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She's the global head of marketing for a French software company. So I expected Olivia Sedant to fit a few stereotypes. She'd surely be a bit brash and overbearing. Not a bit. What about the clichés? Snooty? Not in the slightest. Olivia is down to earth and...well...normal.
Galigeo Head of Marketing & Business Development, Olivia Sedant
In a quick call before our meeting, she tells me she's under pressure to catch an evening flight for a long overdue week's r and r in Paros (a Greek island in the Aegean). It'll be a short breather before she plunges headlong into end-of-year commitments and Q1 preparations.
We meet on the Left Bank in a little café off Avenue d'Italie. Olivia's here to chat about Galigeo, the company she works for. Their headquarters is little more than a stone's throw from us in the 13th district of Paris, known locally as 'arrondissement des Gobelins'. More to the point, we're meeting today to talk about how Galigeo is faring on SAP Analytics Extensions Directory.
First, let's have some context. Galigeo's a company that's been punching well above its weight for years. A market leader in the area of location intelligence since its foundation in 2001, the software house employs around 50 people at its R&D headquarters in Paris, France. From this base, they manage operations in Frankfurt, New York and Toronto plus relationships with a worldwide network of partners. And it's this network that gives the company its global reach.
The SAP partnership started with BusinessObjects back in 2001. Since then, Galigeo's become an official SAP certified solution extension partner. "It's a badge of honor and a distinction that's been hard won and tends to open many doors", explains Olivia. "Our original focus was around dashboard products, but we quickly expanded our offerings across the BI stack to provide a complete and consistent approach for any BI project whether it's WebI, Lumira, or Design Studio. We now have more than 250 customers worldwide and over 45,000 users. And even though we’re growing aggressively, we're still hungrier than ever."
"The directory has turbocharged our discovery process."
"Our first contact with the SAP Analytics Extensions Directory team was over a year ago. We found it really quick and easy to create our listing on the directory, and we worked closely with Oliver's team [the SAP Innovation Network Team]. That was really valuable for us. It meant that we weren't working in a vacuum. We had ready access to experts to guide us and to check how were presenting our entries on the directory. We worked together to create simple and clear value propositions and product descriptions. The templates we were given were a great help, and we worked closely together to make sure messaging and use cases were clear enough for anyone looking for geo-mapping solutions. It's a cardinal rule for business: if you have the right products, but your customers can't find them then you have to overhaul your discovery process. Location is crucial, and the directory has turbocharged our discovery process."
Galigeo product extensions on SAP Analytics Extensions Directory
But is Olivia able to measure the value she talks about? Are customers contacting Galigeo through the directory?
"It's a remarkable resource for us. The directory helps us to generate leads and new business opportunities", continues Olivia. "What we really like [about the directory] is that users can search and compare products based on their specific requirements. Thanks to this, when prospective customers reach out to us, they already know that our solutions meet their needs. Oliver's team also sends us a monthly report showing the number of clicks and views our entries have had. On top of this, we can see increased traffic from the directory to our own website, and we’ve had much more engagement and given many more product trials as a result."
There's a little pause for panic at this point here as I manage to spill a café au lait dangerously close to both our smartphones. Thankfully, Olivia remains composed and maintains her train of thought. Bit of a chuckle at my expense, but she continues...
"When we first joined the directory, the primary KPI was the number of clicks or views. That's good data, but still a little crude. How could we tell if our app was successful? Ratings and reviews are key. The revamped directory (version 2.1) has a couple of intuitive capabilities for customers, including an easy-to-use review feature. Like many consumer apps, such as Trip Advisor, Trivago and the like, this lets customers publish candid reviews and comments. Apart from this, they can also take a free trial. So, within a few clicks users can give our products a thorough test drive. And we are always there to support should they take a wrong turn."
"Of course the other aspect of the ratings and comment features is that we can get really precise product feedback", she asserts. "And by the way, I'm already looking forward to building on feedback by developing a community around geo-mapping topics."
So with an eye to the oversized wall clock above the cappuccino machine (and a nod to her flight booking), Olivia concludes..."I guess if you asked me to sum it all up, the directory has proven to be an ideal platform for us to show our wares to existing customers and to facilitate discovery for those who are starting to investigate geo-mapping solutions."
We turn our collars to the October chill and depart. Olivia's already on Greek time, while I'm bit of a coffee drenched mess and my jotter has turned to papier mâché.
It's been a scaldingly insightful chat.
If you'd like to learn more about SAP Analytics Extensions Directory, check out these three YouTube videos:
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