Is your company's GenAI strategy setting you up for success? What is the safest way to transition to GenAI without risking investments, operations, or brand perception? Our expert answers this and more.
Generative AI is transforming how companies operate, deal with customers and grow. However, the sustainability aspect of GenAI investments is still uncharted territory. Though the short term results have been promising, they are also indicating a potential steep spike in risks and investments in the mid and long term. So how do leaders ensure a robust return on investment while maintaining a competitive edge and safety bulwarks?
Our expert Rakshith Madhav Shetty explores the pros and cons of multiple implementation strategies available ranging from in-house development to outsourcing services to 3rd party providers. He weighs these options against the solution provided by SAP.
His insights might help you make informed decisions on your GenAI investments.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Generative AI Integration
A 2024 Gartner study compartmentalized data initiatives into three broad categories: off-the-shelf, prompt engineering and custom. In the off-the-shelf models, the user simply needs to input the prompt in an existing model. The second model is built over a foundational model, allowing companies to “use public services while protecting IP and leveraging private data to create more precise, specific and useful responses.” The third model involves tuning the existing foundational model.
All three models carry their unique resourcefulness. Given the skyrocketing demand for these models, many providers have sprung up offering various levels of services. Some charge a fortune. The requirements of high computational power make in-house AI extensively investment-heavy.
So how do you choose the right model for your team, something that makes sense not only in the short term but also is sustainable in the long run?
Short term results are rolling in. The majority of businesses that have already experimented or are planning to experiment with GenAI report positive sentiments.
However, there are caveats to this analysis. Leaders who have invested heavily in the short term might gain quick wins. This is attributed to short term productivity gains and early adopters’ competitive benefit. But what happens once the market reaches an equilibrium of adoption? When your competitor is delivering the same levels of services?
At this stage, innovators will have to wait for the arrival of lower-cost options. This period can be crucial owing to higher associated costs, complexity, risks and difficult-to-quantify hard financial returns. Post that, major differentiation will stem from transformative initiatives.
Generative AI and SAP Sales Cloud Version 2
Tech providers like SAP bridge the gap between technology, risk and sustainability. They've been at the front-seat of tech innovations, covering and fine-tuning the length and breadth of sustainable applications.
SAP emerges as the standout choice for businesses seeking to leverage the power of Generative AI without compromising on security, scalability, or integration.
SAP has been one of the earliest adopters of GenAI. For sales, its suite of next-gen tools like guided selling, intelligent sales predictions, forecast tracker, playbooks and analytics, enable sellers to focus on the most productive task i.e. selling.
Lead Generation and Conversion
With predictive lead scoring, AI can predict the leads with a higher likelihood of converting into a customer. Sales teams can prioritize their efforts towards high-potential leads. Once these targets are zoned in, AI can recommend relevant products or services based on past purchases. GenAI can also help you Identify new market opportunities and potential revenue streams.
POC: SAP Sales Cloud Version 2 users have reported 2x higher lead conversion rates due to faster response time to buyers. A leading musical instrument manufacturer gained a 50% increase in its email revenue in one year.
Customer Engagement
GenAI can deliver a high level of personalization with predictive insights. It can create highly tailored content and interactions that resonate with individual preferences and behaviors. From simple product recommendations, to personalized marketing messages, dynamic website content, to customized customer service interactions, AI can keep your customer engaged at every journey point.
GenAI can also guide product development with insights into your customer preferences and market trends, helping you create offerings that meet market demand. It can help you adapt quickly to market changes and innovate faster.
GenAI driven customer engagement sales strategies lead to an increase in sales and revenue, customer loyalty and long-term profitability.
POC:SAP Sales Cloud Version 2’s users have reported upto 75% less effort responding to customer queries.
Sales Forecasting
GenAI can analyze extensive sales data, uncover hidden patterns and predict future behaviors. With real-time information and right insights, you can engage with customers proactively, addressing potential issues and offering relevant suggestions at the right time. Predictive analytics can also help in optimizing marketing strategies, improving customer retention, and increasing lifetime value.
POC: A payments service provider gained 2x increasing in forecasting management efficiency.
Sales Operations
GenAI can summarize account and lead details. It can help draft compelling emails using case and opportunity context, create discovery questions, emails, and more with prompts built for sales teams. You can automate routine tasks, freeing up your team to focus on high-value activities and drive more revenue. Automation also reduces operational costs and increases efficiency. You can serve customers with a single generative AI layer powered by data from across your SAP products.
POC: One global automotive industry player achieved 70% cost savings and 30% faster service request processing for their Accounts payable shared-services teams. In another case study, deploying SAP’s inbuilt co-pilot Joule resulted in 95% faster access to search information and 90% faster execution of navigation and transactional tasks.
SAP plans to release the following features in its upcoming releases: post visit brief, Joule integration, sales quote generation from a request email, automatic suggestion of questions in surveys, contact summary, and order insights.
Concluding thoughts
With rising operational excellence, customer expectations are rising too. B2B customers now expect a B2C level of hyper-personalization. As technologies gather more and more data on consumer behavior and preferences, the focus now shifts to new ways of thinking and using data for sales, and building competitive advantage rather than collecting info.
Integrating Generative AI into SAP Sales Cloud V2 empowers businesses to operate more efficiently, make data-driven decisions, and deliver personalized customer experiences. These enhancements collectively drive a stronger bottom line, higher ROI, significant business impact, and unlocked profit potential.
While modalities may vary, GenAI is here to stay. Resource and budget efficient organizations may opt for in-house capabilities, but the associated risks and costs may spike up with time.
Opting for 3rd party apps can put your customer data and business info at theft risk.
SAP’s Sales Cloud Solution mitigates the risks and the associated costs. Its capabilities address every stage of development without being heavy on the pocket. They evolve and scale up with your changing business needs. SAP also innovates its offerings continuously, ensuring the solution exceeds the market saturation benchmark.
If you are a small or midsize business with limited risk and cost appetite, SAP Sales Cloud Version 2 might be the best choice for you—at least in the short run.
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