SAP Sales Cloud V2 meets artificial intelligence
The future of sales: AI-supported automation and deeper customer insights with SAP Sales Cloud V2
After taking a closer look at the day-to-day work of our sales representative Max in the last blog article, we would now like to have a look at the latest intelligent functions in SAP Sales & Service Cloud V2, but also look to the future and show what developments and innovations can still be expected according to the SAP roadmap. Particularly exciting are the technological advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which offer considerable added value for the sales force.
In addition to the smart functions already integrated in the new SAP Sales & Service Cloud, SAP’s CX AI Toolkit can add further intelligent features to provide users with an even more efficient and personalized experience. Some of the intelligent functions of the SAP Sales & Service Cloud use existing data in the system, including visits, activities and surveys. Other functions rely on modern technologies such as automatic text summaries or research on specific topics, which are becoming increasingly important.
The CX AI Toolkit extends these intelligent functions by integrating additional sources and SAP systems. This enables cross-system analysis and use of data. As the name “Toolkit” suggests, the software also allows users to create their own AI solutions, which can be made available to users – for example in the form of so-called AI agents.
The following image shows a simplified illustration of how the new SAP Sales & Service Cloud uses its intelligent functions.
The SAP functions known as “Intelligent Sales” are largely based on existing data. They are based on functions that use machine learning algorithms. These have also been available for the predecessor system of the Sales & Service Cloud for some time. They make it possible to identify patterns and findings from historical data and provide valuable insights for current leads or customer visits.
This blog focuses on the generative AI that is already used in the Sales & Service Cloud and on the SAP CX AI Toolkit. It also focuses on the sales process in the consumer goods industry.
SAP CX AI Toolkit
What is the SAP CX AI Toolkit?
The SAP CX AI Toolkit is a powerful set of tools that helps companies optimize the customer experience (CX) through the use of artificial intelligence and increase employee efficiency. This toolkit offers various functions that enable sales and service teams to automate and improve certain tasks. The toolkit is not only intended for the sales context, but is also used in e-commerce and the customer data area. It is therefore able to access data across systems, analyze it and make it available to the user – as required – with a focus on process-relevant information.
The predefined functions extend across all connected systems. For example, questions can be asked about products in commerce, summaries of visits and customers can be generated, and knowledge articles can be created for completed cases. Depending on which AI tool is used, there are system-specific advantages. For example, summarizing a visit report is particularly advantageous for the sales process.
Which systems can currently be connected?
In addition to the new SAP Sales & Service Cloud V2, the SAP Commerce Cloud and the SAP Customer Data Cloud can also be integrated. For those who have not yet made the switch, SAP Sales & Service Cloud V1 can also be connected.
In addition to the SAP systems mentioned above, data from non-SAP systems, such as Microsoft SharePoint or a Microsoft Azure object store, can also be used. The AI can also search through numerous company documents and answer the user’s questions via an interactive chat (see “Intelligent Q&A” below). A practical example would be a consumer asking about the ingredients of a specific product. This could be answered in the shortest possible time with the help of AI and the company’s existing nutritional value tables and sent to the consumer as a pre-formulated email (see also “generative AI” below).
How can the tool be used within the new SAP Sales & Service Cloud?
The CX AI Toolkit can be used embedded in the Sales & Service Cloud. This simplifies the use of the tool and is necessary for the context-dependent processing of data. With one click, the toolkit opens in the Sales & Service Cloud and the user can access the toolkit functions directly (see image below, right-hand side).
There are currently three functional areas to choose from – depending on the process being mapped:
Intelligent Q&A: Similar to modern chatbots, this function allows users to ask freely formulated questions. The answers are generated by an AI based on the data provided by the company. This can either come from a document repository such as Microsoft SharePoint or be obtained directly from the Sales & Service Cloud in the form of cases.
Smart Actions: The Smart Actions of the SAP CX AI Toolkit provide the user with valuable insights and concrete recommendations for action that are extracted from emails and appointments. They enable quick access to the latest emails with customers by providing a summary and description. This tool offers a variety of smaller functions in the form of actions and insights to facilitate the handling of customer emails. It creates a summary of the last email and past appointments, suggests possible answers to customer questions based on company documents and refers to documents mentioned. For example, if a ticket number is mentioned in an email, Smart Actions automatically displays this as a link. The only requirement is a connection via Microsoft 365.
AI Tools: Predefined intelligent tools are offered for selection here. The system offers a variety of such tools, which also use the corresponding context data from the system. For example, questions can be asked about your own products. The answer is in turn based on the stored company documents. The automatic summaries that can be created for a customer or a closed case, for example, are particularly helpful from an office staff perspective. Knowledge articles and a detailed overview of specific cases can be easily generated.
What other advantages are there in the context of the new SAP Sales & Service Cloud?
Recently, SAP officially made it possible to create your own AI agents – without any development effort. Integration into the CRM system is easy to implement. For example, when a case is created in the SAP Sales & Service Cloud, a categorization can be automatically determined via an AI agent.
Generative AI: Innovative functions for sales employees
Generative AI is revolutionizing the way sales employees will perform their tasks in the future. Several generative AI functions are directly integrated into SAP Sales & Service Cloud V2 to make the sales process more efficient.
Account Synopsis
This function enables sales employees to create a comprehensive report on individual customers. It provides sales representatives with a quick, consolidated view of relevant customer data, such as contact information, but also information about the product portfolio, current challenges, strategic direction and much more. This not only reduces the time needed for research, but also includes sales opportunities that might not have been considered before.
Lead Booster
This feature enables sales representatives to identify and evaluate potential leads faster. Lead Booster uses AI to identify the most promising information about leads or prospects to drive the deal forward. Similar to the “Account Synopsis” function in the customer, the tool derives so-called business targets based on the entries in the lead, e.g. selected products or the industry.
Email Draft Recommender
Generative AI supports the creation of emails. Sales employees receive context-related suggestions for email drafts that are tailored to the individual needs of customers. This not only saves a lot of time, but also improves the comprehensibility and structure of the emails.
Survey Trend Summary
This feature analyzes survey results and summarizes key trends and insights from a visit. It provides valuable insights, including a summary of the survey, recommendations and differences between the last three surveys from previous customer visits. At the time of writing this blog post, only checklist surveys are included – not product surveys (e.g. in the form of surveys), which are particularly relevant in the consumer goods industry – but this function still offers considerable potential.
In combination with the so-called “Pre-Visit Brief”, an automated summary of the visit (including notes, attached tasks and surveys as well as updates on the current appointment), the often time-consuming review of past visits is no longer necessary for the sales employee.
When a new customer visit is created, all relevant information about the appointment is automatically prepared and displayed directly in summarized form.
Conclusion
The further development of SAP Sales & Service Cloud V2 clearly shows that artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly central role in the optimization of sales processes.
While intelligent functions that are already available provide insights from existing data and deliver relevant results, there is still room for improvement, particularly in terms of language support and functional scope. For example, a mixture of German and English can be seen in some AI-generated summaries and in a few of the tools, the answers provided by AI are rather superficial and therefore not very useful. In some cases, only English is supported, such as in the “Brief information before the visit” function.
Many of the points are to be improved and functions expanded in the coming months. The SAP roadmap already shows that features such as the intelligent duplicate check and the “Perfect Store” approach will be added in future releases to make day-to-day sales even more efficient. The SAP Joule Copilot is particularly exciting – an AI-supported assistant that supports sales employees with proactive and context-related insights. Thanks to advanced algorithms for real-time analysis and intuitive voice and text interactions, Joule improves data accessibility and facilitates strategic decisions across all systems.
