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User groups provide insight


Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2012

Roughly 80% of the feedback SAP receives from its customers is through user groups, illustrating the importance of these forums.

This was stressed by Yasmin Awad, senior VP of the SAP global user group, in the keynote on the second day of the Saphila 2012 conference. Her address focused on the value user groups add not only to the customer but also to the company itself.

“Communication is of course a very important thing for us. SAP is keen to hear about concerns customers have and come up with solutions to add value to them,” said Awad. It is important to focus on how the user groups can influence SAP products, she said, adding that how SAP transfers knowledge to customers through these groups is equally important.

This was echoed by Richard Thorpe, vice-chairman of the African SAP User Group (AFSUG), who encourages all SAP users to become members of a user group in order to take advantage of this knowledge sharing network. “We give customer feedback on what customers think of SAP's strategy and where they think SAP should change,” he said.

Because user groups share the customer experience and collect feedback to improve product quality, their insights are very valuable to a company like SAP, Awad noted. “User groups help us to translate the SAP language into value for your business,” she said.

According to Awad, Customer Connection serves this exact purpose, as it is a forum to determine customer influence and to implement strategies to give the customers what they want. “In the past, we did not have centralised channels for customers to give their preferences and requirements. We used to deliver these in a new release, which meant that the customer would have to update their software in order to realise these improvements.”

Awad also stressed the importance of the SAP user groups executive network (SUGEN), which represents 16 user groups. “SUGEN provides one strategic voice to SAP. They collect comments from around the world that can be used to add value to our business,” Thorpe said.

Awad added that Africa is well represented in SUGEN, and as AFSUG grows into other areas, it will increase the group's influence.

“Knowledge transfer is key, particularly as the SAP product suite expands. The idea is to make the information more accessible to customers, and that is why we established a Web presence for the user group to help customers to access the information they require,” said Awad.

“We don't want to reinvent the wheel, we just want to better provide the information to you.”

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