Customers expect a personalized support experience and one that grants them more access to technical experts throughout the life cycle of their solution. Live businesses need live support, and as more and more SAP customers become intelligent enterprises, SAP is meeting them where they are in their journey. Schedule an Expert was submitted as an innovative example of our real-time support channels, highlighting the below successful criteria: Fundamentally transforming the way we deliver support, with real-time interaction and direct access to experts Achieving highest customer satisfaction among SAP’s support channels Significantly reducing the effort for customers to get answers to their technical questions Through Next-Generation Support, we help customers get assistance anytime, anywhere, from any device. Focusing on four areas, we help maximize value by reducing the customer’s effort: Self-service and incident prevention: SAP empowers customers to find the technical answers they need in real time, so that they rarely have to ask questions, and if they do, they receive answers instantly. Customers can tap our knowledge base via SAP Knowledge Base Articles or our Guided Answers service, interactive step-by-step troubleshooting guides, and use tools like SMS notifications for incidents and Automatic Translation for one-click access to content in their preferred language. Real-time support channels: Through Expert Chat and Schedule an Expert , SAP provides live and direct access to technical support experts, creating a faster and more direct route to resolving an issue in the customer’s channel of choice. Digital support experience: Our customizable self-service dashboard, the SAP ONE Support Launchpad , offers a seamless and intuitive omni-channel support experience, with personalized, context-sensitive support, and allows customers to manage critical support tasks and access necessary resources. SAP is building support into the product , currently available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Predictive, intuitive and proactive support: Based on the intelligence we extract from customer interactions using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools, SAP customers are guaranteed an interactive support experience.

SAP Support Receives TSIA STAR Award

SAP is reinventing support to be suited for the Intelligent Enterprise. This transformation of SAP Support has received numerous accolades from customers and analysts alike. Therefore, we wanted to put the outcome of our transformation to the test and submitted our achievements for two TSIA STAR Awards.

TSIA STAR Award Winner for “Best Practices in Support Services”

The result: SAP Support is the winner of the prestigious 2018 TSIA STAR Award for “Best Practices in Support Services.” Moreover, SAP Support was recognized as a finalist for “Transformation of Support Services.” TSIA was extremely impressed, stating that “most companies would be stuck in planning mode on this type of initiative, but SAP made a very bold move.” The distinction is the culmination of the team’s effort to successfully innovate and implement this service.

Held annually, the Technology Services Industry Association’s (TSIA) STAR Awards are one of the highest honors in the technology and services industry, allowing companies to be publicly acknowledged by their peers as being among the best in the business, showcasing their commitment to outstanding innovation, leadership, and excellence. SAP won in a very competitive environment among other worldwide IT and technology companies, even outpacing past winners.

Following the Top Ten Best Web Support Sites 2018 award from the Association of Support Professionals (ASP), winning this cross-industry award is yet another indication that our support strategy and transformation is spot on, providing an exceptional end-to-end support experience for our customers.

What Did It Take?

Customers expect a personalized support experience and one that grants them more access to technical experts throughout the life cycle of their solution. Live businesses need live support, and as more and more SAP customers become intelligent enterprises, SAP is meeting them where they are in their journey.

Schedule an Expert was submitted as an innovative example of our real-time support channels, highlighting the below successful criteria:

Fundamentally transforming the way we deliver support, with real-time interaction and direct access to experts
Achieving highest customer satisfaction among SAP’s support channels
Significantly reducing the effort for customers to get answers to their technical questions

Support That Stays One Step Ahead

Through Next-Generation Support, we help customers get assistance anytime, anywhere, from any device. Focusing on four areas, we help maximize value by reducing the customer’s effort:

Self-service and incident prevention: SAP empowers customers to find the technical answers they need in real time, so that they rarely have to ask questions, and if they do, they receive answers instantly. Customers can tap our knowledge base via SAP Knowledge Base Articles or our Guided Answers service, interactive step-by-step troubleshooting guides, and use tools like SMS notifications for incidents and Automatic Translation for one-click access to content in their preferred language.
Real-time support channels: Through Expert Chat and Schedule an Expert, SAP provides live and direct access to technical support experts, creating a faster and more direct route to resolving an issue in the customer’s channel of choice.
Digital support experience: Our customizable self-service dashboard, the SAP ONE Support Launchpad, offers a seamless and intuitive omni-channel support experience, with personalized, context-sensitive support, and allows customers to manage critical support tasks and access necessary resources. SAP is building support into the product, currently available for SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
Predictive, intuitive and proactive support: Based on the intelligence we extract from customer interactions using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools, SAP customers are guaranteed an interactive support experience.

What’s Next?

Our journey is far from over. Analysts and customers alike constantly provide very positive feedback on our most recent innovations – like built-in and AI-driven support, and SAP Cloud ALM. By further leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics, we will drive effortless, intelligent support to ensure that our customers’ experience is front and center.

Andreas Heckmann is head of Support Delivery for SAP Digital Business Services at SAP SE.