Cameron Sherrard explains how to leverage SAP Chatbots to simplify the way users interact with SAP, increasing efficiency.
SAP is the technology backbone of most large-scale organisations. Globally, it is used by over 365,000 companies in 180 countries, and offers sophisticated capabilities across ERP, data analytics, customer engagement and commerce, supply chain management, human resources, procurement and finance.
However, getting the information you need from SAP, or using it to complete everyday tasks, can be quite time consuming and complex. As a result, tasks may not be completed as efficiently – or as easily – as they could be. Your employees may also delay completing certain tasks, or take less-than-ideal shortcuts in order to navigate the user experience.
Adding to this, the way in which your people work has changed. Today, employees and customers expect to be able to work anywhere, at any time, and from any device. According to Deloitte’s 2017, Mobile Consumer Survey, Australia remains one of the leading global adopters of the smartphone and 88 percent of Australians now own one. And increasingly, employees expect to be able to use apps like Skype for Business, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more to communicate.
It’s for these reasons the team at Acclimation has developed a series of ChatBots for SAP.
Suitable for a wide range of scenarios, Acclimation’s ChatBots for SAP can radically simplify the way in which you, your employees, and even your customers, complete tasks via SAP.
How it works
Acclimation’s ChatBots for SAP were developed leveraging the Microsoft Azure DevBot framework.
Essentially, the ChatBots enable SAP users to connect directly to SAP, and access SAP business processes, via a range of chat or social media platforms, including Microsoft Skype, Facebook Messenger WeChat.
Available chatbot processes include things like looking up pay slip information, submitting or approving leave applications, creating or approving purchase orders, or logging time against projects.
The ChatBots enable users to access SAP functional processes using chat from mobile devices, laptops or any internet-enabled device. They can even enable customers to engage with your business – by, for instance, performing a browse, query and order against your product catalogue with an easy-to-use conversation interface, or reducing your call centre queries by moving simple queries to automated agents.
Example: submitting a leave application via Skype
An everyday task, like creating a leave application, can be easily and quickly done with the help of an SAP ChatBot.
If an employee is already logged in to Skype for Business, for instance, they simply open a new chat window with the ChatBot and ask it how many days’ holiday leave they are currently owed. The ChatBot will connect to SAP, extract the information, and reply with a succinct answer via the chat window advising the number of days they have available.
With this information, the user can then ask the ChatBot to make a leave application on their behalf – and the ChatBot will ask for a few details regarding the type of leave, and the dates.
The user responds with the type of leave they want to take, clarifies the dates, and the ChatBot submits the leave application directly – without the employee once needing to navigate the SAP interface.
A range of ChatBots to suit your business
The above example is just one scenario that can be simplified and streamlined via an SAP ChatBot. Acclimation offers several ChatBots for various scenarios, across SAP ERP’s human resources, purchasing asset maintenance, payroll, order processing, stock control, ordering and more. The applications are endless.
Why Acclimation?
Acclimation is an SAP consulting and solution company, dealing exclusively in SAP and related technology. Founded in 2008 we have delivered successful SAP projects in some of Australia’s largest companies. Acclimation has won several awards for innovation and mobility and is known for its strong capabilities in the technical/functional areas of SAP.
We are passionate about humanising technology and helping businesses to tap into the power of SAP to revolutionise the way they work.
Find out more
If you’re interested in finding out how Acclimation’s SAP ChatBots can help your business, watch this short video to learn more about ChatBots and download a 30-day free trial here.
You can also contact the expert team at Acclimation on 1300 852 990 or visit acclimation.com/au/bots.
This article is sponsored by Acclimation. Cameron Sherrard is managing partner, Acclimation.
With over 25 years’ experience in IT, Cameron Sherrard spent 18 of those with SAP Australia; nine of those as a SAP Solution Architect and the following nine as an Account Director managing large enterprise and multinational organisations. As Account Director, Cameron managed complex sales of large SAP transformations including the first two SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) subscription contracts in the world.
In April 2016, Cameron joined Acclimation an Australian owned SAP gold certified Value Added Reseller (VAR) as Managing Partner. Acclimation provides SAP project and consulting services across Australia and Asia.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Acclimation also has offices in Adelaide, Sydney and Singapore. With 50+ consultants Acclimation specialises in SAP technology services, SAP functional Services, SAP upgrades (Including Business Suite and S/4 HANA), SAP Business Intelligence and SAP Re-Platforming into the cloud. Immediately after joining Acclimation Cameron made the strategic decision to partner with industrial public cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure and achieving Gold partner status. Acclimation has invested in Microsoft technologies services specifically Microsoft Azure Services, Microsoft SharePoint, Azure IoT and more recently the Microsoft DevBot Development framework building out a series of easy to use ChatBots for SAP.
