Introduction
In this blog post the main points of topics "Roles in the Cloud Business Model" and "Cloud Way of Thinking" which were discussed in the recent "Cloud Mindset - Next Generation Cloud delivery" sessions will be summed up.
The information will be useful for SAP consultants from various areas who are interested in shifting their focus to cloud products.
Possible roles in the cloud business model
This part describes 2 main points of the topic which roles are possible in the cloud business model,
- Roles and perspective in the Cloud Business
- Customer Engagement Strategy - Mindset & Approach
Roles and perspective in the Cloud Business
Successful cloud business delivery needs fundamental collaboration between following roles:
- Sales
- Services sales
- Services
- Development
Customer Engagement Strategy
How we help customers achieve their business outcomes?
- Customer centric approach from every and each SAP roles involved in the Cloud Business Model
- This should be driven by all teams with responsibilities from their perspective
- Full focus on customer satisfaction and consumption of our Cloud solutions
Which responsibilities perspectives exist in this strategy and what do they mean?
- Sales perspective: selling solutions holistically, not only products for the digital business processes transformation
- Services sales perspective: building capabilities to customer expectations with outcome based business models and delivering real business outcomes with the restructured services portfolio
- Services perspective: following the cloud business model rules, methods and tools to deliver unique customer value for customer Business Transformations towards an Intelligent Enterprise
- Development perspective: building our products and applications with differentiating capabilities based on 5 clear differentiations: integration, extension, innovation, intelligence and user centricity for delivering business impact and business outcomes
Cloud way of thinking
What is a Cloud Mindset?
A cloud mindset has several key components:
- rethink the role of technology and move towards seeing it as a dynamic service rather than a static asset
- reconceptualize work as data transformation - it is about getting the right data to the right place at the right time in an easy to use way
- view customers and employees as partners, seek to understand their experiences and strive to make it better
What is the Cloud Mindset Consultant needs?
- Willingness to rethink the role of a consultant
- Curiosity and willingness for continuous learning beyond one´s own area of expertise
- Acceptance for product limitations and ability to shift focus towards possibilities and advantages of the cloud
- Ability to independently manage multiple engagements in parallel
Let´s take a closer look at each point.
Willingness to rethink the role of a consultant means:
- focus on optimized processes: cloud applications require less technical expertise than on-premise solutions
- acting as customer advisor
- shifting of conversations from technical details to value creation related discussions with diverse groups
To achieve this it is strongly recommended to:
- familiarize with SAP´s leading practice documentation and current market trends
- build an understanding of the current challenges and pain points of your target groups
Curiosity and willingness for continuous learning beyond one´s own area of expertise means:
- faster speed of learning of new features and updates for cloud products
- need of having a good understanding of the roadmap for your product as it can influence discussions
- shift from being an expert in your specific module/topic to understanding the bigger picture
To achieve this:
- block time for learning to stay on top of industry trends and the development of your product
- familiarize yourself with trends and products connected to your area of expertise
- engage in internal and external communities to discuss topics with other consultants
Acceptance for product limitations and ability to shift focus towards possibilities and advantages of the cloud means:
- that cloud solutions come with less options for customization
- that even though the configuration options of cloud solutions are improving, customers might have to adapt their processes
- that the conversations with customers customers can drift towards everything that´s not possible, while they should focus on what is possible in our clod products
To prepare to such situations it is recommended to:
- make sure you are aware of the current limitations of the products you´re working with
- move forward with a focus on the features and capabilities that are available
- suggest workarounds with what´s available, if that would fulfill the customer´s requirements
Ability to independently manage multiple engagements in parallel means:
- that on average, cloud software implementations take less time than on-premise projects
- therefore, consultants are working on multiple engagements in parallel, some of which are regular implementation projects while others are short assignments
- and that in many cases the engagements is too small to justify a separate project manager role, so consultants need to take on multiple roles at once
To prepare to these situations you can:
- leverage SAP´s training offerings of project management, time management and other efficiency topics
- find the tools that help you best to be productive
- plan your weeks ahead of time and allow for buffers in case of adjustments to scheduled activities
