Last month, SAP hybris hosted a number of analysts, clients and prospects in Forth Worth Texas for their North American Customer Days event. The major discussion point for the event was the impact digital has had on the relationship with the customer. How does the continued disruption created by the digitization of our 
economy impact the manner in which retailers and brands interact with their customers? SAP hybris emphasized that due to this digital revolution, retailers and brands that employ a “one size fits all” viewpoint is passé. We at Constellation Research couldn’t agree more. On the contrary, retailers and brands in their continued efforts to tailor experiences to the customer of one – lean on the technology and business processes that will permit these contextual experiences for the customer.
There were two points of emphasis at the event that reinforce the evolution of the retail – customer relations:
- CRM is dead, long live CRM. CRM as we knew it, is most definitely gone. The days of the CRM systems we saw arise in the late 1990s, such as Seibel and Onyx, addressed a very specific need – a linear repository for organizing customer touch points. Originally these systems were created to organize and keep track of a limited number of touch points between a sales force and a prospect or client. This sufficed when most of those interactions were in person, over the phone or via email. A finite number of touch points. Increased digital growth has given rise to an ever growing number of dynamic communication points between customer and brand. This evolution requires the systems being employed to keep pace. Traditional CRM systems and the mind set behind them are dated. Of course the notion of customer relationship management remains important, maybe more so than ever. Maybe not the term “management” since the customer has more influence in the relationship. Retailers are no longer driving the relationship, but working to understand and anticipate customer needs. In this light, the solutions are truly dated. As the number of communications points between customers and brands is ever shifting, growing and constantly evolving the necessary systems are asked to do more and do so faster and more efficiently. Brands and retailers, more than ever, must have systems in place that properly track, store and provide inputs into customer relationships. Legacy CRM systems are dead; the goals of CRM are more than ever vital for brands.
- Data is the new fuel. Data is the new oil that drives the digital business; those retailers and brands that will strive in this business environment are the ones that turn this oil into fuel. The importance of data is by no means a news bulletin, but it is the importance of transforming this data that remains the challenge. We all know that retailers and brands have an unprecedented access to data. But, as SAP hybris points out, it is not about extracting the data it is about being able to transform this raw material, in the form of data, into insights. This transformation is multi-faceted. It must be done quickly, efficiently and intelligently. For example, the NHL (the North American professional ice hockey league, National Hockey League) worked with SAP hybris to determine which data sources to focus on, how to leverage the data sources and what growth plan to adopt with regards to adding new data sources. With a large and various number of data lakes – individual team data, NHL.com assets and even fantasy hockey sites – there was no shortage of information for the NHL to choose from. With SAP hybris, the NHL took a structured and disciplined approach – always keeping the customer at the center of the efforts. Which data pools were the most applicable to start with, and which could be brought in to build on the insights that were being drawn out? This approach has allowed the NHL to create a more efficient customized customer experience – being more contextually aware of the customer’s needs and possible experience with the NHL.
SAP hybris understands that it’s more than technology that will help your business, on the contrary the technology becomes less important. The need for new business processes, through the usage of the data is what distinguishes the leaders from the laggards. The technology needs to support, not lead these efforts.
At the core the focus continues to be on the customer, but it always has been. The nuance is that the focus is on the contextual customer interaction, which continues to be honed in more and more down to the individual. Retailers and brands need to be more nimble and willing to experiment with new technologies and allow for new applications – all with the changing business processes in mind. As SAP hybris customer Loblaw stated from main stage – brands and retailers need to own digital, they have to think big, take risks and learn from these efforts. If companies don’t they will be left behind in this ever changing digital economy.