Brisbane-based centre established as an Australian R&D heavyweight with injection of new funding
Sydney, Australia — A research project conducted by the University of Queensland (UQ) and SAP’s Corporate Research Centre (CRC), has been awarded a Federal Government grant of $377,000 over three years. This injection of funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), allows UQ and SAP to significantly expand their research program, and with additional contributions, brings the total project value to more than $1.5 million – a significant contribution to Australia’s research and development (R&D) sector.
UQ and SAP’s research project focuses on overcoming the difficulties organisations face in dealing with complex communication processes. UQ and SAP have been awarded the funding under the ARC’s Industry Linkage Grant, a highly competitive program that funds projects supported by industry partners such as SAP.
The UQ and SAP grant was one of 371 successful Industry Linkage Projects from Australian R&D facilities, funded or recommended for funding commencing in 2003.
“This is great news for Queensland, as this Commonwealth funding is a boost to important research in areas such as mobile computing, e-learning and cross-organisational workflow management,” said Queensland’s Innovation and Information Economy Minister, Mr Paul Lucas.
The Brisbane-based research team of this project will be lead by Professor Maria Orlowska, UQ and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science; Dr Shazia Sadiq, Lecturer in Information Systems at UQ; Dr Wasim Sadiq, Leader of Business Process Technology Research at SAP CRC; and Dr. Karsten Schulz, Director of SAP CRC.
“It is testament to the hard work and determination of the UQ and SAP team, that the Australian Government has recognised the significance of this research,” said Geraldine McBride, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, SAP Australia and New Zealand.
“This grant is an important result for SAP’s R&D effort locally, and I have no doubt it will enable the Brisbane research team to accelerate and expand the research project, to deliver greater insights into workflow technology.”
SAP’s CRC was launched in 2001, at the company’s SAPPHIRE customer conference in Brisbane. The research team recently played an integral role in a joint project with the global mySAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Development Group, designed to take the flexibility of call centres to the next level. The objective was to provide CRM Interaction Centre customers, in particular call centre agents, with the ability to actively influence and improve call centre internal processes using technology. The benefit to customers would then be a call centre that could better adjust to their needs.
The end result was a solution that catered directly to the needs of the mySAP CRM Development Group and its customers, by enabling call centre agents to change the call centre workflow based on the exact customer situation and/or industry. The solution now provides call centres with the ability to improve customer relationships, as well as enhance customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it delivers measurable results to call centres by increasing efficiency and transparency of business processes.
