Qualtrics Archives - 51风流Africa News Center News & Information About SAP Wed, 27 Sep 2023 19:49:35 +0000 en-ZA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Mind the Gaps: How Experience Data can Help Fight Climate Change /africa/2022/02/mind-the-gaps-how-experience-data-can-help-fight-climate-change/ Tue, 15 Feb 2022 07:10:59 +0000 /africa/?p=143221 A study of more than 11,000 people in 28 countries by the World Economic Forum, Qualtrics and SAP聽suggests we are far from reaching a consensus...

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  • 聽suggests we are far from reaching a consensus about who is responsible for taking action on climate change and who is trusted to do so

  • Results suggest 81% of people say businesses are primarily responsible for taking action on climate change, for example, yet only 28% trust businesses鈥 claims about sustainable practices.

  • Analysing experience data is crucial to know what solutions will drive impact on climate change.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it鈥檚 that collaboration and trust are critical to addressing global crises. In a world where the number and severity of extreme weather events are on the rise, biodiversity is declining and sea levels are rising, global cooperation on combating climate change has never been more critical.

聽suggests that global citizens are on the same page about the cause of climate change. In the study, 78% agree that climate change is human-caused and 87% believe it is extremely important for countries to work together to address the problem.

The research also indicates that we鈥檙e far from reaching a consensus about who is responsible for taking action and who is trusted to do so. In other words, the difficulty of agreeing on how to work together and what to focus on has proven to be a stumbling block in the way of progress.

Global perspectives on climate change
Image: qualtrics/SAP

A significant number of people feel there鈥檚 nothing they can do individually to solve the climate crisis and instead are looking to businesses and governments to lead the way. Yet, while 81% say businesses are primarily responsible for taking action, only 28% trust businesses鈥 claims about sustainable practices.

Understanding people鈥檚 experiences is crucial to knowing what solutions will drive impact. Experience data 鈥 data that reveals how people are thinking, feeling and behaving 鈥 can help governments and businesses understand what motivates people to support climate efforts and make sustainable changes of their own in order to restore and sustain the healthy planet we all want to live on.

Opinion and experience gaps

People often don鈥檛 understand the marketing vocabulary businesses use to showcase sustainability. Myriad terms such as renewable, net-zero emissions, recycled and carbon offset can leave consumers confused about what a company is actually doing for the environment. At the same time, greenwashing (or conveying false or misleading information about the environmental impact of a company鈥檚 products and services) is a growing problem and one of the main reasons there is so little trust in businesses鈥 claims.

In the face of these challenges, there are a few things businesses can do to help close these gaps in experience and understanding. Firstly, a commitment to complete transparency about environmental messaging is critical to building public trust. Then, businesses need to regularly ask customers if they understand their climate change promises and furthermore, if they believe them. This kind of experience data is necessary for companies that want to make data-driven decisions about which initiatives consumers will support and, therefore, which will have the most impact.

Responsibility and progress of business on climate change

The same can be said of governments. More than half of the people in the study (59%) believe governments are doing too little to address climate change. Lawmakers would benefit from experience data to understand which levers to pull in designing the most effective and trusted policies.

Governments and businesses alike should repeatedly take their constituents鈥 pulse to gauge what they should be focusing on and then to measure their perceived progress. This not only helps keep organizations accountable to their goals but also serves to educate constituents about their part in supporting government sustainability initiatives. Citizens will be more motivated to participate when they feel like they are part of the solution.

Where belief meets action

Taking a look at the big picture, we are overwhelmingly aligned globally when it comes to the importance of addressing climate change. Most people trust what scientists are saying about the consequences of inaction, but 51%, say change is happening too slowly.

With the abundance of data that scientists are sharing about global temperatures and the effects on weather systems, sea levels and habitats, it may seem unnecessary to throw experience data into the mix. But all actions start with a belief and a correct understanding of a problem is vital to come up with correct solutions.

While no one consumer may be able to combat climate change on their own, their collective mindset can have a profound influence on the governments and businesses that serve them. It鈥檚 worth studying people鈥檚 perceptions of and experiences with climate change to the greatest degree possible.

We鈥檝e already made incredible progress toward a concerted global effort against climate change. Public trust in climate science is higher than ever. As we continue to measure, analyse and respond to people鈥檚 experiences, we will be increasingly able to dispel myths and build consensus around solutions that really drive impact.

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Augmented Reality Boosts Online Shopping Sales up to 200% /africa/2022/01/augmented-reality-boosts-online-shopping-sales-up-to-200/ Thu, 06 Jan 2022 06:42:00 +0000 /africa/?p=143137 For shoppers who鈥檝e yearned for an immersive, personalized experience that鈥檚 open 24/7, mobile augmented reality (AR) technology is the real-time deal of the next era....

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For shoppers who鈥檝e yearned for an immersive, personalized experience that鈥檚 open 24/7, mobile augmented reality (AR) technology is the real-time deal of the next era. Bangalore-based startup is leading the charge with a platform that turns two-dimensional search and discovery into a full-fledged 3D experience, whether someone is in the market for automobiles or bikes, household furniture, consumer electronics, or personal lifestyle products.

鈥淥ur AR platform gives consumers and companies personalized virtual shopping and training experiences, expanding the horizon of what AR can do for any brand or company,鈥 said Kanav Singla, founder and CEO of Adloid. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making the benefits of this technology more accessible and contextual to create an immersive experience for customers or employees on an e-commerce Website or within applications, directly from someone鈥檚 mobile device.鈥

Convenient 鈥楾ry Before You Buy鈥 Shopping

Unlike earlier AR tech that relied on clunky headsets with varied compatibility, Adloid鈥檚 AR platform runs on any smartphone, allowing customers to experience products at scale, in context. Once the online shopper logs in through their phone, the device鈥檚 camera scans their real-world surroundings and virtually mirrors the retailer鈥檚 or manufacturer鈥檚 product.

鈥淧eople can see how a new sofa or chair would fit into their home or apartment with a click of their smartphone,鈥 said Singla. 鈥淐onsumers can virtually try on jewelry, makeup, and other products. Remote workers can see if that laptop, screen, and desk configuration will fit in their home office. It鈥檚 as if the actual products are in front of you.鈥

He added that manufacturers were interested in using the AR platform within training modules for industrial machinery service technicians, providing them with hands-on learning in a virtual setting.

Immersive Product Discovery Experience

On the consumer side, AR technology is tailor-made for online shoppers who can鈥檛 get enough information about products they might purchase.

鈥淔or someone trying to decide between different car models, AR lets them virtually go inside the trunk to see how much space is in there,鈥 said Singla. 鈥淭hey can open and close the sunroof or try out the controls on the entertainment console, experiencing various car options before going to the showroom.鈥

Automotive manufacturers are among the startup鈥檚 biggest customers, along with e-commerce platforms of all sizes, retailers with or without brick-and-mortar stores, and manufacturers located in the U.S., Germany, and India.

Augmented Reality Increases Sales

Some customers using Adloid have increased sales conversions from online channels up to 200%. One online retailer tripled the number of online customers who purchased consumer items after using the tool. AR also boosts customer engagement time viewing product images and videos from an average of 30 seconds to a whopping eight minutes.

鈥淚nstead of being limited by a finite number of pre-posted images or videos, AR allows people to interact longer with products in a more personalized way, creating a powerful sales channel that鈥檚 always on at the customer鈥檚 convenience,鈥 said Singla. 鈥淧eople can better understand how a product would fit into their lives, in many cases motivating them to make a purchase decision during that single online session.鈥

Connected Data for Intelligent Enterprise

Adloid securely anonymizes all customer data and doesn鈥檛 store any personal images or other information once someone ends their AR session. However, organizations can extract valuable insights from the tool鈥檚 analytics.

鈥淎 car might come in six colors, but which ones are customers viewing the most? Companies can see what options people are most interested in, then connect back to inventory management to make sure they can meet market demands,鈥 said Singla.

Indeed, one of Adloid鈥檚 biggest strengths is working with the 51风流Startup Studio for India, startup accelerator program. Singla said that his team gained validation for product iterations, along with access to 51风流solutions, including , and the company鈥檚 enterprise customers.

鈥淲orking with a global leader like 51风流gives our product immediate credibility because we learned what customers were looking for,鈥 he said. 鈥淎dloid is integrated with , , and , helping companies connect data to become intelligent enterprises.

AR Bridges Gap Between E-Commerce and CX

Singla鈥檚 entrepreneurial spirit was initially sparked by his family, all of whom own businesses. He founded his first startup at age 21 during his undergraduate studies in engineering, then saw a major selling gap as e-commerce took off.

鈥淐ompanies went online with their catalogs, but customers couldn鈥檛 more fully experience these products,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 launched Adloid to turn e-commerce into 3D commerce where customers can try out products virtually on their mobile device. We expect AR will provide immersive experiences in more consumer and B2B online sites including fashion, travel and tourism, and large industrial machinery.鈥


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51风流CEO Christian Klein at SAPPHIRE NOW: Together We Are Reinventing How Businesses Run /africa/2021/06/sap-ceo-christian-klein-at-sapphire-now-together-we-are-reinventing-how-businesses-run/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:56:25 +0000 /africa/?p=142429 Yesterday, 51风流CEO Christian Klein kicked off SAPPHIRE NOW, showcasing how 51风流is helping organizations worldwide become intelligent enterprises by connecting with a community of...

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Yesterday, 51风流CEO Christian Klein kicked off , showcasing how 51风流is helping organizations worldwide become by connecting with a community of networks and running sustainable business. Above all, Klein expressed his gratitude to customers, partners, and employees for their commitment throughout the pandemic.

鈥淭ogether, we are reinventing how businesses run and also demonstrating the big heart of our community. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the pandemic, and our thanks to all those who are making extraordinary contributions in our community,鈥 Klein said. 鈥淭echnology has helped communities and families, and helped business quickly adapt. 51风流has been working hand-in-hand with you, our customers around the globe, whether it was helping you to make your supply chains more resilient, reimagining your business model to create new customer experiences, or to enable remote work. Together, we鈥檝e got this.鈥

SAP鈥檚 premiere customer event is being held virtually this year throughout June across regions worldwide. During his fascinating keynote, Klein unveiled a series of announcements that included the global industry expansion of the company鈥檚 business network strategy for fast innovation, sustainability tracking solutions, and industry-specific additions to the company鈥檚 popular business transformation-as-a-service offering, . He and special guests welcomed a plethora of customers who demonstrated how they were already relying on 51风流to become intelligent enterprises.

Business Networks and Sustainability Drive Growth

Klein announced the next phase of SAP鈥檚 strategy to create world鈥檚 largest and most comprehensive business network, along with upcoming sustainability reporting standards and tools. He put both announcements in business context, based on learnings from companies that have weathered a storm of challenges encompassing the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, social injustice, inequality, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.

鈥淭he most resilient companies were those that embraced technology to transform their business processes. COVID has underscored the urgent need for every company to become an intelligent enterprise,鈥 he said. 鈥淚nsight number two was that no business does business alone. We win together as a community. But the value comes from the network and millions of interconnections it facilitates in real time. The third insight is that we must act now on sustainability with the goal of zero emissions, zero waste, zero inequality.鈥

Announcing that will bring together , , and , Klein predicted that industries will be revolutionized as 聽businesses turn into communities across entire supply chains, able to respond to any disruptions in real time. He said that sustainable business was equally important as he announced the company鈥檚 portfolio of upcoming sustainability-specific solutions.

鈥淲e already run the world鈥檚 largest supplier network with more than 5 million connected enterprises. And because our applications run supply chains across every industry, we have the most relevant data and expertise,鈥 said Klein. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to build sustainability into the fabric of how we do business to make sustainability a standard dimension of corporate management. The 51风流community has the power to protect our planet and create a future our children want to be part of. We have created a new sustainability portfolio to help you drive sustainable practices inside your organization and across your entire value chain.鈥

How 51风流Customers Are Digitally Transforming

In a series of fascinating conversations featuring real-world 51风流customers and solution demonstrations, Julia White, chief marketing and solutions officer and member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, and Paige Wei-Cox, senior vice president and global head of 51风流Business Network, shared the Intelligent Enterprise in action.

One retailer used to deliver an omnichannel shopping experience for consumers, with embedded artificial intelligence (AI) for personalized offerings based on a 360-degree view of customer data, including social sentiment and purchase history. capabilities integrate data across supply chain planning, inventory, ordering, and invoicing for real-time visibility and faster delivery.

A global leader collaborated in SAP’s industry cloud to develop an advanced track and trace solution for sustainable medicine returns and launch a single platform for data sharing across partners. Another 51风流customer, a large agribusiness organization, used SAP鈥檚 business network to find 140 new suppliers in a few days when the pandemic disrupted supply chains last year. Executives from two and organizations shared how they鈥檝e collaborated with 51风流to launch an industry-wide clinical trial network to connect seamlessly across complex supply chain partners for faster time-to-market.

RISE with 51风流Expands with Industry Expertise

Responding to high customer interest, Klein said that 51风流has expanded its transformation-as-a-service offering RISE with 51风流beyond 51风流S/4HANA Cloud to and , as well as a dedicated package for human experience management (HXM).

鈥淢any customers want a holistic, modular cloud ERP solution,鈥 he said. 鈥淎ll of this is delivered with one data and security model, and business process intelligence to ensure your processes are fully optimized and running industry best standards.鈥

In addition, White announced RISE with 51风流for industries focused on retail, consumer products, automotive, utilities, and industrial machinery and components (IM&C).

鈥淲e鈥檙e bringing together the best of SAP鈥檚 50 years of deep industry expertise and the best of our partner ecosystem to provide industry-specific cloud-based solutions as-a-service,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hese solutions are built on to give you the benefits of integration, extensibility, analytics, and one data model. They work natively with 51风流S/4HANA Cloud so every customer can get the full set of industry-specific solutions needed in their cloud deployment.鈥

Connected Insights Speed Up Digital Transformation 聽

White also had a candid conversation with Hasso Plattner, chairman of the Supervisory Board of 51风流SE, about how organizations can use 51风流technology to bring people, processes, systems, and data together for transformational business results. Plattner advised companies to explore transformation using simulations with active data models, which is now possible using experience information from , the , and process management and mining from

鈥淭he whole notion of cloud systems is such a gigantic improvement,” Plattner said. “With new ways to visualize business processes and to get feedback, we have a better chance to move forward faster. We can monitor systems, and see what鈥檚 missing and make changes鈥ven on the fly.鈥

Innovation Networks for Sustainable, Profitable Business

Klein鈥檚 vision for the future was clear: connected intelligent enterprises will reinvent how businesses run.

鈥淲e will jointly build networks with you that champion diversity, inclusion, and human rights. We will make carbon footprint tracking available in the business network so that you can go to true net zero,鈥 he said. 鈥淭ogether, we can reinvent how industries run by connecting intelligent enterprises into an industry-wide business network, making profitability sustainable and sustainability profitable.鈥


Follow me: @smgaler

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Three Priorities for HR in the 鈥楴ew Normal鈥 and Beyond /africa/2021/05/three-priorities-for-hr-in-the-new-normal-and-beyond/ Tue, 18 May 2021 08:15:38 +0000 /africa/?p=142351 During the hard-hitting phase of today鈥檚 pandemic, HR organizations were one of the most disrupted lines of business. Stay-at-home orders forced employees into home offices,...

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During the hard-hitting phase of today鈥檚 pandemic, HR organizations were one of the most disrupted lines of business. Stay-at-home orders forced employees into home offices, liquidity shortages made furloughs and lay-offs necessary, and once ambitious hiring plans experienced painful cutbacks.

Now that the economy is entering the 鈥渘ew normal鈥 characterized by a suppressed economy and the ever-looming threat of lockdowns snapping back, many professionals are re-evaluating their agendas. In the first deep-dive interview on 鈥,鈥 SuccessFactors COO (MEE) Dr. Florian Dreifus laid out three clear priorities for HR during these challenging times:

1.聽聽聽聽 Ensure business continuity

The first wave of lockdowns caught many businesses off guard: How do you enable your workforce to work remotely from one day to another? How do you onboard new hires without meeting them? How are you supposed to sign contracts without being in the same room? The upshot of this shock therapy was that, for digitalized companies, the transition into home offices went reasonably well.

On the other hand, the weak spots in the tech stacks of many businesses have become painfully obvious: Dr. Dreifus cites the example of an HR department that saw its paper-based process of having managers sign bonus letters interrupted by the lockdown. The department was essentially forced to retrieve the letter from the house mail and resend it via external mail, leading to significant confusion and delay.

Investing in technology would not only help to avoid such awkward situations in the event of an eventual snap-back of lockdown measures. It would also prepare businesses to reap productivity benefits that will outlast the looming economic downturn.

Take remote work as an example: As Dr. Dreifus cites, many organizations will decide to keep working remotely on a larger scale even when the epidemic-related necessity has abated. According to ASUG, 40% of American 51风流users plan to work from home at least sometimes, even after the crisis, while only 7% of the American workforce previously had the option to do so, according to the聽. Clearly, remote work is here to stay. So, any investment in enabling remote work will not only safeguard your business continuity in a time of increased operational uncertainty, it will be the best preparation for the new way of working that arises from it.

2.聽聽聽聽 Listen and create trust

This is not only a period of heightened uncertainty for HR departments but also for employees. For many of them, it was a traumatic initial couple of weeks: Being sent home on a few days鈥 notice, having to work from the kitchen table with kids interrupting their Zoom calls, and not knowing whether their job would fall prey to an emergency headcount reduction soon. In a situation like this, Dr. Dreifus points out, it is important to reach out to employees and, even more importantly, make them heard inside the organization.

This is where the paradigmatic shift from human capital management (HCM) to human experience management (HXM) becomes most apparent: Instead of viewing and treating employees as assets at the disposal of the company, HR departments more and more focus on the feelings of the human beings in the business. 罢丑别听, for example, helps managers and HR departments understand the emotional situations and needs of their co-workers as they are sitting at home working.

As noted above, physically separated working situations could become the norm rather than the exception. In addition, understanding and being able to respond to the needs of talent is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage in the labor market. Those businesses that are able to bridge the spatial distance to their employees will not only be more resilient in the upcoming time of uncertainty but will also have a leg up in the resurging war for talent once the economic engine fires up again.

3.聽聽聽聽 Establish transparency

The emotional and physical well-being of employees is an extremely valuable additional data point in times of spatially separated workplaces. But, as Dr. Dreifus emphasizes, the current phase of uncertainty and volatility exposes the value of data on a much more general level.

An 51风流customer from the retail industry, for example, was faced with a sudden lack of skilled employees in shops as demand started spiking when the lockdowns went into effect. According to Dr. Dreifus, however, the company was not only able to identify employees in headquarters who had the necessary training and experience but also prioritized the best locations for deploying them from a cost/benefit perspective. This type of agility is only possible for companies that have the relevant data on their people, their operations, and their finances at hand and can carry out the necessary reactions in an integrated IT system.

This is the Insight-to-Action principle applied in a crisis situation. But again, this type of capability is also helpful in day-to-day business operations: the Insight-to-Action principle is not only helpful in a situation where substantial resources need to be diverted centrally. This capability can also prove useful in the more operational strata of an enterprise.

By having transparency into the state of the process, receiving proactive suggestions on how to improve it, and finally, being able to take action in the same environment, operational users are able to move the needle substantially. An investment in real-time analytics and an integrated IT landscape does not only pay off in times of upheaval but is perfect preparation for the recovery.

The recession ahead will continue to provide numerous challenges to HR departments and employees alike: New guidelines for sharing physical spaces, organizational realignments, adapting the skillset of the workforce to shifting market demands 鈥 the list seems endless. However, digitalizing core processes will not only make them disruption-proof, but also more efficient.

Developing a better understanding of employees鈥 needs will not only make it easier for them to work remotely, but also strengthen their ties to the company. And being able to act on data-based insights will not only help steer the ship, but will also help it move in a more versatile manner once it鈥檚 back in the open sea.

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Employee Experience Becomes a Top Priority for HR Leaders, Highlighting Challenges 鈥 Study /africa/2021/02/employee-experience-becomes-a-top-priority-for-hr-leaders-highlighting-challenges-study/ Thu, 18 Feb 2021 17:00:27 +0000 /africa/?p=141914 The number of decision-makers in human resources (HR) who say employee experience (EX) is the most important aspect of their HR strategy has nearly tripled...

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The number of decision-makers in human resources (HR) who say employee experience (EX) is the most important aspect of their HR strategy has nearly tripled over the last two years. The results were published in a new study from Forrester Consulting LLC commissioned by SAP, Qualtrics, an 51风流company, and EY. Likewise, budget for EX has almost doubled over the same time period, from 6% to 11% and is expected to increase to 16% within two years.

Employee experience is at an inflection point as organizations look to support an increasingly remote workforce while maintaining culture, flexibility and productivity. Still, most EX initiatives remain relatively immature, according to the 鈥淐lose the Employee Experience Gap鈥 study, which surveyed 900 HR decision-makers and 900 full-time employees. Organizational silos, lack of executive support, inconsistent measurement, dispersed data and misalignments between HR departments and employees leave room for improvement in creating EX initiatives that drive lasting change.

For example, only 24% of HR teams have an executive sponsor for their EX work, and 71% say it is a challenge to gather real-time information about employee experience. Only 17% of HR organizations say they track KPIs that reflect cultural strength. While 81% of employees believe creating and sustaining a positive culture is the most important aspect to creating good EX, only 58% of HR managers agreed. Furthermore, only 15% of employees expect excellent EX from their companies.

鈥淟earning and training, diversity and inclusion and a culture that encourages people to bring their whole selves to the workplace are all part of the employee experience,鈥 said Jill Popelka, president, 51风流SuccessFactors. 鈥淓mployee experience cannot be isolated to HR or solely focused on increasing productivity. It needs a holistic strategy driven by leadership and shaped by continuous feedback from employees.鈥

Despite existing challenges, the study confirmed that EX initiatives can drive immense benefits for the overall business. HR leaders said that EX initiatives have a positive impact on workforce agility (59%) and organizational agility (67%). Meanwhile, nearly 80% of employees said that EX initiatives improve their productivity and quality of work. This translates into increased revenue, according to the 77% of HR leaders who said that EX initiatives have increased revenue and the 61% who said they saw improved profitability.

For further information, read the and .

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How SMEs can Build Great Customer Experiences /africa/2020/09/how-smes-can-build-great-customer-experiences/ Tue, 29 Sep 2020 07:52:50 +0000 /africa/?p=141252 Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take for granted the level of investment required to build and maintain a good reputation. There鈥檚 growing acknowledgement of...

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Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take for granted the level of investment required to build and maintain a good reputation.

There鈥檚 growing acknowledgement of the importance of becoming a Customer Experience (CX) leader to help build that reputation, but too few are taking appropriate steps to embrace and prioritise a true CX culture.

Delivering exceptional CX requires that every part of the business is in sync and enabled by the right technology.

CX is an important part of managing and growing a company, yet, it is one of the most understated business priorities. Customer service is the level of service that customers expect to receive in exchange for their money.

CX, on the other hand, is how customers feel when they interact with a business. From researching the product to the actual purchase and use, it spans the entire customer buying journey.

Customers, now more than ever, will never return if the initial interaction is poor. CX is therefore a key element of customer retention 鈥 and a key differentiator.

What鈥檚 the fuss about CX?

CX encapsulates the holistic perception of a customer鈥檚 experience with a company. It is the result of every interaction, from researching the product to purchasing and using it.

罢丑别听聽found that companies that prioritised technology were 64% more likely to meet and exceed their business priorities.

According to the same report, 36% of large companies are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve their data analytics.

These companies believe that data is a game changer, and that its ownership, control and use is a strong source of sustainable competitive advantage.

There is a misconception that investing in CX is expensive and delivers little return.

A recent聽聽found that satisfied customers are willing to pay a premium of up to 16%; proving that positive experiences lead to greater loyalty.

In addition, around 32% of consumers reported that after just one bad experience, they were most likely to abandon a brand they had preferred.

These data points demonstrate the importance of intentionally pursuing a customer-centric strategy. The net impact is customer satisfaction, higher sales and stronger long-term customer relationships.

In difficult times, such as the tough economic climate caused by the COVID pandemic, CX is at the heart of sustaining a business.

Steps to improving CX

SMEs often juggle multiple priorities with limited resources. Balancing operational priorities and implementing CX strategies can be a real challenge. Here are some practical ways of improving CX for SMEs:

  1. Implement additional support channels to make it easier for customers to interact with the company. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for automation, SMEs can provide self-service options that make it easier for customers to track their orders independently, enabling a self-help approach that improves efficiencies and lowers costs.
  2. Prioritise your website as a different way of interacting with customers 24/7. SMEs that did not have online stores could not continue trading under lockdown conditions. Moreover, adding a Frequently Asked Questions section can empower customers to be self-sufficient, allowing the company to refocus valuable human resources on income-generating activities and innovation.
  3. Adopt technology-driven query management processes that are customer-centric and cost-effective. Using AI, SMEs can develop chatbots that handle repetitive functions such as order delivery queries.

How technology enables great CX

A recent聽聽by Qualtrics and Forrester Consulting that looked at Return on Investment from deploying CX solutions produced some interesting findings:

  • Customer care: companies were able to gather actionable insights that enabled them to institute measures that reduced the cost of incident management by shifting incidents to a self-help platform.
  • Customer retention: aligning the company on key metrics and shifting to a customer-centric view of data had a positive impact on CX. Companies reported an increase in customer satisfaction and more personalised experiences and customer buying journeys that led to higher customer retention.
  • Data and customer-centric culture: companies were able to create standard, consistent, and trusted data sources across departments, resulting in a unified view and measure of CX throughout the company.
  • Business outcomes: companies were able to identify things that needed to change quickly. While some seemed mundane, they had a meaningful impact on customers and resulted in quick wins.
  • Better insight and decision-making: companies benefited from having a centralised database for all customer insights, enabling them to move quicker and provide better insights for decision making.

CX is about proactively managing and curating the entire customer buying journey to ensure that customers walk away with a feel-good experience.

Delivering a positive CX requires a customer-centric strategy that is underpinned by the right technology investment. Technology empowers all companies, of all sizes, to connect with current and prospective customers.

SMEs now have the ability to accurately predict future needs of their customers, enabling them to be proactive and attentive to ever-changing conditions. In an increasingly unpredictable and competitive business environment, the emotional connection between the customer and the brand can be the difference between survival and prosperity.

In a recent survey by Oxford Economics and SAP, 39% of small and medium sized companies said that improving customer experiences is their top priority over the next three years 鈥 even ahead of increasing profits or reducing costs.

I thought it would be interesting for you to discover how these companies are managing customer experiences through improved technology and organizational strategies by reading the聽.

***Qualtrics is a wholly owned 51风流company that provides solutions for monitoring, analysing and managing feedback to improve CX, employee experience (EX) and product experiences (PX).

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Three Digital Transformation Priorities for African Healthcare Organisations /africa/2020/09/three-digital-transformation-priorities-for-african-healthcare-organisations/ Fri, 25 Sep 2020 05:27:15 +0000 /africa/?p=141234 At the time of writing this, South Africa鈥檚 healthcare sector had conducted nearly four million COVID-19 tests with just under 650 000 positive cases identified....

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At the time of writing this, South Africa鈥檚 healthcare sector had conducted nearly four million COVID-19 tests with . While infection rates continue to climb in much of the developed and developing world, stringent measures to contain the coronavirus in South Africa have helped flatten the curve to the point where most normal economic activity can resume.

While public efforts at hygiene and social distancing have certainly contributed greatly to the decline in daily case numbers, it鈥檚 undoubtedly the tireless work of the healthcare sector that has helped the country get through the greatest public health challenge in a century.

Efforts to treat infected patients were complicated by a prevailing shortage of medical staff. The World Bank estimates South Africa has ,聽Kenya has聽, and聽in . Compare this to the UK, where the rate jumps to 2.8, or Switzerland where the rate is nearly 4.3 doctors per 1000 people.

Africa鈥檚 doctors and nurses often have to work longer hours treating more patients and with fewer resources than their peers in more developed markets. Overworked doctors are more prone to make mistakes, and the long-term effects of working under such conditions .

With pressure on the healthcare sector now easing slightly, it鈥檚 vital that we consider what measures we can take to support the healthcare sector as it prepares for the next wave of COVID-19 infections – or a new, as-yet-unknown health emergency.

To help them prepare for the next major challenge, healthcare providers should design and implement digital transformation initiatives that help them with three key aspects, namely:

One: Understanding operations

The old saying 鈥測ou can鈥檛 manage what you can鈥檛 measure鈥 applies to healthcare too. Modern hospitals, for example, operate more like a business than a public service, with complex operational intricacies that make outdated paper-based processes completely ineffective.

Healthcare organisations should look at investing in new technology tools that allow for greater visibility across all operations and provides real-time insights into the performance of every aspect of the organisation (including the workforce and patients).

The ultimate goal is to create an intelligent healthcare enterprise that blends operational data and experience data (from patients and employees) and leverages new technologies such as AI and advanced analytics to improve decision-making and operational performance.

Using a cloud platform also equips the provider with greater agility – consider for example the impact of COVID-19 on a healthcare organisation that still relies entirely on on-premise technology. Adopting cloud platforms and cloud software is as much about the tools as it is about the mindset 鈥 being open to rapidly adopt new and relevant applications that cater for a specific need will allow organisations to react promptly and appropriately. For the organisation stuck in on-premise thinking, chances are that organisation鈥檚 response to the pandemic was not as effective as their nimbler, cloud-enabled peers.

Two: Understanding patients

While it鈥檚 true that the main purpose of healthcare organisations is to provide care for their patients, many patients today expect more than just care: they want a positive and personalised experience too. In fact, a PwC study found that .

Technology can play a key role here by removing friction in various stages of the customer journey and delivering personalised care at each step. This requires a deep understanding of each patient at an individual level. Healthcare organisations require the ability to collect patient data, identify risks, understand trends and communicate in a transparent and accurate way at scale, while balancing their focus on driving profitability without jeopardising patient experience.

A report on 55 studies . Using an experience management tool, healthcare organisations can develop a deeper understanding of each individual patient鈥檚 experience. This empowers them with insights that can guide the design of personalised interventions at each step and help healthcare providers build a consistently positive overall experience.

Three: Understanding healthcare workers

Considering the shortage of healthcare talent, healthcare providers should prioritise their workforce management efforts to ensure available talent is managed sustainably and with positive patient outcomes in mind.

found that nearly three in every four (74%) healthcare workers would stay with an employer that offered training in new technologies that would help them meet future work demands. Seventy-five percent said the same would be important to them when considering an employer.

Improving the workplace experience for healthcare practitioners should therefore be a top priority for talent attraction and retention. Constant feedback is essential: an IBM study found that , while 81% said they felt positive about their work when they receive regular feedback on their performance.

Employee experience management tools such as Qualtrics can give healthcare organisations a real-time view into the experience of healthcare workers and deliver insights into trends and other factors influencing that experience. Using these insights, healthcare providers can develop appropriate interventions and support measures to ensure workers can focus on the core mandate of improving patient outcomes.

These three aspects all centre around understanding operations, patients and staff. Only once the holistic picture of a healthcare organisation鈥檚 financial and operating stance, its brand affinity and the associated shortfalls are truly understood can leaders of these organisations acknowledge what their starting point is.

Once this has been identified, healthcare organisations can begin to paint a realistic future for their businesses and adopt data-led transformation initiatives that will drive resilience and futureproof them against further health sector emergencies.

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SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform: A Trifecta of Data Excellence, Integration and Extension for the Intelligent Enterprise /africa/2020/06/saps-business-technology-platform-a-trifecta-of-data-excellence-integration-and-extension-for-the-intelligent-enterprise/ Fri, 19 Jun 2020 10:29:23 +0000 /africa/?p=140848 51风流today announced new capabilities, enhancements and further unification of the聽Business Technology Platform聽portfolio to help companies transform data into business value. SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform...

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51风流today announced new capabilities, enhancements and further unification of the聽聽portfolio to help companies transform data into business value. SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform enables developers and business users to access integrated, end-to-end services and tools to realize value along three critical areas of IT: data excellence, process integration and extensions. The announcement was made at the聽聽conference, being held online June 15-19, 2020.

鈥淢any customers I have spoken with have expressed the need for agility and quick time to value, made even more urgent by the COVID-19 pandemic,鈥 51风流CTO and Executive Board member Juergen Mueller said. 鈥淭o achieve both, technology becomes even more important, and 51风流can help meet those challenges. We鈥檝e added significant enhancements to every major component of our Business Technology Platform to help customers across all industries overcome obstacles stemming from ubiquity of data, complexity of IT and business volatility.鈥

Organizations such as聽聽in Dallas are using SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform combined with聽聽for experience management to perform analytics and to plan for sufficient patient capacity, a critical need during the COVID-19 crisis.

鈥淲e at Parkland are dedicated to the health and well-being of individuals and communities that we serve by setting the standard of excellence for public and academic healthcare systems,鈥 said Parkland Health and Hospital System鈥檚 chief data officer Scott Harrison. 鈥淥ur clinical staff utilizes electronic dashboards built with SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform for analytics and planning, and Qualtrics XM Platform for sentiment analysis. We understand that a fully integrated technology foundation is critical for the 240,000-plus emergency room patients we care for yearly, and for supporting our future growth and innovation.鈥

罢丑别听聽business unit Adhesive Technologies, the global market leader for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, is building an app for its some 4,500 sales representatives based on SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform.

鈥淲e aim to create a modern and effective digital workplace environment, increasing speed and efficiency for sales activities and thus strengthening the experience of customers globally,鈥 said Sascha Latzberg, corporate director, Sales & Channel Excellence CRM at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. 鈥淥ur digital CRM platform enables us to be fast and flexible and increases the independence of sales representatives as they travel and work from home. With the help of SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform and our advanced analytics we can leverage CRM data for insights that help us create additional customer value.鈥

Whether on premise, in the cloud, or in a hybrid landscape, SAP鈥檚 Business Technology Platform allows companies to:
鈥 Manage diverse data stores in real time with聽
鈥 Integrate and extend enterprise applications across any IT landscape using聽听补苍诲听
鈥 Analyze data for better planning and decision-making with the聽听补苍诲听
鈥 Continuously innovate their businesses with new聽

Data Excellence
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of 51风流HANA, which now has more than 32,400 customers. The latest version,聽, is planned for delivery at the end of June. It will support hybrid scenarios with the 51风流HANA Cloud data platform and provide new capabilities, including the enhanced 51风流HANA native storage extension for simplifying data management and lowering total cost of ownership. According to聽, 51风流HANA customers will realize a 679 percent average five-year return on investment. 51风流HANA Cloud provides a powerful data management and analytics foundation for innovation solutions such as 51风流Data Warehouse Cloud. It is now available on Amazon Web Services, in addition to Microsoft Azure, to provide greater flexibility and choice to customers moving to the cloud. 51风流plans to have an聽聽for early July.

聽and 51风流Analytics Cloud include an expansive lineup of聽聽packages consisting of end-to-end business scenarios that answer key business and technical questions for companies looking to quickly gain insights from data.聽聽includes business content centered on the retail industry. A rapidly growing ecosystem with hundreds of partners is expected to provide more prebuilt content and data connectors for 51风流Data Warehouse Cloud on聽.

To help business users and analysts more easily create understandable data models using business terms, the聽聽of 51风流Data Warehouse Cloud is planned for release in the early third-quarter 2020. 51风流Data Warehouse Cloud also will offer built-in and deeply integrated聽, allowing customers to select from a broad range of connectors for building highly scalable data integration processes to and from any data source.

To offer customers even more value and benefits, 51风流has been integrating more products and functions. 51风流Data Warehouse Cloud is more聽聽for a more unified data and analytics environment. This allows for a clear, accurate picture of all data for turning analytics into real business insight.聽聽platform was聽聽on June 12, 2020, and is more tightly integrated with 51风流Analytics Cloud for an easier transition to the cloud.聽聽functionalities are further integrated in the latest update of聽聽for faster, more powerful planning, and is currently available for a聽.

Read how聽today鈥檚 intelligent enterprises, such as Geberit AG, Porsche AG and Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd., plan to use the power of 51风流HANA Cloud, 51风流Data Warehouse Cloud, 51风流Analytics Cloud and 51风流Cloud Platform.

Integration
奥颈迟丑听聽of 51风流Cloud Platform Integration Suite, customers can benefit from value-based packaging and attractive pricing as well as simplified purchase and consumption of integration services. Customers can now sign up once to use all capabilities instead of going through licensing multiple services. This offers them the flexibility to consume a service within the suite on demand at any point in time with streamlined, message-based metering. Further, 51风流is delivering prebuilt聽聽between 51风流applications with standard messages at no additional charge.

Extension
聽with 51风流Cloud Platform Extension Suite and new聽聽will help customers adapt and extend their business processes on the fly and in real time to meet changing demands and increase efficiency. Business process experts can now manage workflows on live running processes such as for capital expenditure approvals by using dedicated tooling to discover, configure and run application extensions, all without help from an IT department. This results in faster time to value and lower implementation costs.

聽and 51风流recently announced that they have teamed up to create a joint cloud-based solution for the real estate industry. The solution is planned to be based on Honeywell Forge and 51风流Cloud Platform and aims to streamline operational and business data to drive greater efficiencies, improve company performance by gaining valuable business insights, and improve employee experience management through powerful sentiment data analysis. Read more details聽here.

Find, try and buy 51风流solutions online at聽听补苍诲听.

Visit the聽51风流News Center聽and download a copy of today鈥檚聽. Follow 51风流on Twitter at聽.

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EY, SAP, and Qualtrics Collaborate to Bring Resources to Governments Around the World to Help in the Fight Against COVID-19 /africa/2020/05/ey-sap-and-qualtrics-collaborate-to-bring-resources-to-governments-around-the-world-to-help-in-the-fight-against-covid-19/ Mon, 04 May 2020 06:43:56 +0000 /africa/?p=140586 Custom COVID-19 solutions help governments stay connected to their citizens and employees, use data to make quick decisions, and better manage the flow of information...

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Custom COVID-19 solutions help governments stay connected to their citizens and employees, use data to make quick decisions, and better manage the flow of information and resources

EY, SAP, and Qualtrics have announced a collaboration to provide resources to governments around the world as they battle the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic. These Qualtrics庐 and SAP庐 solutions will be implemented by EY and include tools to help governments pre-screen and route potential COVID-19 patients, support healthcare workers, and manage the flow of information and resources to their citizens.

To help manage the impact of the pandemic, EY, SAP, and Qualtrics have collaborated on providing agencies with a comprehensive set of services and solutions to meet the initial urgent and critical needs of governments, globally. These offerings are helping organizations take immediate action in the fight against COVID-19 and are available to all 50 U.S. states and more than 90 countries worldwide. In addition, the services and solutions are provided in eight languages 鈥 English, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French, German, and Greek 鈥 through EY implementation and enablement services. Specifically, the solutions available to governments include:

Qualtrics COVID-19 Pre-Screening and Routing: This online, guided pre-screening questionnaire allows citizens concerned about COVID-19 to enter their symptoms, and automatically routes them to appropriate online resources or advises them to contact their doctor. It provides instant access to relevant health and safety resources and produces automatic reports that identify any gaps in information availability.

Qualtrics COVID-19 Dynamic Call Center Script: Local governments are standing up call centers (often for the first time) to respond to the crisis. To reduce call volume, and provide accurate, up-to-date information to callers, this solution directs citizens to the right resources based on their interests/questions. It also includes automatic reporting showing caller trends, patterns, and gaps in information requests.

Qualtrics Healthcare Workforce Pulse: Governments need to monitor healthcare providers and their frontline healthcare workers within healthcare systems, hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics. This Healthcare Workforce Pulse is designed to capture feedback on the resources, safety, resilience, and communication needs of those treating patients with the disease.

Critical care protocol solution: This is a customized solution for governments and ministries of health directed at early identification for critical care/high-risk patients. This solution utilizes guidelines from the World Health Organization and the Edmonton Frailty Scale and is powered by a critical care protocol algorithm. The solution assists in early flagging of high-risk patients by sharing and analyzing results in real time, allowing for more targeted allocation of critical care services that are already in short supply.

EY, SAP, and Qualtrics released the following statement regarding these solutions: 鈥淕overnments around the world are having to act quickly and decisively as they lead their citizens through uncertain times. These solutions and services help governments quickly interact with their citizens at scale by providing a means of collecting and analyzing data in real time. This allows them to take immediate action amid an ever-changing situation and bring immense benefit to their citizens during the current crisis. We are proud to stand together to help governments use the power of experience management to navigate this difficult and unsettling situation as we all work to keep our communities and loved ones healthy and safe.鈥

Public entities around the world are rapidly deploying these solutions and seeing immediate results. In the U.S., Africa, Europe, and APAC, state and country governments and agencies are running health assessments for citizens, identifying testing centers for those in need, and triaging screening and treatment follow-up. On a national level, countries around the world are asking what information citizens need and how they could work together to provide essential services during this worldwide pandemic.

Qualtrics technology is GDPR, HIPAA, HITRUST, and FedRamp compliant 鈥 maintaining the highest levels of security and privacy protection available.

To learn more about these solutions and other resources available to governments worldwide, please visit: .

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Technology Powered Opportunities in a Time of Crisis /africa/2020/04/technology-powered-opportunities-in-a-time-of-crisis/ Wed, 08 Apr 2020 05:12:07 +0000 /africa/?p=140498 In January this year, I was standing on a stage with Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of the legendary rock band, Iron Maiden, at SAP鈥檚...

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In January this year, I was standing on a stage with Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of the legendary rock band, Iron Maiden, at SAP鈥檚 regional kick-off meeting in Barcelona. We shared our dreams for 2020 and talked about turning customers into fans. We could never have guessed that three months later, the world would turn on its head. Almost simultaneously, we saw the outbreak of a global pandemic coupled with the collapse of the oil price that has shaken the world to its core. We鈥檝e have been accustomed to things like social distancing, panic buying and widespread lockdowns; scenes that you expect only in a Hollywood blockbuster.

While we are all grappling with a very different world right now, in time business and consumer confidence will return, bolstering transformation and ultimately driving growth. Many people are referring to the perfect storm; I see huge potential related to the outcomes of disruption. A force majeure like COVID-19 can be every bit as transformative as a financial crisis or other world events that have had global significance through the ages. Enterprises are rethinking their business models, their supply chains and changing their approaches to security, business continuity, and remote work. Governments are rallying their resources to get insights into the effects of the crisis and to get on top of the catastrophe.

There鈥檚 never been a better opportunity to help our customers deliver unique insights, and ensure agility, control and the ability to execute 鈥 not just now, but also post-crisis. People will need to work, and agile, transformative businesses will flourish. Companies that effectively navigate disruptions often succeed because they invest in their core customer segments early and anticipate behaviours.

So how can a company like 51风流become part of the global solution to the pandemic? For a start, we鈥檙e offering a slew of free technology tools and platforms to customers (and anyone else) to help them not only deal with pandemic-related issues but anticipate what sorts of opportunities the crisis will open up:

We鈥檙e helping companies redesign their supply chains, and find new sources of supply when existing supply chains are disrupted. We鈥檙e opening access to the network, so any buyer can post their immediate sourcing needs, and any supplier can respond to show they can deliver. It鈥檚 free to post, free to respond. Using this network, one 51风流customer that is building a new hospital in the US was able to find a supplier with 500 hospital beds in less than 30 minutes.

We鈥檙e helping managers check in with their employees. The world went virtual overnight, and any company that hopes to continue operating anywhere near normal levels will need to make sure their workers are okay, safe and healthy – and this doesn鈥檛 end in the first week they鈥檙e home. We鈥檝e seen a spike in the usage of our free聽, which enables companies to detect the sentiment of their employees since the crisis began. The mental health of their employees has to be on the mind of companies.

In Italy, our presales team developed a Coronavirus dashboard and offered it for free to customers, partners, our communities. The dashboard allows users to analyse the contagion spread in depth, compared to that one included in the Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard.

We鈥檙e supporting the next generation of professionals and users with our best-in-class digital learning, by offering students and subject-matter experts safe and healthy learning environments to continue their education virtually. We鈥檙e offering them free access to select learning journeys for students at one of the 3,800 member universities of the 51风流University Alliances program, online courses allowing young learners to explore technology, as well as the massive open online courses (MOOCs) available on the open51风流platform.

Many businesses are taking advantage of the 鈥榣ocate鈥 feature within software to track employees stranded overseas. While business travel has abruptly ended, other business expenses tracked by 51风流Concur offerings confirm that activity in China is picking up a little.

Together with EY and Qualtrics, we鈥檙e helping governments around the world who are struggling to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes capturing and monitoring community concerns, tracking and reporting on the progression of the virus, providing accurate information on transmission and cure, directing people to the right resources for help, and communicating effectively with their citizens in a time of lockdown.

Our vision to help the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives has never been more important than in this current moment. We remain focused on our people, our customers, and our communities. Together, we will persevere.

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