“Ferrara is an innovative candy and sweet snack company, and we take that very seriously,” Vice President and CIO George Lesko said shot at Ferrara’s new headquarters in the heart of Chicago. “We require a lot of information when we’re making decisions about how to build our portfolio of brands, and how to grow those brands.”

Part of building ’s portfolio depends on acquiring iconic brands, according to Lesko. No stranger to icons, the 112-year-old sweet maker is a Chicago institution, and its high-tech head office is in the equally iconic Old Post Office building, which still hosts vintage hardware from its parcel-processing past.

“It’s a historic building,” Lesko said in a breakroom with a view of another Chicago icon: the . “We’re happy to be part of its resurgence.”

Ferrara is also part of a resurgence when it acquires a new brand.

“When you acquire an iconic brand like SweeTARTS, for example, you want to be able to integrate that into your business as quickly as possible,” Lesko said, a century-old mail chute spiraling in the corner behind him. “You want to get the consumer insights, the retail information, and the supply chain information all in one place so that the consumers don’t have to wait.”

When You Need to Know Now

“The SweeTARTS brand is so valuable because it’s one that our consumers love,” Patrick Degnan, vice president of Sales Operations and Integration at Ferrara Candy Co., said. “And its complimentary strength to our existing portfolio allows us to build on our long-term strategy.”

Real-time access to data from new acquisitions helps Ferrara sales teams quickly start talks with retail customers about those brands, according to Degnan. Speaking knowledgably about all of Ferrara’s brands establishes trust, which is crucial to mutually beneficial relationships.

“In a prior acquisition, it took us over a year to have access to sales data. allowed us to do that within weeks,” Degnan said. “It gives our customers confidence in us; it shows that we understand the brands that we bought; and it allows us to make business decisions to drive overall profitability for us and them.”

Access to real-time data is valuable to both Ferrara and its customers, according to Degnan. It pinpoints where problems might exist, enabling agile and timely fixes.

“If there are areas where [a brand] isn’t performing up to expectations, we can’t go weeks, months, and years without knowing that,” Degnan said. “Our retail partners find tremendous value in our ability to report in real time.”

Seamless Reporting from Day One

“The differentiator is these tools have allowed us to acquire companies and, on day one of that acquisition, have seamless reporting of historical data from this company as well as … Ferrara’s own data coming in daily,” Gene King, Ferrara’s senior manager for 51·çÁ÷BI and App Development, said. “And it’s seamless to the end user.”

Ferrara’s users enjoy one-stop-shopping for data from across the portfolio – enterprise resource planning (ERP), historical, transactional, and other types of data – even if they’re stored in different systems, according to King. End users cannot tell the difference because they use a single interface, which frees up their time to better track customers’ needs.

“The real benefit is incorporating acquired brands into the business that we already have and doing it quickly,” Lesko said. “We can’t ask our sales and marketing people to go to three or four different places to get information … particularly if we acquire a brand.”

This unified approach to analytics means Ferrara needn’t “waste time” retraining employees on disparate systems, according to Lesko. It also helps Ferrara move fast and make wise decisions quickly.

“The business users love us now because we can respond to issues immediately … we’re adding so much value so quickly,” King said, standing in front of Ferrara’s massive branded latticework, which greets visitors as they enter the headquarters’ lobby. “It also makes this immediate for executives; they don’t have to wait for groups to pull this stuff together.”

Optimizing the Consumer Experience

“We’re using a lot of both internal and external resources to make decisions today,” Ferrara Director of Insights and Analytics Daniel Hunt shared. “For SweeTARTS in particular, we’ve done a lot of research on – and we’re doing a lot of research currently.”

This includes exploring new innovations and product segments for SweeTARTS, according to Hunt. He and his team also use to better understand what kinds of new campaign messages would resonate best with consumers, and to identify which new flavors have the most potential.

Hunt’s team also plans to track brand health in-house via Qualtrics.

“That’ll allow us to consistently measure our brands throughout the course of the year, and then load that data directly into our so we can use that, along with other longitudinal data,” Hunt said. “We get to start doing analytics on that data and also start to build dashboards to allow us to visualize it.”

Ferrara has grown accustomed to using data from multiple sources to drive decision making, according to Hunt. This includes determining the best way to enter a new market, identifying unmet needs, finding market gaps, and more.

“For SweeTARTS in particular as a brand,” Hunt said, “we’ve used XM to touch almost every major brand activity, from new innovation to communications.”

When IT Moves at the Speed of Business

“SweeTARTS is a strategic brand for us, and we were able to provide information literally on day one of that acquisition,” Lesko said. “The ability to move as quickly as our business is moving is really important to us.”

Ferrara’s executive leadership team appreciated seeing all of their usual enterprise-wide metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) in relatively the same format, according to Lesko.

“We were able to show information side-by-side with our other brands, [such as] Trolli and Black Forest – and it was in a format that everybody was used to,” Lesko said, branded pillows with Nerds and other logos nestled on a sofa behind him. “And that was thanks to 51·çÁ÷HANA.”

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One new use case developed by 51·çÁ÷supports employees at specific points in their working lives and receives feedback from them, with the goal of improving their experience.

Employee experience was a top priority in human resources (HR) long before 51·çÁ÷acquired Qualtrics. However, with the company now part of the 51·çÁ÷family, new possibilities have opened up. One result has been the joint project between HR and the Best Run TopX Experience Management program designed to fuel growth through improving the experience for 51·çÁ÷customers, partners, end-users, and employees.

The project looks at how Experience Management solutions from 51·çÁ÷can improve company processes; in this case, those that serve employees.

What X+O Means in HR

So far, HR has developed three use cases: candidate experience, onboarding experience, and employee benefits optimizer. More are planned to follow in the course of the year.

The HR team at 51·çÁ÷in South Korea is already using the benefits optimizer to help rethink employee benefits by first finding out which benefits individual employees actually prefer.

These preferences — or experience data (X-data) — were captured, analyzed, and linked with operational data (O-data). As an example, operational data might include how far employees commute, their family situation, or their age group.

“By linking the two data sets, the Total Rewards team is able to tailor benefits to specific groups of employees,” says Christian Liebig, global head of People Insights for HR at SAP.

What is good for employees is good for HR: Offering the right benefits helps retain people, the ultimate goal.

Feedback: Every Piece Is Valuable

Having a continuous stream of X-data means that HR will know what employees really appreciate as well as what they are less keen on.

From Liebig’s point of view, Experience Management solutions enable a completely new way of thinking and approach and thus offers a great opportunity for HR: “It allows us to understand contexts and think systemically and systematically about them.”

Receiving feedback, of course, is not always pleasant, whether from employees or customers. As Oliver Staudenmayer, program manager for Best Run TopX Experience Management and head of Employee Experience Management at SAP, notes: “You have to be open-minded in order to truly appreciate every piece of feedback and gain something positive from it, even if it may be unfounded.”

At the same time, he says, organizations must be set up for agile decision-making: “If changes or decisions first have to pass a large committee, then you lose the very momentum that enables you to react to feedback and keep pace with users.”

Demonstrating Benefits to Customers

Using Experience Management solutions internally is good for SAP’s own business, but it is also the best way to show customers how it can benefit theirs too.

“We show customers how they can gain a new and highly valuable data dimension that aligns their company’s decision processes more closely with what their customers are really experiencing,” Staudenmayer explains. “If the user tells us at that very moment that something delights or disappoints, we know why they feel that way and can take action. This is not just an innovation in technology, but in culture too.”

Staudenmayer believes this can lead to more democratic decision-making.

“In the future, we’ll know what the majority of users want, not just those who make the most noise,” he says. “I believe there is a huge opportunity here.”

Staudenmayer also liaises closely with the Data Protection and Privacy Office as well as the IT Security department.  “We are guided by SAP’s rigorous policies,” he confirms.

Where employees are concerned, transparency is key, according to Liebig: “No one is forced to take part in any survey or disclose their data. However, if we are open and honest about what we’re doing, and people recognize clear benefits for themselves, then they will be happy to share.”

Exclusively sponsored by SAP, this unique digital news product is designed to deliver insights and analysis on the ways that companies optimize data, technology, and design to drive successful interactions with their customers and employees. It will create thought leadership around experience through up-to-the minute news, interviews, explanatory journalism, and videos.

A weekly update will be emailed to subscribers every Wednesday, delving deeper into analysis and insight on how companies optimize data, design, and technology to drive success with consumers and employees.

As the sponsor, 51·çÁ÷will supplement the news coverage with custom content around experience management (XM), 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA, and other key solution offerings. It will focus on helping companies of all sizes and in all industries understand what is happening in their business, why it is happening, and what will happen next, as well as using that data to deliver the best experiences possible to customers and employees.

This unique collaboration serves as a cutting-edge resource for understanding the world of XM. In the Experience Economy, capitalizing on data, tech, and design is paramount to drive success. 51·çÁ÷is best positioned to equip readers with the intelligence they need to win in an experience-driven world.

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Alicia Tillman is chief marketing officer of SAP.

By now, you probably know the elevator pitch: By bringing together experience data (X-data) with operational data (O-data), decision-makers can understand not only what is happening with their business, but also why. It’s all about closing the experience gap for customers.

Ever since 51·çÁ÷acquired Qualtrics in January 2019, it has made experience management (XM) a key growth catalyst for the Intelligent Enterprise strategy and is on a quest to make every company understand and apply the power of X+O. But don’t the same principles apply to SAP?

What few may be aware of is that 51·çÁ÷has launched its own XM journey. The print was still fresh on the acquisition when Christian Klein, then chief operating officer and now also co-chief executive officer, put SAP’s Transformation Office to work on ways Qualtrics software could be used to improve its own processes. The goal: to create a world-class XM practice at SAP.

Turning insight into action through experience management at SAP is a multi-year journey, but much has been accomplished inside the company over the past year, and the team from the Transformation Office has even more ambitious goals for 2020.

To find out more, 51·çÁ÷News talked to Oliver Staudenmayer, program manager for the company’s TopX Experience Management program and head of Employee Experience Management at SAP, and Christian Koenig, operation expert and project lead for TopX XM at SAP.

Q: What is the goal of the Best Run TopX Experience Management Program?

Staudenmayer: Our goal is to actively design and improve experiences that our customers, partners, and employees love and enable them to run at their best. Ultimately it means transforming SAP’s internal processes by using new technologies and trends.

Q: How did you begin?

Staudenmayer: After the closing of the Qualtrics acquisition at the end of January 2019, we wanted to move fast to show benefits of combining O-data and X-data. But before we could forge ahead on the many promising use case ideas, we first had to set up one consolidated platform, establish a process for incoming X+O ideas, and build a governance model for compliance and legal requirements — for example for GDPR and data privacy.

Second, we had to by educating employees about how to “Listen, Understand, and Act.” Qualtrics software is not just a research tool or data collection exercise, it requires us to follow up and act based on the input. After laying the foundation, we now need to put even greater effort into education.

Despite the large number of requests, by July 2019 we were able to select the top 10 use cases. Several are already live and some were moved into 2020 because of the steep learning curve. But this is merely the beginning, and we are already working on additional uses cases.

Q: Where did the top 10 use cases come from and how were they evaluated?

Koenig: Some ideas came from the field while others came from the Transformation Office. We scored each use case by asking: (1) Is it a strategic fit? (2) Is it a true X and O use case, rather than just X data? (3) Can it improve our top or bottom line? (4) How much effort is involved? A matrix depicting impact versus effort helped us identify the quick wins and choose the top 10.

Q: What were the most promising use cases?

Koenig: That’s hard question to answer, because great use cases are still rolling in, but here are a few:

• For customers, Net Promotor Score (NPS), which is conducted quarterly, indicates on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely a customer will recommend 51·çÁ÷to others. Customer NPS is one of SAP’s main KPIs and is reported in our Annual Integrated Report.
• For products, 51·çÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud integration means customers can give direct feedback to help product engineers improve the user experience. Experience data helps developers gain insight into what users are thinking as well as whether functions, features, and design choices are actually hitting the mark.
• For employees, MyTeam Dashboard is a tool available to team managers at 51·çÁ÷to support their HR-related management tasks. Based on 51·çÁ÷Analytics Cloud, data is collected from managers to find out how helpful the dashboard is during compensation rounds and to identify training needs for managers to support them in their roles.
• The Feedback Catcher enables any employee to give feedback on whatever they like. It will be installed on the computer and on mobiles, and employees can give feedback on anything they like, whether it’s the purchasing process, online conferencing, cafeteria food, bicycle stands, etc.

Q: Do you think that Experience Management solutions from 51·çÁ÷(Qualtrics) will change the way employees work in the future?

Koenig: The solution alone will not help us to become the experience management company. This is a journey that doesn’t happen overnight. The good news is that there is a great deal of interest in the topic and goodwill among employees. Every transformation requires a cultural change, and to become an experience company, we need to focus on the third imperative of “Listen, Understand, and Act.” Acting on the feedback, showing results and transparency are key to a successful XM program.

Q: What plans do you have for 2020?

Staudenmayer: We have big plans to deliver what we are calling our “flagship” use case that seeks to integrate experience data across all four Qualtrics pillars: Customers, Products, Employees, and Brand. The goal is to achieve a holistic view over how employees are experiencing the processes across a company and then provide management with the data to act on it. The idea is that happy employees leads to happy customers – a goal that applies to every company, not just SAP.

Q: Speaking of experience management, what’s your experience been as project lead?

Staudenmayer: The good news is that there’s a great deal of attention on how XM can be applied in our daily work with customers, employees, and products. People are working together very constructively across SAP, focused on the larger goal of getting the use cases launched, so it’s been very exciting to be a part of this journey.

Now, this transformation is rewriting the rules for customer experience (CX) in the insurance industry. In the highly competitive industry, delivering best-in-class customer experiences can be a critical differentiator. Combining operational data (O-data) with experience data (X-data) provides the insights that enhance the customer experience offerings and give insurers a competitive edge.

CX Imperative: Why the Insurance Industry Lags Behind

Customers typically have few – if any – interactions with their insurance company. In fact, without a claim or policy change, there is often no interaction at all. This means when an interaction does occur, it takes on a greater level of importance. Furthering this challenge, consumers are becoming more discerning and less forgiving. One in three customers will walk away from a brand they love after just a single bad experience, .

How can insurers get a broader picture of the customer journey? The first stop is O-data, which reveals the what. Policy renewal rates are decreasing, attrition rates are increasing, new customer acquisitions are decreasing. This data tells us the insurance company has a problem, but we don’t know why the problem exists.

This is where X-data comes into play, revealing customer pain points — a difficult claims process, a poor digital experience, a slow reimbursement process — that are causing the problem. Together, this data can help insurers uncover the causes of customer churn and identify actions to best address pain points, such as automating the claims process, reducing call wait times, or optimizing digital channels for claims submission.

Combining O-data and X-data makes it easier for insurers to unlock powerful business outcomes and:

• Improve the claims process, reducing attrition and increasing renewal and revenue
• Deliver a superior digital experience, increasing revenue and acquisitions
• Strengthen insurer-broker relationships, increasing policy renewals, revenue, and acquisitions

Bringing X- and O-Data Together for True Insight

three components critical to customer experience in the insurance industry: effectiveness, ease, and emotion. These components are critical to building a strong customer relationship, shoring up existing market share, and capitalizing on new business opportunities. And they are best assessed through a combination of X- and O-data.

Consider what happens when a customer files an insurance claim. This process can be emotional: Property may have been lost or damaged and a customer’s day-to-day life is directly impacted. O-data tells us about how the claims process is handled while X-data tells us what the customer feels about the claims process.

The X- and O-data from these interactions must be part of a customer’s profile. No matter with whom a customer is speaking, this agent or representative is empowered with the background knowledge they need to be as responsive as possible to a customer’s concern. When insurers have these insights at their fingertips, agents and other front-line employees can provide a better experience, improving engagement and strengthening customer loyalty. These exceptional experiences turn loyal customers into brand advocates, giving insurers a critical competitive edge.

Turning Insights into Business Success

Here’s how three companies put the power of X and O to work for them.

Allianz: Predictive Power of Democratized Insights
is one of the world’s largest insurance providers, but despite being a market leader, the company recognized it was operating in a market with excess supply and declining rates. Rather than staying the course and risk falling profits and market share loss, Allianz proactively put customer experience at the heart of its strategy to earn lifelong loyalty from clients who see them as an integral, forward-thinking business partner. Working with Experience Management solutions from 51·çÁ÷(Qualtrics), they collected experience data from customers in 22 countries and 16 languages. The company now has a wealth of insights, filtering and prioritizing based on location and function. These insights have led to new products, such as protecting customers from risks like cyber crime; new approaches, such as elevating claims processing from back-office to client-facing function; and new reputation management strategies, such as above-and-beyond consultations.

MetLife: Boosting Brand Engagement
MetLife, Inc. is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs. The company is digging deeper into its data for actionable insights that drive brand engagement. For example, in a recent MetLife-sponsored Earth Week contest, participants needed to answer a series of questions to be eligible for a gift card. From the reporting, MetLife was able to determine three winners and the process sparked significant brand engagement.

SwissRe: End-to-End Customer Experience Ownership
merged all its customer experience, voice of customer, and market data from more than 11,000 clients, 25 markets, and 11 languages onto a single, secure platform. The company now has a Web-based, highly secure insights platform that gives users 24/7 access to data. The intuitive interface makes it easy for all stakeholders to become experts on customer experience. This centralized, in-house approach led to a 90 percent decrease in research costs, a five-times increase in speed and productivity, and a seven-point Net Promoter Score increase.

Next Steps: Enhancing CX with Data-Driven Insights

Experience matters. We live in a world where insurers are disproportionately rewarded when they deliver a great experience and punished when they do not. Experience Management solutions from 51·çÁ÷unlock the power of business operations data (O-data) with experience data (X-data) to transform customer experience and drive business success.

As part of the 51·çÁ÷C/4HANA suite, 51·çÁ÷now makes it easier for insurers to combine X- and O-data and gain actionable insights at every step of the customer journey. .

Toni Tomic is global vice president of Insurance at SAP.