During SAPPhire 2018 SAP announced C/4HANA
with quite a fanfare. I covered and analysed this announcement in my post SAPPHIRE
2018 – The Return of the Suite.
Sure, C/4HANA marks the return of SAP to the
suite, just in another shape than previously known. Instead of combining the
pillars of CRM: Marketing, Sales, and Service in one monolithic application it
integrates the corresponding clouds into a suite by means of an infrastructure-,
service-, and integration layer called SAP Cloud Platform. The SAP Cloud
Platform also provides services like IoT and Blockchain, besides numerous
additional and less sexy, but necessary ones.
 |
| C/4HANA Architecture; source: SAP |
The SAP Cloud Platform also enables
extensibility of the clouds, be it in-app (‘in cloud’) or as external
extensions via the Extension Framework and the (upcoming) Microservices
Ecosystem.
The SAP Cloud Platform, as well as a number
of in-cloud features enable AI and machine learning, exposed as intelligence
that is embedded into the various clouds.
Plus, the SAP Analytics Cloud – which is
not explicitly mentioned as a part of C/4HANA, provides analytics abilities.
Fiori as a user interface metaphor enables
a consistent user experience. A chat bot infrastructure and the ability to run
on all relevant screen sizes with one UI architecture pave the way towards
keeping the user experience consistent.
The addition of the SAP Customer Data Cloud
hints into the direction of providing a customer data hub as a single version
of the truth of things customer.
As such, the SAP Cloud Platform is a modern
reincarnation of SAP Netweaver. Reincarnation, not repetition, as it is ways
closer to Hasso Plattner’s ideal of recombining business processes by just
building them by drag and drop and connecting business objects declaratively.
As an additional element we get the SAP
Commerce Cloud, formerly known as Hybris Commerce.
One now can argue whether e-commerce, even
multi-channel e-commerce is a part of CRM, but this is not the right place nor
time. SAP has taken the bold step of abandoning the Hybris brand in favor of
brand harmonization and industry-known names. This is more than just laudable –
and did I mention that this is bold?
And the CRM industry, as well as the CRM
community went beyond pure transactional CRM towards an entity that covers all
aspects of engagement to deliver an experience. This mandatorily includes
omni-channel e-commerce.
I would even go a step further saying that
it actually requires channel independent, or channel agnostic commerce.
For a business, commerce is simply the
objective of CRM.
SAP has seen this early and positioned
itself with the message ‘Beyond CRM’. Beyond CRM, because it is
·
Not only transactional but also
covers engagement
·
Includes all channels
·
Transparently connects front-
and back office
·
And has an outside-in view of
the process
C/4HANA is a big step into the direction of
this, even if the requisite microservices architecture is far from being in
place.
If nothing more, this rebranding from SAP
Hybris plus acquisitions to C/4HANA streamlines extends the September
2015 SAP announcement of delivering “integrated
digital enterprise technologies that are intended to transform the
relationships companies have with their customers”.
Additionally, it enhances the message of
the digital core that powers the business. It also harmonizes and therefore
clarifies communications by integrating the acquisitions of the past years.
 |
| SAP Customer Experience Clouds; source: SAP |
Lastly, it shows that customer experience
is close to the heart of SAP; close to, not at its core, as this is where
S/4HANA is and needs to be. This closeness, as well as the ambition to take on
the competition, is also shown by SAP breaking out C/4HANA numbers. I cannot
remember SAP showing numbers of the SAP Hybris portfolio in the past years.
But there are a number of open questions.
Don’t get me wrong. I like this rebranding,
in spite of – and perhaps, because of – the likeness of C/4 to C-4, which is a
(infamous) plastic explosive. The similarity may or may not be intentional.
Still, these questions, and probably more,
need to be – and are – asked.
But what are some of these questions?
Along with some possible answers and
recommendations.
Analytics Cloud
One I have already asked above: Where did
the Analytics Cloud go? After all there is no CRM – let alone something that is
‘beyond CRM’ – that does not cater for analytics, or rather driven by it. In my
eyes the ‘SAP Customer Experience Cloud’, which is the aggregate name of the
above-mentioned clouds, needs to mandatorily include analytics, hence the original
need for an SAP Analytics Cloud. On the other hand, analytics is both, platform
functionality as well as embedded into the applications. So it makes sense to
make analytics part of the SAP Cloud Platform and to have it embedded into and
made part of the applications themselves.
Sales Cloud
How will the integration between the
various CallidusCloud solutions especially with the Sales Cloud, the Service
Cloud and the Commerce Cloud work. The statement is that CPQ and CLM will
become modules within the SalesCloud. Since last year there is a first version
of an integration, which however does not show up as integration content in the
SCP. CLM does not yet have an own integration into the SalesCloud. I know from
conversations with CallidusCloud as well as SAP that there is a focus on
integration. But there is no detail yet on what the envisioned and prioritized
scenarios are. Knowing that roadmap statements are difficult to make, I think
that these would be extremely helpful here. Also for Sales Performance
Management Commissions Management and the Sales Enablement solutions. Until
then we need to rely on common sense. However, I suspect that the competition
will use this still existing uncertainty to create some FUD.
And in Particular: CPQ
Talking of CPQ, SAP had a CPQ solution
before acquiring CallidusCloud. What can customers expect on this frontier? I
have covered the CallidusCloud acquisition mainly from a CPQ angle in three
articles, here,
here,
and here.
The challenge is that the existing (old) SAP CPQ is compatible with the SAP
Variant Configurator as well as ERP- and S/4HANA pricing. And the Variant
Configurator has around 1,500 customers; it is an important asset in SAP’s kit.
The statements I have heard and seen so far
say that the (old) SAP product configuration engine will be integrated into the
CallidusCloud-based SAP CPQ. Doing this SAP makes the CallidusCloud CPQ
compatible to the SAP Variant Configurator.
To achieve this, the (old) SAP Product
Configurator will be made available as a Micro Service via the SAP API Hub. It essentially becomes an add-on
to the CallidusCloud-based. CPQ. This way, the CallidusCloud-based CPQ can be
used including variant configuration in front-end scenarios, e.g. exposed by
Commerce Cloud or Sales Cloud, while SAP can continue to use the Variant
Configurator. It seems like this shall be available to the Sales Cloud by
November, 2018.
What this means is that the two main
functionalities of the (old) SAP CPQ, Product Configuration and Solution
Configuration, will be split and wrapped individually and gradually, but
essentially stay alive. Happy to get corrected here, though.
Marketing Cloud
On the Marketing Cloud frontier we do see
the steadily maturing Marketing Cloud itself and LeadRocket from CallidusCloud.
Obviously the SAP Marketing Cloud is the more enterprise-ready tool. Still, there
is a significant overlap although Leadrocket offers a productized integration
into web sites and visitor tracking as well as seemingly easier social media
integration than the SAP Marketing Cloud (anybody ever missed a group of ‘Share
to …’ buttons)? I also had word that Leadrocket’s e-mail and landing page
editors are far superior to the ones offered by the SAP Marketing Cloud.
SAP could benefit from a threefold strategy
here: Merge the LeadRocket’s functionality that is not in the Marketing Cloud
yet into it, and fast. There should be a special focus on web site tracking and
the conversion of anonymous profiles to known individuals.
If above statements about the editors are
true, leverage the superior editors, as they are a very common complaint of
customers.
Plus, offer a ‘Marketing Cloud light’ to
gain better access into the SMB market. This ‘Marketing Cloud light’ needs to
have a transparent migration path into the SAP Marketing Cloud for growing
customers.
Additionally one could consider, which
parts of LeadRocket could be merged into the SalesCloud with its rather simple
campaign module.
Overall, there is quite some opportunity
here.
Service Cloud
The SAP Service Cloud got redefined. During
SAPPHIRE 2018 SAP announced the acquisition
of a small company called Coresystems.
Coresystems is the kernel of the new SAP
Service Cloud.
And this is a big deal as all of the sudden
SAP has an edge over Salesforce Service Cloud because of the abilities of
Coresystems. This is because of the marketplace functionality for service
technicians that Coresystems offers.
Friend Paul Greenberg said that with Gigya and
CallidusCloud SAP made two of the best acquisitions in the industry. I’d make
it three now (or four, adding Ariba; but then Ariba is not part of C/4HANA).
The old SAP Hybris Cloud for Service, the
SAP Customer Engagement Center and some more modules and bits and pieces have
become part of the SAP Service Cloud. This also includes the interesting
MindTouch solution.
As all these solutions are quite different
it would be interesting to see a migration path into the new Service Cloud as
well as an integration roadmap. Great as the individual pieces are, there need
to be precise statements on how things will merge – and this before the SAP Customer Experience LIVE
event in Barcelona.
Commerce Cloud
SAP Commerce Cloud is dead! Long live SAP
Commerce Cloud. With not too much fanfare, SAP added Commerce Cloud v2 to its
solution set. Commerce Cloud v2 is in a nutshell SAP Commerce Cloud running on
Azure along with some cloud deployment and management tools. As such, and to
benefit from various certifications, it is now important to inform about which
Azure instances will be used (i.e. where the data lies) and whether SAP is talking
public- or private cloud. After all Azure can be used for both. Also, the
integration strategy needs to be clarified, as Commerce v2, as a Cloud system,
by definition relies on the SAP Cloud Platform (SCP) for integration whereas
the ‘old’ Commerce relies on the Data Hub. Now it seems that the SCP is not yet
evolved enough to support all necessary integration scenarios.
If this is true then early adopters need a
clear migration path.
Having said this, SAP e-commerce in the
cloud is a big thing in general and might potentially become bad news for
players like Corevist in the future, if
SAP starts to seriously embrace the SMB market (which the company should).
Customer Data Cloud
Last but not least one of the most
interesting pieces. The positioning of the SAP Customer Data Cloud suggests
that it is intended to be a kind of Customer Data Hub. Already now this
solution, formerly known as Gigya, has the ability to merge and build a profile
from customer records. And it is very good at its three key capabilities:
Customer Identity and Access Management, consent management, and profiling.
Just that we are talking about consumers so
far and exclusively about their digital footprint. The question here is how
this interferes with Marketing Cloud functionality. Marketing Cloud offers the
possibility to build a golden record from an unlimited number of connected
systems, using a mechanism for prioritizing these data sources. These data
sources include order systems, PoS data, etc., which makes the golden record
far more exhaustive than the one delivered by ‘Gigya’ (and again, this solution
is very powerful!). SAP Marketing Cloud maintains the source data as facets of
this golden record. This builds a very powerful record. It also has data
steward functionality.
What it does not have is a built-in ability
to push back data changes to the source systems. Being a marketing system it is
a consumer of master data. But why the ability to change data, then?
The main question now is whether SAP
intends to build up Customer Data Cloud as the holder of the golden record and
then as a Customer Data Hub that is also capable of pushing data changes that
are done by data stewards back to the connected systems. And if so, how? How
will that relate to Marketing Cloud functionality?
In a Micro Services world it should be
possible to build this Customer Data Hub out of services offered by both
systems. I think, this is the way SAP is going, but am not sure – yet.
Comments
Post a Comment