Houston, we have a solution: ERP for marketers

Prior to joining SAP, I was a brand manager for global consumer product brands, including Diet Coke and Ferrero.  And in each of those roles, I ran into the same paradox that every consumer brand marketer faces today: We had more data than we knew what to do with. And somehow, we still kept missing the moments that actually mattered to our customers.

Without connected data across the enterprise, scenarios like this became far too common:

• An email to loyal customers was sent, pushing them to buy something they purchased days earlier.
• A push notification was sent to their mobile app featuring a product that wasn’t on a shelf within ten miles of them.
• A "we miss you" campaign was activated the same week they make a repeat order.

Those examples are likely key reasons why only 38% of customers believe brands know who they are and what they need, according to the SAP Global Engagement Index. Each of those misses had the same root cause, but I didn't realise it until years later. The signals were there, but they were sitting in a system that marketing had never been invited to use. If this could happen at the world's largest beverage brand, my assumption is that it’s a common occurrence among marketing teams across the globe.

ERP for marketers: Discovering data that marketing has been missing for years

Historically marketers haven’t cared much about Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Why would we? It sounded like a back-office system built for finance, operations and supply chains (not marketers).

But your ERP is where the business truth lives - and where you can discover exactly what customers actually bought.

ERP for marketers can answer questions like:

• What products have delivered on time?
• What is the overstock status in the warehouse right now?
• What do margins look like on the SKU you’re about to feature in a campaign?
• What will someone run out of next Thursday?

I’ve started thinking about ERP as the unsung hero of marketing; the nerd in the background of the film who turns out to be the person who saves the day. It’s been in plain sight the whole time, but we just weren’t looking—or, more likely—we didn’t have the correct implementation to be able to use it. Because integration is a very real challenge: In fact, SAP & Foundry CIO Research revealed that 65% of brands say integration challenges prevent them from scaling AI across customer-facing processes.

While the quandaries of implementation can seem daunting, once completed, the value is limitless. Connecting operational reality to what marketing already sees (behaviour, engagement, intent) lets you stop guessing. Stop reacting. Stop optimising in a silo while the rest of the business runs on a different set of facts.

The results are more than better campaigns. You start to improve retention, reduce wasted spend, protect margins and deliver more relevant customer experiences at scale. In turn, your customers will recognise this effort and reward you with their loyalty.

The future is autonomous

“Autonomous Enterprise" can be a phrase that makes people nervous. It shouldn’t.

Autonomous execution is like turning on the lights for the first time between departments that used to work in the dark. Supply chain, trade promotion, retail execution, marketing; all of it is finally in the same conversation, in real time.

I imagine the Autonomous Enterprise working like this: you get an alert that a trade promotion is blowing up in a specific store cluster. The product is flying off the shelves.

• In the old model, marketing keeps pumping paid media into that region for another two weeks because nobody told them to stop.
• In the Autonomous Enterprise model, you get an alert. You shift spending to a region or campaign that needs the push with content that seals the deal. You extend the moment where it’s working and protect the margin where it isn’t.

When you look at it this way, you can see more clearly that this model isn’t about AI taking over. Instead, AI is handing you a torch. And the marketers who lead the way will be the ones who define how AI works with people-reimagining how campaigns and content are managed.

Here at SAP, we believe that humans matter more than ever in the age of AI. Marketers set the intent. We bring creativity. We provide judgement and accountability. And AI handles the speed and the scale that no human team could ever match on its own.

Moments that matter: The signals that shape brand perception - and customer loyalty

I’m sure you already know brands that are getting it right for their customers. They send you the right message. They stop selling to you the second you’ve bought. They anticipate the replenishment before you’ve thought about it. They treat post-purchase like the beginning of the relationship, not the end.

And the brands that don't stand out for the wrong reasons. Because in a world where a handful of your competitors are getting it right, missing the mark stands out more than it ever has before.

The eBook my team just published, The ERP Advantage: 5 Hidden Signals Driving Customer Loyalty, walks through five specific signals where this plays out: purchase truth, inventory reality, fulfilment experience, business optimisation and lifecycle growth.

Each one is a place where marketing sees half the picture and ERP sees the other half. And each one is a place where AI can quietly stitch the two together and act with more precision.

It’s always been a matter of trust… and data is the foundation

Marketing is among the earliest adopters of AI within most organisations. That’s a gift and a responsibility. As AI becomes more embedded in customer engagement, transparency becomes a competitive advantage. Marketers should be able to explain where customer data comes from, how it’s being used and how decisions are made. Trust is more than a compliance tick box; it's a critical part of the customer experience. In fact, our Global Customer Loyalty Index found that 34% of customers say irresponsible data use weakens loyalty.

Simply put: you need to get comfortable explaining (in plain-language), how data is used and why. Every so often, imagine describing your customer strategy to a person who’s never worked in marketing. If you can’t explain it simply, you probably can’t defend it either. The paper trail matters. Trust matters. And the marketers who build both into the way they work now will be the ones setting the pace when the rest of the enterprise catches up.

Marketers, meet your new favourite data source

Your ERP has been sitting there this whole time, holding the answers marketing has been chasing for years. It’s time to get acquainted. Download  The ERP Advantage: 5 Hidden Signals Driving Customer Loyalty and see exactly where the biggest missed moments are hiding in your business and how to turn them into your next chapter of growth.

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