Over the years there have been many name changes, acquisitions, and improvements made by SAP for their CRM software.
It could well be that you were searching for SAP Hybris or SAP C4C and was not able to find what you needed. If that’s the case, let us help you out!
In this article, we will give you a quick overview of the SAP CRM history including SAP Hybris, SAP C4C and we will give you all the information needed about SAP’s latest CRM solution suite; SAP C/4HANA.
SAP Hybris
In 2013, SAP acquired the company Hybris that was specialized in enterprise Omni channels and product content management (PCM) software and named it SAP Hybris. This new SAP Hybris was an Omnichannel e-commerce solutions platform that included a family of products committed to Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The SAP Hybris portfolio included five distinct products namely:
- Hybris Commerce
- Hybris Billing
- Hybris Cloud for Customer (C4C) for Sales
- Hybris Cloud for Customer (C4C) for Service
- Hybris Marketing
In 2018, SAP rebranded SAP Hybris and changed the name to SAP C/4HANA.
SAP Hybris Commerce
SAP Hybris Commerce provided an impeccable shopping experience that included solutions for social, mobile and e-commerce. This solution allowed users to take advantage of data-driven customization, cost-effective order fulfillment, real-time inventory management, and much more.
Most notably, it delivered one of the best commerce software solutions in the industry because it provided enterprises with a single view of their customers. The solution supported them with the execution of all of their selling processes, drove customer engagement and provided their customers with a seamless and highly personalized Omnichannel experience.
The key features of the SAP Hybris Commerce:
- Content management
- Commerce management
- Order management
- Seamless Integration with ERP and other SAP solutions
- Business analysis
In 2018, SAP rebranded SAP Commerce and changed the name to SAP Commerce Cloud. This is now one of the 5 Clouds of the SAP C/4HANA solution suite
SAP Hybris Billing
SAP Hybris Billing was one of the products of SAP Hybris product platform which provided multiple possibilities to the customer for automatic invoicing. This solution enabled clients to manage orders and billing processes automatically. Moreover, it enabled the client to revolutionize its business and provide the best customer experience possible.
SAP Hybris Billing provided companies with the means necessary to offer superior client experiences, streamline request to money processes, and find new income streams. Through adaptable, versatile and highly automated invoicing, billing and income management capacities, it was able to enhance clearness over the whole process from client management to income acknowledgment.
The features of SAP Hybris Billing:
- Order and Contract Lifecycle Management
- Quote to cash capabilities
- Managing Revenue/Billing for subscription
- Easy integration of Revenue with sales, service and marketing solution
- Order Orchestration
In 2018, SAP rebranded SAP Hybris Billing and changed the name to SAP Subscription Billing.
SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales
The SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales helped users to understand their customer’s challenges in their specific industry. It provided more detailed insights into the services and products of their customers that helped them achieve their goals. The SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales provided the sales teams with fast access to the customer’s information. Also, it gave them real-time analytics and included multiple tools to increase social selling. With these improved capabilities that went further than other more traditional SaaS CRM platforms, the sales teams were able to identify and proceed in the right course of action. Therefore, they were able to engage and win at any moment in any place.
The key features of the SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales:
- Mobility
- Account management and Intelligence
- Opportunity management and insights
- Real-time analytics
- Predictive analytics for next-generation Customer engagement
- Email and Notes integration
- Collaboration and Social Selling
- Personalization
- Back office integration
- Sales performance management
In 2018, SAP rebranded the SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales and changed it to the SAP Sales cloud. Now, it’s one of the 5 Clouds of the SAP C/4HANA solution suite.
SAP Hybris Cloud for Service
The SAP Hybris Cloud for Service provides the help desk teams and call center agents with detailed customer information and real-time analytics insights into their field service performances. The solution makes it easy to identify and solve problems which leads to fast and easy engagement with the customers. Moreover, the SAP Hybris Cloud for Service helps users to provide an omnichannel service across all of their customer’s devices.
WATCH: SAP Hybris Service Cloud: End-to-End Service Management
The SAP Hybris Cloud for Service allowed the help desk to take calls directly in the system and identify the caller by their number automatically, and immediately enter notes and turn them into new tickets. Also, this solution allowed them to retrieve related service contracts, add tasks, and surveys automatically.
The SAP Hybris Cloud for Service was able to help enter root causes and solutions by using a structured approach. This allowed for ticket analysis in depth that assisted the help desk team to gain insights into whether the customer service contracts reflected the needs of the customer, whether to increase service frequency, or whether or not to improve the quality of the products.
Besides that, SAP Hybris Cloud for Service provided its users with a built-in resource scheduler for easy and quick dispatch service technicians to the client’s location which can be done remotely.
Eventually, the service technicians’ assignments were directly linked to the service ticket and with it to all other relevant information such as customer, problem description, and even installation point of the equipment. Hence, the service technicians could use their mobile device to navigate them to the client’s location, document their work, add the needed spare parts, and have them billed on the day of the service visit. All these functions were available in off- and online mode.
WATCH: SAP Hybris Service Cloud: How Tomorrow’s Technicians Will Work
However, SAP rebranded the SAP Hybris Cloud for Service and changed it to the SAP Service cloud in 2018. Now, it’s one of the 5 Clouds of the SAP C/4HANA solution suite.
SAP Hybris Marketing
The SAP Hybris Marketing was one of the most important solutions to the Hybris product portfolio because it enabled users to provide a personalized marketing and shopping experience to their customers. As a result, it increased conversation rates and increased customer loyalty. The solution had all the ingredients to cover every category for marketing planning and target audience identification as shown in the table below:
Apart from that, SAP Hybris Marketing enabled users to drive marketing efforts based on site performance, ROI and visitor behavior. With the use of self-service analytics and real-time data, the solution allowed them to quickly identify and respond to new opportunities. Moreover, it helped them to identify their customer’s intent and motivations, discover hidden trends, and deliver relevant customer experiences across multiple touchpoints throughout the customer journey.
In addition, the detailed customer data helped marketeers to decide where, when, and on who to focus their marketing efforts. Effective segmentation, marketing campaigns, and content helped connect to the customers on a more personal level. It enabled users to build relationships with their customers and develop more loyal customers.
WATCH: SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud
In 2018, SAP rebranded SAP Hybris Marketing and changed the name to the SAP Marketing Cloud.
SAP Cloud for Customer ( C4C )
The SAP Cloud for Customer (SAP C4C) was SAP’s on-demand cloud-based Customer Relationship Management intended for sales and service only. In April 2016, SAP renamed its Cloud for Customer solution to SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer. It included; the SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales and the SAP Hybris Cloud for Service.
SAP C4C focused on improving the ease of use and increasing productivity so that sales professionals could spend more time selling and less time on a sales force application. Furthermore, the SAP C4C software was able to help users predict sales success bases on competing products, historical data and other factors with the use of embedded analytics. Also, the C4C sales analytics provided standard sets of reports and dashboards for the day to day use of a sales representative.
The key features of SAP C4C:
- Account management functions
- Integration with Social Media
- Integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Gmail and Lotus Notes.
- Opportunity management
- Real-time analytics
- Support for mobile devices
- Integration with SAP ERP, SAP CRM, and SAP JAM
- Availability in 19 different languages
Since the rebranding of SAP Hybris and SAP C4C, and the name change to SAP C/4HANA, SAP C4C no longer exists. Moreover, the SAP Hybris Cloud for Sales and the SAP Hybris Cloud for Service (cloud solutions in SAP C4C) were also rebranded. Now they are called SAP Sales Cloud and SAP Service Cloud.
SAP C/4HANA
SAP C/4HANA is a customer experience ( CX ) suite designed to change customer relationship management (CRM) as we currently know it. Today’s CRM systems are focused on sales. However, customer relationships do not end once a sale is closed. So, customer experience has become the top priority in boardrooms across the globe and with this shift in mindset and strategy, the legacy CRM systems no longer comply.
Certainly, SAP C/4HANA is a “Next-generation CRM” because this solution modernized the legacy CRM solutions. SAP C/4HANA achieved it by encouraging positive customer experience at every stage of the customer journey, providing a consistent experience across all channels, and also real-time data.
The SAP Customer Experience suite, C/4HANA, includes 5 clouds that will cover and optimize all of your front-office operations:
- Marketing Cloud
- Sales Cloud
- Commerce Cloud
- Service Cloud
- Customer Data Cloud
Interestingly, every cloud has multiple tools and advanced integrated technologies that will help you with your day-to-day operations. For a complete overview of SAP C/4HANA, please click here.