Case Study
SAP was preparing to launch CRM 7.0 with a dual mandate: produce rigorous user research validating genuine improvements in the new release, and generate findings credible enough to share externally. A global benchmark study was conducted across 120 participants in three regions — Americas, EMEA, and APJ — covering four sales roles, testing the pre-release version before go-to-market.
Company & Position
SAP, Global Senior Director, UX Consulting, Operations Board Area (2010)
Details
The research served two simultaneous purposes. Externally, findings would become part of SAP’s go-to-market story for CRM 7.0. Internally, they identified specific usability problems still fixable before launch. The search transaction within Opportunity Management was one: field order made searching error-prone, and the results layout made it difficult to identify the right record. Both were fixable quickly.
Actions
- Conducted a global benchmark study comparing CRM 3.0/4.0 against the pre-release 7.0 version across 120 participants, three regions, and four sales roles.
- Identified go-to-market highlights; communicated findings to executive and Board stakeholders for external use.
- Identified quick-win usability improvements to the search transaction; collaborated with IT to implement changes before launch.
- Presented findings in Lean Process Map format to the Chief Process Officer; secured approval and opened further engagement.
Outcome & Impact
- CRM 7.0 upgrade: 4,000 hours saved per month across 4,000 users — 23% faster opportunity creation, 26% faster updates. Perceived difficulty down 17%; satisfaction up 30%.
- Search transaction fix: ~2,000 hours saved annually across ~3,000 users; approximately $200K in bottom-line savings.
- Research findings became part of SAP’s external CRM 7.0 go-to-market story — quantified evidence of improvement shared with customers and the market.
- Engagement led to further ethnographic work across the organization in HR, Finance, and beyond.
You must be logged in to post a comment.