SAP Expands CRM Analytics To Maximize Customer Value And Profitability
New capabilities in mySAP CRM include real-time analytics to leverage customer insight during each customer interaction; marketing optimization to boost response rates; sales, marketing and service business planning to closely measure performance against strategic targets; and out-of-the-box analytics scenarios.
Leveraging SAP's deep knowledge of the key business processes of 23 industries and more than 6,500 installations of SAP's leading business intelligence offerings, the new capabilities expand the scope of core analytics functionality in mySAP CRM. By enabling deep integration with multiple sources and applications across the enterprise, organizations can now better measure and predict customer actions by transforming raw information into business strategies for optimizing the most profitable customer relationships. The announcement was made at the Gartner CRM Fall Summit 2003, being held in Los Angeles, California, September 8 -10.
The new analytics capabilities in mySAP CRM enable companies to extract more business value from their wealth of transactional data to better understand customers and the products they want, at what price, and under what conditions. Compared to point solutions, the integrated mySAP CRM solution is unique in its ability to integrate information from SAP and third-party sources, delivering comprehensive information to support more effective decision-making.
"It is critical to link financial information from various parts of the enterprise with key business processes in order to evaluate the impact of customer profitability," said Henry Morris, Group VP Applications and Information Access at IDC. "CRM analytics become far more powerful when leveraging crucial information from across the organization -- identifying customer interests, predicting customer value, and then linking this knowledge to optimal, timely actions. SAP has achieved this objective and more with its new analytics offerings in mySAP CRM."
A broad range of companies such as Brother International Corporation; EnergieAG Oberoesterreich; Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Grenzach; Makro South Africa; Molex Incorporated; SCHWARZ PHARMA Deutschland; and ST Microelectronics are using SAP's open framework for CRM analytical solutions to measure business performance; optimize sales, customer service and product offerings; and deliver maximum value from customer relationships.
Real-Time Analytics
New real-time analytics in mySAP CRM combines customer insight with predictive information to make recommendations that increase the value of each customer interaction. For example, manufacturing companies can dramatically reduce credit risk by rapidly determining a credit score based on a customer profile and generating a proposal for the best terms of payment. Tele-sales representatives can also leverage information such as purchasing history, product upgrades and accessories to identify cross and up-selling
opportunities.
As a member of both the Datamining Group and the Expert Group for Java Datamining, SAP is playing a leadership role in developing and influencing standards for the next generation of predictive analytics.
Marketing Optimization and Refinement
By introducing sophisticated analytical models into the campaign automation process, marketing managers can plan campaigns more effectively based on expected results such as response rates, costs, profits, and return on marketing investments. For example, with marketing optimization and
refinement in mySAP CRM, companies can identify customer segments that display similar behavior patterns -- such as number of interactions during a specific timeframe -- and target campaigns to those customers most likely to respond.
By linking back-end financial applications with marketing programs, mySAP CRM also enables detailed cost-performance analyses.
Complete Planning Scenarios Improve Efficiency
Planning scenarios in mySAP CRM help companies set clear goals and coordinate the necessary resources to achieve their critical business objectives. Campaign planning, opportunity planning, promotion planning and partner planning are tightly integrated into key business processes to improve the effectiveness of how these processes impact business performance management. For instance, many high tech companies such as chip manufacturers create products in close collaboration with their customers. By linking
supply chain data with customer demand, organizations can make better decisions about inventory levels and future product development efforts.
Key Customer Insights Delivered Out-of-the-Box
Analytical applications such as customer lifetime value enable companies to assess the profitability and retention of each customer segment. This provides organizations with a clear picture of how marketing, sales and service efforts should be focused on the most valuable customers.
For instance, chemical companies can better target offerings and increase profit margins based on understanding a certain customer segment's tolerance for lower grade quality, demand for "off-spec" products or flexibility in delivery timeframes. Customer satisfaction and loyalty analytics gauge key customer drivers and how well companies are meeting changes in their customers' priorities over time. These capabilities help companies prioritize the customers and products having the most impact on profits.
Companies can proactively combat the risk of customer attrition with churn analysis capability in mySAP CRM. Telecommunications and utilities companies, for example, can maintain and grow revenues by identifying and contacting the customers most likely to cancel their contracts.
SCHWARZ PHARMA Deutschland uses CRM analytics as part of a 360-degree approach to CRM. "Our goal is to deliver the highest level of customer satisfaction in the pharmaceutical industry by continually improving our processes and our interactions with customers," said Horst Beeck, project lead CRM at SCHWARZ PHARMA Deutschland. "By gaining greater analytical insight into customer demands and developments in the pharmaceutical market, we aim to better target marketing campaigns, optimize customer contacts and provide service that exceeds our customers' expectations. mySAP CRM makes it easier for SCHWARZ PHARMA Deutschland to deliver maximum value to our customer base."
"Organizations in every industry are embracing CRM analytics as a decisive tool for turning information into value and maximizing the return on their investments in mySAP CRM," said Peter Kirschbauer, member of the extended management board and executive vice president of BSG Services Industries, SAP. "Many of our more than 2,200 mySAP CRM customers are leveraging deep insights out of analytical data to improve quality of service, better address customer needs and uncover the most profitable businesses opportunities."
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software solutions. Through mySAP(TM) Business Suite, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. The unique core processes of various industries, from aerospace to utilities, are supported effectively by SAP's 23 industry solution portfolios.
Today, more than 20,000 companies in over 120 countries run more than 64,500 installations of SAP(R) software. With subsidiaries in over 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at www.sap.com.)