The Product Support Accreditation program is designed for SAP users who want to explore the benefits of tools and features from Next-Generation Support and learn how to easily engage with Product Support as well as how to achieve faster, easier closure to technical issues or incidents.
The self-service enablement course takes a little more than one hour to complete and can be accessed by any SAP customer with an S-user.
Since its 2020 launch, the program has already attracted many customers and partners and has increased its learning content along new launches or extended functionalities and features. Customers and partners may even integrate this program as part of their own enablement trainings.
How does Product Support Accreditation change the customer support experience, what are the key benefits, and what are the steps to get started? I sat down with Gagandeep Kaur, program lead for the Product Support Accreditation program at SAP, and she shared her experiences on how to best get started, along with insight into new offerings from the program in 2021, and how SAP customers and partners perceive the program.
Q: The Product Support Accreditation program was first launched in early 2020. Can you briefly describe what the program is and who benefits from it?
A: In Product Support we have a variety of great tools to help customers solve their technical issues more efficiently. Live support channels like Expert Chat and Schedule an Expert, the peer-to-peer platform Ask an Expert Peer, or guided help through “support assistant” are well received by users. However, not every user is fully aware of those tools or may not know how to get started. With our Product Support Accreditation program, we wanted to create an easy-to-use, easy-to-consume enablement program that any SAP S-user can access and enroll in at no additional cost.
Every S-user can benefit from this program at very little effort and at their convenience.
How does it work for an S-user who would like to take advantage of the program?
Very easily! Your first step would be to enroll in the program. You can, for example, access the program directly from SAP Support Portal with your S-user and enroll immediately.
The second step would be to make yourself familiar with the learning modules available. You can click through the individual modules and decide in which order you want to start. Let’s say you are interested in using Expert Chat. You could start with the related module and, even if you have not yet completed the learning program, you already know how to make the best use of Expert Chat.
The third step would be to complete all the modules so that you are entitled to get your certificate and badge, which documents the successful completion of all learning modules. If you don’t want to complete them all on the same day, you can stop and continue with a module at your convenience.
The fourth step would be to receive your certificate and badge, which are free to share with your colleagues and peers and even through social media.
Finally, the fifth step would already be the renewal of the program. You can register to receive a reminder e-mail at the beginning each calendar year to consider renewing your accreditation. The renewal is not just repeating the known modules, you will discover new learnings around new tools or improved functionalities.
That closes the loop and you are up to date around all the helpful tools and features from Next-Generation Support.
This sounds like an easy-to-access and easy-to-consume enablement for users who want to make the best out of their engagement with SAP. Do updates only occur annually or will there be updates throughout the year as well?
I personally value the opportunity to frequently explore the program for new learnings since my last visit. My recommendation to customers is to make use of the annual renewal program so that they get an update at least once a year on improvements or enhancements. Beyond this, they can decide individually if they want to check for any updates over the year. If there is a big change during the year then we might provide a mid-year update and inform program members about the new content available.
For updates during the year and an annual renewal of the accreditation with a renewal of the certificate and badge, how would these work in regards to the modules users take? Is there a track history, or would I have to repeat all modules, even without changes?
When new content is added to the program you will only be going through the new or updated content in the program. Progress is tracked within your profile. You can of course choose to refresh your memory by watching all the videos, but you won’t need to. You would need to do the final quiz at the end to get the new badge.
How about the future of this program? Can you share what is planned next?
The goal of the program is to keep it simple and easy to use. This will remain our focus in the future too. However, we also want to keep growing the learning content along the launches and improved features.
We will keep growing awareness around the program and to engage even more customers and partners, thus keep growing the community around Product Support Accreditation.
