SAP CRM Future plan

[sudheer19]

Hi There,

Million Dollar Question - What is the SAP CRM roadmap ?. i believe most of us have this doubt or panic what will happen to SAP CRM. i am looking at different blogs and some are saying C4C, C/4, CX, S4 CM...etc... am tired looking at different directions . can someone from SAP give us one direction what will happen to CRM. i looked at C4 this is actually multiple hybris solutions to geather called C4 and how it replaces CRM?.

because i have a client who has recently (2016) went into CRM and adding up more functionalities in CRM now and without roadmap if i solution now and again move to different product/solution in no time there is no use to Business it's a waste in investment. not only one customer . i guess lot of customers are looking for answer from SAP?. can anyone guide on this please.

thanks,
Sudheer

[former_member187490 · Accepted solution]

Thanks 380bac697e274c14b0bf3ca56bd5603e for tagging me. sudheer19, I certainly understand your frustration. The CX organization at SAP has arguably been rather aggressive in trying to entice/scare CRM on-prem customers over to C/4. Here is the situation from my perspective:

The SAP Business Suite -- which contains both SAP CRM and SAP ERP -- is currently only guaranteed by SAP to stay in mainstream maintenance through 2025. Some years ago this was extended from 2020. It is of course possible that SAP may extend it again. However, at the moment I don't have any indication that the board is planning to do so. So, assuming for now that the Business Suite will be out of mainstream maintenance in 2025, my recommendation to customers is to not start any new SAP CRM or SAP ERP projects. Rather, I would instead recommend to implement S/4HANA -- which includes ERP functionality as well as much of the Service/Sales functionality from CRM (such as the Interaction Center). S/4HANA is definitely the future. Last year I wrote an SAP Press e-book on this subject, "CRM in SAP S/4HANA Beginner's Guide". https://www.sap-press.com/introducing-crm-in-sap-s4hana_4811/

For existing SAP CRM customers, like your client, they can stay on SAP CRM for now and use the annual SAP Customer Connection program to suggest and vote for enhancement requests to the product. As SAP CRM is a mature stable product, SAP no longer publishes a roadmap. Rather, we use the Customer Connection program to solicit customer feedback and drive ongoing enhancements and innovation. But, unless mainstream maintenance is extended, customers will eventually need to make a decision whether to simplify their business processes and move to an off-the-shelf Cloud solution like the C/4HANA Suite (which does allow some customization, but not the type of custom coding they may be use to with SAP CRM on-prem) or migrate from CRM to S/4HANA (in which case they may need to use select C/4HANA offerings such as Marketing Cloud and Commerce Cloud) to complement some of the missing features from SAP CRM on-prem that were not moved over to S/4HANA (such as outbound Marketing campaigns, e-commerce, etc.).

I am happy to discuss in more detail if you want to contact me at john.burton@sap.com.

Best regards,
John

[Hendrik · Accepted solution]

hi John,

while looking for some inspiration for a presentation on S/4HANA Sales & Service I found your answer here and was wondering if you plan on an unpdate of your ebook? Version 2 with all the new functionality in 1909 or even 2009 (looking forward to see the inhouse repair topic released).

Cheers

Hendrik

[former_member187490 · Accepted solution]

hendrik.neumann Unfortunately I moved out of the S/4HANA organization last year and am now working on the SAP Contact Center topic. However, I do see a topic for "In-house repair" on the 2020 roadmap for S/4HANA. Perhaps my colleague o.frick can provide more details?

[VishnAndr]

Hi,

I'm not from SAP, but the 2 years old blog by john.burton should explain you or give you an idea.

Explaining SAP’s Portfolio of “CRM” and “Customer Experience” Products

Nobody will give you one direction. It's a matter of choice. Customers select what is more suitable to them and what they are more comfortable with. There is no 'one truth' anymore.

BTW, in C/4 the only true hybris product is Commerce solution. Others have nothing and never had anything in common with hybris. Only shared the name for a short period of time. But the name is gone for good.

[sudheer19]

nikhil.betigeri Hi Nikhil, i totally agree with youm it centers around business processes that company is running. i think my top management is actually looking for c/4 and in fact i heard they have had demos not sure from whom . i would email to c/4 hana movement team and hope i can involve my management from both IT and business .

thank you!.

Regards,

Sudheer

[nikhil_betigeri]

Hello Venkat,

While you explore S/4 please be aware that Sales (everything from Lead to Order capture) and IC are available also in SAP C/4HANA cloud solutions. The fundamental question is are you looking for a cloud (i.e. SAP C/4HANA) or an on premise (SAP S/4HANA) solution for Sales and IC. A large part of the decision making also centers around your business needs and process. For further information feel free to send an email to the SAP C/4HANA Movement team: sap.c4hanamove@sap.com. We can setup a call to further discuss your scenario and recommend the right next steps.

Nikhil

[sudheer19]

sorry for the delayed response , i was on vacation last month and got busy with project work. apologies.

nikhil.betigeri thanks Nikhil, i am attending the course and that really helps transforming ourselfs to C4.

john.burton thanks a lot John for your detailed response. i would like to hear more on the moving CRM to S4, i see sales and IC functionalities moved to S4. i would be in touch with you. thanks for sharing the email address.

380bac697e274c14b0bf3ca56bd5603e thank you for your response.

[nikhil_betigeri]

Hello,

I would recommend attending the openSAP course "Transform Your CRM with SAP C/4HANA" which is geared towards customers such as yourself and explain some of the transition paths (completely move to C/4, stay the course with S/4HANA or some sort of a hybrid solution) based on your current needs as well as your future plans. Course starts on January 21st.

You can also get a head start in trying to understand the direction to go in by reviewing the document "Making the switch to SAP C/4HANA" posted here:

Thanks,

Nikhil