CRM - August 2008 - (Page 31)

The new SAP graphical user interface represents a major leap forward for the company. The welcome screen is now a mashup of dynamically updated elements—or widgets—not unlike a personalized home page or portal. Displaying open tasks and the day’s to-do list, CRM users are able to immediately grasp the most pertinent information at a glance. Vinay Iyer, vice president of CRM marketing for SAP, says the new interface has three major benefits: transfers the power of UI personalization away from IT, so individual users can tailor their environments to personal preferences to maximize productivity; helps easily mash up structured transactional information from SAP and other enterprise systems along with related unstructured data from the Web into the context of business users; and embeds contextual analytics in every object so users can easily obtain greater insight and intelligence. The previous SAP interface, while entirely functional, looked in many ways like little more than a glorified spreadsheet. Information was presented in a purely textual format that required intermediation by the user—and any changes to the format required intervention by the IT staff. cooperation is key. For example, the Xbox Live gamer network includes a list of achievements and scores for various games. This inspired another feature for Rave. “What if we could allow our customers to anonymously compare and rank performance?” Johnston asks. Rather than comparing to a broad list of businesses in your general field, Rave lets you get more specific, and therefore more relevant, comparisons. “A company that sells into restaurants and caterers, with $5 million www.destinationCRM.com revenue and 10 salespeople, could benchmark itself against similar companies, without giving anything away.” SHIFTING THE PERSPECTIVE Few people would fault the functionality of applications from SAP, but equally few showed much love for the previous interface, called simply SAP GUI. The company announced a new Web-based approach to visual design based CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | AUGUST 2008 31 http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - August 2008

CRM - August 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Maximum Security A Code Win Doesn’t Blow Forming the Platform CRM on Twitter CRM Class Is in Session Making CRM Mandatory for University Administration Required Reading Cover Story: Calling it Quits Wouldja Look at That? 8 Enterprise Strategies That Stick CRM Searches for Search All Lines Are Not Busy UC: As Easy as A-B-C Even Contact Centers Have Room for Improvement Money Lying Around? Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - August 2008

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