just about moments that matter, but moments that matter to me. And it’s not just about who I am today but who I am becoming. We call this the whole听self model. Using this unique data set 鈥� captured by assessments and preferences of employees 鈥� can lead to deeper self-awareness for the individual while also helping leaders and the organization realize greater potential across the entire workforce.

A Wave of Culture Shift

Employees to have a voice, to have autonomy, and to design their own work experiences. Collectively, their ambition is to find meaning, purpose, and personal connection at work. People want to use the skills they love, move dynamically between teams, and solve unique and challenging problems. They expect their organizations to know them and support their careers in individual ways. Employees are rightfully demanding the recognition of the uniqueness they bring. The next wave of diversity and inclusion should go beyond what鈥檚 on the outside to include what鈥檚 on the inside 鈥� our personality and values.

Fortunately, the movement towards individualization puts organizations on the path to this deeper understanding of who its employees are and how to support them. It will be critical to embrace these cultural shifts to build truly optimal workplace experiences. Organizations should take an iterative approach, focusing on building three key pillars of the individualized experience over time.

The Three Strategy Pillars of the Individualized Experience

Pillar #1: Know and Value Individuality
Start by deepening the understanding of what makes each individual unique through the whole self model. As Michael Stegar and Bryan Dik said in , 鈥淐omprehension of the self in work provides the foundation for people to develop a sense of purpose and mission that both motivates their engagement and performance.鈥� Self-exploration should include a variety of factors, including personality traits, strengths, aspirations, and mindsets.

Pillar #2: Empower Individuality
Leverage the power of people data as a foundation to create and shape experiences that are individual-led and have unique purpose and meaning. These new whole self model data elements can be used to provide transparency to employees, surface opportunities, inspire curiosity, and connect people to work with meaning. Smart organizations will align their needs to people鈥檚 passions to grow skills, workforce agility, and talent bench strength.

Pillar #3: Amplify Individuality
Drive a cultural shift that embraces individuality by creating a psychologically safe environment. By embracing the whole self model, organizations can begin to redefine their culture, tuning it to their optimal employee experience.

The untapped potential in the workplace is the difference between an average experience and one in which people can flourish. Adam Grant recently the ultimate well-being state as 鈥榝lourishing,’ defined as a 鈥渟trong sense of meaning, mastery, and mattering to others.鈥� It is in this triad that we each find the moments that matter to us. It is time to aim higher and dig deeper to empower the next evolution of employee experiences that connect us, as humans, and allow people to flourish. We all hope and dream for a brilliant career. It starts with every employee bringing their whole self to work, every day.

Scott Lietzke is vice president of Product Design at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.
Julie Bartholic is vice president of Product Innovation Design at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.
Caitlynn Sendra is EX product scientist at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

On the other hand, deskless workers complete most of their work tasks away from a desk and company headquarters and often lack consistent access to information, communication technology, and their company鈥檚 internal systems. Some examples include retail store workers, manufacturing workers, and salespeople. Since deskless workers are typically not located at the corporate headquarters of a company, they are 鈥渙ut of sight and out of mind.鈥� Unfortunately, this often translates to less priority and resources as well as a less positive employee experience than desk-based workers.

I recently sat down with to discuss the deskless worker. Hesley is an HR research analyst on the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HR Research team, leading the Supporting the Deskless Workforce research program. The purpose of this applied research program is to better understand and improve the employee experience of the deskless workforce.

Q: When we think of the word 鈥渄eskless,鈥� it seems that there would be many different types of deskless workers with different employee experiences. Is there value in differentiating between the types of deskless workers?

A: Yes, deskless workers vary considerably. Unfortunately, the business, press, and other organizations often treat them as one workforce segment, but the value of differentiating between them can be helpful to better understand their work context and improve their employee experience. Because of this, the HR Research team developed a taxonomy of deskless workers. This taxonomy has three dimensions that create the various profiles of deskless workers.

The first dimension is duration, which can be either short term or long term. Short term is defined as working in a burst of one day or less before returning home, while long-term deskless workers work away from their homes for more than a day at a time.

The second dimension is location, which can be onsite or offsite. Onsite deskless workers work at primarily one place of business, while offsite deskless workers may travel to various locations to complete their jobs.

The third and last dimension is customer interaction, which can be high or low. High customer interaction deskless workers interact with the ultimate consumer of their company鈥檚 goods or services, while low customer interaction deskless workers work in roles that are more 鈥渂ack of house鈥� and not customer facing. For example, a retail store employee would fit into the high customer interaction, short-term, onsite profile of the taxonomy, while a manufacturing deskless worker would fit into the low customer interaction, short-term, onsite profile.

Tell me more about the Supporting the Deskless Workforce research program. What are some themes that have emerged so far?

This research program has two parts: the qualitative interviews to gather HR鈥檚 perspective on managing and engaging their deskless workforce and a global survey, which is currently in data collection, to gather the deskless worker perspective. Themes that emerged from the interviews with HR are a lack of strategy related to deskless workers, persistent challenges in communicating with deskless workers, and issues related to providing deskless workers access to HR technology.

It sounds like many HR professionals mention how difficult it is to consistently communicate with their deskless workers. How is HR responding to this challenge? What can be done in the future?

Yes, that鈥檚 correct. When talking with HR, the second-most cited challenge to supporting the deskless workforce was communication and information dissemination. Several HR professionals mentioned that, because of reasons such as cost, security, and IT infrastructure, their deskless workers do not receive a company-issued e-mail address, making communication that much more difficult. Therefore, many of these companies have resorted to using supervisors as the only channel to communicate with their deskless workers.

This lack of an adequate communication channel then contributes to the third-most cited challenge: connectivity to the company culture. Since HR is unable to consistently communicate with deskless workers, this leads to an inability to keep these workers connected to the company culture as a whole.

I do believe this is where technology can play an important role in facilitating communication with and engagement of the deskless workforce. HR technologies that do not require a corporate e-mail address, such as 麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR, can help companies address these communication and information dissemination challenges. As a result, this can keep deskless workers connected and engaged with the company鈥檚 overall organizational culture.

Does HR believe technology is an answer to this challenge? If so, what does the ideal deskless worker technology look like?

Deskless workers make up as much as 80% of the world鈥檚 workforce, yet only of software investment is targeted towards solutions for these workers. In our interviews with HR, as much as 59% of HR said yes, they believe technology is the answer to communicating and engaging more effectively with their deskless workforce.

HR claimed that the ideal deskless worker technology would:

• Be simple, personalized, and engaging to use in the flow of work
• Provide a secure, unified experience with everything employees need to do their job in one place 鈥� including, but not limited to, HR applications
• Intelligently surface employee-relevant recommendations, insights, and actions
• Provide cross-departmental guided experiences that simplify complex processes
• Enable top-down and two-way employee communications, keeping them abreast of strategic programs and processes as well as collaborating and learning from one another

麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR works to address these features. The site provides an intuitive digital workplace experience with easy access to relevant business applications and processes, information, and communication in a unified entry point for work 鈥� with the employee at the center no matter what device they want to use to access it. It empowers teams and departments to effectively communicate and engage with employees without requiring IT infrastructure or support and extends across the entire organization to streamline processes with customizable, guided experiences that make disparate systems interoperable to present a simple and easy experience for the employee.听 Employees can also create communities where they can share knowledge and experiences with rich multimedia and micro-learning capabilities, helping to enrich critical programs such as onboarding and training.

And what鈥檚 better, 麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR does not require a corporate e-mail address. Once an employee logs in they have access to the information they need based on their role 鈥� and interests. It is clear HR faces significant hurdles when trying to best support the deskless workforce, but it is clear technology is an integral part of the solution moving forward.

To learn more, Dr. Autumn Krauss, principal scientist of the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HR Research team, on January 27, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. for the LinkedIn Live event, where Dr. Krauss will share more insights and best practices from the Supporting the Deskless Workforce research program.

For more information on 麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR visit . Also, find more resources related to this research program, as well as other active and past research programs, on the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HR Research team鈥檚 community .

What the听 has shown us is that to optimize for both speed and accuracy, interdependencies among companies are ever more critical. Interconnected digital supply chains are more relevant than ever before, demand prediction is critical to drive commerce, and procurement must become ever more intelligent and sustainable as we look to source goods and services.

The current situation also underlines the strategy that 麻豆原创 defined years ago: that we are moving from an era of siloed functions to an agile, intelligent, and responsive age. In some ways, we are moving back to basics, as we bring back core business process to the forefront, albeit the next-generation versions that will help power operational efficiency and growth for our customers for decades to come. The next generation intelligent suite is integrated but composable, modular, and infrastructure-agnostic, thereby simplifying adoption, increasing flexibility, and offering choice for companies.

A leading customer example for reimagining business processes by transforming the IT landscape is Orica鈥檚 4S program, which stands for Simple, Standard, Single 麻豆原创. Over the past few years, the company has undergone a significant transformation, which covers eight end-to-end business standard processes. Orica redefined all its business processes by consolidating systems on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, complemented by other 麻豆原创 solutions and extensions. All these business models were redefined based on the prerequisite to not customize any solutions so Orica can benefit from faster innovation delivery and a new level of transparency and efficiency across the enterprise.

If we take a closer look at where we are right now, we are investing in key processes that run every enterprise in any industry and are summarized in听: Lead to Cash, Recruit to Retire, Source to Pay, and Design to Operate.

We have made significant progress with our integration journey with a cloud-first, but not cloud-only, approach by also enabling . We use key services from , such as master data integration in the cloud, and end-to-end business process blueprints for hybrid scenarios as well.

Lead to Cash

Today, it is increasingly important for organizations to engage with their customers in the most effective way to better understand their needs and meet their expectations. Moreover, customers expect personalized experiences and want to choose when and how they interact with businesses.

But providing flexibility for customers can come at the cost of complexity on the business side.

The Lead to Cash process brings together听听and听听to deal with this complexity. For businesses that use other solutions for customer journeys, APIs offer the flexibility to integrate those solutions as well. Creating a seamless experience from a customer perspective requires seamless collaboration between marketing and sales teams. This in turn is supported by business capabilities that allow for automated, consistent handovers of leads, choice between e-commerce or direct sales, and flexible pricing configuration.

Enabling new business models with one set of solutions is at the core of the Lead to Cash process. It becomes increasingly important to sell physical products, service products, and subscription products in a unified way and allow customers to choose their own specific combinations. Integration scenarios among ,听,听, and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud and on premise enable a variety of scenarios and allow a flexible business process design to achieve this goal. Furthermore, the process does not stop in the sales domain, but seamlessly integrates with 听for service scheduling and execution.

• Find more information in this

Recruit to Retire

With today鈥檚 business dynamics, organizations are faced with the need to quickly adapt to changing environments. The global pandemic, for example, required companies to re-evaluate and redefine business continuity plans. Companies have seen both sides of the coin: the need to increase workforce and unfortunately, the need to redeploy or furlough employees too. In those moments that matter, transparent communication and trustful collaboration are a must.

This is where Recruit to Retire comes into play, an end-to-end process that enables human resources (HR) leaders to understand, manage, and optimize all aspects of the engagement with their workforce, including external workers. A combined solution portfolio of , , and solutions, along with 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud and helps customers manage their workforce in line with business objectives, while putting the individual human experience at the center.

Think of Return to Work scenarios that are currently top of mind due to COVID-19. Many customers are looking for tools to revitalize and re-energize their workforce. By combining these solutions with , customers can reopen facilities to their employees, reskill their workforce, keep them healthy and engaged, and help them secure new external opportunities if needed — in a human and very interactive way.

At听, we will show an听 that highlights how Recruit to Retire is being supported by three sub processes. These include Hire to Retire, the life cycle of an internal employee; Travel to Reimburse, or travel and expense management; and External Workforce Management, or engaging with contingent workforce. We will show how 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA cover an end-to-end process for hiring and engaging temporary external workers from a supplier 鈥� all connected through one aligned domain model.

• Find more information in detailed posts on 听and听
• Experience it at
• Learn more via

Source to Pay

Procurement departments seek transparency across their trading partners; for example, when it comes to topics such as sustainability or risk and compliance. They also require data-driven business insights at every step of the process. This level of transparency and insight for end-to-end processes can only be achieved in networks on a unified platform. This is the foundation for more effective spend management, better engagement with contingent labor, and sustainable practices across the value chain.

The Source to Pay process involves 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and and 麻豆原创 Fieldglass solutions. Their integration enables organizations to gain a 360-degree view of their processes across the category. This covers a variety of aspects related to Source to Pay building on Ariba Network from supplier management and risk, persona-based guided sourcing, contract management, and buying and invoicing functions tailored to specific industry needs. Capabilities with centralized sourcing, contract, requisitioning, purchasing, and invoice monitoring span across multiple backend systems and drive visibility and efficiency in shared services organizations.

One of our recent innovations in that space is the centralized requisitioning capability released with听, as well as invoicing delivered as part of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud. Enabled by the guided buying capability, this process addresses the employee self-service procurement flow with the ability to control a global, distributed, and diverse procurement landscape. Based on the integration to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA for central procurement, it is possible for organizations to scale the purchasing processes to support end-to-end business processes across finance and logistics. This helps enterprises create a path to harmonize system landscapes and centralize processes without disruption. Additionally, central buying reduces process costs and total cost of ownership, while at the same time helping ensure compliance and control.

• Find more information in this
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Design to Operate

Until recently, supply chains were often considered a back-office function. However, recent events have catapulted supply chains into the spotlight as critical to a business鈥� differentiation and success. No one knew that 2020 would be defined by a pandemic that would bring the global economy to a virtual standstill. Within weeks, the demand for goods and services became highly unpredictable. In such an environment, resilient supply chains become essential. Such resilience allows companies to respond and recover from unanticipated events.

To achieve greater resilience in supply chains, companies need to become more agile in order to sense, predict, and respond to disruption. Building on that, 听allows them to increase productivity and furthermore, by adopting听business networks, they can also enable better collaboration with business partners. Finally, strong supply chains not only require, but can also actively support, sustainable business practices.

We deliver capabilities as part of the Design to Operate framework that help customers run such resilient and sustainable supply chains. Our customers can orchestrate an end-to-end life cycle of a product or asset from the design phase to its operation. 麻豆原创 enables customers to leverage our interoperable solution portfolio to realize seamless business processes based on specific sub-processes, including idea to market, plan to fulfill, and acquire to decommission.

I鈥檇 like to highlight a few recent integration examples: We strengthened the business integration between warehouse management and manufacturing, supporting the Supply to Line process and covering just-in-time Supply to Production including internal replenishment. Warehouse workers can now transfer stock from storage locations to production supply areas in听听鈥� to accurately and timely supply the production line, thus eliminating waste.

With advanced shipping and receiving within 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, we significantly improved the Order to Delivery process. Customers can gain higher visibility for combined in- and outbound processes as well as for internal shipments, such as when parts are produced in one factory and then shipped to another for final assembly.

Another innovation that stands out is the integration between Qualtrics and Enterprise Product Design; our customers can now factor in product innovation ideas and feedback in real time by incorporating experience data.

One of the outcomes of the Design to Operate framework is the Digital Thread, which covers the lifecycle of products or assets as represented in a digital twin. Here we partner with industry leaders. One example is 麻豆原创鈥檚 partnership with Siemens, which aims to bring together the Siemens Team Center with 麻豆原创鈥檚 product life-cycle management portfolio.

• Find more information in this .

麻豆原创 is keeping its promise to customers and integrating its portfolio across functions and capabilities to reimagine business processes for the digital age. Integration ultimately enables business innovation, and this is what the vision of the Intelligent Enterprise is all about.

Thomas Saueressig is a member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE.
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According to researchers, 65 percent of organizations will move to digital first through automated operations and contact-less experiences as physical interactions become an amenity of the past. Translated to the retail industry, timed product discount windows will not be enough to secure customer loyalty that turns into sufficient profits this season or after. Customer loyalty now comes down to understanding and managing the entire shopping experience, from the moment someone hears about a product, researches their choices, navigates the company鈥檚 website, and makes a purchase decision.

Connected Data Changes Customer Experience

While IDC surveys found that people are increasingly using self-service technology, what鈥檚 happening behind the scenes 鈥� from retail product sourcing through sales 鈥� is also driving shopping experience transformation. When a consumer purchases a product online, and other feedback loops at any time can capture their experience, including satisfaction levels with the buying process, shipping and delivery, the product itself, and follow-up services. Bringing this data into the rest of the company, such as product development, supply chain, and marketing, transforms the relationship between customer and retailer in ways that last long after the crush of any Black Friday sale.

鈥淐ompanies are becoming that are able to listen, understand, and act on what customers are experiencing,鈥� said Francesco Rovico, senior business enterprise consultant at 麻豆原创. 鈥淏y connecting customer experience X-data with operational O-data, retailers can differentiate by delivering more personalized shopping experiences to consumers for brand loyalty and revenue growth.鈥�

Turning Data Into Targeted Offers

This transformed shopping experience upends a slew of Black Friday traditions, such as rushing into stores at midnight only to find the shelves devoid of the specially priced product we coveted. In fact, the point of understanding the customer experience and connecting data company-wide is to prevent supply chain shortages.

For example, retailers could collect and analyze consumer sentiment about purchasing an advertised product by incentivizing them with discounts to take a survey. When the consumer responds to the survey by scanning a QR code, retailers can securely capture their personal data from social media or sign-up information on the company website. Getting the answers to questions like whether or not someone was interested in a product 鈥� or if a discount would be valuable 鈥� and combining that data with inventory and supply chain data in could allow retailers to better stock products aligned with projected customer demands. It can also help retailers personalize offers.

鈥� allows retailers to analyze information from anywhere the consumer interaction takes place, including social media, the company website, texts, email, or even a support center phone call,鈥� Rovico said. 鈥淭aken together, this data provides a demographic profile of the consumer that the retailer can use to dynamically create targeted promotions, down to the 鈥榮egment of one.鈥欌��

From Social Influencers to Sales

Of course, the end of Black Friday also means customers can shop on their laptops, track their product shipments on their mobile devices, and return items by dialing into a call center. Retailers need to connect data from all these different places in order to deliver a satisfying shopping experience.

Consider social influencers, who share videos of products and explain how they are used. Viewer comments are a gold mine of information if retailers apply artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze consumer sentiment data and combine it with go-to-market strategies such as pricing and promotions.

鈥淎fter watching a social influencer video, someone might post a comment that they like a product, but it鈥檚 too expensive,鈥� Rovico said. 鈥淯sing 麻豆原创 Marketing Cloud and , retailers can connect customer sentiment analysis from different social channels with data stored in , combine them with the experience data from previous interactions and create personalized campaigns with 麻豆原创 Marketing Cloud to help increase sales 鈥� maybe offering that consumer lower-priced, but comparable products.鈥�

Experience Management is Here to Stay

There is no reason why retailers could not incorporate customer experience management strategies into everyday shopping. Suppose a customer leaves without emptying their virtual shopping cart but they have previously purchased a certain number of products. Retailers could automatically text or email a discount coupon with the most appropriate offer based on that consumer鈥檚 continuously updated profile to bring them back and even refer a friend.

Retailers can also collect feedback about the consumer鈥檚 experience at any point of the return process 鈥� whether by phone, text, chat, or online survey 鈥� triggering personalized discounts on related items. Using this information, retailers can better understand a customer鈥檚 likelihood to purchase a product and act on that feedback in near real time. And when in-person shopping returns, retailers will also need to bring that data into everything else they understand about their customer.

As for Black Friday鈥檚 demise this year, I have never viewed waiting in cold parking lots in the middle of the night or struggling to get through unruly crowds as shopping amenities. My holiday wish is that experience management moves from seasonal trend to shopping mainstay.

Follow me: @smgaler
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Drenched in a paradox that combines technology with the human experience, these were three major findings from the of 9,000 business and human resources (HR) leaders worldwide.

鈥淭his data gives us cause for hope because it shows that the greater value comes with the fusion of technology and humanity in the world today,鈥� said Kristin Starodub, principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP. 鈥淥rganizations that embed purpose, potential, and perspective into the DNA of who they are and how they operate have the opportunity to bring a human focus to everything they touch. This will empower people to be productive with technology, creating lasting value for the workforce and the organization.鈥�

Unlike traditional organizations, social enterprises aim to balance revenue growth and profits with support for the communities in which they exist. HR has a clear role in building worker resilience across these new enterprises for a competitive business advantage.

Positive Change Happens When People Unite for Shared Purpose

While employee well-being was the top ranked workforce trend in this study, most organizations have not taken full advantage of this opportunity. For example, 80 percent of survey respondents said that worker well-being was important or very important for company success over the next 12 to 19 months, yet only 12 percent felt ready to address that issue. In a heightened environment of rapid change, organizations need to move beyond managing employees for maximum productivity to greater adaptability. This shifts HR鈥檚 role to provide both human and technologically driven support.

鈥淧eople are actually highly adaptable to change when organizations provide them with a sense of purpose, community, and care,鈥� said Steve Hunt, chief expert, Work and Technology, 麻豆原创 North American Innovation Office. 鈥淥rganizations need to equip HR and front-line managers with and employee listening tools to understand workers鈥� experiences, as well as a suite of connected that allow them to create a culture that supports people dealing with an ever-accelerating pace of change.鈥�

It is not enough to merely ask employees questions during annual surveys. Organizations needs to ask the right questions at the right moments, using embedded to understand and quickly act on what employees are experiencing. This kind of pulse-taking moves beyond anecdotal, averaged feedback to actionable insights about individual workers and their managers.

Reinvent Workforce Development to Unleash Potential

Fifty-three percent of survey respondents said that between half and all their workforce will need to change their skills and capabilities in the next three years. Instead of anchoring business and HR strategies in what is known about the capabilities of their existing workforce, organizations need to look ahead and find ways to develop every worker鈥檚 true potential.

鈥淲e should be cautious about building HR programs or processes that are influenced by demographic variables that employees have no control over, like age,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淏ias affects everyone to some degree, although it definitely hurts some groups far more than others. Bias prevents people from opportunities based on things that are irrelevant to their ability to do the actual job. Organizations need to focus on reducing bias, which means helping all people unlock their potential with new opportunities to contribute in different ways. This is critical to building a supportive, inclusive culture, which enables a resilient workforce that can overcome constant disruption.鈥�

Transform Uncertainty with Decisive Action

Ethical challenges are especially pronounced at the intersection of humanity and technology. Indeed, 85 percent of respondents in this study believed the future of work raised ethical challenges, but only 27 percent said they had clear policies and leaders in place to manage them.

Hunt sees diversity and compensation as two major ethical issues that are driven by everything from social media to demands for social justice. The antidote is twofold: organizations need to be transparent about how decisions that affect people鈥檚 lives are made and embed that approach in workplace technology.

鈥淐ompanies need open, honest conversations about how much employees are paid and why,鈥� he said. 鈥淏eing fairly paid is about understanding and accepting the criteria and decisions around someone鈥檚 compensation. Transparency and dialogue are equally important when it comes to inclusiveness. We need to have these uncomfortable conversations and root them in transparency that reflects the reality of the world and what we need to do to make it better.鈥�

Thriving in the Post-Pandemic Workplace

For chief human resource officers (CHROs), perhaps the best news from this study was that 93 percent of respondents believed HR remains a distinct and important function. HR can blend technology and humanity together and take a leading role in helping organizations 鈥� and their workforce 鈥� adapt to fast-changing employee and business demands. HR cannot control how much change employees face, but it can have a huge impact on people鈥檚 ability to effectively respond. This positions organizations to recover and thrive whatever the next decade brings. After all, adaptability is only human.

Follow me: @smgaler

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Qualtrics XM for Suppliers combines data from an organization鈥檚 , and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA solutions with real-time supplier insights and AI-driven intelligence from Qualtrics, an 麻豆原创 company.

A majority, 66%, of chief procurement and chief supply chain officers said their procurement function is adept at mitigating risks with suppliers, according to a study conducted by Oxford Economics and 麻豆原创. Yet only 51% said they can quickly find alternative supply sources, and 46% said that gaining visibility into supplier performance is challenging.* Qualtrics XM for Suppliers helps organizations enhance existing source-to-pay processes by listening, understanding and most important, acting on supplier feedback at every touch point.

鈥淲hen organizations prioritize listening, understanding and acting on stakeholder feedback, the business impact and ROI will naturally follow,鈥� said Brian Stucki, Qualtrics executive vice president and CustomerXM general manager. 鈥淨ualtrics XM for Suppliers puts supplier feedback at the heart of buyer-supplier interactions and becomes an integral part of decision-making and relationship building. Procurement teams get a holistic view of the entire process through the lens of their suppliers to quickly close feedback loops, attain prescriptive recommendations on areas of improvement and advance spend innovation.鈥�

As a leader in customer experience and creator of the Experience Management (XM) category, Qualtrics provides its expertise to the new solution with key features of the Qualtrics XM Platform, such as the engine, to help deliver:

• Predictive analytics and intelligence. Instantly access supplier feedback and gain insight into predictive indicators to support informed spend decisions across the business.
• Automated and seamless workflows. Close experience gaps across the source-to-pay process with action plans that require no additional analysis and are automatically provided to procurement teams.
• Real-time insights to action. With visibility into supplier health and interactions across supplier touch points, from onboarding to crisis recovery, procurement teams know exactly where to implement change and which steps to take.

鈥淭his year has taught us that agility and resilience can only be achieved if you can anticipate disruption before it happens, enhance critical supplier synergies and know when to activate alternate sources of supply,鈥� said Jason Wolf, senior vice president and 麻豆原创 Intelligent Spend and Business Network general manager. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 even easier to achieve now with Qualtrics XM for Suppliers for 麻豆原创 Ariba, 麻豆原创 Fieldglass and 麻豆原创 S/4HANA solutions.鈥�

Qualtrics XM for Suppliers empowers procurement, finance and supply chain teams to help:

• Secure critical supply and deliver business resiliency by identifying and mitigating areas of risk to minimize business disruption and proactively responding to the feedback of the most critical suppliers.
• Accelerate savings by getting AI-driven insights and recommendations throughout the source-to-pay process to help identify experience gaps in the supply chain and influence more favorable contract terms that impact ROI.
• Innovate with speed by leveraging feedback captured throughout the source-to-pay process to promote supplier collaboration and use supplier expertise to identify process improvement areas.

Learn more about Qualtrics XM for Suppliers .

Visit the 麻豆原创 News Center. Follow 麻豆原创 on Twitter at .

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics, a leader in customer experience and creator of the Experience Management (XM) category, is changing the way organizations manage and improve the four core experiences of business 鈥� customer, employee, product, and brand. Over 12,000 organizations around the world are using Qualtrics to listen, understand, and take action on experience data (X-data) 鈥� the beliefs, emotions, and intentions that tell you why things are happening, and what to do about it. The Qualtrics XM Platform is a system of action that helps businesses attract customers who stay longer and buy more, engage employees who build a positive culture, develop breakthrough products people love, and build a brand people are passionate about. To learn more, please visit .

About 麻豆原创

麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 麻豆原创 system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 麻豆原创 helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 麻豆原创 helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit . On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit . From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from 麻豆原创 TV.

For customers interested in learning more about 麻豆原创 products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1麻豆原创 (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Geraldine Lim, +1 (415) 418-0945, geraldine.lim@sap.com, PT
Kelly Sheldon Murray, +1 (978) 708-6821, kelly.murray@sap.com, ET
麻豆原创 麻豆原创 Room; press@sap.com
Jessica Jones, Qualtrics, press@qualtrics.com, MT

* Source: 麻豆原创 procurement transformation research in collaboration with Oxford Economics.
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 麻豆原创 are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 麻豆原创 undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect 麻豆原创’s future financial results are discussed more fully in 麻豆原创’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including 麻豆原创’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
漏 2020 麻豆原创 SE. All rights reserved.
麻豆原创 and other 麻豆原创 products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 麻豆原创 SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.
Please consider our . If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line.

For the Women鈥檚 Tennis Association (WTA), many new challenges have developed since the pandemic, with unique complications given its diverse global community and players regularly traveling to tournaments around the world. This summer, 麻豆原创 Litmos technology powered , an online platform providing live and on-demand access to educational courses for players during an extended stoppage in play.

Now that they have returned to the court, the WTA wanted to get a pulse check on the player community, with technology playing a leading role to create an ideal environment. In their quest for deeper insights, the league leveraged technology from Qualtrics, an 麻豆原创 company, to better understand how their players felt about returning to play. Through Qualtrics technology, the WTA distributed digital questionnaires and was able to analyze the data in real time.

鈥淚n a time when the thoughts, opinions, and trust of each stakeholder are paramount, 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics have given the WTA a new pathway to gather critical data from our players and tournaments so we can optimize our Tour operations,鈥� WTA President Micky Lawler said. 鈥淲ith smartphones and social media today, it鈥檚 never been easier to document our feedback. The technology of Qualtrics gives us the opportunity to harness responsiveness, identify key insights, and apply them decisively.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e proud to support the WTA with 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics solutions to help the league better understand the real-time needs of players as they return to play,鈥� said Dan Fleetwood, vice president of Global Sponsorships at 麻豆原创. 鈥淏y gathering valuable feedback from players, this initiative will help the WTA navigate unique challenges with insights-driven thinking to empower future members.鈥�

Here are several key insights from the players:

• Sixty-eight percent of players stated that 鈥渓ove of the game鈥� was one of their top two motives for returning to the court after a five-month break. Other choices included 鈥渇inancial,鈥� 鈥渞anking,鈥� and 鈥渓egacy.鈥�
• Players cited 鈥渁tmosphere,鈥� 鈥渆nergy,鈥� and 鈥渃heering鈥� as the elements they missed most about not having crowds present during competition.
• 鈥淔itness鈥� and 鈥渕ental game鈥� were the two most popular areas where players said their training routine had changed since the start of the pandemic.
• Fifty-one percent of players said either 鈥渓earning a new skill鈥� or 鈥渢aking educational classes鈥� were areas they chose to explore during unexpected down time. This was encouraging to see given the rollout of the WTA University.

Click to enlarge.

Since 2013, 麻豆原创 has been a global partner to the WTA, providing innovative technology for the tennis community, helping to advance and grow the sport around the world.

To learn more about 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics technology, visit .

For more engaging content around the WTA and other sports partners,
follow on ,听, and .

HXM is a shift in mindset, design, and architecture that puts employees at the center of business and prioritizes experiences, so people are not only able to be productive but be their best selves and reach their highest potential.

There have been countless changes in the way we work since we announced HXM, but it is even more relevant today because it places the needs of individuals front and center. More than ever, each of us is dealing with individual circumstances. HXM gives employees the ability to work autonomously, in the driver鈥檚 seat of their own career journeys while also securing organizational agility amidst changing circumstances. By surfacing tools when and where employees need them, employees can spend more time on the work that matters most. On the other hand, leaders can check in with pulse surveys to see how employees are doing and quickly make changes to deliver the best experience possible.

HXM is our market-making vision and continues to guide the entire product strategy. This month, we will unveil several new updates in our 2H release to continue making this vision a reality for our customers.

Reimagined Homepage Now Available

A core pillar of HXM is designing completely around the needs of individuals. That is why it is so important that the entry point for all 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors software users is intuitive and seamless. As we reimagine the experience across the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite, the newly redesigned homepage delivers a personalized experience built to help employees complete tasks quickly and easily. The redesign focuses on dynamic content such as frequently performed and 鈥渟ave for later鈥� actions and time-sensitive tasks, and all content is organized based on what is most relevant to the individual 鈥� from rewards and recognition to development goals. The homepage is included with all 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions.

More than 50 customers have participated in our beta program this year, providing critical feedback that we have incorporated into the homepage. It will be available to all customers for opt-in beginning this release.

Surfacing New Opportunities with Learning and Intuitive Performance and Goals听

A key component of HXM is to provide opportunities that engage and motivate employees. Building a culture of continuous feedback and continuous learning is an ever-evolving area. It is essential not only for the human experience, but as companies look to develop their people and stay competitive. This release, we will deliver several updates to 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Learning and to further this mission.

A new enhanced capability in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Learning will support blended courses for a unified view on all learning items. The redesigned experience is intended to boost engagement and deliver a more intuitive learning experience on both web and mobile. Employees can more quickly access course details, and related learning courses will be recommended.

Within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Performance & Goals, we have redesigned our feedback experience to help guide users with a simple, question-based approach when giving and requesting feedback to help provide more clarity and context. That feedback is then presented in a new card design layout that helps employees more easily consume it. First introduced in 2016 and now with nearly 2,000 customers, continuous performance management (CPM) continues to evolve so anyone can use it for ongoing dialog, feedback, and one-on-one meetings. This release includes the ability to support multiple roles so project leads and mentors can engage with employees along with line managers.

Embedded Employee Experience Management Capabilities

As we think about delivering exceptional experiences, it is critical to have constant feedback loops that enable businesses to take informed actions. We continue to deliver on our promise to integrate employee experience management capabilities from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics across the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite. In the 2H 2020 release, these capabilities will be available in several new areas, including:

• Mentoring: When a mentoring program ends, an email survey will be sent to the participants in the mentoring program. 听
• Benefits: HR leaders can receive direct employee feedback regarding benefits. The survey automatically launches after the employee鈥檚 benefits submission.
• Homepage: Qualtrics Remote Work Pulse surveys are surfaced at key moments to ask employees for feedback on how their day-to-day remote work environment.

麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR: Digital Workplace Combining 麻豆原创, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, and Partner Solutions

The newest solution to be added to the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite is , a digital workplace solution that is entirely individualized so employees can access everything as a one-stop shop. Currently, most employees log in to 10 or more applications to do their work. 麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR connects experiences across 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors, 麻豆原创, and our extensive partner ecosystem to streamline work and intelligently surface relevant content, recommendations, insights, and actions. In addition to out-of-the box content, customers can create workflows that span multiple products and experiences, both HR-related and beyond, that are all fit to unique purposes, such as custom integration cards, guided experiences, workspaces, and more. Employees can also fully configure their experience so that it suits them best.听 The result: smarter, faster, more agile workflows and greater individualization for employees.

麻豆原创 Work Zone for HR will be available as part of the 2H 2020 release and is designed for the entire enterprise 鈥� not just an HR portal. This new solution provides the human experience for the Intelligent Enterprise.

New Time Management Capabilities

With all the stresses in our daily lives, time off is a sensitive topic. With our employees can enter additional time off beyond their accrued balance or vacation entitlement. This process integrates with pay components in and/or 麻豆原创 HCM Payroll to confirm eligibility, and provides the option of purchasing the leave across one or more pay periods. This feature helps reduce the adverse economic impacts of taking leave without pay 鈥� putting a smile on employees鈥� faces.

Another important update is the ability to track time across midnight.听 Simplifying small tasks make a big difference to employees鈥� experience at work and frees up more time so they can focus on what matters most to them.

These product updates further the HXM vision we are creating together: putting people first so they can grow, learn, reskill, upskill, and simply be and do their best. As the way we work continues to change and technology advances exponentially, HXM is the foundation that will future-proof business.

To learn more about these updates and our vision for the next year, attend the .

Amy Wilson is senior vice president of Products and Design for 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

In recent years, many significant global events have changed everyday life in unimaginable ways. Everything 鈥� from how people behave, think, and communicate to which regulations and policies are enacted to tighten governance and control 鈥� is constantly evolving. And those shifts are sometimes so dramatic that old norms are no longer relevant, safe, comforting, or familiar.

This well documented truth is also reflected in the quality of B2B customer experience. XM practices that focus on traditional factors, such as feature-based product selection and market leadership, are not considered necessary anymore. Instead, customers are more likely to value brands that demonstrate care and concern, meet their needs on their terms, navigate a completely changed world, and respond to demand and individual requirements with agility.

How can companies in the B2B space pivot fast enough to trigger an immediate and lasting impact on their customers鈥� sense of brand accountability, security, trust, and loyalty? For many 麻豆原创 customers, the secret is getting to the root of their XM challenges quickly and innovate with听less risk by using .

Close the Experience Management Gap

The disparity between a company鈥檚 perception of their customer experience and what customers think about it is often nothing short of shocking. A survey conducted by indicates that 80 percent of companies believe they deliver superior experiences, while only eight percent of customers agree.

This disconnect is what we call the XM gap. To close it, companies need to do three things better than ever: Listen to their customers more; understand how customer feedback relates to their products, services, interactions, and business operations; and act on that knowledge in ways that improve experiences on their customers鈥� terms.

For decades, organizations have relied on operational data (O-data) to know what is happening to support their decisions. Such intelligence is based on transactional data that is necessary to manage the overall business. Coming from software such as 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud, or 麻豆原创 Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, it helps measure key performance indicators (KPIs) like inventory turnover, days sales outstanding, profit and loss, and sales conversion rate.

However, the insight provided by O-data is just a part of the bigger customer experience story. Experience data (X-data) has the power to inform why certain events happen. X-data considers all the human factors — beliefs, behavioral instincts, emotions, and intentions — behind every action and outcome. This information can be derived from customer feedback, purchase intent, Net Promoter Score, product satisfaction surveys, social sentiment, and customer engagement.

The real magic behind a meaningful B2B customer experience happens when both X-data and O-data are combined. By comprehending the 鈥渨hat鈥� and the 鈥渨hy鈥� of every business event, companies can identify new opportunities, strengthen customer loyalty, optimize inventory to reduce costs, and deliver on promises with the highest level of quality possible.

Activate the Untapped Potential of Every Customer Interaction

One of the best resources for opening the potential of the customer experience is digital strategy advisory services for XM. As part of the portfolio, the services enable 麻豆原创 customers to transform their XM practices with one unified platform. It ties together the insights of O-data and X-data to empower better decision-making with enterprise-wide visibility and a clear understanding of what is happening operationally and why specific outcomes happen during the experience.

For a better view of the XM improvements that businesses can expect to achieve with digital strategy advisory services, consider three of the many use cases explain the power of XM in the B2B context

1. Reduce Goods Returns and Improve Customer Satisfaction

Receiving customer returns can bring undesirable operational and financial burdens. But more importantly, it can be an indication that customer satisfaction may be eroding. Businesses that have limited visibility into the connection between their operations and customer experiences cannot easily decipher whether the root cause is, for example, quality management, poorly scheduled or delayed delivery, or inaccurate sales forecasting.

By leveraging XM, a systematic approach to processing returned goods can yield the visibility businesses need. When a customer initiates a return request, XM solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics trigger the automated capture of reasons and product experience. Once the warehouse receives the shipment, a survey is initiated to obtain the results of the physical inspection of the items and verify the return. Once the returned item is accepted, the account manager and customer contact receive a questionnaire to provide feedback on the process.

All touch points — O-data and X-data — are captured and visualized in a dashboard to understand the correlation between the reason 鈥渨hy鈥� a customer returned and 鈥渨hat鈥� financial and operational consequences followed it.

2. Increase Sales and Demand Planning

Product sample management is one of the most critical customer-facing processes for the manufacturing industry. Customers do not usually share information about the use, purpose, and experience of the sample product. This lack of insight can become a considerable challenge when manufacturers try to predict demand, potentially resulting in long lead times or misaligned product availability.

XM helps to ensure that the product sample management process immediately creates and confirms the sample request from a customer in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) backend system. Then, the delivery process allows XM solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to initiate surveys to obtain data on the customer鈥檚 experience. The provided information is transferred to 麻豆原创 Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, and a dashboard from 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud correlates the O-data and X-data to generate insights into future demand and new leads.

3. Optimize Billing and Payment Processes

Errors in billing and payment processes can impact the customer experience as well as revenues and operating margins. For example, escalations often culminate in legal action and loss of customers.

In most cases, customers are more willing to express their disappointments or satisfaction with suppliers during the billing and payment process. Therefore, this phase of the customer experience is a prime opportunity to detect potential operational problems and needed experiential improvements early on.

Customers can integrate 麻豆原创 S/4HANA with XM solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to establish an embedded early warning system of issues that could harm the customer satisfaction. This insight can help companies use numerous touch points within the billing and payment processes more effectively to resolve mistakes proactively and improve overall customer satisfaction.

Take the Lead in a New World of Experience Management

Brands that people love and follow know that great products and services are no longer enough to earn and maintain customer loyalty. But for many businesses, this growing sentiment is challenging their ability to secure, enhance, and create new opportunities 鈥� unless a high level of customer centricity is exercised.

The key to a highly competitive, customer-centric business is listening to customers actively, understanding their motivations fully, and acting appropriately at the right moment.

This reality is why 麻豆原创 offers XM as part of the digital strategy advisory services portfolio from 麻豆原创. By focusing on our advisory services on XM for B2B processes, companies can navigate the complexities of today鈥檚 ever-evolving market dynamics and build experiences that resonate well with new and existing customers across any channel.

This is the new era of experience management, bringing X-data and O-data together to leverage and generate new insights into business operation.

Digital strategy advisory services from 麻豆原创 are available through 麻豆原创 Advisory Service. For additional information, reach out to your 麻豆原创 account executive or .

Stay in the conversation by following 麻豆原创 Services and Support on , , , and .

Emarsys enables businesses to engage more effectively and more personally with their customers. Enhancing the 麻豆原创 Customer Experience portfolio with Emarsys will create a new paradigm for how commerce is managed digitally as it will deliver hyperpersonalized, omnichannel engagements in real time, helping organizations ensure every engagement is relevant and impactful.

鈥淎dding the Emarsys customer engagement platform to our leading 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and Experience Management technology from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics opens up new possibilities for our customers that are unique in the market,鈥� said Christian Klein, CEO of 麻豆原创. 鈥淭he success of brands worldwide depends today on their ability to offer a compelling customer journey and to cater to the individual expectations of customers. To meet these expectations, front-office data must be integrated with back-office capabilities and with individual customer feedback. Once the transaction closes, 麻豆原创 will enable brands to connect every part of their business to the customer, including experience data. We will deliver a portfolio for a 鈥榗ommerce anywhere鈥� strategy allowing for hyperpersonalized digital commerce experiences across all channels at any time.鈥�

Emarsys is an innovative and easy-to-use fully integrated cloud-based marketing platform. It allows companies to deliver truly personal customer interactions across e-mail, mobile, social, SMS, and the web at scale.

鈥淐ustomer engagement technology has evolved tremendously over the past decade, and in that time, Emarsys has emerged as a world-class platform that truly enables personalized, one-to-one digital interactions between brands and customers across all channels,鈥� said Bob Stutz, president, 麻豆原创 Customer Experience. 鈥淲ith Emarsys technology, 麻豆原创 Customer Experience solutions can link commerce signals with the back office and activate the preferred channel of the customer with a relevant and consistently personalized message, allowing customers the freedom to choose their own engagement.鈥�

鈥淓marsys has a rich tradition of innovation in digital marketing,鈥� said Ohad Hecht, CEO of Emarsys. 鈥淛oining forces with 麻豆原创, a leading global brand with an ongoing commitment to excellence and innovation in customer experience, is an exciting next step in our evolution. We鈥檙e confident that, once we have regulatory approval, our customers and partners will quickly benefit from synergies between the Emarsys platform and the 麻豆原创 Customer Experience portfolio.鈥�

鈥淪uccess in today鈥檚 market relies on brands delivering personalized experiences powered by a holistic view of each consumer that connects digital engagement data with supply chain data in real time,鈥� said Hagai Hartman, founder and chief innovation officer of Emarsys. 鈥淭ogether Emarsys and 麻豆原创 can create a new paradigm for digital commerce focused on the consumer.鈥�

Emarsys was founded by Josef Ahorner, chairman of the Supervisory Board, Hagai Hartman and Daniel Harari in Vienna, Austria. Today Emarsys has over 1,500 customers worldwide and more than 800 employees across 13 offices including London, Berlin, Sydney and Budapest, as well as a U.S. headquarters in Indianapolis. The company鈥檚 operations will become part of the 麻豆原创 Customer Experience business unit. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, subject to regulatory approval. Purchase price and other terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

To learn more, attend taking place online October 14鈥�15.

Visit the 麻豆原创 News Center. Follow 麻豆原创 on Twitter at .

About Emarsys

Emarsys empowers digital marketing leaders and business owners with the only omnichannel customer engagement platform built to accelerate business outcomes. By rapidly aligning desired business results with proven omnichannel customer engagement strategies 鈥� crowdsourced from leading brands across your industry 鈥� our platform enables you to accelerate time to value, deliver superior one-on-one experiences and produce measurable results鈥ast. Emarsys is the platform of choice for more than 1,500 customers around the world. Join thousands of leading brands who trust Emarsys to deliver the predictable, profitable outcomes that their businesses demand and the highly personalized omnichannel experiences that their customers deserve. For more information, visit .

About 麻豆原创

麻豆原创鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77 percent of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 麻豆原创 system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 麻豆原创 helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees and thought leaders, 麻豆原创 helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit . On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit . From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from 麻豆原创 TV.

For customers interested in learning more about 麻豆原创 products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1麻豆原创 (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:
Janice Tsoules, 麻豆原创, +1 (650) 223-4817, janice.tsoules@sap.com, ET
Daniel Reinhardt, 麻豆原创, +49 6227 7-40201, daniel.reinhardt@sap.com, CET
麻豆原创 麻豆原创 Room; press@sap.com
Lucy Davies, Emarsys, +44 7880 425 783, lucy.davies@emarsys.com, BST

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as 鈥渁nticipate,鈥� 鈥渂elieve,鈥� 鈥渆stimate,鈥� 鈥渆xpect,鈥� 鈥渇orecast,鈥� 鈥渋ntend,鈥� 鈥渕ay,鈥� 鈥減lan,鈥� 鈥減roject,鈥� 鈥減redict,鈥� 鈥渟hould鈥� and 鈥渨ill鈥� and similar expressions as they relate to 麻豆原创 are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. 麻豆原创 undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect 麻豆原创’s future financial results are discussed more fully in 麻豆原创’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including 麻豆原创’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.
漏 2020 麻豆原创 SE. All rights reserved.
麻豆原创 and other 麻豆原创 products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 麻豆原创 SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.
Please consider our . If you received this press release in your e-mail and you wish to unsubscribe to our mailing list please contact press@sap.com and write Unsubscribe in the subject line.

PILLER Blowers & Compressors, the German-based family-owned business, is known around the world for its industrial-strength high-powered blowers and compressors 鈥� not the kind seen advertised on a home shopping channel at 2:00 a.m.

This midsize business with 400 employees worldwide provides customized solutions for fuel refineries, industrial furnace construction, mechanical engineering, power plants, wastewater treatment, and other related sectors.

PILLER product are in demand because each blower is tailored to customer specifications 鈥� making each unit a truly one-of-a-kind item. What鈥檚 more, PILLER strives to offer its customers innovative, value-added services to support the customers鈥� business in every way possible. But all wasn鈥檛 milk and honey for PILLER.

Innovation Leads to Differentiation

Like a lot of other companies, PILLER was finding it difficult to differentiate itself based solely on the products manufactured 鈥� even though it was building first-class merchandise.

PILLER鈥檚 success depended upon finding new ways to meet customer expectations by offering value-rich services 鈥� innovative maintenance and service processes to round out great blowers.

PILLER brainstormed with consulting partner IBsolution to align its service processes with the Internet of Things (IoT). By equipping its blowers with sensors, PILLER could gather valuable data in the 麻豆原创 Cloud via an IoT connection.

This helps to identify potential problems early on, giving PILLER service technicians time to replace at-risk components before failure. What鈥檚 more, in case of irregularities, several processes trigger automatically.听 Now, automated tickets get posted in the service portal, and notify the customer and PILLER for faster resolution and prevention.

The bottom line: IoT-based predictive maintenance reduced resolution time and minimized blower downtime 鈥� leading to higher customer satisfaction.

PILLER鈥檚 Path to Happy Customers

PILLER improved its services with innovative IoT technology and strong integration into backend systems using 麻豆原创 solutions, which enabled the company to develop new business models to serve customers better and build customer loyalty opportunities.

麻豆原创 Customer Experience solutions serve as a stable, scalable platform enabling PILLER to develop new business models to serve customers better and build customer loyalty opportunities.

PILLER uses the 麻豆原创 Customer Experience portfolio to inspect and work with customer tickets, dispatch service technicians, and fulfill field service.听 Broad integration across multiple lines of business lead to automated service billing and easy capturing of spare parts quotes.

Experience Management solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics close the loop on any missing customer insights throughout the process. To capture missing customer insights throughout the process, automatically generated surveys capture the feedback after the service fulfillment.

Finally, management gathers these insights through an 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud solution dashboard. This combines the customer experience data from sales and service with IoT aggregates 鈥� culminating in happier customers all around. PILLER is focused on knowing what its customers need before they even know themselves.

All in all, the benefits for PILLER and its customers have been impactful, including:

• Improved maintenance and service process
• Added value for customers through smart services
• Reduction of the average resolution time for service tickets by 20 percent
• Reduction of the average time to gather machine data by 50 percent
• Increase in after sales revenue by 10 percent

鈥淥ur aim is not only to supply first-class products, but also to inspire our customers with innovative services throughout the entire life cycle of industrial fans,鈥� said Thomas Henzler, CIO, PILLER Blowers and Compressors.

Or, perhaps to paraphrase Pooh, 鈥淭his is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved.鈥�

To learn how PILLER Blowers & Compressors is thrilling its customers, check out its for complete details.

Healthcare providers can use the COVID Patient Record Management mobile app to monitor real-time data about everything from hospital bed capacity by room to what equipment each patient is being treated with, and their vital signs.

鈥淭he algorithm helps simplify decisions for more informed and effective conversations about next steps,鈥� said Andr茅 Kingham, chairman of Iristrace. 鈥淟ike most organizations, hospitals can鈥檛 easily rework IT systems to add new protocols. Our cloud-based solution allows the hospital to quickly evolve protocols and cascade compliance into patient care without IT expertise.鈥�

Save Time, Reduce Mistakes, and Improve Patient Care

Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners on the front lines can rely on the mobile app for continuity of daily patient care. Whether they are at the patient鈥檚 bedside or behind the scenes with testing and research, providers can use the app to reliably capture and analyze relevant information. This can speed up hospital admissions and patient transfers for surgery and support safer handovers during shift changes along with better release decisions.

鈥淚nstead of making time-consuming telephone calls and consulting paper-based planning sheets at separate stations, providers can immediately see where beds are available and act faster,鈥� Kingham said. 鈥淲ith multiple people involved in the patient鈥檚 care, everyone is inputting data, which is captured in and analyzed in . Eventually, this data can support forecasting and other research imperatives.鈥�

Tech Eases Change Management

Agility will be critical in every industry as organizations slowly reopen and adjust to shifting mandates and restrictions. Kingham said the Iristrace solution can help organizations keep employees and customers safe while meeting quality assurance standards. The startup serves organizations in many industries including manufacturing, retail, food production, and energy.

鈥淭ypically, it takes time 鈥� communication and repetition 鈥� for people to change their mindset and incorporate new processes into the way they work,鈥� Kingham explained. 鈥淭he closer you can get to the employees who are servicing customers or managing machines that produce goods and services, the quicker you can bridge that gap for more agile business to mitigate risk.鈥�

While some Iristrace customers were initially dismayed to discover high rates of non-compliance throughout operations, Kingham said they valued the feedback, which helped drive results such as improved customer experiences. Customers also appreciated the ability to manage audit compliance with fewer resources. Foodbox, a restaurant chain based in Spain, has relied on Iristrace to support daily compliance processes over the past three years.

鈥淲orking with Iristrace is part of our data-centric strategy that allows us to better anticipate customer preferences and provide them with an outstanding experience,鈥� said Salvador Olmedilla, director of Operations at Foodbox Group. 鈥淚n the post-COVID deconfinement period, the platform allowed us to quickly respond to the applicable regulations throughout our establishments to keep our employees and customers safe.鈥�

Faster Innovation with Flexible Startup Partnerships

Iristrace was among the startups that participated in the accelerator program at last year. According to Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE, Product Engineering, Iristrace is a great example of how 麻豆原创 speeds up digital transformation for customers.

鈥淐ombining the power and scale of 麻豆原创 with the agility of startups like Iristrace allows us to accelerate innovation, which is especially critical during the pandemic and long after,鈥� Saueressig said. 鈥淥ur open innovation strategy with an ecosystem of startups is emblematic of 麻豆原创鈥檚 modern ERP cloud, . We鈥檙e building in integration from the start, while making it easy for partners to extend innovation on our cloud platform, helping customers become intelligent enterprises and realize the experience management vision.鈥�

The Iristrace cloud-based platform is integrated with 麻豆原创 governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solutions.

Plans to Support Economic Recovery

Kingham sees expanded opportunities for Iristrace in numerous industries as supermarkets, hotels, and other businesses begin to reopen. Indeed, 麻豆原创 is piloting the Iristrace app in select hygiene stations at its headquarters in Walldorf, Germany. Facilities management plans to rely on the algorithm to maintain office standards for cleanliness and safety, including proactively monitoring soap levels based on real-time usage data.

Kingham also said that governments in various regions have expressed interest in the solution to support citizens during the pandemic crisis and beyond.

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.

鈥淲e鈥檙e consumer-driven, so we need as much information as possible,鈥� Vice President and CIO George Lesko said. 鈥淲e need to understand behaviors of the people who go into the store; we need to understand how people interpret our products and our platforms; and we need to understand what they want from us next.鈥�

This data helps Ferrara close the experience gap, the difference between how you think customers feel about you versus how they actually feel. The gap is often wider than organizations believe, but tools help analyze and understand experience gaps 鈥� and determine what to do about them.

XM tools help Ferrara gauge a campaign鈥檚 effectiveness, choose the next new product, evaluate how consumers feel about social issues, and more.

Making the Right Impression the Right Way

鈥淲hen we鈥檙e talking customer sentiment, we鈥檙e really talking more broadly about how people think about our brands,鈥� Daniel Hunt, director of Insights and Analytics at Ferrara said.

Hunt and his team regularly use to manage how customers, shoppers, and others experience all that his company has to offer. 鈥淚t really helps us both to test the validity of new ideas, and also to come up with them.鈥�

This goes for brands that Ferrara has owned for ages, as well as recent acquisitions, such as SweeTARTS. , “For SweeTARTS in particular as a brand, we鈥檝e used XM to touch almost every major brand activity, from new innovation to communications.鈥�

With , Ferrara examines how best to engage in conversations with consumers, as well as understanding their preferences, according to Hunt. That means choosing the right message — and everything else that goes with it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about how you find the right thing to talk about. And then you also have to find the right way to deliver that message so people remember it, so people get it,听 so people remember it was you.鈥�

The Perfect Storm: Speed, Agility, Cost, Flexibility

鈥淗aving a flexible platform allows you to ask, really, any question you want — in any way you want, to any audience you want — and we can get into very specific details,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 just have to rely on asking the same five questions over and over again; we can ask specific questions for every brand, for every project [and] every product.鈥�

XM technology allows Ferrara to dive into the granular details of a target demographic鈥檚 data in ways that had not been possible before. Before 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics, discovering people鈥檚 preferred words, phrases, imagery, and colors — and dozens more factors — would have taken too long and been too expensive.

鈥淎 lot of those are sometimes really small questions, and I think that鈥檚 where we鈥檝e seen maybe the most change [because] they鈥檙e really important to having a good product,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淪peed, agility, cost and flexibility — and the ability to be targeted and drill down — are all important for us when we鈥檙e making decisions.鈥�

The 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics Difference

鈥淨ualtrics is really ahead of all the other competitors, it鈥檚 very responsive,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淭here are a lot of specific cases that we can talk about — both on the capabilities side and on the automation side — where we鈥檝e had needs, and we can work with the product development team to actually meet them.鈥�

Hunt confirmed that Ferrara chose Qualtrics XM for three reasons:

• The flexible platform is easy to use and implement 鈥渁lmost in one day鈥�
• An aggressive road map for development, 鈥渨here new capabilities are coming online all the time鈥�
• Bespoke surveys, which offer 鈥渢he ability for us to ask questions we couldn鈥檛 ask in the past, the ability to do things faster and do things more automated than we have in the past鈥�

麻豆原创 and Qualtrics help Ferrara identify early adopters and their preferences, which is crucial to staying ahead of flavor trends, according to Hunt. And beyond their candy tastes, Ferrara has gained valuable insight about its fans鈥� values.

鈥淎 lot of the work that we鈥檝e done from a corporate social responsibility standpoint has been informed by the research that we鈥檝e done with experience management,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淟earning what鈥檚 important to consumers, what they want us to focus on most as a company — trying to be responsible, agile and responsive to that.鈥�

The Peacemaker

鈥淥ne of the ways that Qualtrics has really improved the lives of our employees — and really our decision making — is new product development,鈥� Hunt shared. 鈥淏efore Qualtrics, we used to argue in boardrooms for weeks about product names and package designs. Today we鈥檒l do that over the course of an hour by looking at consumer feedback and consumer data.鈥�

That鈥檚 because such data clearly indicates what will best resonate with consumers, according to Hunt. There鈥檚 no more guesswork or relying on intuition. 鈥淭he first time that we did it for one product, it was like a light bulb moment for our executive team,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone was in agreement, and we could just move forward.鈥�

During a recent discussion about which new flavors to unveil, Ferrara tested 50 different ideas and narrowed it down to three — a feat that would have been near impossible before Qualtrics. 鈥淎nything that we used to decide in a boardroom is now something that we decide with consumer data,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淲e make those decisions in a few minutes instead of several weeks; and we do it in a way where everyone feels happy walking out of the room.鈥�

Ferrara鈥檚 Future with XM

鈥淢y experience using XM has been great,鈥� Hunt said, noting that the number of 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics users at Ferrara has grown to an entire team over the past few years. 鈥淚t was something that was really quick and easy to get people onboarded with, which is fantastic.鈥�

Ferrara鈥檚 XM initiative will continue closing the experience gap by automating analytics and other tasks via the Qualtrics platform, according to Hunt. This will free up his team to concentrate on research.

鈥淭he biggest barrier for us is time — how much time we have to write surveys, to do analysis, to build reports,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淭he next phase for us is really using all the capabilities that you have on the platform so we can spend more time figuring out the next great questions to answer.鈥�

• Read more about how Ferrara improves its customer experience and meets customer needs.

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This story originally appeared on .
Top image via video.

All for One Group realized, however, that customer success is about more than growth. The company views customer success as enhanced competitiveness in a digital world, stronger market position, and increased ability to face today鈥檚 challenges as well as those that lie ahead.

, managing director for Customer Success Management at All for One Group, says, 鈥淥ur customers also made it perfectly clear that they wished for a stronger relationship and closer, better communication between our company and theirs in order to make our common projects and implementation processes more successful.鈥�

鈥淲e aim for long-lasting, strong, and trustworthy customer relationships, which allow us to provide and implement services and solutions that perfectly meet 鈥� or, even better, exceed 鈥� our customers鈥� needs and expectations,鈥� adds Zitz. 鈥淲e want to be a strong and reliable partner so that they gladly recommend us within their network.鈥�

Evolving into a Customer Success-Oriented Business

Establishing a business united to support and ensure the growth of its customer base was one of All for One Group鈥檚 major moves throughout its 鈥淪trategy 2022,鈥� a comprehensive realignment its business strategy containing several cornerstones.

All for One Group established a Customer Success Management team, which consists of 50 team members, 35 of whom are customer success managers (CSMs). Dedicated to All for One鈥檚 existing customer base, CSMs serve as the primary points of contact for existing customers. Additionally, they take a proactive approach to providing comprehensive support throughout the customer life cycle.

CSMs are an integral part of All for One Group鈥檚 six-phase Customer Success Management program, the #Customer4Life Process:

1. Getting to know CSM: An initial meeting that can include discussion of a roadmap for partnership and establishing the role and importance of the CSM
2. Evaluating the status quo: Using a Qualtrics online survey to assess the status of the current partnership
3. Creating a future vision: Identifying the customer鈥檚 goals, ambitions, and visions based on the survey
4. Developing a success plan: Prioritizing topics and tasks that will help the client鈥檚 business meet its goals
5. Implementing measures: Defining concrete measures to achieve goals based on the success plan
6. Measuring success: Continually reviewing, giving feedback, and identifying potential areas for improvement

All for One Group is divided into market units that address specialized fields, such as conversion, intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP), 麻豆原创 S/4HANA, customer experience, strategy and transformation, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Each CSM has market unit expertise, and they are assigned to customers based on geography and industries 鈥� including industrial machinery and components (IM&C), automotive, and consumer goods 鈥� as well as the types of solutions the customer uses. Additionally, all market units work together to meet customer needs and expand accounts with the products and features they need.

Enabling cooperation and communication across a team of 1,800 employees was a major undertaking for All for One Group. With the introduction of customer success management, the business initiated a cultural change that broadened an employee鈥檚 focus from only their market units to a company-wide, customer-focused perspective and established regular meetings where project statuses and new ideas can be exchanged.

鈥淎lthough we have not yet fully completed our transformation, we are already seeing major changes in the mindsets of our colleagues and can feel the progress we make as a group,鈥� Zitz points out.

Positive Response

Although All for One鈥檚 customer success management program is new, running its pilot from January 2019 to September 2019 and then fully launching in October 2019, the response from customers shows that they strongly agree with the new approach. Feedback includes comments such as, 鈥淭his is exactly what we have been waiting for 鈥� a point of contact at C-level鈥� and 鈥淎fter being introduced to All for One Group鈥檚 customer success management, I can confirm that this is 100 percent the right way for us.鈥�

鈥淎 clear change we noticed right after introducing customer success management is that we were able to establish closer contact with our customers, allowing us to gain further trust and better, more direct and open communication with them,鈥� says Zitz.

鈥淭he most important thing is always putting your customers first,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭his might sound mundane, but we strongly believe it鈥檚 the only way to go if you want to establish long-lasting relationships built on trust and understanding of customers鈥� goals and requirements.鈥�

鈥淲e continuously measure our customers鈥� opinions and satisfaction using Experience Management solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics and, furthermore, maintain a fairly good overview of how successful we have been so far, based on our sales pipeline, key performance indicators, and by comparing our realized revenue per customer to numbers from previous years,鈥� Zitz comments.

In the future, All for One Group plans to leverage experience management for automated feedback at each customer touchpoint. 鈥淭his will allow us to react better to their individual needs, desires, and requirements and, ultimately, offer them exactly what they want and need,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e aim for a relationship at eye-level to which both parties contribute equally toward reaching one common goal: strengthening our customers鈥� competitiveness.鈥�

Academic and administrative leaders at these institutions suddenly found themselves scrambling to find alternatives to crowded lecture halls and facing new financial worries surrounding cash flow, added expenses, and unpredictable enrollments.

These challenges are global, and the future remains uncertain.

Still, there have been success stories. Mexico鈥檚 Instituto Tecnol贸gico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Tec de Monterrey) is one of them. And experience management played a big role in what they have accomplished.

Creating the New Normal in Higher Education

Tec de Monterrey is one of the top-ranked schools in Latin America. The institute鈥檚 various divisions educates nearly 160,00 students at 58 campuses across the country. It is a huge operation, but the institution responded quickly to the crisis, resulting in one of its best-ranked semesters.

鈥淲e were the first university in Mexico to adopt a remote academic model,鈥� says Jos茅 Juan Carranza Gardu帽o, director of Project Portfolio and Processes at Tec de Monterrey, in a recent telephone interview.

In mid-March 鈥� when the school saw the need for social distancing 鈥� it began to set up virtual classroom environments in just about a week鈥檚 time.

鈥淭his allowed approximately 95 percent of our students to continue taking courses remotely,鈥� Carranza Gardu帽o says.

Importantly, the university is also using from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics to gather feedback from students and staff on a weekly basis to monitor their concerns and well-being. These surveys help the school understand and address the evolving needs of its community during this new normal.

Experience Management Already in Place

Tec de Monterrey was fortunate to have the technology already in place when the pandemic struck. In fact, school leaders used their experience management tools last year to conduct a survey of its entire workforce. The goal was to identify ways to improve work-life balance for employees and reduce the time spent on administrative tasks.

The understanding they gained helped the school create 1,500 action plans affecting 30,000 employees within the organization.

鈥淲e want to provide all our employees with the best experience 鈥� with opportunities to grow, to develop themselves 鈥� so they can deliver a great experience to all our students,鈥� Hern谩n Garc铆a, vice president of Talent and Experience at Tec de Monterrey, said in a made shortly after the project was completed.

This focus on staff and faculty development paid dividends when the university needed to make the rapid shift to distance learning. The school was able to offer courses and other resources very quickly to around 10,000 professors, helping them make their digital curriculums more dynamic and engaging.

When New Classes Begin

Tec de Monterrey that a new semester of classes will begin in August 2020. The current plan is to start the semester remotely and gradually migrate to face-to-face classes as conditions allow.

No one knows for sure what the future holds for school students in Mexico or around the globe. What does seem clear, however, is that institutions with the insight needed to create learning environments that are safe and engaging will be serving their students and communities well.

As Garc铆a noted even before the crisis, 鈥淲e鈥檙e living in the experience economy. Understanding how people feel and doing something about it is critical to success.鈥�

In a conversation with Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., chair of African American Studies at Princeton University, Dr. Judith Williams, at 麻豆原创, was hopeful about society鈥檚 ability to emerge stronger from the pain of this moment.

鈥淢yself, our leadership team, and our more than 100,000 colleagues in over 180 countries around the world are deeply invested in driving action to ensure that this is not just a moment of awakening, but a generational shift in understanding that drives real change,鈥� said Williams. 鈥淎 movement, not a moment.鈥�

Their fascinating exchange was thought-provoking and motivational, calling on all of us to fundamentally reimagine public safety and education.

Reframe Public Safety to Address Root Causes

Recognizing that the coronavirus has revealed inequalities in society, Glaude was optimistic about the next generation鈥檚 ability to move forward.

鈥淭here’s a clamoring for something new because in some ways this young generation has come of age in a moment of layered catastrophe,鈥� Glaude said. 鈥淪o they know something about the country is broken and they’re willing to risk it all to fundamentally change and transform who we take ourselves to be.鈥�

Specific to policing, Glaude called for wholesale changes that would redefine public safety in a much broader sense. He suggested that communities spend more on education, housing, employment, retraining, and other resources to tackle root causes and find long-lasting solutions.

鈥淧art of the work that we have to do is changing the frame,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat does it mean to move from policing surveillance and incarceration to a broader conception or idea of public safety? How do we change the way we conceive of policing? We need a notion of public safety that is tethered to an idea of investing in community. The idea is to reinvest monies in those underlying conditions 鈥� within resource-deprived communities that serve as a kind of environment that cultivates bad choices 鈥� to address it at the root [and not] just tinker around the edge.鈥�

Racial Justice Requires Honesty

When Williams asked what individuals and corporations can do to help make progress against social injustice, Glaude challenged everyone to move past what he termed 鈥渢his performance of empathy.鈥�

鈥淲e tend to approach racial justice as if it’s a gift that you can just drop off 鈥� as if it’s a charitable thing to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f that’s the frame, then we’re in trouble because we’re still believing that racial justice is something that white folks can give to other folks. That’s not the way it works. We have to engage in an honest assessment of what we are doing as corporations and individuals in reproducing the reality of racial inequality.鈥�

Glaude urged everyone to change the way business operates by honestly asking themselves what commitments they have made to advance African Americans and people of color within their businesses. This includes corporate policies such as contracts with minority companies.

Education is Not a Zero-Sum Game

While he acknowledged deep divides in American higher education, Glaude also urged everyone to shift their mindsets from scarcity to abundance.

鈥淲e need to be deliberate about giving people opportunities to not only dream dreams, but to make those dreams a reality and to do so in such a way to resist this idea that all of this is a zero-sum game,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s long as we believe that the pie is only so big, the moment we begin to include others, certain people among us assume that we’re taking stuff from them in order to give stuff to undeserved people. Instead of expanding the pie, we approach the question of racial justice as a zero-sum game. Until we change that, we will find ourselves on this racial hamster wheel over and over and over again, just running.鈥�

Even as Glaude enumerated the many complex challenges around racial injustice, he ended on a can-do note, putting responsibility for lasting change squarely on all of us.

鈥淲e are the leaders we’ve been looking for,鈥� he remarked. 鈥淚f the country is going to change, it’s going to be us, and 麻豆原创 can lead the way. We have to change if America is going to change.鈥�

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Qualtrics is the market leader and creator of the Experience Management (XM) category, a large, fast-growing and rapidly evolving market. 麻豆原创 intends to remain the majority owner of Qualtrics. 麻豆原创鈥檚 primary objective for the IPO is to fortify Qualtrics鈥� ability to capture its full market potential within Experience Management. This will help to increase Qualtrics鈥� autonomy and enable it to expand its footprint both within 麻豆原创鈥檚 customer base and beyond.

鈥溌槎乖粹�檚 acquisition of Qualtrics has been a great success and has outperformed our expectations with 2019 cloud growth in excess of 40 percent, demonstrating very strong performance in the current setup,鈥� 麻豆原创 CEO Christian Klein said. 鈥淎s Ryan Smith, Zig Serafin and I worked together, we decided that an IPO would provide the greatest opportunity for Qualtrics to grow the Experience Management category, serve its customers, explore its own acquisition strategy and continue building the best talent. 麻豆原创 will remain Qualtrics鈥� largest and most important go-to-market and research and development (R&D) partner while giving Qualtrics greater independence to broaden its base by partnering and building out the entire experience management ecosystem.鈥�

Qualtrics, which is part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 cloud portfolio, has operated with greater autonomy than other companies 麻豆原创 had previously acquired. The founder and current management team of Qualtrics will continue to operate the company.

鈥淲hen we launched the Experience Management category, our goal was always to help as many organizations as possible leverage the XM Platform as a system of action,鈥� Qualtrics Founder Ryan Smith said. 鈥溌槎乖� is an incredible partner with unprecedented global reach, and we couldn鈥檛 be more excited about continuing the partnership. This will allow us to continue building out the XM ecosystem across a broad array of partners.鈥�

麻豆原创 agreed to acquire Qualtrics just four days before Qualtrics was to go public in 2018, recognizing the potential of bringing together experience and operational data (X+O) to help organizations take action. 麻豆原创 currently owns 100 percent of Qualtrics shares. 麻豆原创 will retain majority ownership of Qualtrics and has no intention of spinning off or otherwise divesting its majority ownership interest. Ryan Smith intends to be Qualtrics鈥� largest individual shareholder.

麻豆原创 is fully committed to Experience Management and the Qualtrics XM Platform as a key element of its intelligent enterprise strategy. 麻豆原创 will remain Qualtrics鈥� closest and most important co-innovation and go-to-market partner.

A final decision on the IPO and its conditions and timing is pending and subject to market conditions.

Since 麻豆原创, as majority shareholder, will continue to fully consolidate Qualtrics, the transaction is not expected to have an impact on 麻豆原创鈥檚 2020 or longer-term financial targets.

Visit the 麻豆原创 News Center. Follow 麻豆原创 on Twitter at .

About 麻豆原创

As the Experience Company powered by the Intelligent Enterprise, 麻豆原创 is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 麻豆原创 system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 麻豆原创 helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 440,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 麻豆原创 helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit .

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鈥淔errara is an innovative candy and sweet snack company, and we take that very seriously,鈥� Vice President and CIO George Lesko said shot at Ferrara鈥檚 new headquarters in the heart of Chicago. 鈥淲e require a lot of information when we鈥檙e making decisions about how to build our portfolio of brands, and how to grow those brands.鈥�

Part of building 鈥檚 portfolio depends on acquiring iconic brands, according to Lesko. No stranger to icons, the 112-year-old sweet maker is a Chicago institution, and its high-tech head office is in the equally iconic Old Post Office building, which still hosts vintage hardware from its parcel-processing past.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a historic building,鈥� Lesko said in a breakroom with a view of another Chicago icon: the . 鈥淲e鈥檙e happy to be part of its resurgence.鈥�

Ferrara is also part of a resurgence when it acquires a new brand.

鈥淲hen you acquire an iconic brand like SweeTARTS, for example, you want to be able to integrate that into your business as quickly as possible,鈥� Lesko said, a century-old mail chute spiraling in the corner behind him. 鈥淵ou want to get the consumer insights, the retail information, and the supply chain information all in one place so that the consumers don鈥檛 have to wait.鈥�

When You Need to Know Now

鈥淭he SweeTARTS brand is so valuable because it鈥檚 one that our consumers love,鈥� Patrick Degnan, vice president of Sales Operations and Integration at Ferrara Candy Co., said. 鈥淎nd its complimentary strength to our existing portfolio allows us to build on our long-term strategy.鈥�

Real-time access to data from new acquisitions helps Ferrara sales teams quickly start talks with retail customers about those brands, according to Degnan. Speaking knowledgably about all of Ferrara鈥檚 brands establishes trust, which is crucial to mutually beneficial relationships.

鈥淚n a prior acquisition, it took us over a year to have access to sales data. allowed us to do that within weeks,鈥� Degnan said. 鈥淚t gives our customers confidence in us; it shows that we understand the brands that we bought; and it allows us to make business decisions to drive overall profitability for us and them.鈥�

Access to real-time data is valuable to both Ferrara and its customers, according to Degnan. It pinpoints where problems might exist, enabling agile and timely fixes.

鈥淚f there are areas where [a brand] isn鈥檛 performing up to expectations, we can鈥檛 go weeks, months, and years without knowing that,鈥� Degnan said. 鈥淥ur retail partners find tremendous value in our ability to report in real time.鈥�

Seamless Reporting from Day One

鈥淭he differentiator is these tools have allowed us to acquire companies and, on day one of that acquisition, have seamless reporting of historical data from this company as well as … Ferrara鈥檚 own data coming in daily,鈥� Gene King, Ferrara鈥檚 senior manager for 麻豆原创 BI and App Development, said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 seamless to the end user.鈥�

Ferrara鈥檚 users enjoy one-stop-shopping for data from across the portfolio 鈥� enterprise resource planning (ERP), historical, transactional, and other types of data 鈥� even if they鈥檙e stored in different systems, according to King. End users cannot tell the difference because they use a single interface, which frees up their time to better track customers鈥� needs.

鈥淭he real benefit is incorporating acquired brands into the business that we already have and doing it quickly,鈥� Lesko said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 ask our sales and marketing people to go to three or four different places to get information … particularly if we acquire a brand.鈥�

This unified approach to analytics means Ferrara needn鈥檛 鈥渨aste time鈥� retraining employees on disparate systems, according to Lesko. It also helps Ferrara move fast and make wise decisions quickly.

鈥淭he business users love us now because we can respond to issues immediately … we鈥檙e adding so much value so quickly,鈥� King said, standing in front of Ferrara鈥檚 massive branded latticework, which greets visitors as they enter the headquarters鈥� lobby. 鈥淚t also makes this immediate for executives; they don鈥檛 have to wait for groups to pull this stuff together.鈥�

Optimizing the Consumer Experience

鈥淲e鈥檙e using a lot of both internal and external resources to make decisions today,鈥� Ferrara Director of Insights and Analytics Daniel Hunt shared. 鈥淔or SweeTARTS in particular, we鈥檝e done a lot of research on 鈥� and we鈥檙e doing a lot of research currently.鈥�

This includes exploring new innovations and product segments for SweeTARTS, according to Hunt. He and his team also use to better understand what kinds of new campaign messages would resonate best with consumers, and to identify which new flavors have the most potential.

Hunt鈥檚 team also plans to track brand health in-house via Qualtrics.

鈥淭hat鈥檒l allow us to consistently measure our brands throughout the course of the year, and then load that data directly into our so we can use that, along with other longitudinal data,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淲e get to start doing analytics on that data and also start to build dashboards to allow us to visualize it.鈥�

Ferrara has grown accustomed to using data from multiple sources to drive decision making, according to Hunt. This includes determining the best way to enter a new market, identifying unmet needs, finding market gaps, and more.

鈥淔or SweeTARTS in particular as a brand,鈥� Hunt said, 鈥渨e鈥檝e used XM to touch almost every major brand activity, from new innovation to communications.鈥�

When IT Moves at the Speed of Business

鈥淪weeTARTS is a strategic brand for us, and we were able to provide information literally on day one of that acquisition,鈥� Lesko said. 鈥淭he ability to move as quickly as our business is moving is really important to us.鈥�

Ferrara鈥檚 executive leadership team appreciated seeing all of their usual enterprise-wide metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) in relatively the same format, according to Lesko.

鈥淲e were able to show information side-by-side with our other brands, [such as] Trolli and Black Forest 鈥� and it was in a format that everybody was used to,鈥� Lesko said, branded pillows with Nerds and other logos nestled on a sofa behind him. 鈥淎nd that was thanks to 麻豆原创 HANA.鈥�

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Everything at Hycom revolves around its people. Its more than 300 consultants, designers, and programmers use their skills and experience to develop innovative solutions for clients.

Lucyna Dziewa, consulting director at Hycom, confirms, 鈥淎s a services company, our people are our greatest asset. Qualified programmers, for example, are in high demand in the labor market. Keeping hold of the talent we have is really important. Losing employees would not only be a big financial hit but also impact morale. We have to take good care of our people by providing a great working environment and supporting their health and well-being. To do that, we need to listen to our employees.鈥�

Following the 鈥淟isten, Understand, Act鈥� Approach

To better understand how its people feel and tap into their mood, Hycom was about to launch an employee listening program based on 麻豆原创 Qualtrics Employee Benefits Optimizer, 麻豆原创 Qualtrics Employee Engagement, and 麻豆原创 Qualtrics Employee Lifecycle when the COVID-19 pandemic hit 鈥� bringing with it a new work reality.

In response, Hycom incorporated surveys from the Qualtrics Remote Work Pulse solution into the employee listening program to check in with employees on a daily basis. The company went from developing its initial idea to implementing the first changes based on employee feedback in just five days.

鈥淨ualtrics Remote Work Pulse enabled us to move extremely fast,鈥� recalls Dziewa. 鈥淭he survey results were eye-opening. They revealed several pain points of which we hadn鈥檛 previously been aware. Armed with these insights, we could take immediate action to resolve the issues.鈥�

For example, the survey revealed that employees wanted COVID-19-related board communications to have a more personal tone and address their concerns about business disruption and job security.

鈥淲e changed the communications right away to be much more friendly and informal, and we set up a company-wide video chat session with the CEO each week,鈥� says Dziewa. 鈥淚n the results of our next survey, we saw that employee satisfaction with board communications increased to 96 percent almost immediately. It demonstrated the power of our 鈥楲isten, Understand, Act鈥� approach.鈥�

Hycom also relaxed remote policies and introduced flexible schedules for employees with children based on employee feedback to relive pressure and reduce stress levels. As a result, 96 percent of employees agree that Hycom gives them the flexibility to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Embarking On an Exciting Journey

Looking ahead, Experience Management solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics will help Hycom determine which variables drive positive employee attitudes in key areas, such as job satisfaction and willingness to stay at Hycom. A better understanding of people鈥檚 emotions will make it easier for Hycom to pinpoint which issues really motivate its employees, what ideas they have, and how best to act on those issues.

鈥淓mployees love the surveys,鈥� says Dziewa. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very engaged and very interested to know what feedback we鈥檝e received from their colleagues.鈥�

Hycom is also working on developing a solid understanding of employees鈥� expectations and experiences and defining distinct employee 鈥減ersonas鈥� to represent different personalities within its workforce as a base for improvement initiative road mapping. This will support the creation of targeted interactions with employees and more personalized people management.

Dziewa concludes, 鈥淲e鈥檙e only just at the beginning of our journey with Experience Management solutions from 麻豆原创 and Qualtrics, but the solutions fit perfectly into our wider employee listening program. It鈥檚 only by taking employee feedback on board that we can build a better working environment and give our people the support they need to do their jobs well and be happy at work.鈥�

With the outbreak of COVID-19 in China early in 2020, Ko莽 Holding started to implement extensive protective measures to prevent any contamination among employees. During this time, Ko莽 Holding听听regularly by using听,听, diary keeping, and even a WhatsApp chatbot the company developed.

After the first case was announced in Turkey, Ko莽 Holding asked employees 鈥淗ow do you feel today?鈥� and found out that 60 percent of the . Later, Ko莽 Holding started to take action to reduce the anxiety levels of its employees based on the feedback gathered. These actions included听, online training and pandemic guidance, online social activities, shopping benefits, health support, family support, financial support and听.

Additionally, crisis management teams in more than 40 group companies implemented over 1,000 actions in two months besides the protective measures to make employees feel more comfortable. Together these actions led to a strong improvement in the anxiety levels, which dropped to 12 percent from 60 percent. Now, let us show you the findings and actions of Ko莽 Holding in detail.

Ko莽 Holding is the largest industrial conglomerate of Turkey, including 60 factories along with sales and marketing offices in more than 40 countries. Ko莽 Holding incorporates more than 40 subsidiaries operating in sectors such as oil refinery,听 production, durable goods, ,, , , , and more. With workers in Turkey, China, the United States and all over the world, it was essential to understand quickly how the COVID-19 outbreak would affect the global team.

After the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Turkey on March 11, Ko莽 Holding鈥檚 crisis management team was ready. They immediately took high level measures to protect employees as well as their families across its various businesses, helped by the fact that they had begun to take precautions even before the first case was announced. These precautions included contactless fever detection, tracking overseas travel history, banning new travel, increasing the number of shuttles to make sure employees could avoid public transportation, implementing social distancing guidelines, and providing sanitary equipment where necessary, among many other things. During the subsequent phases of the pandemic, the crisis management team guided and helped group companies with detailed protective measures to protect the physical and 听of the employees.

Soon after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Ko莽 Holding听听across all its businesses, the first Turkish conglomerate to do so. Ko莽 Holding continued operations at its refinery, bank, and food companies due to government regulations. To understand how this sudden change would impact their employees鈥� daily lives, they needed a new tool.

During this period, employees were excited to share their feedback. The company used Qualtrics to launch Ko莽 Pulse following the work-from-home order. During the first 5 hours, the team received more than 25,000 responses, along with 35,000 text comments. The findings were so helpful that the company ran two more Ko莽 Pulses over the coming weeks to measure trends and take further actions.

What They Found

Employees were simply asked: 鈥淗ow do you feel today?鈥� Findings from the first听 indicated that anxiety was very high: 60 percent of employees were anxious, though employees working from home were less anxious than their colleagues who were still in the field (44 versus 67 percent). The principal driver of anxiety for those in the field was family, especially for those with dependents at home in at-risk groups. Other significant concerns included job security, the pandemic in general, feeling isolated and the financial consequences of the current situation.

With so many employees, the company needed to understand what they could do to best support their employees. Using听听around initiatives that would help employees feel better, they quickly drilled down and prioritized the most impactful next steps based on the number and focus of comments.

Additionally, more than 50 employee profiles were identified in the subsidiaries; and actions were taken accordingly. Institutions under the umbrella of Ko莽 Holding such as university, hospital, museums, sports club, Ko莽 loyalty program, and many other internal and external brands are utilized to provide the maximum benefit to Ko莽 Holding employees and their family members.

Fortunately, in two months, the third pulse showed a significant improvement in anxiety levels, down 48 percentage points to 12 percent. In parallel, 90 percent of the employees indicated that they are satisfied with the actions taken by Ko莽 Holding and/or their subsidiary company.

Acting on Insights

The best data is only useful if it leads to action, and Ko莽 Holding has rolled out a comprehensive action plan in response to the challenges its employees have faced. Below you can find some of the initiatives Ko莽 Holding incorporated during the first two months of the pandemic.

Communication

Feedback from the pulse and comments show that听. The company found that anxiety rates are lower in companies and departments that try to touch colleagues on a daily basis, plan live communications with the General Managers and Senior Executive teams, and include all executives in outreach.

A COVID-19 crisis management team was set up with top-level management at the holding level with the participation of the CEO and subsidiary groups鈥� presidents. Similar organizations were set up for each group company. Overall 25 online sessions were held with company general managers and human resources directors as a part of daily or weekly huddle to create a clear and instant communication channel.

A Ko莽 Holding WhatsApp Chatbot was also developed through which Ko莽 Group employees and their families can get instant and up-to-date information about health and family-related questions including “I am showing coronavirus symptoms, what should I do?” and “How can I talk about this condition/period with my child?” The chatbot also was also used to announce the current Human Resources practices and guidelines of Ko莽 Holding in an easily accessible channel. The WhatsApp Chatbot serves as an instant feedback tool as well, and more than 85,000 feedback messages have been received through the application from more than 7,750 employees.

Health

Ko莽 Holding launched Online Outpatient services, which enables online appointments and meetings with doctors of different specialties. More than 1,650 online sessions had been made on the Online Outpatient Service platform, which currently has 180 workplace doctors and 49 guest doctors from 23 specialities. Group companies organized webinars with psychologists and offered online counseling to employees.

Learning and Development

To respond to the need for training and pandemic guidance, the Ko莽 Academy online learning and development platform, which is open to the use of Ko莽 Group employees and their families, has begun to provide reliable information to its users with new video content posted daily. Doctors from American Hospital & Ko莽 University Hospital, which are subsidiaries of Ko莽 Group, and also Ko莽 University professors have teamed up to provide accurate information to colleagues about the coronavirus.

Ko莽 Academy platform, which contains more than 12 thousand videos in topics including health/life, family,听听and information technologies was opened for use all over Turkey free of charge starting March 31 in order to support citizens of Turkey in their homes throughout the coronavirus pandemic. So far, more than 1.35 million users have taken advantage of the tutorial videos there, visiting the Ko莽 Academy pages more than 7.9 million times.

Ko莽 Academy also organized public online seminars with coaches who are experts in听听to guide the remote-working managers.

Social Collaboration

In order to increase the solidarity and cooperation among the more than 90,000 Ko莽 employees and their families throughout the coronavirus, the Neighbouring Ko莽 Employees project was launched on the Ko莽Hub online communication platform. Ko莽 Group employees or family members living in the same district came together online and started to help one another if they or their family members needed it. Within the scope of the project, Ko莽 employees came together across 983 district groups throughout Turkey.

Financial Support

Based on the feedback about family and financial support, the Company is making interest-free and unconditional loans payable up to 24 months from their own savings, without requiring health information or documentation. More than 14,500 employees applied for the financial support, accounting for 鈧�70 million ($10 million) in employee loans.

Purchasing Power and Motivational Needs

Ko莽 Holding runs a distinguished loyalty program 鈥淜o莽Ailem鈥� for all group companies鈥� employees, their families, dealers, retirees and Ko莽 University students. The loyalty program provides functional and emotional benefits partnering with more than 200 leader brands.

To respond to the need for online shopping benefits, Ko莽 Holding utilized Ko莽Ailem immediately after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Turkey. Since that time, more than 45 different campaigns specifically for the pandemic period were launched through Ko莽Ailem.

Ko莽Ailem started to offer many new privileges not only for commodity needs but also for motivational needs. The company gave out free 5GB mobile internet, books, premium memberships for mobile apps for meditation and fitness. The loyalty program also broadcast live entertainment content on Instagram for children and created special discount campaigns to increase the purchasing power of Ko莽 employees on commodities such as home cleaning, food products, and consumer electronics to support听听by partnering with leading brands in their industries. Furthermore, complimentary health insurance has been made available to parents and siblings of employees through Ko莽Ailem, to cover costs related to COVID-19.

Besides all this, as Turkish National Children鈥檚 Holiday could not be celebrated joyfully due to the lockdown this year, Ko莽Ailem Online Children’s Festival was held for all children in the country on 23th April. Festival was organized with famous singers, magicians and actors to entertain both the children of the employees and the children all over Turkey. Ko莽Ailem Online Children’s Festival was watched by audiences from 15 different countries.

Last but not the least, because of not being able to meet their loved ones in person due to social isolation, people were not celebrating special days as they wish. Ko莽Ailem celebrated the birthdays of employees and their family members by calling them in the pandemic days.

All these benefits were used more than 100,000 times by Ko莽 Group Employees. Even with the emotional benefits provided, Ko莽Ailem has been a strong motivational asset for the employees and their family members during this period.

Online Social Activities

Ko莽 Group Sports Club moved all of its training sessions online. All online courses started to be given to both Ko莽 employees and to Turkey through IGTV, YouTube and Instagram live broadcasts. In a two-month period, more than 484 classes were broadcasted online in 37 different branches and these courses were watched more than 1.8 million times by the visitors.

Also, Ko莽 Group Sports Club started to organize online e-sports tournaments where employees can participate interactively. Online tournaments have been planned in many activities, from sailing to chess, backgammon to football and the online shooting game 鈥揚UB-G. The 31st annual Ko莽 Group Sports Festival continues on the online platform.

In addition, during the pandemic, Ko莽Ailem online games were conducted on Instagram for the remote working employees with children.

Governance

Starting before the pandemic, Ko莽 Holding turned their听听focus to听 and assigned colleagues from 30 different group companies who have the necessary competencies to be responsible for the whole experience of colleagues in Ko莽 Holding companies as 鈥淓mployee Experience Product Owners (PO).鈥� More than half of these POs were from different disciplines such as Marketing, R&D, IT, Finance, etc. And they became members of the Ko莽 Holding Employee Experience Squad Team as they created their own squads in the subsidiaries.

During the first two months of the pandemic Squad Teams implemented or leveraged more than 1,000 actions focused on employee experience in Group companies (and even more if you count protective measures). All these actions were driven from the results of Ko莽 Pulse and a detailed examination of every single comment made by employees. One-to-one interviews with more than 400 employees and diary keeping were also conducted to better understand employees鈥� concerns and the experience of those working from home. Findings from the one-to-one interviews and diaries are used in two online ideations sessions to create proper actions for both COVID-19 pandemic and remote working experience.

听and then implementing proper actions has been key for Turkey鈥檚 largest company during this historic pandemic crisis.

鈥淭he ability to understand and address the expectations and needs of our colleagues is the primary focus of Ko莽 Holding during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic,鈥� says 脰zg眉r Burak Akkol, Ko莽 Holding Human Resources Director.

鈥淥ur colleagues鈥� needs are our primary concern. Using Ko莽 Pulse on Qualtrics allowed us to quickly and easily reach thousands of employees across our many business lines, hear their concerns directly, and act to help them right away.鈥�

Ben Rogers is global head of Brand Content and Customer Marketing at Qualtrics.
.

So what does the future of the partner business look like? What tools do partners need in their armory to treat customer success as a centripetal force in their business?

麻豆原创 Chief Partner Officer Karl Fahrbach : Next-Generation Partnering. Although the Next-Generation Partnering initiative was established before COVID-19, it has become more pivotal now.

What Is Next-Generation Partnering?

Next-Generation Partnering is a multi-year, transformational movement for 麻豆原创 partners, providing them with the requisite tools to rapidly exploit the expanding innovation economy.

It is not a program or certification that a partner can join or attain; it鈥檚 an ongoing journey emanating from a deep commitment from 麻豆原创 to guide its partners to constantly innovate so they can deliver exceptional customer experiences.

This initiative can help partners strategically advance on a track that will make them champions in the experience economy.

Partner Innovation: Innovate to Unlock Unlimited Possibilities

To inculcate the culture of innovation and to share its findings, 麻豆原创 encourages partners to听听and allow the spirit of innovation to flow freely.听As part of this initiative, partners will get to innovate and develop their own intellectual property (IP) that can lead them to create new choices for their customers, with unrivaled support from 麻豆原创.

This ecosystem-centric initiative focuses on partner-led customer innovations where, by developing their own IP, partners will be able to expedite the reach into new markets and unbolt a new revenue style. Through Next-Generation Partnering, our joint customers can run their businesses more efficiently and work to realize the dream of becoming an intelligent enterprise.

Partner Economics: Produce Value-Driven Growth

Value-driven growth doesn鈥檛 mean merely hunting for high economic performance; it also means aiming for frugal spending. That鈥檚 why value-driven growth is considered more sustainable. In a constantly changing business scenario, especially in the post-COVID-19 landscape, partners will need a commercial model that delivers both profitable and sustained growth.

Creating new lines of digital solutions, an obvious outcome of innovation, will lead to revenue. On the other hand, many economical provisions are in place for more sustainable cloud partnering:

• Reducing learning and certification costs and increasing free test and demo offerings
• Assisting partners in building a best-in-class cloud delivery practice
• Creating attractive, new, cloud-centric commercial models
• Continuously optimizing partner policies to make an ecosystem-centric model

With these far-sighted arrangements, partners can reap benefits and, in effect, create value-driven growth.

Partner Experience: Deliver the Synergistic Experience听

Generating an ideal partner experience that creates ecosystem admiration is a cardinal foundation that Next-Generation Partnering rests upon. To underpin this partner management initiative, 麻豆原创 works to improve the end-to-end journey for software partners, offer a self-guided user experience, optimize the process from application to publishing and transacting new apps on the app center, and harmonize partner digital enablement. Above all, Experience Management solutions from 麻豆原创 (Qualtrics) act as a natural pulse reader of partner sentiments.

Companies do not create new industries, but ecosystems do. Next-Generation Partnering works to create an atmosphere where partners and their customers can realize the power of becoming an intelligent enterprise.

The idea of Next-Generation Partnering appears similar to that of a robust tree. As the roots strive to expand and anchor the body of the tree firmly into the ground, partner innovation aims to do the same for a partner organization. Moving upward, the trunk represents the wealth accumulation for the tree, just as a partner economy leads to value-driven profitable growth. Bearing fruit is the final ambition of a tree, and, similarly, delivering an absolute partner experience and helping to grow intelligent enterprises is the pivotal objective of Next-Generation Partnering.

Ajitabh Das is a partner experience manager at 麻豆原创.

鈥淚’m very, very thankful to my team that, despite the current tough situation we face, they continue to stay motivated and have a high sense of hope on a great restart of our business,鈥� said Hopp. 鈥淚 see a bright future for live entertainment when this pandemic is over. People are starved. People want to see other people. Fans want to engage with other fans when they feel safe and secure.鈥�

Hopp, who is also CEO and managing director of the 麻豆原创 Arena in Mannheim, shared his vision for leadership, partnerships, and digital transformation during times of crisis in an exclusive conversation with Luka Mucic, chief financial officer (CFO) and member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE.

Communication with People Matters Most

Hopp believes that communication is a critical leadership tool 鈥� a credo that has taken him far. This past spring, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly stopped this season鈥檚 playoffs, leaving his team 鈥� the defending Germany ice hockey league champions 鈥� stranded in second place. Nevertheless, he was both philosophical and determined.

鈥淲e were headed to the most important, most thrilling time of a hockey season: the playoffs,鈥� Hopp said. 鈥淪ome unbeatable opponent steps in and takes away your season and you cannot do anything against it. I think open and honest communication is the most important tool a company leader can use these days.鈥�

Tech Helps Employees and Fans Stay Safe

麻豆原创 Arena is one of the largest indoor stadiums in Germany, hosting not only sports but vibrant community gatherings around concerts and other events. While its 15,000 seats are empty for now, Hopp is committed to keeping the close relationship that sports fans and other event attendees enjoy. He cites the role of technology in sustaining an 鈥渋ntense customer-supplier relationship鈥� with fans.

鈥淥nly with high-end technology can we turn this relationship into action,鈥� Hopp explained. 鈥淚nteractive tools like our Adler Fan App, provided by 麻豆原创, support us in collaborating and communicating with our fans. Thanks to the technology partnership with 麻豆原创, we are continuously in design thinking mode, looking for innovation and new ideas for fan engagement. Over the last years, we are always pushing the digitalization processes in the arena.鈥�

Upcoming fan and employee safety measures at the 麻豆原创 Arena will include mobile ticketing to eliminate onsite lines when buying tickets or entering the event. Fans will also be able to order food, beverages, and merchandise using their mobile phones without leaving their seats. This cashier-less contact is designed to reduce potential health risks for both spectators and employees.

Wait Until Next Year

Hopp remained undaunted yet realistic about the future, recognizing employees, fans, and numerous partners as vital to his entire operation. These include sponsors, promoters, food and beverage suppliers, and anyone else whose livelihood depended on his sports and entertainment business.

鈥淧artnership is so much more important in these crucial times,鈥� Hopp said. 鈥淲ithout having strong partners on your side, and without being a strong partner for other parts of the business, probably a lot of companies wouldn鈥檛 survive these situations. We try to be a good partner. For example, our food and beverage partners and the people that actually need the arena here; we have to try and keep them in business.鈥�

The coronavirus may have interrupted 2020 sports and entertainment seasons, but professionals like Hopp are already looking ahead to 2021. Echoing the perennial cry of every sports team, including the current German ice hockey champions, wait until fall!

From sending cookies to coronavirus first responders and truckers on the road to printing 3D face masks and earning cybersecurity badges, the latest generation of Girl Scouts is all-in for the next phase of the organization鈥檚 digital journey.

In an , Sylvia Acevedo, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, described how Girl Scouts have come together and become even stronger in applying technology and leadership development to fulfill the .

Here are highlights from Acevedo鈥檚 digital broadcast with Paula Hansen, chief revenue officer for 麻豆原创 Customer Experience.

Adapting Quickly to Innovate Cookie Sales

After hearing about Acevedo鈥檚 extensive STEM background 鈥� which included work as a rocket scientist at NASA and positions as a technology executive and entrepreneur 鈥� it is easy to understand how she has channeled her passion for space, science, and math into valuable skill-building for girls. For example, in response to the pandemic, Girl Scouts brought its entire cookie sales operation online in just nine days.

鈥淭he iconic cookie program teaches amazing business skills, but you have to adapt to the way people work and live,鈥� Acevedo said. 鈥淪o that girls would be safe, we stopped all in-person cookie sales and pivoted to put in an entire online system together with partners using 麻豆原创 software so that we could enable girls to sell their cookies all over the country. We called it 鈥楪irl Scouts Cookie Care.鈥欌��

Cybersecurity is Top Digital Priority

Girl Scouts has gone more digital, offering a host of program activities that revolve around STEM, entrepreneurship, the outdoors, and leadership. The initiative is called Girl Scouts at Home, but the objective is to open up a world of civic-minded leadership to girls who are eager to keep learning. With the spread of COVID-19 and subsequent focus on all things virtual, cybersecurity recently became a priority.

鈥淲e had almost 8,000 cybersecurity badges earned in March, so that tells us our programs are relevant and girls see real use of it,鈥� Acevedo said. 鈥淥ne girl wrote to me saying that based on what she learned in our cybersecurity program, she immediately called her grandmother [who] had been frauded. She made sure that her grandmother put all the protections on her Wi-Fi system, computer, and phone so she wouldn鈥檛 be frauded again.鈥�

Digital with a Human Touch

Going virtual has also helped bolster community spirit. Online troop meetings have increased because girls want to stay in touch with friends more, whether they鈥檙e creating tens of thousands of face masks — one troop is using 3D printing to churn these out颅 — or going outside for shared constellation learning experiences.

鈥淕irls are figuring out how they can still use their skills to make the world a better place,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey can still earn their space science badges, and it鈥檚 also a great way to connect with other girls.鈥�

Encouraging Girls to Pursue STEM Careers

Chief among Acevedo鈥檚 goals was helping girls understand they were not just tech users, but also could be tech creators, designers, and inventors. Girl Scouts flipped STEM programming that has been historically designed to meet boy鈥檚 interests to meet the interests of girls today. Last year, Girl Scouts earned over 1 million STEM badges and 128,000 cybersecurity badges. Acevedo was particularly proud of how Girl Scouts as young as middle schoolers were developing Faraday shields to foil would-be car thieves.

鈥淲e redesigned the badges around what a girl is familiar with and interested in,鈥� Acevedo explained. 鈥淥nce they鈥檙e familiar with it, they鈥檙e interested. Once they鈥檙e interested, they鈥檙e confident. And once they鈥檙e confident, they鈥檙e competent. People ask, 鈥楬ow do you teach brownies, who are seven- and eight-year-old girls, protocols, networks, and malware?鈥� We meet them where they are.鈥�

Building the Future Workforce

Acevedo said Girl Scouts is leading the largest national effort in the U.S. to teach girls 21st century skills. Gender equity is a major objective, reflected in the organization鈥檚 Fair Play, Equal Pay initiative that helps build a better future for girls in collaboration with companies like 麻豆原创.

鈥溌槎乖� was our very first partner in this,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a signal to the 1.6 million girls in our organization that 麻豆原创 is the kind of place they want to go work at. And, the kind of STEM experiences we鈥檙e developing are a great match for 麻豆原创 because they have the workforce skills that are very much needed. I鈥檓 grateful for the leadership of 麻豆原创 and what that says to their employees and the rising generation.鈥�

One thing that has not changed is the taste of those delicious Girl Scout cookies. Thanks to the organization鈥檚 latest digital transformation, customers can stock up before the end of cookie season with just a few clicks. Enjoy!