SAP Solution Brief

SAP Customer Relationship

Management

Channel partners have the

power to make or break your
business. To build a more
profitable and loyal indirect
channel, you need a partner
relationship management
solution that helps you
strengthen channel partner
ships and optimize channel
operations the SAP
Customer Relationship
Management application.

Partner Channel Management

Build Stronger Partnerships for
Stronger Profits

You depend on your channel partners.

Thats especially true today, because
indirect sales channels account for a
growing percentage of revenue for
many companies. But multitiered sales,
service, and marketing channels have
complex demand chains. That makes it
even more important for you to build
and maintain strong partnerships with
all your channel partners, including
dealers, distributors, agents, resellers,
and systems integrators.

Energize channel partner

relationships and enhance
every facet of your indirect
channel so you can attract,
retain, and motivate the
strongest partners with
SAP Customer Relationship
Management.

partner channel network and a more

profitable company.

Drive Demand, Collaboration,

and Value
Partner management functionality
enables you to better recruit, ramp up,
and manage channel partnerships
throughout the entire partner lifecycle.
SAP CRM helps streamline and optimize
channel operations, resulting in a more
profitable and loyal indirect channel.
Channel marketing functionality helps
you drive demand through channel
partners. SAP CRM provides relevant
information, marketing tools, and incen
tives to channel partners, which help
you motivate your partners to sell your
products and services and not your
competitors.

Channel sales functionality empowers

your partners to sell more products more
effectively. SAP CRM enables you to
give your partners access to the same
knowledge, tools, and expert advice
The SAP Customer Relationship
that your own sales force uses. And
Management (SAP CRM) application
helps you leverage your partner relation with insight into demand across all your
ships and empower channel partners so sales channels, you can forecast future
business more effectively.
they can better market to, sell to, and
provide service to your end customers.
Partner order management functionality
SAP CRM provides access to critical
partner-related data so you can forecast helps you optimize partner ordering pro
cesses and increase visibility into chan
and recognize demand across all sales
channels. You can enhance collaboration nel inventory. SAP CRM helps to inte
grate your partners into your e-business
with your partners, drive more revenue
strategy and enables collaborative selling
through the channel, increase value to
customers, and reduce channel support across organizational boundaries.
costs. The end result? A more profitable

Channel service functionality enables

you to turn service and problem resolu
tion over to your partners and still pro
vide consistent, timely service to end
customers. SAP CRM equips your
partners with the tools and expertise
they need to manage service.

Everything You Need to Succeed

With SAP CRM, you can manage all
aspects of indirect channels and seam
lessly incorporate your partners into all
aspects of your business marketing,
sales, service, and e-business building
a partner network that boosts your
bottom line.
Partner lifecycle management
Register, profile, and monitor your part
ners so you can manage them through
out the partner lifecycle. With consistent
processes from recruitment through
ramp-up, your partners and you are on
the same page.
Partner training Make sure that your
partners are prepared to represent you.
They can register for and take courses
online, request certification, and main
tain qualifications. You can manage
partner qualifications and certifications
down to individual employees at each
partner company.
Partner planning and forecasting
With tools for planning sales and strate
gies, you can set goals and measure
partner progress against those goals.
With tools for analyzing your sales
pipeline, your partners and you can
evaluate future revenue based on open
sales transactions.

Partner communication Drive part

ner effectiveness and foster loyalty by
providing personalized and timely infor
mation. You can target content to part
ners via e-mail or their partner portal
home page. In addition, partners can
search an online library for information
and tools.
Lead management Capture, route,
and manage sales leads, directing each
lead to the best-fit channel and partner.
SAP CRM handles lead generation and
qualification, automated lead distribution,
and ongoing monitoring of partner leads.
Collaborative campaign management
Design, manage, track, and optimize
targeted marketing campaigns. You
can work with partners to generate
demand by enabling them to leverage
your processes and expertise to
increase campaign impact. Partners
can tailor campaigns with their own
branding, product mix, pricing, and
target customers as well as adapt and
personalize e-mails to end customers.
Channel marketing funds Streamline
channel marketing programs (market
development funds, co-op, and so on),
increase the effectiveness of channel
marketing expenditures, and help ensure
legal compliance of funding practices.
Partners use self-service functions to
submit and track fund requests and
associated claims.
Loyalty partner management
Leverage loyalty partners to generate
incremental revenue and increase the
value of loyalty programs to members.
Loyalty-program members can earn

Work in close harmony

with your critical part
ner organizations and
build a collaborative
and a more profitable
partner channel net
work and a more
profitable company.
and redeem points for loyalty partner
products and services. In addition,
loyalty partners can register new
members online and track the accrual
and settlement of points.
Partner locator Enable your custom
ers to easily locate a store, reseller, or
service location. They can research
products and services on the Web and
then find a convenient partner location.
Opportunity management Gain
complete visibility into each prospective
sale and support consistent sales
methodologies. You can collaborate
with your partners to capture, manage,
and monitor business contacts and
account information of opportunities.

Interactive selling and configuration

Guide customers and partners to the
right solutions with online product con
figuration tools especially important
for complex, configurable products with
multiple options. Partners can access
multimedia content, guided selling, con
figuration advice, and real-time pricing.
Pricing and contracts Offer consis
tent, accurate pricing across all channels
with support for price lists, tiered
pricing, contract pricing, special quotes,
discounts, and contracts. You can
establish pricing rules, processes, and
data centrally and deploy them across
all selling channels.
Point of sale and channel inventory
Capture and reconcile point-of-sale
(POS) information from distributors and
retailers and track inventories held by
channel partners to enhance channel
visibility. You can execute what-if analy
ses to predict the impact of pricing
changes with respect to price protec
tion programs.
Quotation and order management
Enable partners to quote and order
products and services online for them
selves and on behalf of end customers
and track orders through fulfillment.
Collaborative showroom and distrib
uted order management Host a Web
shop for collaborative online sales and
marketing, giving customers a single
point of access to purchase products
from the entire partner network. You
can optimize your ordering processes
with support for distributed order
management.

Service management Enable partners

to manage service requests, complaints,
and returns to better support their end
customers without relying on your
support staff.

Partner and Channel Analytics

SAP CRM provides a broad range of
standard reports and analyses that help
you evaluate partner coverage, partner
and channel performance, revenue and
sales, the return on partner investments,
partner gross margins, and partner utili
zation. You can share relevant reports
and analyses with channel partners.

Customized Portals for Partners

and Channel Employees
With SAP CRM, you can build personal
ized portals for partners so they can
access information and business
transactions.
Using their portal, channel managers
can oversee all partner-related activities.
They can manage partner relationships,
collaborate with partners, and optimize
channel operations. They can also
monitor and analyze channel sales,
service, and marketing performance.
Partners access all of the power of
SAP CRM from the partner portal
self-service functions, information,
business transactions, and powerful
analytical functionality. Partners can
download and order collateral and docu
mentation, enroll in training courses,
and receive notification of upcoming
promotions. They can also receive
leads, purchase products, track orders,
and access support information.

You Succeed When Your Channel

Partners Succeed
A thriving partner channel is critical to
your companys success. SAP CRM
helps you enhance every facet of your
indirect channel so you can attract,
retain, and motivate your channel
partners. With SAP CRM, you can:
Increase value to customers because
they receive consistent information
and service across all channels
Drive revenue and optimize your
channel strategy with full visibility into
customer demand and market trends
Optimize your price and inventory mix
with full visibility into channel inven
tory and resale information
Drive channel sales by working
collaboratively with channel partners
Enhance the performance of your
supply and demand chain by making
all product, inventory, and customer
information available in real time for
channel partners
Reduce channel support costs by
empowering partners with self-service
functions

For More Information

Discover for yourself how SAP CRM
can help you attract, retain, and moti
vate your channel partners. Contact
your SAP representative today or visit
our Web site at www.sap.com/crm.

Quick facts

www.sap.com /contactsap

Summary
With the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application, you can man
age your indirect channel and seamlessly incorporate your partners into all aspects of your
business across marketing, sales, and service building a partner network that boosts
your bottom line.
Business Challenges
Manage growing channel complexity
Deal with an increasingly competitive marketplace, which raises the importance of your
partner ecosystem
Meet customer demands for consistent treatment across channels
Fulfill partner requirements for simplified yet powerful solutions that make it easy to do
business with you
Key Features
Partner management Better recruit, ramp up, and manage channel partners throughout
the entire partner lifecycle
Channel marketing Drive demand for products by engaging in collaborative marketing
and demand generation activities with your partners
Channel sales Empower your partners to sell more products more effectively by giving
them the same knowledge, tools, and expert advice as your direct sales force
Partner order management Optimize partner ordering processes, increase visibility into
channel inventory, and enable collaborative selling across organizational boundaries
Channel service Deliver consistent and timely service to end customers by enhancing
service and problem resolution capabilities of partners
Partner and channel analytics Gain insight into, analyze, and act on your indirect
channel operations and trends, resulting in more profitable and successful partnerships
Business Benefits
Improved ease of doing business to help ensure partner loyalty and success
Extended marketing reach through comarketing programs
Increased revenue through channel collaboration and consistency
Optimized price and inventory mix with transparent channel inventory and resale
information
Lowered channel support costs by empowering partners with self-service functions
Find Out More

To find out how SAP CRM can help you drive sales through your channel partners, contact your
SAP representative or visit our Web site at www.sap.com/crm.

50 063 332 (10/04)

2010 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign,
Clear Enterprise, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, and other SAP
products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective
logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in
Germany and other countries.
Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects,
Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and
other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein
as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered
trademarks of SAP France in the United States and in other countries.
All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of
their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves
informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.
These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials
are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies (SAP Group)
for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of
any kind, and SAP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions
with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP Group
products and services are those that are set forth in the express
warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if
any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty.