SAP customers rely on high-quality implementations for their success, whether working with SAP partners or directly with SAP.
At SAP Global Partner Summit Online, SAP announced the partner delivery quality framework to help ensure high-quality project delivery via its partner ecosystem with the goal of improving the partner and customer experience.
The framework addresses three pillars critical to helping partners deliver high-quality implementations:
- Project delivery quality
- Partner services quality
- Post-sales partner management
Because
customer and partner success go hand-in-hand, this new approach delivers the tools partners need to enhance project quality, build capacity, and safeguard the delivery of partner-led customer projects. The goal is to help partners deliver valuable outcomes to customers beyond the go-live and help ensure customer success.
“To win in the experience economy, organizations have to continuously improve the core experiences of business – customer, product, employee and brand,” said Karl Fahrbach, Chief Partner Officer, SAP. “With these investments, we are making good on our promise to lower the barriers for more partners to deliver the Intelligent Enterprise that will continue to improve and change our world.”
The Partner Benefit
To answer the demand for high-quality SAP consultants, the partner delivery quality framework supports partners in training resources through new persona-based learning journeys across core SAP solutions. SAP is focused on driving trainings to ensure consultants stay current and are continuously upskilled in the latest innovations through SAP’s Stay Current program.
SAP has launched the Drive2Deliver program to support partners in growing their delivery capacity. The program will help partners address the shortage of IT talent in the industry, focusing on identifying and attracting fresh faces from university and scouting hidden talent to locate and attract seasoned experts. Drive2Deliver also supports partners in upskilling consultants in cloud technologies.
Through closer collaboration in the post-sales process, SAP will help ensure customers and partners that are engaged in SAP projects will benefit from more high-touch engagements and thorough knowledge sharing.
Finally, SAP will reward and recognize the investments of partners in a high-quality delivery practice that drives customer adoption. The new competency-based partner program gives customers an overview of the partner’s experience, expertise and maturity, while allowing partners to differentiate in the market.
The Customer Benefit
SAP customers will benefit from a closer collaboration in the post-sales process between SAP and its partner ecosystem through more high-touch engagements in partner-led projects. This will lead to improved implementation quality, which means quicker time-to-value due to successful, on-time go-lives.
The framework will make it easier and more understandable for customers to select the right partner based on their competencies and expertise..
More broadly, SAP recommends all potential and existing customers request the credentials of prospective partners, including certified resources and customer references, before starting a project.
What’s Else is new?
As part of the partner delivery quality framework, and in order to support our partners in delivering high quality projects to customers, SAP has introduced the role of the Partner Delivery Manager to deliver a standardized, holistic approach for post-sales partner management. This dedicated role focuses on the partner post-sales relationship with SAP. The Partner Delivery Manager helps drive service quality of all key partners, as well as project delivery quality for partner-led projects. Managing and guiding partners in expanding their SAP delivery capacity and quality capabilities is also part of the new role. This will help ensure project execution of the highest quality standards and customer satisfaction.
What’s Next?
SAP will continue to listen to partners and customers and to find ways to help them succeed. Joint efforts between SAP and partners will continue to strengthen the collaboration between SAP customers and partners, and support project delivery of the highest quality.