In January, SAP and Microsoft announced that they are addressing the evolving business and communications needs in the new world of work by integrating Microsoft Teams with SAP’s intelligent suite of solutions such as SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Customer Experience, which includes SAP Sales Cloud.
The changing lockdown restrictions, social distancing measures as well as remote and hybrid working have never been normal than in today’s COVID-19 era. Organisations have adapted to the new ways of working, which includes utilising social media, video, and conference platforms, to ensure communications are uninterrupted and businesses thrive. Case in point, cloud-based collaboration platform Microsoft Teams users have grown exponentially in just a couple of months this year, hitting 250 million active monthly users per month in July coming from 145 million daily users in April.
Longstanding strategic partners SAP and Microsoft have earlier announced that their joint commitment to supporting their customers’ success continues on with simplifying the move to the cloud through SAP S/4HANA on Microsoft Azure and integrating Microsoft Teams with SAP’s solutions portfolio to navigate the new ways of working. During the SAP Customer Experience LIVE: Unplugged event held October 26–27, 2021, SAP officially announced the integration of SAP Sales Cloud with Microsoft Teams to help enterprises advance remote selling. The SAP CX LIVE studio broadcast featured thought leaders and CX innovators that champion growth and sustainability amidst these unprecedented times.
SAP Sales Cloud X Microsoft Teams Enhancing Remote Selling
SAP CX Live event speaker Sameer Patel, Chief Marketing and Solutions Officer of Customer Experience at SAP, emphasised that the SAP and Microsoft solutions integration drive innovation in remote selling. He explained how SAP Sales Cloud functions in contrast with traditional sales automation solutions that are focussed on performing administrative tasks and usually inhibits sales people from doing high-value tasks.
“SAP Sales Cloud is different because it removes complexities, adapts to changing needs of sales professionals and strives to make it easier for them to focus on customers and closing deals. The integration with Microsoft Teams is another great example of how SAP makes it easier for sales professionals to engage with customers and grow revenues.”
SAP Sales Cloud, part of the SAP Customer Experience solutions portfolio, offers organisations a 360-degree of view of each customer and interaction, empowering sales professionals make intelligent recommendations and drive revenue. The solution has embedded AI that performs continuous correlation analysis to help improve forecast accuracy and and improve win rates.
On the other hand, Microsoft Teams, part of Microsoft 365, drives engagement, efficiency, and collaboration within and outside the organisation. Aside from audio and video conferencing capabilities, the platform allows files sharing and editing in real time, which makes online meetings more dynamic.
Empowering the Sales Team
Manager of Information Technology at Turkish company Eczacıbaşı Building Products, Gamze Senkal, who was also one of the speakers in the SAP CX event, shared how the company will benefit from the latest sales innovation. She said:
“With the integration of SAP Sales Cloud and Microsoft Teams, our sales professionals can access the latest customer information with one click from Microsoft Teams and are able to update sales records in real time without ever leaving Microsoft Teams. By eliminating duplicate data entry and record keeping, SAP Sales Cloud helps ensure that our sales professionals are focusing on our customers and value-added activities.”
Commenting on the new SAP-Microsoft solutions integration, Nicole Herskowitz, Microsoft Teams General Manager, said:
“Microsoft Teams is the new way people and sales professionals connect, collaborate and stay in the flow of work in today’s hybrid world. We are excited that partners like SAP are building Teams Apps and native integration to enable collaborative solutions that help our mutual customers improve team productivity and better serve customers.”
Aside from this latest announcement, Microsoft’s SAP capabilities continue to expand with the software giant’s recent acquisition of Clear Software, a US startup that offers integrations into SAP and Oracle.
