When the SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain solution began delivering impressive outcomes, many companies were ready to implement it. But how does a workforce adopt a brand new technology that is unfamiliar to everyone? It relies on best-practice expertise and skill-building resources – everything the SAP Preferred Success offering provides in one package.
Purchasing emerging technology is part fulfilling a specific intention and part taking a leap of faith. Whether the company wants to optimize case fill rates, accelerate response times, or improve sales planning, the ability to ramp up associated skills and knowledge fast enough ultimately dictates the digital investment’s success.
The same is the case when adopting SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain. The cloud-based supply chain solution is relatively young, yet quickly expanding its functionality with next-gen innovations and garnering interest in the marketplace. But companies may not have the expertise and resources to upskill workforces, leading to a slow-paced realization of the solution’s full promise.
With SAP Preferred Success, SAP provides the learning and resources customers need to accelerate their knowledge about SAP IBP and keep it up to date. Since the solution is continuously reconfigured and upgraded, the services are critical to make the right connections to intelligent enterprise resource planning (ERP) data and use advanced planning technology effectively, so desired outcomes are achieved as the company evolves.
The Support Companies Need to Get Outcomes They Want
When implementing SAP IBP, supply chain organizations are usually focused on meeting well-defined timelines and going live by a specific date. A fast implementation can compromise the scope and full adoption of the solution, so we recommend that customers have a comprehensive solution that reveals the benefits of integrated business planning capabilities as quickly as possible.
SAP Preferred Success is designed to provide the right tools and access to integrated business planning specialists before, during, and long after the implementation is live. The resourcefulness and bandwidth of the services enable our customers to optimize initial configurations and quarterly upgrades by ramping up their understanding of new features, determining which ones are beneficial, and developing an implementation plan.
Whether migrating from an on-premise landscape or deploying a new capability in the cloud, SAP Preferred Success helps ensure changes result in a positive user experience across three fundamental principles:
- Accelerating Outcomes: Through a series of success checks and a prescriptive success plan, SAP Preferred Success empowers our customers to achieve desired outcomes with module- and integration scenario-specific recommendations and guidance on critical planning functions. They can also gain insight into achieving sustainable value and faster issue resolution to keep the implementation or upgrade on track, maintain ongoing support, and improve the user experience.
- Accelerating Knowledge: Access to learnings, enablement sessions, curated resources, and a community of SAP IBP experts and business practitioners allows our customers to leverage a targeted learning plan that is created based on defined goals. SAP Preferred Success also uses a one-on-one or one-to-few interaction model to give ongoing and updated training and support, answers to questions on demand, and lessons learned from other SAP customers.
- Accelerating Utilization: After a go-live, project teams usually disassemble, limiting the possibility of having the time and focus required to update SAP IBP as needs change or new features are released. SAP Preferred Success bridges the gap between resource availability and the urgency to evolve with key feature analysis and enablement, adoption planning, and quarterly release guidance. A dedicated customer success manager orchestrates adoption plans and resources needed to execute plans, such as implementation guides or an advisory session with our experts on SAP IBP.
Continuous Alignment and Real-Time Connection
In every economic condition, companies can benefit from holistic and synchronized planning capabilities that continuously improve decision-making and adapt strategies based on real-time supply and demand. But they must first unify and transform a digital foundation – such as SAP IBP – to move from sequential, manual activities to streamlined, automated, and integrated processes.
SAP Preferred Success provides the opportunity to drive higher revenues and service levels with lower costs and working capital by maturing planning capabilities. Even as business needs shift, our customers have the support necessary to run a supply chain network that senses demand, understands what empowered customers want, and delivers the right products and services – fast and continuously.
To learn more about the SAP Preferred Success plan for SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain, view our latest informational infographic and presentation.
For more real-life insights on SAP Preferred Success through the series, Heading to the Cloud with SAP Preferred Success, and learn how various parts of your company – from HR and finance to sales, marketing, and the supply chain – can accelerate cloud adoption and business outcomes with insight-driven, prescriptive, and personalized guidance and support.
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Kelly Rapolas is product manager and global practice lead for SAP Preferred Success for SAP Integrated Business Planning.