What is our primary use case?
Our sales team uses SAP CRM to manage campaigns and cases. We also use the data from the solution for analysis and feed it into third-party applications like Quotage. It's a huge system covering engineering, sales, and product development teams.
It's an on-prem environment, but we are considering a migration to the cloud. We are working with our cloud partners AWS and Azure to deploy SAP CRM further. We will begin migrations in one or two years.
What is most valuable?
We are using the HANA Z database for CRM, which enhances the products we are currently using by making the system more efficient. Everything is connected to CRM, so we can use the data for analytics, sales forecasting, and data modeling.
What needs improvement?
Content management is one area where SAP CRM could use some work because we were seeking a CRM solution that could store BLOB data, like PDF and email data, which takes up a lot of space in the database.
Recently, we migrated to a content server, but it would be nice if CRM had built-in BLOB data management because BLOB data is a challenge we've been dealing with since last year.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with SAP CRM for nearly 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
SAP is highly stable compared to competitors like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365. We haven't seen significant downtime in the last couple of years. It runs running smoothly. We are using NetApp products for backup solutions, so disaster recovery is pretty easy. With the NetApp and SAP partnership, the product works flawlessly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We can definitely scale up the system. There are about 7,000 active users, and managing them is no problem.
How are customer service and support?
SAP has a portal where we can file trouble tickets and 24/7 call centers. We can log in or call them any time to get an engineer onboarded for support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am familiar with Salesforce and Microsoft 365, but I've never worked with those products. I've used SAP my entire career. Salesforce, SAP, and Microsoft are the top competitors in the CRM space.
Each one could be a suitable choice depending on your use case and budget. Sometimes Salesforce might be appropriate in the long run or Microsoft 365 may have some additional features a company could use.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up SAP CRM is straightforward. I rate it eight out of 10 for ease of setup. SAP provides all the tools and techniques were available from the vendor. However, the integration portion is a lot of work and requires some functional consultants.
It takes some effort to customize the program and rewrite it to align with our business standards, but the initial implementation is straightforward. We didn't face any challenges here.
Total deployment for this project took around eight or nine months, including development, testing, and validation. After deployment, the administration is fairly simple. We have to take care of the licensing part and forecast data growth for the next three or four months.
We have the tools and people available for operations as well as vendor support. If we have complex issues, we can raise a ticket to the vendor and get it sorted.
What about the implementation team?
We did the implementation in-house. We have consultants available within NetApp, so we could utilize their skillset.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
SAP CRM is a reasonable price for the features. It's not in the highest tier. It's affordable.
What other advice do I have?
I rate SAP CRM nine out of 10. My advice to potential SAP CRM users is to have a plan. You need to do the proper planning before implementing a CRM. It's crucial to internally gather all the business requirements that must be migrated. For example, the sales teams might have CRM data for their campaigns, and different teams will use this CRM for data forecasting, etc.
Whenever any company wants to implement CRM, they need business insights about their company to understand how to leverage this product. Sometimes the company might not use all the available features, but they don't know it.
It's best to work with SAP when you're deciding. They will do all the evaluations and guide you on implementing the product. You should take advantage of professional services like CRM consultants and infrastructure architects.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner