As a market leader in software and technology, SAP knows what it takes for businesses to transform. Moreover, it’s an…

As a market leader in software and technology, SAP knows what it takes for businesses to transform. Moreover, it’s an organisation dedicated to guiding its customers through those transformative moments with minimal disruption. Its SAP Business Transformation Center (BTC) is one of the newer jewels in its crown, something dedicated to this guidance process. Enter: Thorsten Spihlmann, who stands as the go-between for SAP and its customers.

Spihlmann started off his career in consulting and management roles straight out of university, and joined SAP in 2010. Initially, he was focused on data transformation in the service organisation. Then, in 2021, he shifted to a development role, where he took over product management for the SAP Business Transformation Center. This is where his skills in consulting and being at the helm of multiple large transformation projects kicked in. 

Within this position, he has successfully distinguished himself through a customer-orientated approach. He also developed a reputation as an ambassador for SAP and even more as an advocate for customers. 

Customer experience as a passion

Driving that customer support and success, and subsequently innovating within the cloud transformation space, is a passion of Spihlmann’s. He decided to join SAP after previously collaborating with the organisation and being impressed by what he encountered, ultimately leading him to become a member of the SAP family. It’s his close contact with the customers that helped him realise that a guided, standardised solution that offered better scalability was something SAP needed to offer. Quite simply, the customers made that clear to him – and he listened.

“I’m always in contact with the customers, which is very important to me,” says Spihlmann. It’s this close relationship that informed Spihlmann that users needed more from SAP. “We took in customer feedback, but we also did some market research and surveyed. In the end, we figured out – especially thanks to customers who had already been through the journey of shifting over to SAP S/4HANA – that much more guidance was needed from SAP as a software vendor.”

Transformation as a non-event

The aim is to make transformation seem like a non-event. The idea of shifting from legacy systems to something new can seem enormously intimidating, and tends to slow businesses down or put them off the change entirely. With the BTC to help guide customers through, transformation is made simple. 

“Turning transformation into a non-event is our North Star,” says Spihlmann. “This vision is what drives us. We want to significantly simplify and streamline the transition process for customers. Our goal is to minimise complexity and potential negative impact on customers. By focusing on incremental improvements and ensuring the migration process is as smooth as possible, we cut down on disruption and improve the customer experience during this crucial phase. Moving to SAP S/4HANA shouldn’t feel like a big event – it should be completely seamless.”

Read the full story here

Related Stories

We believe in a personal approach

By working closely with our customers at every step of the way we ensure that we capture the dedication, enthusiasm and passion which has driven change within their organisations and inspire others with motivational real-life stories.