CAS and CURSOR – two CRM providers/manufacturers with quality and vision

CAS and Cursor, two CRM providers: I’ve known the two gentlemen for a very long time. Both are primordial rocks in their companies. Andreas Lange once inspired me many years ago at a CRM Expo when I asked him a question that he could customize from the system in just a few minutes. And Marcus Baer is – just like Andreas – a charming companion, creative thinker.

Here are the two short videos video excerpt 1 and video excerpt 2 with the most important statements from the very entertaining interview.

I invited them both to a conversation, which took place via web conference. We had so much fun exchanging ideas that we could safely do so with a glass of wine or beer or… will be repeated live soon.

What exactly was the interview of the two executives about?

Don’t let the usual suspects Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, SugarCRM, Oracle or Hubspot speak, but the big ones “among the slightly smaller ones”.

CAS and Cursor – two CRM providers/manufacturers with quality and vision

In the 45 minutes we have set different priorities. We have packed or cut the topics into packages as follows:

Video 1 – What’s new, what are new functionalities?

Video 2 – Development speed in the software market is increasing – how do you react to this? What is really important?

Video 3 – What has been added in the last 12 months? What is right for the respective customer? Reprise of the topic of information availability and data quality and the topic of BI integration in CAS or cursor

CAS and cursor – two CRM providers

Video 4 – Continued Integration of Business Intelligence, Integration of ERP. The art of relationship management not only with prospects and customers, but also with suppliers (keyword XRM).

Video 5 – A good CRM also helps to significantly shorten the onboarding phase of a new employee. During the introduction and use of crm, a relationship manual is developed in parallel that provides the best services for everyone. How do I turn employees into fans?

Video 6 – How do cursors and CAS deal with the current transition to SAP/4Hana for many companies? The transition to SAP/4Hana is also an opportunity to cut off old braids and define new processes.

Video 7 – CRM and eCommerce – How do the two gentlemen see the results of the Omikron study? Personalization and individualization, how do operational CRM and service portals combine?

Video 8: – Outlook: Salesforce BOSS Benioff says: Slack First. What do Andreas Lange and Marcus Baer think about this? How can you make the most of today’s tools? Users want to work with teams, another with Zoom? Here, the two products CAS genesisWorld and CURSOR are open. They are both broadly positioned. Your core message: What is the most important thing for our customers? What does that look like? This can be heard in the video.

CAS and Cursor two CRM providers/manufacturers with quality and vision.

more information about CAS can be found here.

more information about CURSOR can be found here

 

The whole interview in text form:

Part 1: What’s new?

Georg Blum

Yes, dear Andreas, dear Markus, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview today. I greet you again very warmly, I’ll start with Andreas briefly: Hello Andreas!

Andreas Lange

Greet you, yes from here, finally again in the office here at the giessen location of Cursor Software AG, when I look out of the window, 22 degrees cloudy, but dry is important.

Georg Blum

Very pretty. Markus, what’s the weather like for you? Hello!

Marcus Bär

Hello, Marcus Bär, from CAS Software in Karlsruhe. The mood is better than the weather with us, because it has just rained with us, and really, but we make the best of it. Therefore, a little cooling off does not hurt with all the topics that are currently on our minds.

Georg Blum

I can’t complain about the weather, but we’ve already had mixed weather today. In this respect, everything is included. Um, yes. We have set ourselves a few topics so that first of all there is also a very, very nice topic to get started. Which favorite customers are you currently dealing with? Andreas, what activities have you been doing in recent weeks and months?

Andreas Lange

Georg, first of all I have to say of course we only have favorite customers. To highlight one as special, I would not know who to call there. No, but fun on the side. So in fact it is the case that we have some customers in the energy industry, who of course give us many new ideas. Legal requirements that have to be mapped to a certain extent, where we really have a lot of fun, with them to enter into new ideas and new functionalities together. I’ll say what always makes a special appeal for us are the new customer projects. And fortunately, we have also won one or the other in the past. And with such a new customer project, such a central question is always: How much STANDARD does the customer allow in STANDARD functionality and how much individualization is required? And the good thing for us is: ok, we can score points in both areas with STANDARD functionalities, but also a high degree of flexibility in terms of flexibility or individualization. And for us, of course, it is always the customers, ours, the ones who share their innovative ideas with us and possibly also get involved in so-called cursor development communities and are a guarantee that really a market-oriented and a customer-oriented product development can take place. For example, just in recent months, we have implemented a business partner qualification with Creditreform together with five customers. The entire cursor community has benefited from this and it is a STANDARD integration that works almost out of the box.

Georg Blum

So a beautiful template already fits for Markus, because it is at least from my last conversations with you, if we the topic of company database or you have developed another term for it. But this is also an innovation that you have developed with your customers.

Marcus Bär

So exactly this is the company dossier, the networking of companies to recognize where the shareholders are, what mother-daughter relationship is. It is very important that you have that. Of course, it is best to have the sales, the annual financial statements with one click. That’s something we offer here. But I just want to go back very briefly. I would have answered similarly to Andreas’ favorite customers. It’s like your favorite kid that you try to avoid. And we also have a very clear focus, namely on indirect sales. This means that they are also added and thus we are very broad, very heterogeneous. This is precisely the strength of CAS with all the solutions, in turn to enter markets with experts in the regions. And now, when I just look back a few weeks, at the beginning of the month, for example, we had a great event with DATEV together to the tax consultant, auditor and law firms, where you can also find the recommended CRM solution in the area. I find the industry around associations, clubs, business associations or Bioland as one of our reference customers very exciting. So very, very many. Now just a few mentioned. But I also find this proximity to the market, i.e. the topic, exciting. We also have a partner advisory board, a customer advisory board, in order to be on the pulse of the times, to get this feedback directly and to always have this field of tension. Of course, a new customer is very important: achieving joint potential, implementation project and together with our partners but also in the existing building. Since it is super important to look man, how can I achieve a little more every time. And this topic, which is also my passion, to discuss directly with the partners, with the customers, to advance. It’s just fun. And that’s something that we’re doing very, very well here together in the entire ecosystem. And then it is not so important now to pick out a point customer, but simply to always look at what we can do, that our customers can develop better, be even more successful. That is a task that I see with us.

Georg Blum

Which I think is absolutely great now. We have agreed on many things in advance in the direction of: What key questions do we have? But you have now both independently or Andreas started with the topic of address and data quality. That immediately fills my heart, so to speak. If it is already in the foreground, then the customer orientation so I can only say super! The occupation with the customer is actually also what is developed in the sense of spearhead. But at the back there are a lot of existing customers who say Hey, this is a cool idea, I can now also install. Therefore, you are both in the same mindset, but ultimately Andreas develops more with Cursor for the energy sector and Markus more for the classic medium-sized companies, which are not in the energy sector. These things say, so to speak. On the subject of development, that would rather be my deeper question. Over the past few years, when I look at Scott Brinker’s MarTech Landscape, I feel like it’s grown and grown and grown. This year he even said I don’t develop any more on paper or as a document, because there are simply more products and it is even more difficult to handle them.

Part 2: Market development

Georg Blum

The speed of development is increasing extremely. How does a medium-sized software house like you react to the fact that it also covers these facets, e.g. in collaboration? That’s a very hot topic at the moment.

Marcus Bär

I think it’s just important to have this agility and adaptivity today.That is why we distinguish ourselves here again and also to anticipate what customer needs there may already be tomorrow. I didn’t think at the time that the iPhone would become that bringer, but there are people who believe in it. And for us, it is also very, very important that we have these innovators, these pioneers somewhere. We consciously have groups and units with us, which are also called Future Labs, which simply go in this direction, directly with management level and I think that also means being very close to the market. Of course, my example with customer advisory board and partner advisory board is also part of it. And I think especially in the last 15 months the momentum has been so tremendous, it hasn’t been anything new. Digitalization was already the topic before. But we have all found that someone who is well positioned comes through this time better can align better, higher efficiency. And that’s why you also notice the pressure of digitization and the opportunities and the pressure to introduce CRM solutions, preferably from the local country here digitally sovereign solutions from CAS, but also of course from Cursor. From a point of view, they then also make a distinction on the market. To the market competitors.

Georg Blum

I’ll pass the baton on to you, Andreas. We had a conversation with you and a board colleague a year ago, where you also said, how do you react to Corona? Relatively short-term, so to speak, certain things built in. And that’s certainly no longer the stand you presented a year ago, or has probably evolved enormously, I suppose.

Andreas Lange

So the first one was of course and I agree with you, Markus absolutely right. Due to this status, which we already have with regard to the digitization of processes, it was really easy for us to deal with the situation of home office and such things. Our Cursor building was empty within 24 hours and there were still two people in the building. That was the administration somehow, which was indispensable and the headquarters that was staffed to receive the mail. The rest worked out all from home and it worked well, because we use our own CRM solution to a certain extent and of course have digitized the processes accordingly. In addition, we actually try for our customers. And Markus makes it possible to place new topics through this customer advisory board. We have launched so-called Innovation Days, where we can really add new ideas that are not yet completely finished, simply as an impulse. To determine what is the feedback? Does it make sense to think further in this direction or are you much too early with the topic? Or maybe it is not an issue at all to verify this and to enter into the further development accordingly. So these are the measures that we then take there in order to participate in this, indeed in this speed of innovation in a really focused goal-oriented way and not to develop something just because it’s trendy, but we always have to verify. Is it really something that benefits our customers, our market, our partners accordingly?

Georg Blum

That’s a great keyword, I know that. So I can only underline It makes no sense to just run after every sow that is driven through the village. But it has to fit in at the end. Either in your assortment or in your portfolio, depending on how you look at it. But I think that’s also very important. So as a hint also for our listeners today that we simply take with us. There is an incredible amount to develop outside of developments, but it is also important to select What is really important for me? What is important for my customers? Therefore, thank you very much for this beautiful keyword.

Part 3: What has been added in the last 12 months?

Georg Blum

But if you now perhaps get involved again in a very concrete way, what are the examples? Andreas, where you say this has now been added in the last 12 / 15 months in terms of new features, whether that’s a module, a plugin, add-on or whatever you want to call it, is something. What new things are there?

Andreas Lange

So clearly, through these innovation days we have placed topics and for us it has become important again and again that there are existing special solutions on the market that somehow exist and also have a skill to provide the information in the CRM system. So everyone strives for the 360 degree view and it is just necessary that integration to special solution is simply produced. And we have just put such tools in the direction of marketing automation accordingly with Evalanche, with Inxmail, such things with expanded or communication platforms. We reacted very quickly to the situation with Teams and have now created a Teams integration in version 21.1, with which you are able to create Teams invitations, Teams phone calls from the CRM system. These were the important points that we have placed there and in the field of the energy industry we are currently focusing more on the customer service processes, the B2C business and in this context we have developed our own module to form a survey module in online survey scenario, and thus get a bit away from isolated solution, that you just say Okay, I can start a customer survey from the CRM system with my own survey module and the results ideally flow right back into the system. So these are such essential examples that now create a benefit for our users in their daily business. We have another module, which is interesting the Cursor Test Studio when it comes to performing automated CRM processes and functional testing. This is something that we have sharpened again together with a customer. And of course, the module brings real added value, because who likes to test. So I don’t know about you. So I’m not that much of a tester, I have to admit honestly.

Georg Blum

I grew up that way to just shout it in. In 1990 I had my first phase of life with Yves Rocher in my professional life and that’s when I was brought up, according to the motto test, test, test. And then I really got that with breast milk. But well, today is not about me.  Marcus what is the highlight of the last 12, 13, 15 months?

Marcus Bär

12, 13, 14, 15? So I actually have a hard time, sometimes. I’ll try to pick out my personal highlight. I found it very exciting. Andreas, you also mentioned names. Examples with surveys, with marketing automation, which have actually been there with us for some time, which of course got a dynamic last year, again questionnaires event, in this case then online again, so to record feedback then also. But also the topic of marketing automation or mailings in general, these are topics that we already have. It was about helping customers to use it in the best possible way. For us a very big topic or a topic, of course Microsoft Teams. Of course, we have already said that I think we can tick that off. That is important. But also others. If the need is that you can connect this with these open interfaces, which we simply bring with us, together with our partners, these are the aspects, but company dossier, you said, is one of the highlights for me, because I can simply go to cursors here in our system, for example, I see the interdependencies, Affiliates. I see company structures, I can see the annual financial statements and many, many more key figures and of course go even further with additional earnings. For me, this is something where I can make great use of the situation, the potentials, but also the network potential. And we have introduced our solution in such a way that you have different calls per user per month free of charge and then with the small Obolus, when it gets really much. And yes, so the other thing is of course I still love to be on the road. So I like to test driving, train driving, gastronomy, the mobile solution. I can work from anywhere, web access, mobile access, these are the topics that we bring with us and I need support. And there we have significantly expanded our digital assistants again, where you also say, we are also talking very slowly about AIA, so Artificial Intelligence Assistants and these are aspects that I just really say, that helps the user the mailing assistant, that helps the user the sales opportunity, the buying center and all these topics, they are part of it for me. And in my role I’m a fan of cockpits, visualization of all the topics. What about service? What about sales? What about the project team? These are such themes that I have and that’s why it’s such a whole bouquet of flowers. And the nice thing about it is that I see from time to time that every customer is different. We come from the STANDARD. You can configure it very easily, these updates security provided. But as a customer, I can choose what is right for me, what I need right now and where I put the focus. And for me, this flexibility is one of these highlights in the area of adjustments and configuration.

Georg Blum

So I have to praise you both now extremely. From my point of view, you have just described all the things that run somewhere under the buzzword Customer Experience or User Experience, but you have not used it. That’s why I find it very commendable that you didn’t have to tick the boxes for once. I think that’s great. I also think again what Andreas said earlier with the Creditreform story, that you just address data- qualification, -assessment who do I have in front of me? Is this now a customer, where I may have to adjust payment methods a little differently? So insofar as this shows for me already extremely, that the topic of information plays a very, very important role and also the availability Marcus, you called Dashboard, or Cockpit. I myself am in the BI field, at that time it was called database marketing differently, but I grew up in the BI environment and almost also at Yves Rocher and topic BI I also have the feeling that is becoming more and more important. But above all, the integration into CRM is important from my point of view. So not as an isolated data silo in the sense of I analyze and think about how I can then maybe transfer it to automation or how I can transfer it to CRM for campaigns how is there with you at the moment? Which solved the question How to integrate BI on cursor or how to integrate BI on CAS?

Marcus Bär

Andreas do you want first? So I find the topic of BI very exciting. So such a headline that goes from to as with marketing automation. So what we bring with us as standard are typical reports in the cockpit and dashboards. This is something I can do my ad hoc evaluation. I can also look, how was it in the past? Where are my forecasts? And all this at the push of a button. And that helps companies extremely, especially in medium-sized companies. To have this picture and also to know where do I go now? And the next thing is of course there are still tools, which can maybe just do more here. In other words, typical BI systems. There is also the possibility to integrate something like this. Nowadays totally easy with webapps and, so I really have the possibilities in the CRM interface. As a rule, BI solutions tend to be used less in companies. Most people want to see the reports, the cockpits. Or the differentiation that I have here from BI is something where I say, you get a connection, an integration. But Report comes with us as STANDARD.

Andreas Lange

So from the cursor side, I can only say, I’m very close to Marcus and CAS because we have a similar approach. So on the one hand, I would always differentiate when it comes to reporting and BI, there are two aspects that one is actually to have the focus for the user. And that’s exactly where we work with these standardized dashboards, which are designed specifically for user groups, but which can still be individualized to a certain extent, which then really support the user in his day-to-day business, the key figures reporting that he needs in order to be able to work optimized. And the second aspect is when it comes to evaluating different data pots, because our dashboards are primarily aimed at evaluating the data available from the system CRM system. But if you have to tap into several data pots, then a BI is usually used and of course we also provide the information via the corresponding interface technologies. And you still have the possibility to display the spots from BI in the CRM crm system via the functionalities WebView technology, so the user must necessarily change the application. As I said, there are only two different areas of application. As I said, the classic CRM user or the user who then uses dashboards for her day-to-day business and those who then really want to get into the analysis topic and then get more out of it. And that’s where we have the approach. STANDARD If the STANDARD is not enough, we integrate.

Part 4: Continuation of Integration of Business Intelligence, Integration of ERP

Georg Blum

But you both have tons of BI tools, but you have both in your systems. I’ll probably say preferred partnerships, but otherwise you’re still open to other tools, because sometimes in the end. Sometimes you meet customers who have had a BI tool for 20 years, they don’t want to replace it. But it’s not your preferred partner, but you still integrate it accordingly. I think that’s completely normal

Marcus Bär

Yes, I think the message is important and I heard that from Andreas. We bring a lot from the STANDARD, from our products. Basically, you can extend it, integrate it. And here I think one thing is also very important, that the customer also has the freedom of choice to say here and elsewhere I already have a solution, I would like to have it integrated here or I am currently choosing something. And that’s something we think we’re doing quite well. I think both can offer together. And therefore this freedom is quite elementary, that the same is with ERP solution I do not want to say, you must always have exactly this ERP solution with us. Of course, there are some who may be more or less integrated again. It depends, but as a customer I want to find exactly the solution that is right for me now. This makes a difference whether I am in the energy sector, in production or in this case at my law firm. These are corresponding to different requirements. And yet I still want to have the opportunity, even if I change later, to connect a great CRM. And this via simply via STANDARD possibilities, whereby here also have corresponding frameworks.

Georg Blum

A few years ago, I provocatively said why CRM came about at all, because ultimately an ERP software usually did not bring this customer orientation into it. That is, so to speak, the reason why the topic exists today in the first place. That’s why I’m honest. If I look back over the last 10 to 15 years, one thing has actually been shown that CRM providers are often the more innovative because they ultimately do the things that customers, but also affect the user, try to solve. Sometimes it works better, sometimes it works less well, but usually this is the intention of a software manufacturer or implementer. And keyword ERP ultimately at the end of this somewhat sluggish, perhaps somewhat standardized product a bit pimped up and say Okay, the calculation may still take place in SAP. But Andreas, you said that I still stay in the CRM and access the ERP from the interface and then continue to use candidates in the CRM and can perhaps make an offer, what I have calculated, chic. I can send it then, right? That’s actually the feel-good character of this integrated solution today, isn’t it?

Andreas Lange

So I see it the same way. And an example now again from our core market. We are increasingly moving forward with classic processes that were anchored in an ERP that had a bit to do with CRM. We develop STANDARD B2C process templates, which then agree on the lowest common denominator from many customer projects in a basic template. And due to the fact that we have the connectors to the most diverse billing systems, which are not yet widespread, the customer actually has the flexibility to go according to this best of breed approach. I practically have a process here in CRM that works and which billing system is then positioned there, I am not quite stuck yet. I can act flexibly and especially in the field of the energy industry it will be hotly debated at the moment. Stop through the information from ISU regarding the life cycle and the availability of the product. Many companies are looking for alternatives. And then the topic of CRM suddenly plays an important role. If you just say I have here a customer service process that works standardized in CRM and the billing system, which depends on it, can be replaced.

Marcus Bär

I find it exciting that Georg said, the more innovative, so I also feel honored somewhere. I think a relevant point is that CRM means customer relationship management or customer relationship management. We do more. It often comes to the topic of XRM. So there are customers, partners, suppliers, interested parties, employees, co-creators and much, much more. And I believe that the topic is now completely on the relationships, relationship management, somewhere the emotionality again in it. And with the ERP, of course, it is also possible or with the core vendor, debtor is a different view and a different dynamic, sometimes and also other tasks. I think we can sometimes be freer in CRM and with us it starts again very early in the initiation and we with our areas. We also do in the area of configuration. We also have a configuration solution for medium-sized companies and large companies. This integration into CRM is also an issue for us, which we have here in the house, with or without you can also decide, but we can start before and then there is a decision-making process and then the data is over there as a debtor. But before that, I already have the information of the configuration, the delivery capabilities, all sorts of things maybe in the CRM. In terms of licensing, I also find it important in both directions that you still pay attention to such rules of the game. But this is about ergonomics for the user. So you called Customer Experience. But I also mean this application experience and this user experience is very important, because if I don’t have fun with it and that’s very important today. If I came to a company and I didn’t have CRM. I’ve been doing this for a few years now. How am I supposed to do my job?

Part 5: A good CRM also helps to significantly shorten the onboarding phase of a new employee

Georg Blum

The exciting thing is that we currently have a customer, that’s six billion companies, who has, the project manager, that’s the key account and global key account manager, who said with this project he also expects that this so-called training phase in their business, when new employees come, that it will then be significantly shortened. Today, the new employee had to collect data here and there and here and there and somewhere. If this company has then switched to a CRM, then this data search is no longer there. The information is already better prepared, prepared than he expects, that this training period is easily reduced by half. I think that is quite realistic.

Marcus Bär

Definite. So with us with the projects, our partners always go along with it. It’s nice when a kind of customer relationship manual is created. How important is the customer to me? What is my job with it? And you can also write this down as part of the introduction, are very simple questions More and more there is a new co-creator, new co-creator. And there I say look in there, there I have that and there you have used appropriate instruction how to use the system. The best is still very intuitive. I mean, you already have the enthusiasm at the beginning that you have come somewhere. Where you say man, I am also there as an employee, I also have a value. And that’s what it’s all about when you talk about sources, to have also called this buzzword. This is. It’s about attracting and retaining the best people. And I also have to say how can you do your job best? How can you develop your potential in the best possible way in the sense that you can generate this with your customers?

Andreas Lange

Incidentally, another trend that we are now pushing into focus in the application is the topic of onboarding new users in the application. So I’ll say, the times of manual are no longer quite up-to-date, I think. And also the new employees who come to the company, who no longer read through some kind of guide necessarily, but they want to be taken in the application. And that’s where it’s our development team’s turn. Just such onboarding processes, where you then also learned such lessons learned effects and you did great and great, that worked somehow into the application to create the enthusiasm ultimately for the users, because I always say such a CRM, the success of a CRM project, which is not made by the application, but primarily by the people who work with it and the people who lead the project to success, because the functionalities are probably similar with CAS, with Cursor, with others. But as I said, in the end it’s the people who work with it and you have to make them fans so that they like to work with it.

Georg Blum

So I’m comparing that right now. This point came to me. I have to go to the hairdresser again soon and I know that almost every hairdresser has his own tool, so his own scissors. And when I go from hairdresser, when I change my job, I also take my tools with me and of course crm software is not possible. It’s cool when I come to a new company and say Hey, there’s this onboarding phase to call this term or the training phase is cool because the software already supports me. I also notice right from the start how the processes are going. So I’m also guided, so to speak, and of course that’s also one of my favorite topics, which crm software works great. Andreas and Marcus I gave her both this template, if education and training exist accordingly. I think that is a very, very important aspect. And you both said that this is, meanwhile we forget this manual now loosely and say it is somehow mapped over videos, e-learning etc. and can also be carried out in the home office easily. Very pretty.

Part 6: SAP Integration

Georg Blum

Before we get into the last major part, I would have two or one main question. Yesterday I talked to SAP on the phone, with a colleague you know, who said well, one of our big tasks at the moment is also to accompany this switch from these old SAP applications to Hana. After all, it’s your job. You also have customers who have this supposedly old SAP landscape, but are currently switching. How do you deal with the fact that the customer who carries out this change process from SAP in quotation marks old in new straight, what do you have to consider or do as a CRM manufacturer in this regard? Or what does the customer have to consider and do together with you in this case?

Andreas Lange

Well, from our side I can really say that we have many customers who are based on the SAP solutions, so there are also STANDARD connectors, which are then just pronounced on the corresponding versions. And of course we must and we will also support this Hana topic accordingly. And we already have, for example, our STANDARD Download Connector is already Hana functional, this is already ensured and the online technologies to couple the systems are usually mapped via web services. And with these technologies, we are actually permanently involved, because then the integration is just accordingly. So for our customers it is now, Cursor already offers the security that even if they change to the Hana system of course then not plug and play, there is already a bit of specification and project management required to change that. But we are prepared for this and have that very clearly in focus with us. It is imperative that we offer solutions.

Marcus Bär

Because most of the time the project is provided with different frames on the customer side. And it is simply part of it that we also look towards CRM and the comparison in turn and we are similar to our colleagues here. We are there to ensure that you basically have up-to-date interfaces, frameworks where you say, okay, I can help shape this, grow with you. It is important that if I were to make the mistake to customers now, that you take these aspects into account early enough in the project planning and perhaps also use the opportunities to sometimes think about what you could do better in the processes. Simply says Okay, does that still have to be? Does it make sense or do the new possibilities via the interface, maybe the new technologies also give new possibilities? That would be such a point where I say, so to question every few years, what is called so beautiful new German means yes re-engineering. But basically, if someone says we’ve always done it that way, then it has to be that way. The most important thing is, we’ve always done it this way, we’ve always done it that way. These are the reflexes where someone immediately says Okay, I have to look in there, there has to be the light.

Andreas Lange

Yes, I think it’s very important with project planning, because that’s also one of our central questions, when it comes to implementation projects, there are the project-influencing parameters in the environment that affect our project, because sometimes you don’t have that on the agenda. Then you start euphorically with a coordinated project plan and suddenly a flag comes up somewhere in the back, yes, wait, we are just replacing this and the system here. And the new introduction and the interface that I had in mind, we can’t implement it that way, because that makes no sense at all. And really dedicating yourself to this topic in advance in order to identify the project risks and to make them transparent at an early stage in communication with the customer, I believe that this is also an important aspect. Yes, yes.

Part 7: CRM and eCommerce

Georg Blum

So it is, some questions are difficult Georg and some answers to them. So I think the first thing you should do, you should look at that audience because I think that’s a mix of the target audience. By the way, it was a very exciting study, I took a close look at it, but B2B or BTC? So that could be the first topic again and at the same time we talked earlier about the integration capability, about marketing automation etc. So with us, of course, there is a very strong focus in the B2B area. And not everyone needs an e-commerce solution, or I have the one with a shop in quotation marks ERP solution with and there I have the connection. Whether I then explicitly say again I have this connection here, I do not know, but these are the first aspects. Otherwise, if you talk about the project approach, that was the first point where I keep saying, I need a big picture. So where do I want to go? We take the big points and say where do I want to be in a year, in two years and then I break it down. And then this includes the openness of the interfaces. I do believe that there may be more that have connections. The only question is how deep the integration is. And yes, I was also amazed that the number is small. But I also think it depends on which market you are in. So in the B2B area, I think it’s less. Of course, it also changes. So I mean, there are also companies that sell B2B through the corresponding shop. But there is a different situation. I know, but also especially when you address a target group, small companies, maybe small retail companies, sometimes the digitization of the cash register is a big topic right now. There is still no merchandise management in that sense actually there. So we’re talking about the Cro, that’s what I get in the retail company segment, i.e. retail. We still have a need for digitization.

Andreas Lange

So in our projects, the e-commerce connection was actually not so much in focus now. In the past, of course, it had always come more, is the portal integration as a whole, so a customer service portal to focus accordingly, which bidirectionally exchanges the information with a CRM system that was there, so the focus in our projects and that can no longer be separated from each other from my point of view. We have also co-established a customer portal solution with a partner, so that we say that here we have coordinated integration that builds and works technologically on top of each other. But even here you have to say, if a customer already has a portal, then you have the possibility to integrate the applications there via the appropriate integration technologies.

Georg Blum

Well, but in the end you also have the chance or your customer had the chance to make data from CRM and this service portal, then individualization, personalization or proposal for another type of subscription in the contract or correspondingly new German subscription management, billing changes. That’s kind of the salt in the soup. Then accordingly

Andreas Lange

We already have the next best actions in the CRM system today, where then on the basis of certain information the service consultant of course gets a hint that you can now offer this and that accordingly. And of course you can also provide this via the technology in the portal, without having to do anything else now.

Part 8: Outlook

Georg Blum

Well, let’s finish in the direction of the view. I’ll take the bridge or I’ll lay out the bridge as follows. I wrote an article a few weeks ago about the interview marc Benioff did with YahooFinance. With him has held. And that’s when he spent Slack first. It’s called, I say, a little words. Of course, he wants his product structure to be knitted around Slack within the Salesforce product group. But this also means in his words that the company itself is organizationally much more focused on this topic of collaboration. So to speak, he has given a bit of the roadmap.  What is your opinion on this? Do you have an opinion on this Slack First strategy or what is your own roadmap for Cursor, for CAS? In which direction are you developing further?

Andreas Lange

So it’s important for us that we still have a certain openness, that we don’t just focus on one product. We have now started, let’s say, because of the spread with teams. But we are already in talks with other collaboration tool providers, where we are taking this up accordingly. What is very interesting, of course, is the transparency of information within the CRM system, is an important component that also contributes to the acceptance of the users. And we have already built in functionalities in the system itself that support this. For example, such a comment and activity tiles with which you can then just chat functionalities and other possibilities take place around a certain data set. And that’s where you orient yourself. But as far as we say the ones that the technology concerns, we will not map this completely functionally, but we will then also aim for the corresponding integration of other tools. I don’t know, how is it with you Marcus?

Marcus Bär

So I just thought about talking about the marketing companion, but it’s such a topic. We have now, I don’t know, it was already quite a little money that was spent there. I think almost 28 billion dollars, 28 billion dollars, I think, I have to put myself in the center. So when I spend the money, I want to pick up on a few points. So for us. Andreas said a lot, I can just confirm that. You have to see what possibilities you have today and there we already offer very, very much, where I say support users, supports it as a stream, as notes to it, time stamp. I can follow all of this. That’s one thing. The other is openness, where teams is an example but many say I want to work with Zoom, I want to work with and, and, and. This is one point where I would say that this openness is now the focus and the next one for us, because of course you also have such a look ahead, is an issue.

Marcus Bär

We are already working on it. This will also be one of the next big aspects for us, such as our We-Network, a digitally sovereign a platform in the sense of social channel, where you also say human, there I can communicate with customers, there I can communicate with each other, there I can make real channels again. And that’s something where I say, so we’re broadly positioned. I can do this directly from CAS, integrated into my products as a digitally sovereign portal. I can offer this for my client. I can do much, much more. But I also have the freedom, if I now put on teams a bit different direction or zoom, that I can use this. And I think that’s such a fundamental aspect that we look at what, what is the most important thing for our customers and not what the others are doing, just because they are now clearly focusing and positioning themselves in this direction, I always think it’s important to have the breadth. Of course, here and there also the depth. But you also said one thing earlier You sometimes have to decide in which direction you go. And I think it’s important to be close with a customer and say okay, that’s our decision now, we’re going here. But at the same time you have the openness here and I believe that we are also quite well positioned as a provider here in Germany. And I think I always think it’s important to know where my data is, who has access to it. This is compliant with the GDPR. From my point of view, we in Europe live a bit in different values. And as a company, I would always look at it. That’s why a lot of things are mapped with our We-Network new portal, so new platforms in the direction I think there are quite suitable answers for our customers.

Georg Blum

Super! I think for me this was really a very refreshing discussion with the two of you, because we managed a nice foray through many focal points, also included a few things that we had not prepared at all. In this respect, I always find it very exciting to discuss with you anyway. Many thanks in my place I just say now, if you have a final word, just like to say to the listeners to the audience and otherwise I say in advance a first thank you to you, Andreas and a second to you Marcus, that you, since these three quarters of an hour have agreed, to participate in this interview. I’ll say now, Andreas, are you the first to have a final word from your side?

Andreas Lange

So first Georg. Thank you for inviting me to the interview. Now guess in times because of the pandemic, the presence events start so slowly again that you can go back on site. But just the possibility now here, that in such a small circle and then public is to provide, I find a good approach. In fact. We are looking forward to our CRM Congress on September 8 and 9 at the location in Giessen is actually a presence event with a hybrid format. Safe is safe. Of course, many innovations are presented there. Mike Partner from our Partner Management will present the solution there. And I would be happy if one or the other has found interest on the basis of this interview and says man, I look at it on site or online or comes to us.

Georg Blum

We include the link to the registration in the article

Marcus Bär

Very nice so also very much thanks Georg, but also especially to you Andreas, that we can talk so openly here that was now really fun to take these impulses with us and also to live. To realize that it is also similar and somehow sympathetic that you can also be a market competitor, but in different segments. And I think that’s something where we here with the locations here in Germany are also, I think, very, very good for us. We also have next events now. For us, September is our partner day, which is rather a closed community. On 28.10. We will have our CRM/XRM Digital Forum. Until then, you will also find this on the CAS.de website, is still a bit further away, so the link is a bit later. I would like to take you another impulse that may apply to all of you. I think if you’re in a situation now to say okay, what can I do right now to develop a CRM? Just put yourself in the view of a customer, a prospective customer and just take a look, visit yourself, call yourself. Simply playing through typical processes yourself, that sometimes works. That never hurts.

Georg Blum

It works wonders

Marcus Bär

It’s always a good thing when you say I’m already here. If you are now considering using a CRM, then I think we should definitely take a look at that. Together with our partners, I believe we can offer very good solutions. Of course, this also applies to the cursors. In this case, please speak more for CAS and I believe one thing is always important. You also decide with your stomach and with your nose, with feeling. And it is important that you are on an equal footing with this and then, of course, check the technical aspects of hygiene factors. I think we all offer very, very great solutions here and that would be my impulse just how is the partner opposite? How does it fit humanly and what if it doesn’t work? Who could I address then? And this sustainability, in turn, I think we can offer all here very, very well. And that would be my impulse to look there again. Who would I like to see, we are happy about many contacts. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and wish everyone a nice afternoon evening, whenever you look at it.

Georg Blum

Also ich kann ja da, Marcus das muss ich jetzt so sagen bzw. Andreas, du hast die Vorlage gegeben. Ich sage mal, aufgrund von Sympathiepunkten möchte ich mich nicht zwischen euch entscheiden müssen, ich würde euch beide nehmen, also von daher sage ich herzlichen Dank an euch beide nochmal und vielen Dank und alles Gute.

 

Note: This is a machine translation. It is neither 100% complete nor 100% correct. We can therefore not guarantee the result.