It’s no secret that today’s customers want seamless experiences, consumer-grade design, and personalization when it comes to enterprise software. Employing top tier UX and the latest in emerging technology is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a must for forging the future of enterprise.

In an exclusive interview, Philipp Herzig, SVP and Head of SAP’s Cross-Product Engineering and Experience, shared with Chief Design Officer Arin Bhowmick the latest innovations showcased at SAP Sapphire 2023. Learn about the power of connected solutions, how SAP is uniting user experience across products, and what lies ahead for the future of enterprise powered by emerging technologies like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR).

Arin Bhowmick: When it comes to digital products and solutions, your view is that the whole must be greater than the sum of its parts. What does that mean for SAP customers?

Philipp Herzig: Individual products can have excellent capabilities for specific use cases or needs. But companies now want to get end-to-end insights, apply artificial intelligence, and have a consistent and seamless user experience. This is only possible through an integrated portfolio where all of these aspects have been taken into account by design.

With our integrated portfolio, we create opportunities for new ways to utilize tools and processes across work streams. At Sapphire this year, we shared a prime example of this kind of cross-product innovation, looking at a process from design to operate. By making 3D models available via augmented reality (AR), a service technician is able to have a virtual representation of the machine they are working on in order to do the necessary repair and maintenance. Rather than having to parse through manuals and out-of-date records, they can see an accurate engineer-designed 3D model of the machine and all the components right at their worksite.

With this kind of integration—from the engineer who designed the machine or factory plan to the technician maintaining it on the floor—companies are now able to gain end-to-end insights into every aspect of the enterprise. This makes the solution portfolio stronger than the sum of its individual products or apps.

Product views show the latest integrated UX across SAP apps like SAP Build and SAP Start.

AB: A key part of this unified solution portfolio is a topic of utmost importance to me: user experience. It's been an exciting journey to collaborate across topics with so many experts on the UX transformation in order to ensure all of SAP’s products have a unified experience across all touch points. In your opinion, what role has design played in this transformation?

PH: In the last 2-3 years we have focused on key end-to-end business processes, such as design to operate, source to pay, recruit to retire, and lead to cash. We brought everything together in one integrated suite of solutions by introducing qualities such as single sign on, harmonized data for greater insights, and a consistent view on how one’s identity or profile is managed across SAP’s application portfolio.

Ultimately, these aspects all contribute to a coherent user experience for anyone moving across different SAP products and applications. A big first step starts with our design system.

The reality is that SAP has had the opportunity to acquire some excellent products over the last few years that have truly strengthened our solutions offerings, but also come with their own distinct aesthetics and behaviors. It’s our job now to unite those experiences so that these products not only look the same, but they behave and function the same as well.

Applications like SAP Start and SAP Mobile Start have been hugely helpful in creating a unified entry point for users. And SAP Fiori with Horizon has helped to bring consistency to the look and feel of our products.

But, as you well know, the design system is so much more than just our visual identity. We’re investing in user research and human-centered design practices to ensure our products are functionally cohesive, as well as inclusive and accessible for as many people as possible. It’s a very exciting time, as we are currently working across virtually all our application areas to bring a unified user experience to all of SAP.

Homescreen views of both SAP Mobile Start (left) and SAP Start for desktop (right).

AB: You mentioned SAP Start and SAP Mobile Start, which are key to cross product transformation. What are you most excited for customers and users to get their hands on with these particular apps and what are the biggest advancements we're going to see with these new entry points?

PH: First of all, customers are really excited about these apps, many saying it’s a game changer for them. Additionally, analysts also really see the benefit, saying that this is the most exciting topic we’ve been working on in the last few years.

We go beyond just bringing together a user’s various workflows, and rather address the jobs to be done by any given user. It enables users to find exactly what they need to do across all business applications in one consistent and coherent way.

This is where we push the boundaries of how we think about SAP solutions overall. Enterprise software users expect a modern consumer-grade product experience. And we will deliver it and meet users where they are. With the new realities of work, that means expanding across mobile, wearables, and even emerging tech like AR and VR.

We have a tremendous opportunity right now to really push our user experience forward to make it more modern, more delightful, and more accessible than ever before.

AB: To that point, a major part of implementing a cross-product experience is ensuring there is consistency, standardization, and efficiency across the solution. How does SAP balance that with the rising preference towards personalization?

PH: It’s a continuous process. Everything we do with respect to designing our products and solutions starts with user research and implementing insights from this research. We have worked this feedback loop into the products as well, with user measurement tools providing feedback in real-time. These measurements are then fed back into our user research studies to ensure that we are optimizing in the right ways for as many users as possible.

We are also continuously testing for accessibility and inclusion measures to make sure that we’re not excluding any of our millions of users from doing their best possible work. This is particularly important on mobile, and we’ve also come a long way on web with each new release.

AI also plays a big role in how we achieve this balance. For example, we provide personalized recommendations for learnings and purchasing processes where we tailor the experience towards what's most important to the end user.

AB: Those of us that were lucky enough to be in person at Sapphire were treated to a very cool future-forward look into not only how AR can function in these enterprise environments, but also how it can be used to sell innovation solutions. Can you talk a little bit about how that AR demo came together and how it was received by customers?

A still from the AR demonstration at Sapphire 2023, showing how the SAP Product Model Viewer allows technicians to use AR to easily maintain equipment on the ground.

PH: We were so thrilled to be able to feature the AR demo at Sapphire. This coincides with our first real augmented reality applications that we shipped to the market. With the integration of SAP Product Model Viewer and SAP Service and Asset Manager, we are now in a position to enable AR systematically across the enterprise to our customers. Today, this experience is primarily focused on mobile and tablet users, but we are also exploring how we can bring it to life on other devices, like watches and VR headsets.

User research is key in this stage of development so that we can understand the new design patterns and interactions for this emerging tech. We are working closely with customers to explore how these experiences can enhance different working environments and ensure our customers are ready for the future.

The reality for emerging tech is constantly changing. This can make it challenging for our customers to sell new innovation and transformation solutions. It’s always great to put these tools in the hands of users as soon as possible to see how they interact. Our goal is always to make the best possible experiences for people to get their best work done today and well into the future.

AB: Thank you, Phillip, I couldn’t agree more. Additionally, we know that design as a competency is also constantly evolving with the introduction of new technology and methodologies. It's so important for us to keep pushing and exploring the bounds of these emerging technologies to also keep our skills sharp and our design culture thriving. Knowing how important UX is to our customers and end users, it’s very exciting to see how we’re able to employ the tools of design at every level—from pitch to product.