What is our primary use case?
I have experience working with Sales Cloud and Service Cloud. I am working as an Enterprise Architect, so I could evaluate whatever is needed in SAP.
We are working as a partner with SAP in the Middle East and North Africa. We have a project in public sector and many projects in the public sector in Saudi Arabia. I'm acting as a pre-sales lead and Enterprise Architect for any evaluation from scratch. We did the design for the architecture design. In addition, I evaluate the leads until going to implementation as a roadmap. From the scratch, I'm absorbing the strategy to execution, so I could evaluate whatever is needed in SAP.
What is most valuable?
The best features of SAP Service Cloud include a very smart core, especially in cloud solutions, with S/4HANA core as the most important base for any ERP or any implementation to be considered. Plus the SuccessFactors suite, in addition to the latest technology from BTP. We can attract some technology to be embedded or to design the workflow outside of the core, because the concept now in the core is to be clean core. The clean core concept means that there's a strong financial base, controlling, and logistics core, which concerns many purchasing, procurement, sales, and maintenance services.
This is integrated with S/4HANA Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, and also integrated with Salesforce as a smart American CRM solution, which is very famous. SAP now through Integration Suite could integrate non-SAP and SAP, and Integration Suite is the most important part in every single solution in S/4HANA or outside of S/4HANA, such as SAC for reporting.
The embedded AI inside SAP, called Business AI, impacts decision-making and resolution times significantly. It works as a smart conversation chat in Joule, which is a conversational chatbot in SAP Analytics Cloud. I can talk to Joule to create a dashboard or to consider a planning dashboard to compare between the historical data and the forecasting of the coming sales target. In sales, there is an embedded AI, which is untouchable but works as an embedded algorithm to consider the conversion rate from lead to account. The historical data helps the algorithm to calculate the conversion rate from quotation to a sales order. This helps the sales manager to work smart and sell faster because there's a smart embedded algorithm inside the module to direct me to sell potential leads, avoiding wasting time on un-potential leads. The category classification is a result of supervised machine learning embedded in the core and unsupervised machine learning working outside of the core, such as RPA and financial machine learning. Algorithms even assist in integration by suggesting the best technology integrated into certain applications through the Advisory Methodology in Integration Suite.
What needs improvement?
There's definitely room for process improvement in SAP Service Cloud. In my opinion, what can be better in SAP Service Cloud includes having the data center existence properly implemented. Not all cloud solutions are present in data centers. While we evaluate the product, we have to check the existence of the product in all nearest data centers.
For example, while I check the data center through the Trust Center on SAP's website, I found that most cloud solutions are installed in Riyadh, but they are missing some very important tools such as LeanIX, which is not existent in Saudi Arabia. E-commerce solutions are also missing, and some aspects of C4C, such as Customer Data Cloud, are not present in many data centers. Not all components in cloud solutions exist in key centers in the Middle East and North Africa. They evaluate demand before installation, but having all solutions in the center point could encourage sales cycles.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have twenty years of experience working with SAP Service Cloud.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
SAP Service Cloud is a very smart solution, embedded with AI and working very well, but it's not the cheapest option compared to other solutions such as Salesforce, which is the least expensive sales cloud globally.
What other advice do I have?
The pricing for SAP Service Cloud is not the cheapest globally; it is a bit expensive compared to alternatives. The most challenging part about SAP is the pricing because SAP sells their cloud services at a significant budget over the first five years, but they divide payments into monthly or annual installments. Starting from S/4HANA Public Cloud, the fundamental user equivalent costs a minimum of 900k US dollars for the license only. Thus, the implementation cost approximately doubles that figure, so one should prepare 300k to 390k US dollars for S/4HANA Public Cloud. For Service Cloud, it will be less, but still expensive.
Integration is crucial; however, some clients may need only Service Cloud as a ticketing system without finance solutions. They can input pricing directly into transaction data and calculate costs, but there are no professional finance functionalities embedded in Sales Cloud or Service Cloud.
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate technical support from SAP Service Cloud as ten because SAP is effectively engaged in the implementation and provides strong support. Overall, I rate SAP Service Cloud eight out of ten.
