Friday, 7 December 2007

Next-Generation SAP CRM Styled with Web 2.0 Components

At the SAP Influencer Summit which was held this week, SAP AG unveiled the next evolution of its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) suite hailing the new solution as a “breakthrough new product” that brings together business applications and the latest Web 2.0 capabilities.

The SAP CRM 2007 offers new capabilities such as trade promotions management, business communications management and pipeline performance management. It also features a new user interface (UI) that incorporates new Web 2.0 functions to allow business users to easily access all relevant information to best serve customers.

“The latest version of SAP CRM is all about customer-driven growth and is revolutionary for the enterprise software industry as a whole,” said Bob Stutz, senior vice president and general manager, CRM Global Strategy and Product Development, SAP.

“SAP is bridging the gap between cool, user-driven Web experiences and enterprise software applications. SAP CRM is about making CRM simple and powerful to provide differentiation, innovation and agility to business users. The ultimate goal is to enable companies to empower employees, gain customer insights and drive growth.”

SAP said it has evolved CRM beyond traditional task automation to a flexible, user-driven end-to-end business process execution platform, architected to help companies achieve a complete 360-degree view of customers, which is one of the most critical factors in enabling successful CRM strategy.

Some of the new capabilities that customers can expect from SAP CRM 2007 are:

• Flexible multi-channel customer service - SAP® Business Communications Management software brings together communications technologies and SAP CRM to expand traditional call center-based processes across the organization, including field-based staff and experts in any location.

• Maximizing the value of every interaction - SAP® Real-Time Offer Management software helps bring intelligence to every customer interaction and offer to build profitable customer relationships.

• Optimizing marketing and promotional spend - SAP has enhanced its trade promotions management (TPM) and marketing development funds (MDF) solutions to help customers extract more out of their promotional spend, while securing greater visibility, control and traceability of end-to-end funds and claims processes.

SAP CRM 2007 will be available to customers in December 2007. According to SAP, the soltuion is already being deployed by industry-leading players.