On April 1, 2024, SAP formed Customer Services & Delivery – a new Board area that will focus on maximizing innovation adoption and customer value in the cloud.

This is good news – not just for customers but also for the ecosystem. In recent months, SAP had already identified that when engineering teams deliver innovations, there is a corresponding need to provide customers with guidance on how they can swiftly adopt and consume innovation. Customer Services & Delivery was created to bring together the offerings that help customers tap the value of SAP’s integrated portfolio.

By virtue of its function, the Customer Support organization fits into this strategic setup quite naturally. To learn more about how Customer Support is owning and driving end-to-end customer support experiences powered by AI, I met with Stefan Steinle, executive vice president and head of Customer Support, SAP SE. 

Q: How would you describe the role of Customer Support in SAP’s success?

A: Customer support is a differentiating factor among companies that are equally positioned in functional richness, usability, quality, deployability, or configurability. While signing up a new customer is considered a huge win, being able to delight and retain the customer is equally important.

Support at SAP has been singularly impactful in advancing SAP’s customer success stories by proactively responding to customer needs and building long-term relationships. In addition to helping customers solve day-to-day problems, we are business partners who proactively work with customers toward achieving their business goals.

The Customer Support group encompasses much more than bug fixes. In addition to regular ticket resolutions, we use SAP Cloud ALM to help guide customers in application lifecycle management by enabling their transformation to the cloud and the operation of hybrid environments. We help customers help themselves through self-services and we proactively consult with our engineering teams to improve SAP products based on support-related feedback and learnings. Thanks to our support engineers, SAP has delivered over 1,000 improvements in the last 12 months. 

Q: How is SAP’s AI story shaping up when it comes to Customer Support? What is the AI strategy for Customer Support?

A: With our focus on value realization, the push to enhance support with AI has never been higher. To start with, we have invested in digitalizing mission-critical business processes with AI.

There are three parts toward bringing these business processes into the fold of AI-powered offerings. With the help of SAP Signavio Process Transformation Suite, we can measure metrics around the customer’s business processes to gauge efficiency, bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement. Alternatively, customers can use this as a blueprint to review these metrics themselves. The next layer delivers business transformational AI services. And finally, we have a platform that provides tools to support a closed-loop approach for AI innovation in services and support.

Coming to the AI strategy for Customer Support, we believe that any innovations in AI must be in lockstep with application integration, meaning AI developments can only bring business value when they are infused and integrated into the applications used in a business process or scenario.

Q: In the context of Customer Support, could you give some examples of how AI brings business value?

A: While the real-world applications are countless, we could broadly classify them into three groups.

We use AI to correct – this means we use AI for the support experience, for personalization, and for data-driven decisions. We use AI to connect – here you find the platform, tools, and applications along customer touchpoints. We use AI to catalyze – this covers self-service, issue resolutions, and predictive and preventative support.

Q: How does SAP realize this?

A: We do this by taking advantage of our AI development platform that can bring all the data of services and support into one place. This platform helps bring endless possibilities based on the unique needs of customers’ businesses. On our part, we ensure that we explore the power of AI across business contexts.

By building AI models, we have the power to transform business in the way we want. We can plug these models into support systems and portals to extract the full value of AI in support. By collecting data and events from support systems and portals, we can even train AI models that can deliver value later. By processing the context and history of the customer, we can provide highly personalized support experiences – at runtime.

I could go on, but at this point I would urge you to follow the Customer Support tracks at SAP Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference Orlando on June 3–5, 2024, to learn about the technologies and strategies that are shaping the future of Customer Support and business transformation. Be sure to bookmark your favorite topics from this guide: Your Ultimate Guide for SAP Sapphire Orlando in 2024.

Renuka Abraham is part of Customer Support at SAP.

WALLDORF and TOKYO — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701 “NEC”) has selected SAP S/4HANA Cloud through the RISE with SAP solution, running on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Together with implementation partner ABeam Consulting, the migration will leverage NEC’s generative AI technology and SAP’s natural language, generative AI Joule copilot.

NEC, a Japan-based multinational leader in the integration of IT and network technologies, was seeking to optimize costs and streamline data systems to increase integration across its lines of business. As part of advancing its digital transformation, NEC will migrate from on-premise SAP S/4HANA software to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and adopt a clean-core approach, which emphasizes standard offerings and extends them while also reducing future upgrade and operational costs.

NEC is currently operating a large-scale system that includes 1,200 add-ons and more than 200 external interfaces. To migrate to the cloud, NEC will use generative AI to facilitate a clean-core transformation, streamline migration costs and improve operational efficiency. NEC’s generative AI and SAP’s Joule copilot for natural language processing will automate critical processes such as add-on analysis, report interpretation, code generation from specifications and test automation. Joule is SAP’s generative AI assistant that understands the user’s unique role and acts as a work copilot across SAP applications to streamline tasks. NEC will be among the first companies to leverage AI tools from SAP to streamline its migrations.

“NEC sees itself as the first customer of its own innovations, applying cutting-edge technologies internally and sharing the gained insights and know-how with customers and society,” NEC President and CEO Takayuki Morita said. “This milestone implementation with SAP creates a new industry blueprint for other businesses looking to migrate to the cloud, underscoring NEC’s commitment to leading by example in technological adoption and societal contributions.”

By migrating to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, NEC anticipates more-efficient system operations by tapping into AI to support version upgrades and reduce future operation-related costs while being able to quickly respond to market changes. By leveraging innovative technologies including AI, NEC aims to digitally drive societal and industry transformations. This migration to the cloud is a key part of NEC’s 2025 mid-term management plan focusing on internal, customer and societal digital transformations.

“Our shared vision with NEC of creating a sustainable society through digital transformation is the foundation for our long-term partnership,” said Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE. “This project marks a milestone in our relationship, and we’re excited to support NEC on their continued transformation journey.”

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Over recent years, retailers have experienced a notable shift in consumer behavior towards more sustainable products and conscious consumption. Consumers have driven this shift with their increased awareness of environmental issues, ethical concerns, and desire to support products which are eco-friendly, ethically sourced, and produced under fair labor conditions.

Companies that prioritize sustainability in their operations, such as using recycled materials, reducing carbon emissions, or supporting social causes, are gaining popularity among consumers. But those consumers demand proof of these values and product promises at the point of sale.

“The rise of sustainability isn’t just a movement; it is a shift in consumer consciousness,” said Dania Fayyaz, SAP North America sustainability program manager. “Today’s consumers are redefining their purchasing patterns, opting for products and brands that align with their values, and driving a demand for eco-conscious practices and ethical sourcing.” In her conversations with retailers that visited SAP’s booth at NRF 2024, the world’s largest retail fair, she saw a high interest in sustainability solutions.

Consumers – and Markets – Demand Visibility

When the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) comes into effect for large enterprises later this year all products sold in the EU containing palm oil, cocoa, soy, rubber, cattle/leather, coffee, wood, and their derivatives will need proof that their harvest didn’t contribute to deforestation. Non-compliance will result in potential fines of up to 4% of companies’ EU annual turnover. To help businesses simplify this complex task, the SAP Green Token solution can track the geolocation of where raw materials are harvested and automate the creation of due diligence statements (DDS). The solution can also help improve visibility for consumers on where the raw material for their clothing was sourced and offer information on potential reuse and recycling.

Take the example of a cotton shirt made from 50% certified recycled materials. Cotton can be sourced from multiple farms or recycling services and taken to a cotton mill where it’s spun into thread and later fabric. It becomes impossible to distinguish the different cotton elements – conventional versus recycled cotton – once they are co-mingled and the manufacturer loses insight into the sustainability attributes of the raw materials. That’s why it’s important to have a sophisticated tracking solution in place. “SAP Green Token can enhance transparency for bulk-traded, co-mingled raw materials by digitally storing sustainability attributes on tokens that traverse the supply chain,” said Fayyaz.

In addition to making conscious decisions on raw materials and products, consumers can also consider circular economy models. “I’m really intrigued by the idea of revitalizing clothing items,” said Fayyaz. “Imagine being able to exchange a well-loved jacket you’ve had for years and receive credit in return. And the jacket might find a new owner who will genuinely appreciate it.” The SAP Recommerce solution enables that scenario, helping brands and retailers take back, manage, and resell secondhand inventory to help accelerate the shift from linear to circular business models. On an even larger scale, SAP Green Ledger is SAP’s vision to make transactional carbon accounting a reality. It can enable organizations to track carbon like they do cash, with every financial transaction having a corresponding carbon entry. “This is incredibly desirable because we will see taxes for carbon imposed in the future, and decision-makers will want insights into which processes are utilizing the most carbon,” Fayyaz said.

A Glance into the Crystal Ball

At the same time, low-price online platforms continue to attract consumers with their affordable and wide range of products. They offer competitive prices on trendy clothing and accessories using economies of scale and direct-to-consumer models. Despite concerns about their environmental and ethical practices, these platforms remain popular among price-conscious consumers. However, there is growing awareness of the environmental and social impacts of fast fashion and low-price models. As a result, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning in their purchasing decisions, prioritizing quality, longevity, and sustainability over cheap prices and fast fashion trends.

“Overall, the consumer landscape is evolving, with a growing emphasis on sustainability, conscious consumption, and ethical practices,” said Sven Denecken, chief marketing and solutions officer for SAP Industries & CX. “Companies that can adapt to these changing preferences and demonstrate a commitment to environmental and social responsibility are likely to thrive in the long term.”