This article is reproduced from the Oct-Nov-Dec 2014 issue of SAPinsider (SAPinsiderOnline.com). Read the entire special report on social collaboration. View this attachment (4th page) or visit SAPinsiderOnline.com.

Building Partner Networks with SAP Jam
by Rich Blumberg

Launching new products such as automobiles is both exciting and challenging, especially when you consider the complexity of connecting a manufacturer with its dealer network. Launch success depends on full visibility; timely training and certification; as well as clear sales, marketing, and go-to-market execution (see Figure 1). World Sales Solutions (WSS) understands the manufacturer-to-dealer complexity as this services organization is regularly called on to assist manufacturing and service companies in making these necessary connections.

WSS relies on the SAP Jam developer program to provide its customers with a social collaboration platform that bridges the gap between manufacturers and dealers with a central hub that:

• Brings together a company’s marketing, sales, service, and cross-team staff with external parties such as advertising agencies and key suppliers
• Provides formal learning and certification using SuccessFactors Learning Management System (LMS) or SAP Learning Solution
• Delivers informal learning (via SAP Jam) such as sales best practices among dealers or quick access to experts
• Onboards new partners and employees expediently to ensure the shortest time to revenue by optimizing SAP Jam
• Supports strategizing and decision making among the entire network for product innovation, including integration with SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM), SAP Cloud for Customer, or third-party innovation management systems
• Enables coordination among the entire network for product or new service launches, including large-scale activities requiring visibility into events, tasks, and deliverables

SAP Jam helps align companies with their partner networks to drive efficiencies that save time and money based on the volume and scalability of their network, boosting return on investment (ROI). To use auto manufacturing as an example, each dealer has the opportunity to access SAP Jam to engage with its local sales and service staff for receiving training, learning best practices, finding experts, keeping up with regulations, managing rollout of sales and marketing plans, and sharing feedback from customers.

“As a partner, the SAP Jam developer program presents market-first options for solving complex business problems such as enabling more successful automotive product launches,” says Richard Blumberg, President and CEO of WSS. “We can now create new work patterns or bring business data directly into SAP Jam from our customers’ existing SAP or third-party systems to support customer-specific processes. This has helped us position unique social collaboration services to our customers with a strong ROI.”