Growing in the Cloud: Expanded Program for SAP Partners
At SAP, we do our best to ensure that we support our partner ecosystem and help them adapt to current technology growth especially in cloud. We want them to achieve cloud growth profitability and help their customers adapt in order to remain competitive and do good business.
To better equip our partners to meet any challenges their customers encounter when on their journey to cloud, SAP announced updates to the partner program earlier this month focused on helping partners drive their customer success in the cloud (branded under SAP PartnerEdge).
The new updates to the program focus around three main areas:
- New Roles and Simplification for Cloud Partners
- Harmonization of Value Points
- Updated Training and Processes
SAP has also enhanced its program to help support partners focused on the cloud and standardized how partners earn value points, the SAP ‘currency’ that partners earn for revenue, training and recommended activities. Additionally, updated marketing training for partners has been provided, with a focus on social selling techniques. Furthermore, training requirements around compliance for partners have been expanded.
We’ve also established the role of the Customer Engagement Executive (CEE) to help cloud partners manage the lifetime value of their customer. Cloud customers need to have a consistent excellent user experience and one part to it is for the partner to have an ongoing understanding of the customer’s business goals to maximise their value. The expectation is a partner that helps to better realize value for their customer from SAP solutions via proactive customer feedback and insights.
The CEE role helps to make the path to cloud easier for partners and their customers. These program updates will equip partners with the skills and expertise to support the entire cloud customer lifecycle, help with solution adoption, increase customer satisfaction and renewal opportunities, improve transparency, and increase customer retention – creating a simplified experience for our partners.
Everything we do to support our partners can help with a more focused, unified, and personalized experience for our customers – one that exceeds their expectations.
It’s a great time to be a SAP partner, and these updates are just a small part of how we continue to evolve and provide SAP partners with world class support to help them grow their business. For those companies who want to see what is available as a partner, the open-ecosystem approach is a great way to get started. Within the SAP Open Ecosystem you can enjoy the first level of the SAP PartnerEdge program, through an easy and free model as you begin exploring a partnership with SAP.
Now is the time to explore what becoming an SAP Partner could mean for you.