“This is about rethinking what the nature of commerce should mean going forward.” – Sameer Patel
At last week’s SAP hybris Americas Customer Days event in Fort Worth, Texas, SVP/GM for SAP’s Collaboration and Communities business Sameer Patel announced the company’s entrance into the online community category of software with a new solution, SAP Jam Communities for SAP hybris. The solution aims to enable customers to leverage community content to inform and guide their buying journey. Tightly integrated with the hybris Commerce solution, SAP Ja
m Communities is optimized to drive commerce.
Patel sat down with Butch Stearns of The Pulse Network to discuss the new unveiling and what it means to the SAP hybris customer base – current and future.
Why Communities?
“The way we’ve looked at the market opportunity for communities, is for us to build highly specialized products that solve very concrete problems, really, really well. What we’re announcing today is a commerce-focused community product, designed to be integrated and
sold with hybris as an integrated commerce and community solution.”
Why Now?
“For the last 10 years we haven’t really changed the nature of the products you and I use. But when you look forward in the next five years, you’re going to start to see massive disruption and transformation in the products you and I use. We’re already seeing this in the form of smart thermostats, smart watches, and personal telemedicine devices such as blood sugar monitors and industrial B2B goods.
“Intel has done some research that shows there’s going to be 200 billion devices by 2020 – five years from now, right around the corner – in the hands of consumers. And 40% of these will be B2B goods. If you’re an e-commerce vendor, there’s going to be an explosion in the need for an assisted sales process – to constantly educate and handhold the customer so that they make an informed decision about which products work for them.”
Why SAP?
“Gartner Research has said that over 70% of communities will fail. Why? The use of community software is not designed around the customer community. At SAP hybris, we now offer both commerce and community, so we can put together the pieces the customer needs.
“We have heritage and ERP; we are trusted by almost every large company on the planet to close transactions securely. If we can just fold community around it, customers can rely on us to help them on that entire journey, from awareness all the way to loyalty. That’s transformational; that’s why we’re here.”
Check out the full video to learn more about this exciting new offering, as well as Patel’s insights on tying ROI to commerce and communities, making smart content investments, focusing on the digital customer journey, and more on how consumers and commerce leaders alike can expect to be impacted by SAP Jam Communities for SAP hybris.
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