7 Principles for a Successful SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer Implementation

Organizations look to SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer and to similar cloud solutions to cut costs, simplify infrastructure, achieve better scalability, and more. Everywhere you turn in the enterprise IT space, experts are extolling the virtues of adopting cloud solutions.

Yet despite these virtues, not every cloud implementation is a success. In a survey conducted by KPMG, one-third of executives claimed that they had experienced significant implementation challenges. A similar number also said that the costs of implementing cloud solutions were greater than expected. Despite the myriad of benefits of the cloud, these results prove that there are a number of ways that cloud implementations can go wrong.

So how can you make sure that your implementation goes smoothly, allowing you to enjoy all the benefits of a cloud solution? The following seven principles are a good place to start. By letting these principles guide an SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer implementation, you can be sure to set your organization up for success.

1. Plan for Impact

All too often, new technologies are chosen simply because users don’t like the old ones. But by simply focusing on functional software change, organizations fail to consider the broad-picture impact of a new implementation. SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer can have far-reaching consequences. It does more than simply improve existing processes; in many cases, SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer can introduce new ones. And if an organization does not plan for the full impact of these new processes, they can introduce unnecessary issues and complications.

2. Peel the Onion

There’s more to your CRM processes than the functional capabilities of your CRM software. Often, sales, marketing, or customer service departments are steeped in process complexities built up over years of haphazard solutions. Simply implementing a cloud solution isn’t enough to break down these complexities. Instead, organizations must carefully examine where these complexities come from. They must “peel the onion” — dig through the different layers of complexity until its root cause is revealed. Only then can you determine how to best leverage your SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer implementation to remove these complexities.

3. Stabilize the Foundation

Organizations without clear guidelines and process definitions in place are bound to face issues when introducing new systems or new ways of working. If inter-departmental processes, business rules, or alignments are not clearly defined beforehand, a new software implementation will only add complexity and frustrate users. The foundations of your CRM processes must be stable before you can consider a cloud implementation.

4. Focus on Data

One of the biggest mistakes organizations can make before a cloud implementation is to forget about data. In today’s business environment, data is the key to success — and failure to see to the quality, alignment, and proper migration of that data precludes success. Before implementing SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer, it’s vital that you define a strategy for the maintenance and governance of master data.

5. Think Ahead

Your SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer instance is going to exist in a multi-faceted technological environment alongside a wide range of other solutions — many of which will need to be integrated with SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer. A plan for successful integration and alignment with other IT solutions and business departments is essential. Otherwise, businesses will witness multiple versions of truth and muddled inter-departmental processes.

6. Manage Change

User adoption of new solutions is frequently taken for granted. But users can be resistant to change, and adoption of new processes and procedures should not be assumed. Instead, users need to be involved early in the process to encourage adoption and identify potential challenges. By including change management in your implementation plan, you can better ensure engagement and enthusiasm from users when it comes time to roll out SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer.

7. Stay Focused

Once the end of an implementation is reached, it’s tempting to sit back, relax, and enjoy your success. But the work isn’t done after go-live — in many ways, it’s only beginning. Once SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer is launched, organizations need to monitor its performance for successes and pitfalls. It can take a while for new solutions to become the norm in organizations, and even longer for them to be optimized to their greatest potential. Failure to stay focused can lessen the positive impact of all your previous efforts.

Conclusion

SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer offers a host of benefits, but as is the case with any technology, it needs to be implemented well if an organization wants to realize them. These seven principles are key guidelines that any organization can follow to help them make the most out of their SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer implementation.

To learn more about achieving success in your SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer implementation, view “Seven Guiding Principles for a Successful SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer Implementation”, recorded at the SAPinsider CRM 2016 event.