Integrated SAP CRM functionalities in SAP S/4HANA. Brave new world or reality? Part 1
The SAP world is in a state of upheaval. Since the Walldorf-based company ushered in a completely new era of its applications in 2015 with SAP S/4HANA, the successor to the previous core product, many companies have been faced with the question of how and, above all, when to make the switch to the new technology.
A core application of SAP ERP is the CRM component, and this is only supported in its current version 7.0 until 2027. In the optional extended maintenance until 2030. At this point, at the latest, however, the question arises for today’s users: what to do with SAP CRM?
In our three-part blog series, Michael Stump, Managing Director and SAP CRM expert at itmX GmbH, will show you the pros and cons of SAP’s own CRM solution and at the same time inform you about alternatives.
SAP integrates CRM processes in the S/4 core
SAP CRM on Premise in SAP Business Suite version 7 is still one of the most widely used CRM systems in the SAP universe today.
Most companies mainly cover sales processes such as opportunity management, visit reporting and quotations. However, the system can also be used in marketing. The so-called segment images make it possible to plan and execute marketing campaigns.
In recent years, however, SAP has done little to no further development of the classic SAP CRM on Premise. After all, the future of SAP lies in S/4HANA Customer Management – an add-on based on S/4HANA whose biggest advantage is integration without middleware.
One reason for this is the cloud-first strategy that SAP has ushered in with S/4HANA. On the other hand, this is also due to the fact that modern CRM requirements, such as the use of collaboration tools for internal collaboration, the integration of social media or even smart mobile clients with SAP CRM, cannot be implemented.
Nevertheless, many customers have decided to continue operating the system for the time being. Of course, this is also due to the fact that expensive and complex interfaces have been developed over the years to dock onto SAP ECC, but also to the fact that SAP has long announced an integrated version of SAP CRM under SAP S/4.
S/4 HANA Customer Management delivers added value for system managers – but also for users?
At the core of S/4 is SAP CRM, under the name S/4 HANA Customer Management. With this development, SAP is following the path that once made SAP so successful: it delivers a system that maps integrated processes. In this case, SAP offers the customer a process that starts with lead generation, integrates opportunity management, and consistently maps the process through quotation and order management to invoicing.
To achieve this, SAP combines the best of both worlds under the Business Partner.
SAP S/4HANA for customer management has dedicated business applications and its own business object and generic interaction layers
With the installation of Customer Management on S/4 HANA, all information and processes that are relevant in customer relationship management become part of the HANA database schema and the duplicate data storage that once existed between ERP and CRM becomes superfluous.
For those responsible for the system, this represents a huge added value. When switching to S/4, the data from SAP CRM is not only relatively easy to migrate. The infrastructure will also be many times simpler, as the interface between the systems will no longer be necessary.
But what does this mean for users? This is exactly the topic we will address in the next part of our three-part blog series. Stick with it.
You can also learn more about CRM with S/4HANA in our presentation by Michael Stump.
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