What Is SAP CS (Customer Services)?

E-mail, telephone, contact form, or direct contact on site: According to a survey, these are the preferred channels for customer service today. There are also call centers, chats, and customer self-service via the Internet. Outstanding service is more than ever a factor that enables companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors. According to a study by Genesys, customers are annoyed by long waiting loops, incorrect information being passed on from one consultant to the next, and deadlines not being met.
 

High service costs due to “Manual Work”

Many companies are still trying to manage their customer service “manually” with Excel tables, Word forms, or manually managed calendars. The result: planning errors, high costs, and annoyed customers because appointments are not up to date or appointments are completely missed. However, the service area is immensely important for customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Especially since the pressure of competition is considerably lower in service since nobody knows the product sold as well as the manufacturer himself. He is the first point of contact for repairs or maintenance.
 

 

What does SAP CS offer?

How can companies optimally organize their customer service, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction? In principle, the digitization potential in service and maintenance is very large. Why it is comparatively easy to achieve a quick return on investment (ROI). With the CS (Customer Services) module, SAP offers comprehensive software that digitally covers the entire value chain in the service area. With these tools, companies can improve their customer service by covering the company’s existing organizational structures and the service employees handling all service processes digitally.
 

What are the advantages of SAP CS?

SAP CS thus offers all the basic functions for processing customer-specific tasks. Customer problems can be solved faster, more efficiently, and to greater customer satisfaction. It presents, manages, and processes all services offered. It thus forms the central module for all customer service processes. With SAP CS you can plan and control all after-sales activities. This includes the service at the customer’s site, the repair in your own company, or the provision of spare parts.
 

Customers and orders at a glance

The service staff can access all relevant customer data on the phone when entering an order. At a glance, they can see the entire history of the caller, know when they bought a product or there are still warranty periods. The service employee can then proactively approach the customer and does not have to annoy him with unnecessary questions.

The system also allows the creation of service and maintenance contracts, on which all activities, including materials and spare parts used, can then be booked and billed. This also makes it easier to control costs over the entire life cycle of an order. The tool identifies costs and material consumption and automatically assigns them to a service order or a maintenance project. The company benefits from this in many ways. In addition to optimized and efficient quality management and higher quality standards in customer service, an optimized cost structure is one of the advantages of implementing these modules.
 

 

Customer service

With SAP CS, customer service representatives have direct access to information about each customer. It can also be used on the go on smartphones and notebooks. Service employees or salespeople on-site can, for example, take new orders, make payments or even process order refunds for customers.

During maintenance and repair work, the employee can change the status of orders in the system, record his working hours and material consumption. If a salesperson wins a new customer, he can create a new customer profile directly in the SAP CS tool. Central employees on the hotlines and help desks then have immediate access to the data. You could then, for example, proactively approach customers and ask them about their satisfaction with the service and with a product. All of this improves customer satisfaction and increases customer loyalty.
 

Example of spare parts planning

The importance of spare parts planning alone is demonstrated by service operations. Missing or incorrect spare parts are the most frequent reason for second trips in technical customer service. This has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and service costs. That’s why an effective, mobile spare parts supply for technicians in maintenance and service is essential.

Having all spare parts always available is also not the right solution due to the costs of warehousing. The art of spare parts management is to optimize the relationship between spare parts availability and storage costs. The type of use also affects the planning. Many systems such as elevators, heating systems, or production machines require regular maintenance. If a technician travels to such assignments, the spare parts and tools that are likely to be required can be reserved in the SAP CS system. In this way, SAP CS helps to keep inventory levels and costs low.
 

 

Lower costs, increase customer satisfaction

If you want to optimize your customer service, there is no way around service software like SAP CS. The customer service tool shows its strengths, especially in service-intensive industries. SAP CS is the right choice for those who pursue the goal of optimally satisfying their customers, never missing any appointments, sending the right technically correct people to the customers, and at the same time reducing customer service costs. The results are even better when SAP CS is connected to other SAP modules. Integration with other SAP modules such as SD (Sales & Distribution), MM (Material Management), FI (Finance), or CO (Controlling) is ideal.
 

What can SAP CS do?

• Spare parts management
• Service management on site at the customer
• Scheduled maintenance and service
• Structure and manage plants and machines
• Management of guarantees
• Create service requests
• Cost control and accounting
• Call handling and appointment monitoring

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