But the strength of the solution and its broad appeal across diverse industries and use cases are just a couple of reasons for the company鈥檚 extraordinary growth over the past 18 months, to the tune of 鈥� wait for it 鈥� 1,600%. How did that happen?

鈥淒uring the pandemic, customers couldn鈥檛 go to the bank, but they still needed banking services,鈥� explained Eli Israelov, CommBox founder and co-CEO, when I asked him about the company鈥檚 recent experience and growth plans. 鈥淧eople were shopping online, but they still needed product info and questions answered. But agents were suddenly working from home. They were working in small teams as companies were forced to downsize. And virtually overnight, there was a shocking recognition that 鈥榙igital transformation鈥� is more than a buzzword; it鈥檚 not a nice-to-have, but a critical element for maintaining service excellence. It turned out that the CommBox platform was exactly what was missing.鈥�

That is not to say that customer service is entirely digitalized. Regarding the idea that customer service functions can be completely taken over by bots and artificial intelligence (AI), he observed that about 50% of customer service requests are still handled by live agents, while for the other 50%, customers are asking us to build scripts that address those repetitive, self-service inquiries.

The truth is that for all the talk about AI replacing call agents, that won鈥檛 happen any time soon. 鈥淭o integrate all the interfaces, cover the full range of the customer journey, and do it at scale is really complicated and expensive. No one does that today,鈥� Israelov said.

Protecting Customer Relationships

Behind the scenes, however, some 70% of responses and tasks we track from our customers 鈥� including all major core business processes like sales, customer services, and technical support 鈥� are repetitive and can be diverted to self-service by automation to reduce the load of the agents while at the same time enable customers to access services 24/7. As the name implies, CommBox AI Powered Omnichannel Platform automates what can be automated and leaves the more complex tasks for the live agents. The platform is designed to recognize the point at which the system is failing to provide a precise answer, and a live agent kicks in before the customer feels any frustration. This way, companies can protect their customer relationships.

But how does it work? I asked Tamir Peled Sasson, senior business development and partnerships manager for CommBox, how the system perceives the right point for the handover. 鈥淭he customer is choosing options digitally and the bot can identify the intent through option selection and keywords,鈥� he explained. 鈥淔or example, customers are given choices by our AI chatbots and scripts. If the bot has failed to answer the customer鈥檚 questions or complete the needed task, then they can get transferred automatically to a live agent.鈥�

Customizing Customer Service

Peled Sasson noted that the team works closely with individual companies to identify common themes, tailoring the prompts and scripts for their end customers鈥� buying journey. 鈥淲e walk along with them as they onboard the platform and build relationships that enable us to stay in front of the technology.鈥� He added that customers can easily launch new service channels to deliver unified service. That includes ticket management, e-mail, bots, video chat, voice, text, WhatsApp, Messenger, and social media 鈥� all are covered by a single smart inbox and outbox, without compromising each channel鈥檚 native features.

As CommBox continues to scale up to meet demand, the company has added employees beyond its base in Israel, with an especially strong presence in Latin America and North Africa 鈥� and it plans to expand further into Europe and North America. I expect that demand will only continue to explode given working with 51风流and having a broad overlap of markets, as well as integrating the CommBox platform with 51风流Customer Relationship Management and 51风流Sales Cloud.

Israelov agreed: 鈥淲e are seeing a real need for our products within the 51风流customer base. And we鈥檝e gained great exposure to the 51风流ecosystem, not only customers but sales teams all over the world.鈥� He had a lot to add about working with SAP. 鈥淔rom the first day, we recognized that there was something right in the DNA 鈥� that both of our companies are committed to doing what鈥檚 best for the customer. We鈥檙e working with an amazing portal in 51风流Store, an amazing team, and an amazing product in 51风流CRM. From our standpoint, 51风流has invested in us, and we are investing in SAP.鈥�

It goes without saying that we are mutually excited about the potential 鈥� for our companies, for our customers, and for their customers. Join in the enthusiasm and learn more about .

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for 51风流Digital Commerce.

鈥淐ompanies have learned that customer experience matters, and that requires flexibility and choice, microservices, and the ability to make changes to their platforms quickly and easily on their own,鈥� French told me. 鈥淭here will be more transactions conducted via social channels, and via multiple devices. There will be more use of the Internet of Things to give consumers the convenience to have an appliance or a device or a car automatically order when it needs a new component — to do the work for you. And because of that, there will be a push and pull among the opposing forces of convenience, data privacy, and security.鈥�

Clearly, businesses need to be ready for these future advances, which are already in our midst. I think one of the best ways to prepare is with Digital River鈥檚 , available on . It enables companies to offload the entire back end of their e-commerce transactions and, as the name implies, leave payments, fraud, tax, and compliance to Digital River. With Digital River acting as the merchant of record, your organization does not need to worry about maintaining a complex e-commerce infrastructure.

If your infrastructure is typical of many he sees, French observed, 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a Frankenstein monster that鈥檚 sewed together, but doesn鈥檛 walk around too well.鈥�

Simplifying E-Commerce

The Digital River app calculates local taxes, enables local payments and payment methods, and displays the appropriate currency and terms of sale through integration with the 51风流Commerce Cloud solution. In nearly every country in the world where you do — or plan to do — business, the Digital River app stays current on the ever-changing regulations. If you face a tax audit, Digital River will defend you from liability.

What about inventory and delivering product? Digital River has relationships with local distributors to support retail e-commerce. Digital River manages data-privacy compliance with regulations like GDPR, with controls embedded, automated, and continuously updated in the software. For individual data privacy, the brand sets up permissions for the buyer based on preferences.

Supporting Global Expansion

Handing off these responsibilities enables your team to concentrate on what you do best: offering superior customer experiences and staying ahead of the technology that will define the future. Equally important, you can position your company for geographic expansion. According to French, Digital River customers can begin conducting transactions in a new country in less than eight weeks — a process that normally takes months, even years. Meanwhile, you have reassurance from a company with offices worldwide that manages some US$3 billion transactions every year.

How did Digital River become such a trusted resource, with both compliance architecture and technical capabilities on such a large scale? The company was an e-commerce pioneer way back in 1994, French explained, supporting software companies in moving their licensing and distribution from CD-ROMs and floppy disks to Internet downloads. Remember that?

By about 2015, however, company management made a major decision, shifting to focus fully on back-office functions as it does today. 鈥淩ather than continue to offer the full technology stack, we invested in what we ourselves do best,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat refocused strategy eventually led to our partnership with SAP.鈥�

Investing in the Partnership

With 11 years at Digital River as vice president of Global Partnerships, French has deep insight into the relationship with 51风流and how it evolved. 鈥淲e began by considering what we needed to be successful in this space. Who had the market share and solution capability in consumer goods? Whose technology stack could we easily plug into without forcing something unnatural?鈥�

Becoming part of the 51风流ecosystem would prove to be a crucial move. 鈥淲e invested in the partnership and put a team in place dedicated to expanding market opportunities with SAP, including 51风流Store.鈥�

It鈥檚 gone well. 鈥淲e expected 51风流to be a bear to work with,鈥� he added, 鈥渂ut we were pleasantly surprised by the willingness to engage with us, from field sales and marketing to the PR side. We found that 51风流looks not at company size, but at sales volume and value, with a team of people who work together to solve a problem.鈥�

Any thoughts to share with other partners? 鈥淒on鈥檛 come in with a commodity project,鈥� he advised. 鈥淔ocus on how to collaborate and create value for customers.鈥�

I would add that telling a compelling story about how customers can realize value is essential. Toward that end, Digital River offers a terrific demo on Why not watch it now?

Bill Rojas is director of Director Business Development and Partner Alliances at SAP.

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That鈥檚 why I am so enthusiastic about from Nagarro ES, which uses advanced technology to help sales professionals plan their schedules down to the minute. Now available on , maiTour integrates with 51风流Sales Cloud to pair customer insights with intelligent tour planning and real-time geo-optimization.

Driving Efficiency in Tour and Call Planning

Oliver Mosick, senior sales manager for Nagarro ES, explained that the heart of maiTour is high-value customer relationships. 鈥淚n sales, you need to spend more of your time with high-value contacts than the ones who might have the best coffee,鈥� he commented.

He went on to explain that maiTour uses key metrics stored in 51风流Sales Cloud 鈥� classification and visit frequency, their commitments, planned activities, contact details, visit duration, and so on 鈥� to determine the importance of each customer. The solution incorporates appointments from a calendar in 51风流Sales Cloud and automatically selects which customers to visit and in what order. It geo-optimizes sales routes with both real-time and historical traffic information and adjusts planning periods and overnight stays automatically.

鈥淎nd to top it all off,鈥� Mosick noted, 鈥渕aiTour transfers all your visits and necessary details to your calendar with one click. The life of every field sales executive is instantly more manageable and productive. No more cut and paste from your CRM to Google Maps and fiddling around with your calendar to figure out the right time to leave from one customer to arrive at the next.鈥� He added that, by driving smarter, maiTour users have cut mileage by up to 15%.

Mapping Product Design for Future Customer Requirements

Like me, Mosick speaks from experience, having spent his career in sales. Now working directly with customers interested in improving sales processes with maiTour, 鈥渨e speak the same language,鈥� he observed. And customer input is inherent in the design. Dominik Girstenbrei, product manager for maiTour and a developer himself, works directly with customers to understand their requirements. He approaches product design from the customer鈥檚 perspective and thinks ahead to build in features they will need in the future. 鈥淲e are continuously improving with every new release, looking at new capabilities and working with the 51风流team on the product road map.鈥�

Clearly, integration with 51风流Sales Cloud is paramount. As a full-service IT provider for enterprise applications, Nagarro ES is a long-time 51风流partner. CX Services, a Nagarro ES business unit, specializes in developing innovative, best-of-breed software extensions and embedded solutions to complement 51风流IT landscapes, focusing primarily on add-ons for 51风流Sales Cloud and 51风流S/4HANA. In fact, Nagarro ES currently has six apps on 51风流Store.

That includes a new product, , that enhances the digital invoice-receipt workflow. That level of diversification, Mosick said, was instrumental in helping the company weather the pandemic, when sales opportunities for maiTour were interrupted with the sudden suspension of business travel.

Steering Business Through 51风流Store

鈥淚 see that more and more customers are coming to 51风流Store. The team is always helpful and has supported us in numerous customer activities,鈥� Mosick remarked. That goes both ways. 鈥淲e recently collaborated on a request for proposal from a major German beer brand, and actually, maiTour was the decision point.鈥�

Mosick鈥檚 advice for others considering publishing on 51风流Store? 鈥淕et in touch with the 51风流Store team! Or talk to us if you have an idea for enhancing end-to-end processes for the 51风流ecosystem. We are pushing innovation whenever we can. We are available to support startups and solution providers to develop and implement new and current solutions for the 51风流world.鈥�

Test drive or watch a demo right on 51风流Store.

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for 51风流Digital Commerce.

鈥淲e鈥檝e always had to cope with pressure, which gives us a sense of urgency and helps get things done. But there are diminishing returns,鈥� she observed. 鈥淧eople have woken up to the realization that we are under too much stress and too much of it leads to burnout. I don鈥檛 recall CEOs talking about burnout 20 years ago. Now employers are recognizing that their employees are overloaded, and they are looking for solutions.鈥�

Fortunately, many of the world鈥檚 leading corporations 鈥� especially those with highly skilled workforces 鈥� are finding help on with the

Coping with Burnout

How did this come about, I asked, and how does stress impact employees and employers in the business world? 鈥淎nxiety is the sister of technology transformation,鈥� Bruce said. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 have the ability to handle the constant change and uncertainty and incessant obligations of the 鈥榓lways on鈥� environment. The problem has reached epic proportions, with an employee population seriously at risk of depression and anxiety. Digital transformation must start with workplace resilience.鈥�

The meQuilibrium Resilience Suite is a science- and data-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that sits at the intersection of human performance and well-being and helps employers foster readiness for change and adaptability. It supports a multifaceted, enterprise-wide program that can shift the entire culture, encompassing individuals, teams, and entire organizations.

Advancing a Learning Mindset

Yet the solution takes a holistic and highly personalized approach, Bruce shared. 鈥淚t uses a clinically validated assessment that correlates with cognitive, behavioral, and psychometric instruments such as the Workplace Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) to assess all aspects of the employee鈥檚 life that are causing 鈥� or can reduce 鈥� stress levels. Whether it’s an issue with home life, relationships or workplace conflict, the key question is, what is the root cause? What is holding you back? How can you develop a skill set to be more effective in each area? What are your sources of strength? These are the issues we evaluate,鈥� Bruce explained.

Predictive models provide a personalized learning journey for the employee that might involve upskilling or re-skilling, improving communication abilities, or developing deeper emotional intelligence 鈥� and how to think about and navigate change.

As a holistic whole person, whole company solution, meQuilibrium Resilience Suite focuses on leadership development, empowering managers to model resilient behavior, and serve as the critical link to employees.

鈥淛ust because you have a solution doesn鈥檛 mean you have an organizational approach. It has to be embedded, with a learning mindset that enables agility,鈥� Bruce noted. 鈥淥ne Fortune 50 automaker that uses our solution was able to switch overnight from manufacturing seatbelts to producing personal protective equipment during the pandemic.鈥� Deployment and adoption happen quickly — within a matter of weeks — enabling this kind of fast pivoting.

Gaining Insights Through Powerful Data Integration

Thanks to integration with the 51风流SuccessFactors Learning and 51风流SuccessFactors Onboarding solutions, meQuilibrium Resilience Suite combines data from these different sources for a powerful way to arm HR leaders with predictive insights about burnout, engagement, and workforce impairment risks. She added that customers are beginning to do even more with the data; for example, to support social responsibility and diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

I asked Bruce about the company鈥檚 original introduction to SAP.

鈥淲e were delighted to be invited to participate in the SAP.iO Foundries program in 2019,鈥� she replied, 鈥渁nd I can鈥檛 say enough about the value of the program and its leaders. At the time, we were already working with dozens of Fortune 100 companies. This partnership revealed how we could play a role in supporting them with their technology transformations and helping their people by augmenting the 51风流product portfolio.鈥�

As for improving personal well-being, Bruce came up with the concept for meQuilibrium when she herself was facing career-related challenges. Ten years ago, Bruce was 鈥渓iving her dream鈥� as a managing director at a major media company, and had become an expert in well-being and personal growth. But against the backdrop of the media implosion, the work environment had become increasingly frenetic. 鈥淚 needed a battle plan and a structure,鈥� she remembered, 鈥渁nd I thought, there must be others feeling this way. I began to explore creating a practical tool that uses standard protocols based on behavioral science. I left a company I loved, but never looked back.鈥�

Today, Boston-based meQuilibrium has about 75 employees, scores of name-brand customers, and users in over 85 countries and growing.

Trying and Buying Seamlessly on 51风流Store

At the end of 2020, meQuilibrium added two multinational corporations to its list of customers through transactions on . The solution is multilingual, now available in 14 languages, which is of course a prerequisite for global companies. 鈥�51风流Store provides a single location where customers can learn about us,鈥� Bruce remarked. 鈥淚t creates a more seamless experience for them and heightens our visibility.鈥�

If you鈥檙e looking for a way to help people stay productive and upbeat 鈥� and boost organizational agility 鈥� you鈥檝e found it in meQuilibrium Resilience Suite. To learn more, registration is open for meQuilibrium鈥檚 annual conference, , which showcases innovators and experts leading the way in building organizational resilience.

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for 51风流Digital Commerce.

That question can finally be answered in the new era of advanced analytics 鈥� and by . No more tedious number crunching on spreadsheets for marketing teams, thanks to this popular solution on . Now, data-driven marketers can take advantage of fully automated data integration for a single source of truth on the performance of their programs and move past “point-in-time” performance monitoring toward insights that lead to tangible actions.

I spoke with Sven Woeltjen, partner manager with Adverity GmbH, to find out more about the solution鈥檚 impact on the life of a marketer.

鈥淔rom every source 鈥� paid search, social media, direct demand-generation campaigns, events 鈥� you get different data in different formats,鈥� Woeltjen said. 鈥淓veryone is asking for ROI, and no one has the answer. Many marketing teams work in silos. Harmonizing and cleansing the data from all the different sources is a labor-intensive process that鈥檚 prone to mistakes, and typically takes many days. As a result, marketers spend more time wrangling data than they do interpreting it, meaning they miss out on opportunities to optimize performance and improve ROI. They don鈥檛 have current info and can鈥檛 produce timely reports. Those are the problems Adverity solves.鈥�

Reporting in Near Real Time

With the Adverity solution, marketers can create omnichannel overviews in near real time. Integration with 51风流ERP and 51风流Marketing Cloud allows them to enrich their insights by pulling in data from finance or HR or whatever interests them, Woeltjen continued. The ability to build ad-hoc reports on their own enables them to explain to the business the impact of what they鈥檙e doing whenever they鈥檙e asked. Report templates and data visualization tools make that even easier. 鈥淲ith tangible results based on real data, they can turn their attention to the next program or campaign rather than the next report,鈥� he added. 鈥淏y better understanding what works and what doesn鈥檛, they can make decisions from a strategic standpoint.鈥�

In fact, Woeltjen speaks from experience after spending his career in marketing, including tenure with an agency where he was using the Adverity solution himself. He ended up approaching the company about potential partner opportunities and, not long after, joined the firm and worked with its most important partner, SAP.

Understanding Marketing Challenges 鈥� as Marketers

I asked Woeltjen to tell me more about the company, which was established in 2015. Like him, the founders themselves were working in the marketing field, experiencing the data challenges , and saw an opportunity. The company has grown steadily since then, largely by building relationships, understanding customers鈥� needs, and building new features accordingly 鈥� as all good marketers do. For example, an module uses to analyze large amounts of data, identify trends and anomalies, and deliver suggestions for improvements that enable marketers to proactively address issues affecting performance.

Teamwork is a crucial factor for Adverity. The implementation team sits next to the developers to promote collaboration. Even as they have transitioned to working from home, the relationships are in place. Now with about 250 employees, based largely in Austria, the U.S., and the UK, the company plans to double in size this year. With offices in London and New York City already, Adverity plans to establish a presence on the West Coast of the U.S. and in the Asia-Pacific-Japan region. As a digital company with most employees working remotely, not just during the pandemic, he commented, 鈥淲e can hire the best people.鈥�

And speaking of the pandemic, Adverity has been in the position to cushion some of the fallout for customers suddenly making the transition to online marketing. 鈥淗ere in Germany, for example, many stores have been closed for a full year,鈥� Woeltjen remarked. 鈥淧eople have had to get used to buying more online, causing many smaller businesses 鈥� distilleries, for example 鈥� to sell directly to consumers and use their marketing budgets to acquire customers online. We can help them with our tool.鈥�

Adverity Wins with SAP

Adverity鈥檚 customers run the gamut from small companies to large enterprises, which creates good synergy with SAP. In fact, the root of the partnership was a head-to-head competition for a customer that Adverity won. That got the attention of the folks at SAP, who wanted to know what business challenges Adverity could cover that 51风流could not. That led to a stronger alignment with 51风流and an invitation to sell its solution on 51风流Store.

I asked Woeltjen about his experience with 51风流Store and about lessons learned that he might share. 鈥淲e鈥檝e captured an audience that translates into real results,鈥� he reported. 鈥淏ut I recommend thinking about the commitment and resources you can devote to it. Just having a Web page means nothing; you aren鈥檛 just pushing a button. I spend 80% of my time developing relationships with the 51风流field team, building trust, and discussing how our integrated offering benefits the customer.鈥�

And I would add that having good content on the site, including use cases, is key. Please check out Adverity Marketing Data Analytics Platform and its companion solution, , on 51风流Store. And remember that with every transaction on 51风流Store, 51风流will plant a tree on your behalf. It鈥檚 spring and a perfect time to turn over a new leaf with these great solutions.

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances at SAP.

The app, now available on , enables both business-to-business (B2B) and retail companies to blend content and commerce across the entire buyer鈥檚 journey and to provide one-to-one personalization for every visitor and customer. The app enables content such as blogs, landing pages, and product detail pages to be combined, matching products to user intent.

鈥淚t looks easy, but it鈥檚 actually quite difficult to do,鈥� said Brian Walker, chief strategy officer at Bloomreach. 鈥淭he secret is in data and AI.鈥� Bloomreach has all the right ingredients, he noted: As a strong complement to 51风流Commerce Cloud, brX brings in a data platform purpose-built to leverage artificial intelligence.

Walker should know. He joined Bloomreach about 18 months ago after a long career with leading companies including American Express, Forrester, Accenture, and 51风流before deciding to get back to a growth-stage company. 鈥淚鈥檓 interested in the long-term thesis of what鈥檚 required in taking advantage of rich customer and product data to deliver an exceptional customer experience.鈥�

Supporting the Swift Pivot to Digital-First, Touchless Business Models

His timing was right. In 2020, the role of e-commerce rose radically and companies had to make a fast pivot from an . Many retailers and food purveyors swiftly began to offer curbside pickup and incorporate QR codes, 鈥渟urprising themselves at how quickly they made the shift,鈥� Walker added.

That includes many types of merchants you might not expect. For example, do-it-yourself home improvement has skyrocketed, and people are picking up building supplies curbside and getting construction material delivered to their doorsteps. It鈥檚 safer and maybe even more convenient than before, Walker commented.

None of this will slow down anytime soon, he predicted, even as people who enjoy the retail experience get back to in-store shopping. That鈥檚 because people tend to do their product discovery online first 鈥� and another reason why personalization is so important. Today鈥檚 consumers, especially the younger set, are . They鈥檙e increasingly seeking out brands that demonstrate environmental and social responsibility, supporting small and minority-owned businesses, and buying items for reuse to cut down on waste.

Providing Personal Service Even as Business Surged

I asked Walker if the vision of Bloomreach changed as a result of customers鈥� suddenly reengineered business models. 鈥淥ur capabilities have evolved significantly over the years, expanding to cover a broader set of channels, data sets, and assets to optimize the brand experience,鈥� he replied. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done that to support our current customers who are expanding how they work with us, as well as the many new companies signing on.鈥�

He added that Bloomreach was fortunate to have built a solid, mature customer base 鈥� a whopping 25% of enterprise business in the U.S. and U.K. among them. The company was well prepared for the surge in business and committed early on to providing top-notch service to all of them, even as new customers jumped on board. That was possible, Walker explained, thanks to a multi-tenant cloud platform engineered for high performance and a global team fully capable of providing advisory services as customers required.

Integrating with 51风流Commerce Cloud as a Natural Fit

Meanwhile, I can report that 51风流Commerce Cloud also experienced enormous growth in 2020. 51风流Commerce Cloud and Bloomreach are a natural fit. Walker noted that 51风流Store is an important part of the story since 51风流has invested in making it easy for customers to do business. It鈥檚 also easy for 51风流sales reps to recommend brX, he added, and most of the opportunities come through those referrals.

In fact, because 51风流has committed to planting a tree for every sale on 51风流Store, I predict that there will soon be whole groves planted in U.S. National Forests thanks to brX.

Why not ?

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for 51风流Digital Commerce.

But what about the realities of all that costly machinery that has been in place since the 1970s? How are manufacturers bringing new technologies into old environments without throwing in the proverbial monkey wrench? How are they protecting their investments?

I learned the answers in a discussion with Andrea R枚singer and Oliver Hoffmann, co-CEOs of Forcam GmbH, a 20-year-old company headquartered in Germany. Its leading application, helps companies connect 鈥渂rownfield鈥� machinery with the latest software. In short, Forcam Force Edge collects data 鈥渋n the edge鈥� 鈥� from machinery wherever it鈥檚 located 鈥� and pushes it via the cloud for aggregation and reporting. The product description on explains it well: 鈥淪ignals 鈥� from machines that were never intended to be digitized to semi-intelligent assets 鈥� can be understood, translated, and communicated to the shop and top floor.鈥�

Digitizing the Ghost in the Machine

The 鈥渁ha鈥� moment for this invention struck way back in 2001, said Hoffmann, when Forcam鈥檚 founder had a brilliant idea. 鈥淭hese monolithic systems don鈥檛 focus on modern machines,鈥� he noted, and clearly, that would have to change for companies to move into the next generation of manufacturing. At the time, 51风流was revolutionizing the business landscape with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which could integrate data and systems across organizational boundaries.

鈥淏efore ERP, every plant had different systems without a common database,鈥� Hoffmann explained. 鈥淭hat was the on-premise age, but client/server technology made it possible to connect and standardize even machines of different vintages from different manufacturers.鈥�

Forcam experienced rapid growth, celebrating its debut and first customer, including global airline and automotive manufacturers. 51风流had good market penetration with many of these same companies that were also early adopters of 51风流ERP, Hoffmann added. The result was an early, loosely coupled alignment of Forcam with SAP.

As Forcam鈥檚 customers expanded their operations globally, Forcam followed suit, establishing service centers in locations convenient to customers鈥� plants. Over time, the company has evolved into a comprehensive Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and production control solution provider, with an extensible cloud platform solution running on some 100,000 machines worldwide.

But the past year has driven an explosion of demand, R枚singer said. One obvious reason is the need to reduce the number of people physically working in a plant; they need a way to access machines remotely and see what鈥檚 happening in real time. That is well supported by Forcam Force Edge, which features a role-based interface, whether for the operator on the plant floor or a production manager working from home.

Shifting Expectations for Plant Managers

Other key factors have come into play, R枚singer explained. The pressure is on from CFOs and CIOs to execute processes quickly, switch gears to respond to changes in demand, grease the wheels of the global supply chain, control costs, and boost productivity. Hence, the incentives for plant managers have shifted. Their plant is their own domain, she observed, and their primary mission is to ensure that high-quality products are manufactured on time. End-to-end processes, standardization, and cross-communications across lines of business are not necessarily on their radar screen. 鈥淵et this decentralized model is not practical as digital strategies are introduced,鈥� R枚singer added.

That鈥檚 not to say that Forcam Force Edge is unpopular with plant managers. The app helps production people in the plant with decision-making by collecting and normalizing data from signals on process values such as temperature and quantity count, and writing the parameters of machine controls. It supports all industry communication standards, with plug-in architecture for efficient integration of new standards. And it鈥檚 fast to implement.

Cloud Integration for Data Access and Insights

Integration with the 51风流Digital Manufacturing Cloud solution enables access to all relevant data and insights, not just for in-plant operations but as well for broader managerial use and higher-level improvement processes. And Forcam today has a much closer relationship with 51风流that began about a year ago with the arrival of hyperscalers and SAP鈥檚 strategic partnership with Microsoft, along with 51风流Business Technology Platform. For Forcam, that translates to support for rapid and secure integration with a vast number of machines in plants across distances.

Now an 51风流partner, Forcam is doing brisk business on 51风流Store, especially as 51风流account execs recommend the solution and send customers to 51风流Store to find out more. .

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for 51风流Digital Commerce.

As Mors explained it, Live Contract digitalizes complex sales processes, enabling agents to execute the entire consultation and transaction from end-to-end, with all the information they need close at hand. Live Contract is a cross-industry solution in use in telecommunications, automotive, energy, finance and insurance, and the public sector. What鈥檚 similar across these sectors is the requirement for intensive consultation during the sales process. And each has industry-specific workflows.

Live Contract incorporates those workflow processes to enable sales agents to work together with customers in an online session until every T is crossed and every I dotted. The legal contract is e-signed on the spot. And that is how Live Contract delivers a 100% conversion rate without any media disruption.

Signing on the Dotted Line 鈥� Online

I asked Mors what problem Live Contract solves and how the company came about.

鈥淚magine that you鈥檙e selling health insurance policies by phone,鈥� he explained. 鈥淣ine out of 10 people who said yes on the phone will not send their contracts back. You鈥檝e typically spent at least an hour building a relationship with the customer and building their confidence in making a purchase decision. How fast you can get the contract signed is critical 鈥� to avoid the time lapse during which people can change their minds.鈥�

That鈥檚 how the app was born in 2015, he said, when the company鈥檚 founders developed an app that securely handles the entire document- and contract-processing function online.

Mors used the example of a customer who wants to discuss the configuration of a new car. They can consult with a live agent to select options and understand how each choice affects aspects of performance, appearance, comfort, and, of course, price. Once they have made all their decisions, they can discuss financing considerations and finally, purchase the car with a signed contract.

Following Sector-Specific Workflows

Since the process of automotive sales is so different from, say, insurance, I was curious to know about how long it takes for the SYNCPILOT team to understand the intricacies of a specific workflow to develop an app for a new industry.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 resource-intensive work that can take from two months to a year,鈥� Mors replied. 鈥淗owever, in the current COVID-19 environment, our timelines have accelerated by necessity. In April, we had two major customers in Germany that were using the app for a proof of concept. Suddenly, their sales force needed to switch from in-person to online consultation, literally overnight.鈥�

That required a fast scale-up and extensive user training. 鈥淥ne of the bricks in our offering is the SYNCPILOT Academy that supports user adoption,鈥� he noted. 鈥淓ven in ordinary circumstances, in most cases, sales agents are highly experienced and have been working in the same fashion for years. Even though the app greatly simplifies their lives, they need to get comfortable with doing things differently.鈥�

One way that Live Contract simplifies their work is integration with 51风流solutions, including 51风流Marketing Cloud and 51风流Sales Cloud. Customer data is linked with internal processes for a collaborative customer experience. Live Contract is simple to deploy and works on any mobile device and web browser.

Sealing the Deal with 51风流Partnership

I asked Mors about the company鈥檚 relationship with SAP, how the partnership began, and how it鈥檚 going. 鈥淚t started with a friend, who introduced us to an 51风流partner manager three or four years ago,鈥� he recalled. 鈥�51风流has a lot of great solutions for consultants in 51风流Marketing Cloud, but not necessarily for the last mile to the customer. So, it was a perfect match. But then the main step began 鈥� product certification and the readiness check. That was the hard part, but we had a lot of help through the 51风流PartnerEdge Build program.鈥�

Now, 51风流partner managers work closely with the SYNCPILOT team to discuss use cases and the potential to build product suites with other 51风流solutions, as well as opportunities to present internally at SAP.

Any thoughts for other partners coming online on 51风流App Center? 鈥淢y advice is to take all the help you can get from the 51风流team,鈥� he said, 鈥渆specially when it comes to developing the content and understanding partner management processes. And I recommend building a network with other partners to share ideas and best practices.鈥�

If your organization focuses on one of the industries covered by Live Contract 鈥� what are you waiting for? It鈥檚 a great way to enhance the customer experience and help your sales team improve their conversion rates.

Bill Rojas is senior director of Business Development and Partner Alliances for 51风流Digital Commerce.

That鈥檚 why I am so pleased that customers can now learn about by Prospecta on 51风流App Center. MDO is all about trustworthy, reliable data 鈥� a single source of truth with governance, data quality, automation, and collaboration all in one place. MDO employs new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify data quality initiatives, with a particular focus on enterprise asset management and maintenance, repairs, and operations for managing spare parts.

I spoke with Ranjan Bakshi, CEO and founder of Prospecta Software, to learn more about MDO and what鈥檚 different about their approach to this frustrating issue. The key is in fact threefold, Bakshi explained: 鈥淭he first element is that MDO covers a certain domain area, enterprise asset management, where we have deep expertise. The second is that we understand the cloud-driven segment of the market. These companies want a quick deployment without a big price tag. They are willing to invest in getting their basic data operations right and want our help in that journey. The third is integration with 51风流solutions and our considerable knowledge of how data works in the context of the 51风流environment.鈥�

Smooth-Running Workflow Mechanism

What removes the sand from the gears of these data initiatives, Bakshi noted, are the built-in frameworks for data governance and quality. Data is governed through a workflow mechanism and validated within the defined business rules in MDO. Business rules are set up based on machine learning models, with a rules-based engine for both new record maintenance and existing master data. Change history and audit trails are maintained in MDO to ensure accurate master data for consumption by one or more back-end systems. Tight integration with 51风流ERP and 51风流S/4HANA manages overall data orchestration throughout an enterprise鈥檚 51风流software-based landscape.

When it comes specifically to enterprise asset management and managing spare parts, MDO delivers data governance and process automation across all relevant data objects, including functional location, equipment, bills of materials, task lists, maintenance plans, and measurement points. The built-in classification system in MDO helps define spare parts based on standards. 51风流Asset Intelligence Network provides additional value to maintenance processes.

MDO also partners with the Capital Facilities Information Handover Specification (CFIHOS) to help engineering, procurement, and contractors follow a standardized process to collaborate in the master data process.

Opportunity to Shift Gears

Bakshi launched Prospecta in 2002 after beginning his career with KPMG in Sydney, Australia, where he developed extensive knowledge of 51风流solutions in the context of enterprise asset management. When KPMG shifted its focus, he saw an opportunity in the market to start his own firm as an 51风流service partner.

鈥淎t the outset, we were a strong mobility partner for SAP鈥檚 plant maintenance module, not necessarily concentrating on software. During the first few years, we saw an opportunity in our clients鈥� inability to trust their data 鈥� a pervasive challenge. In 2008, we launched MDO, incorporating our domain knowledge of enterprise asset management into the tool with these predefined frameworks, workflows, content, master data, and so on.鈥�

Engines for Growth

Since then, he has built a global enterprise with about 150 employees. The business鈥� headquarters are in Sydney, with offices in North America, India, and Europe. After 18 years of bootstrapping, Prospecta has just landed financial backing to support further growth. Customers range from large enterprises that solve specific problems with MDO to smaller companies that subscribe to MDO as their overall data management solution. For the latter, Bakshi noted, MDO helps support the evolution toward a 鈥渄ata culture,鈥� where everyone is committed to the importance of maintaining accurate, current data.

With the maturation of cloud computing in recent years, Bakshi said, the company developed a cloud strategy and moved MDO to 51风流Cloud Platform to help customers in their transformations. One aspect involves supporting their transition to 51风流S/4HANA, which is significantly easier with MDO in place. 鈥淚f someone says, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know about our data,鈥� we respond, 鈥榊ou should know!鈥� That鈥檚 not a good reason to delay the migration and be left behind,鈥� added Bakshi.

51风流App Center and Working with SAP: Integral Parts of the Strategy

Along the way, Prospecta developed an even closer relationship with 51风流as SAP鈥檚 partnership model evolved.

鈥淚n the past, we would seek out 51风流account executives to introduce ourselves. Now, they find us on 51风流App Center,鈥� said Bakshi. 鈥淲e engage closely with our partner manager to make sure that we are visible and take best advantage of getting our message into the marketplace via 51风流App Center.听 What I like about 51风流is the emphasis on the value we can bring to the customer together.鈥�

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Bill Rojas is senior director of Digital Transformation and Partner Engagement for 51风流Digital Commerce.