The digital solution purchasing world is shifting, with an increased emphasis on speed, simplicity, and transparency in purchases. A recent internal research report by SAP showed that 79% of SAP customers would prefer to purchase more of the cloud solutions they already use via a simple, fast e-commerce transaction.
Digital upsell transactions are important because they are 98% more efficient than the traditional offline process. But at SAP, we couldn’t stop at 98%.
We wanted to streamline this process even further, so in July of this year, we released a self-service indirect digital upsell solution that allows for quick repurchasing of cloud products. The solution is available in the existing SAP for Me customer portal on SAP Store for customers and partners, our customer portal aimed at simplifying customer product portfolios.
This powerful self-service platform allows customers to digitally repurchase existing cloud solutions within existing terms and conditions, drastically reducing the time to repurchase and simplifying the repurchasing process, leading to easier and faster digital transformation, a growing trend across the world. It also helps partners manage existing SAP cloud software subscriptions more easily, allowing them to better communicate and determine customer needs as they arise.
Customer Benefits
This new functionality for partners mirrors the digital upsell motion that was launched for all customer segments in 2021 and complements the existing capabilities of SAP for Me.
Enabling this streamlined digital process provides significant benefits for returning customers and SAP Store partners. Some of the top features include:
- The average sales time is reduced from six hours to six minutes, saving time and resources for customers to focus on further sales discussions with SAP, more complex deals, and other needs as they arise.
- Customers are able to purchase more of the SAP solutions that their teams are already using quickly and easily and without a lengthy process that takes time or complex planning.
- Customers can expand and upgrade services in the cloud quicker than with on-premise upgrades, making digital transformation a more efficient option for customers looking to expand and continuously upgrade.
- Teams can also get the same negotiated pricing or better for existing SAP solutions while aligning new licenses to original contracts.
- Finally, this new process allows customers to avoid duplicate instances of a solution across their organization, saving valuable resources and eliminating the concern of accidental purchases.
Partner Benefits
SAP partners will also enjoy many benefits with SAP for Me, as they are able to buy licenses online and extend existing customer contracts with a few simple steps. Partners can also manage “carts” for customers with existing products visible at once, while letting partners add new users to active customer contracts, using pre-existing discounts and terms.
Additionally, the end user license agreement (EULA) process is also fully automated, and the deals are not released until the end-customers sign, providing additional confidence for our partners to leverage this channel.
Who Can Use It?
The digital upsell solution in SAP for Me is aimed at helping customers and partners with repurchasing and upscaling existing solutions and supports SAP partners with active cloud provider contracts. SAP for Me supports cloud offerings and services, including SAP SuccessFactors solutions and SAP Analytics Cloud, with more products to be added down the road along with license purchasing and renewal.
The digital upsell self-service tool in SAP for Me offers efficiency, simplicity, insights, and transparency into cloud software repurchasing and upselling for customers and partners and is an important tool in SAP’s push toward digital transformation and cloud adoption, allowing customers to be flexible and responsive in their adoption and deployment of cloud solutions.
Learn more about the ability to buy more at SAP Store.
Carsten Storm is head of Marketplace Group, Digital Experiences, SAP.