Industry Functionality for SAP Cloud for Sales

[Former Member]

SAP Cloud for Sales is a very comprehensive solution – it comes with an attractive and intuitive user experience, efficient sales automation tools, collaboration with the sales team and your business social network, and built-in analytics and mobility. The solution is designed for the way sales people sell today – plus it is a breeze to use, affordable, and quickly integrates with a company’s back-office operation.

However, most industries have very specific additional requirements when it comes to the sales process: Some industries deal with configurable products – take the example of industrial machinery and components, for instance. Sales executives needs to quote prices according to the particular product configuration required by their customers. The concept of ‘configurable products’ also applies to many companies in the professional services segment - think of service packages or contracts, which might be different for each customer. A sales automation solution with integrated functionality for pricing of configurable products would not only be very efficient but could also significantly speed up the sales process.

Another example of industry requirements for a sales automation solution is around material samples. According to Wikipedia, a material sample is a ‘specimen or small quantity of something. Samples of material can be taken or provided for testing, analysis, inspection, investigation, demonstration, or trial use’. There are many discrete and process industry segments which require samples – think of food and beverages, mill industries, or for instance the high-tech industry or machinery and components for new devices and machinery, parts etc.

‘Sample Management for SAP Cloud for Sales’ is an existing SAP Partner solution – one example of industry functionality which is fully integrated and build on top of the SAP solution. If your company deals with ‘samples’ and these samples are an important factor of your sales process, I invite you to read my blog series which talks about this solution on more detail – functionality, benefits and efficiency gains, ‘day in a life of a sales executive’. Even if you are not in the chemical industry, most of that discussion will likely pertain to your industry as well.

Watch this fun video following the 'day in a life' of a chemicals sales representative. For more info on the solution and contact info, follow this link.

Any feedback and comments are highly appreciated.

Part 1: Challenges and Issues

Part 2: Improve your Bottom Line

Part 3: ‘Day in a Life’ of a Chemical Sales Representative – Solution in Detail