To remain competitive in an ever-changing market, companies need continuous standard processes and innovative applications for cloud and on-premise. That’s because the continuity of SAP applications and the digital transformation of operational processes is the foundation of the future system landscape capable of sustaining company growth and meeting customer expectations.
What companies now need are innovative and intelligent software products, like an interactive, continuous 3D virtual reality configurator for SAP. Such a configurator showcases the customer-specific configuration (foundation SAP LO-VC) as digital twin in real time. This new sales strategy appeals to and convinces customers because of its visual nature.
SAP LO-VC users: pioneers of digital transformation
Companies that want sales success need to digitally and flexibly transfer valuable SAP LO-VC data (including constraints, procedures, etc.) to sales processes. Furthermore, this data has to be available in the cloud and offline.
Also important: an intelligent data management platform which makes a continuous and direct communication with SAP systems possible. Companies can flexibly decide what to do with their LO-VC data with certain applications, like the SAE Developer. They then can transfer it together with necessary SAP master data and digital twins to their CPQ applications.
The SAE Developer lets users leverage variant configurations with individualizations, like country-specific pricing and historic customer data, and other features with the intuitive CPQ application SAE Sales. Furthermore, this is possible in the cloud as well as offline (through a special data cube).
Platform technology, digital core, and SAP Leonardo
Innovative platform technology enables customers to navigate the SAP product portfolio in a standardized way. Applications have to be able to communicate with every SAP product (e.g. Hybris, C4C). What is more, they have to be completely compatible with SAP ERP (ECC 6.0, S/4 Hana).
The goal is the connection and integration of every stakeholder in a company, for example sales with suppliers, subsidiaries, and customers. The digital core, a continuous connection between all applications, makes it possible. This way, the entire company can use data in real time – frontend as well as backend. This successful transformation enables customers to quickly react in an agile and flexible way.
SAE’s flexible platform is therefore an essential addition to the SAP Leonardo universe. The platform can also be connected through ESB systems and consequently provides every department with data and information.
Customer-specific solutions are in demand
Companies that aspire to have a globally successful and fast sales department have to integrate the variant data into an intelligent CPQ application with usability. Customer-specific solutions and products are in demand, and the underlying processes are getting ever more complex. Departments have to become faster and faster to remain competitive.
Because technologically skilled sales employees are extremely rare while the products have to be adapted rather rapidly, companies have to do their best to support staff. One way to do that is to guarantee that configuration models remain manageable throughout the entire lifecycle of the product.
The entire product and technology know-how has to be available to sales employees all the time (24/7) for them to be able to easily, quickly, and flawlessly configure products.
More time for customers
As a result, administrative efforts are not the focus anymore. Instead, sales staff can concentrate all their efforts on convincing customers with feasibility and competent offers. Sales employees now have the time to tend to their primary task: building up valuable customer relationships.
However, to be able to manage LO-VC models throughout the entire product lifecycle, a release management like SAE’s is crucial.
3D configurator based on LO-VC and CAD data
An interactive 3D CPQ system based on SAP LO-VC is a prerequisite for sustainable growth in the digital era. This new way of sales gives companies the edge over their competition and generates value in the market.
One of our new products is an interactive 3D VR configurator based on LO-VC and CAD data. Every change in the product is reflected visually in the configuration in real time. The underlying SAP LO-VC data guarantees the technological feasibility of the configuration. Consequently, sales employees can sign off on production right away if the sale goes through.
The system SAE IME combines already existing CAD data with SAP LO-VC customer information at the press of a button. The digital 3D models are interactive and automatically include the entire configuration in all its manifestations. This system has unique functionalities and is in no way comparable to existing viewer applications in which users had to painstakingly configure every new adaptation themselves.
Furthermore, the 3D configuration works offline as well as browser-independently in the cloud through WebGL. Users do not need specific know-how to navigate the application as it is intuitive and self-explanatory. What is more, companies do not need to purchase additional CAD licenses.
Cross-stakeholder digital twins
To live up to the standard of a digital core, SAE has created a cross-stakeholder use of digital twins and customer-specific orders. Now, other staff members besides sales employees, like project engineers, can also profit from this application. Furthermore, service staff can access all customer-specific configurations and the corresponding digital twins.
Another example would be the application enabling marketing staff to create animation and simulation clips to explain products and their uses. Consequently, they are able to advertise the products globally and platform-independently.
Hybrid cloud security
Hybrid cloud combines the benefits of on-premise corporate systems with the advantages of private and public cloud. Confidential business processes stay in the corporate cloud, whereas publicly accessible applications with the underlying database, user interface, and interfaces can move to the public cloud.
With SAE’s MX technology, companies can decide which users can access sensitive data, like variant data, stock lists, prices, or historic customer data. Thanks to ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) technology, only necessary data is moved to the applications in the cloud, meaning that the database structure stays safely behind the corporate firewall.
Product placement for customers
With a continuous 3D CPQ system for SAP, companies not only become pioneers in technology, but also tackle the challenge of product placement for customers. This becomes ever more important as more and more customers want to configure and individualize products, machines, and solutions themselves.
This new way of sales becomes possible through digital twin technology. The integration of the dynamic 3D visualization with interactive navigation enables customers to simulate relevant features in the digital twin. The configuration of single and combined products to an overall solution, including layout planning, supports the customer in his purchasing decision.
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