“BUSINESSES need intelligence” Claus Andresen, President and Managing Director for SAP South East Asia said, as he concluded his keynote about the future of enterprises in the region, while giving a fearless forecast for what he sees will happen globally in the field of experience management.
Andresen said that transforming businesses into intelligent enterprises is the point of the
“SAP Experience: An Intelligent Enterprise Conference” which concluded in Bangkok last week. The event brought together thought leaders and SAP customers with analysts and a select group of IT media to talk shop and familiarize with how to maximize one’s presence in the quickly evolving space of the “experience economy.”
Technology can quickly respond to customer concerns in a proactive manner. But it can do a better job responding in a predictive way, which can actually prevent unwanted issues before it happens. By collecting, compiling or accessing data that is already available, deeper analysis and faster response is possible thanks to the over 2 trillion data points available on the SAP Cloud.
“The experience economy is defined by the focus on the individual, who is the center of the transaction. To succeed in this sphere requires using technology to maximize customers experience towards the positive,” Scott Russel, SAP Asia-Pacific and Japan President said.
“Let me just point out that the experience economy is very real, not just a buzzword, but rather an ecosystem that enterprises must recognize, understand and respond to in order to succeed in managing customer and employees’ expectations,” Russel said.
Technology leaders from top businesses in the region presented their vision of the future in their particular spaces at the conference. Based on the presentations by each company, a common point that needs immediate improvement is how customer or employee experiences are managed.
In the experience economy, consumers are given full control of the way they choose, receive and utilize products or services. There are 641 million consumers in Southeast Asia and according to a recent study called the “Fifth Quadrant” 76 percent of these customers switch brands after just one bad customer experience.
However, even with the almost instant feedback provided by social media and online availability of comments, reviews and rating, as well as managing these experiences requires a platform that will synthesize the operational and experiential elements that make up customer experiences.
“The operational (O) and the experiential (X) are the measures that help determine the success rate of a customer management platform. The key to success in the experience economy is an intelligent suite for core applications, with experience management solutions and a secure digital platform that can process and synthesize the X and O data processes,” Russel said in his keynote.
“SAP is uniquely positioned to help businesses deliver winning experiences with best in class business software. We are pleased to work closely with customers to transform businesses in Southeast Asia into intelligent enterprises to drive economic growth and master the experience economy,” Andresen explained.
But what is an intelligent enterprise?
“An intelligent enterprise is one that can access data, analyze it and respond to it as quickly as possible. Thus, enterprises no matter how small, as long as they realize this flow, and the way it should be done on an integrated and secure platform, can be an intelligent enterprise. Accessing data for example that is incomplete cannot create an intelligent ecosystem, as data is the foundation of any good decision. Thus, data that is relevant and correct is very important,” Andresen said. He added that since the main point of analyzing customer experiences is to provide better, consistent and positive experiences by preventing unwanted situations or correcting negative ones, this needs a tremendous amount of analysis of data.
“Investing in technology is necessary. You have to go to technology as a platform. When you do it manually, it will be difficult to find the real value of the data, whatever data that is. Customer comments, shipping schedules, employee attendance, supply chain movements ultimately can be best analyzed on a platform that results in information that can improve the businesses and can manage their performance intelligently,” Andresen points out.
An example of this experience management is how Zuellig Pharma–possibly the largest pharmaceutical logistics company in the world–leveraged on SAP Cloud Integration Suite along with blockchain technology to ensure the supply chain is productive and proactive.
“To ensure our customers get the best, freshest medicines sourced from the most reputable and reliable manufacturers globally requires that we have a robust and integrated digital infrastructure. By productive, I mean it has to have the best medicines at the best price,” Daniel Laverick, Head of SAP & IT Solutions at Zuellig.
The company developed an app called “eZTracker” which is blockchain based and can stop counterfeit medicine, manage cross-border training which affects the prices of medicines and product recalls, assuring recalled goods do not find its way back into the market. It was planned as open source from the start and it will be offered to all stakeholders in the industry.
“eZTracker goes all the way to the patients, who can utilize the app to join the fight against counterfeits and improve their access to healthcare,” Laverick explained.
