SAP CRM Training in Pune

Future of CRM

SAP, S/4HANA and the CRM Plans

• It has become evident now that the anticipated release will be delayed by a considerable amount of time along with changes in the original plans of release.
• A webinar organized for each partner, SAP had announced two intriguing modifications with the one change being related to the other. SAP CRM will cease to be called as an add-on to S/4, instead, it will be known as SAP S/4HANA for Customer Management.
• This will be true, at least for the service functionality. 
• Considering this, the service part of SAP CRM followed by the sales portion will become a part of S/4. CRM marketing will also be phased out and SAP Hybris marketing will be phased into its place.
• There are various difficulties and challenges when combining two complex and distinct sections of software into a reliable product.
• Even though SAP would have anticipated the challenges, currently it looks like they are higher than was originally thought.
• Therefore, merging software instead of providing said software’s in terms of add-ons has increased the complexity involved in delivering greatly. The ‘Sales Core’ that will follow the Service Core is still planned for 2018.

Service Simplification

• Since S/4 is light on customer service functionality SAP’s release sequence makes sense.  
• This can also be viewed in business object models which make up the joint solutions and their sources. Adding the CRM interaction Centre is also a smart choice, even though this will have other consequences when dealing with the SAP Hybris engagement center.
• SAP has chosen to utilize transactional objects from CRM and to merge them with an S/4 variation of Master type of objects.
• The primary exception here includes the business partner which will have its origins in CRM. As the CRM business partner is considerably enhanced than the original ERP business partner this exception is logical. This is getting the best of both worlds.

Sales Simplification

• Such a theme will continue in the sales domain, where ERP based S/4 functionality is more robust than in the service section.
• Another argument in favor of this is that order fulfillment is a core ERP task. In any case, there will be no need for having two distinct object models in the very same system.
• Two intriguing features here are an option of CRM based organizational model and the inclusion of a loyalty element into S/4. Loyalty management is a classic component in the software product.
• The majority of other CRM engines and frameworks, such as reporting, extensibility, pricing, and configuration, etc. will be substituted by their corresponding S/4 / ERP counterparts or be converted into a part of external engines.
• Overall, the CRM for S/4 picture is rounded off.

But there are various queries that SAP has to answer to earn the customer/stakeholder confidence. Some, such queries include:

• How well defined and detailed is the distinction between S/4 for Customer Management and the diverse SAP Hybris solutions?
• How trustworthy is the roadmap? This is a forever challenging question. But the discreet shift of the release of S/4 for Customer Management from being based on 1709 to H2, 2018 can bring up some further queries. Conversely, the timeline for delivery is not yet acute, because there is continuing support for CRM till the year 2025.
• How do you deal with numerous ERP or S/4 backend systems? There are already a considerable number of clients that run different ERP systems in different countries or for different subsidiaries solely for legal and associated reasons. The first plan for a CRM add-on did not cover this common situation. There still is no statement about it other than CRM Middleware still being part of the system.
• How do you deal with engines and industry solutions? The most conspicuous example, currently is CPQ and the forthcoming SAP Revenue Cloud.

SAP and CRM

• The SAP is considering individual business objects and also deciding on which particular object to use and the manner in which it is to be used.
• To avoid expensive redundancies and CRM Middleware objects will get harmonized, with the Middleware stays untouched.
• Particularly the highly normalized one-order model will get de-normalized. This will utilize the pre-existing index tables that got introduced to get some performance into the CRM Order model. This will also support the HANA Database which highly prefers wide tables over to joins.

 User-friendly and platform independent

• Comparing the solutions of different vendors, SAP, however, has the edge – especially in terms of usability and user-friendliness
• By tile appearance of the user interface, the program can be operated intuitively. In addition, the wide range of functions simplifies processes in various departments such as Service, Sales and Marketing.
• For example, the service staff can easily tickets, orders and contracts detect and manage, assign parts and technicians or receive the status in the backend systems. About dashboards and reports can also operate extensive monitoring.

 Interface maintenance and increasing functionality

• Another factor that should not be underestimated, is the integration into the existing SAP ERP. With SAP C4C this is effected via the familiar SAP component Process Infrastructure, which is for many users already in use for years. Another possibility is the integration with the HCI tool (Hana Cloud Integration), which is available in the SAP cloud.

 CRM as a holistic approach

• Although this is ultimately to software, it comes with CRM to more than just the implementation of the solution.
• Looking through the eyes of Change Management may be prepared by the proper use, for example, processes optimize, improve the quality of master data or homogenize procedures.
• To scoop up these advantages, companies should always analyze them what functionality they expect from the CRM solution.
• Because demand situation and initial position differ depending on the company and industry.