Five SAP Hybris Improvements Worthy of Upgrading

SAP Hybris just released version 6.1, 3 months after releasing 6.0 in April.  The question arises when should I upgrade and what is the benefit in doing so.  For each customer there are different drivers for doing an upgrade.  Looking at the multitude of new functionality here are five key enhancements that should benefit most implementations and worthy of considering an upgrade. 

1. SmartEdit for Customer Experience

In 6.0 SAP Hybris introduced a new and improved CMS solution to help facilitate the 1:1 experience with shoppers.  Following up in 6.1 they added a number of enhanced features that positions this solution as a robust CMS including easy to use drag and drop experience and real-time site preview.  For those using the current CMS functionality you will find this a drastic improvement and position your business team to begin personalizing the site experience.  If you are using a 3^rd party CMS solution, then upgrading will allow you simplify your software dependencies and reduce ongoing costs.

2. Promotions

Next generation rule-based promotion engine manages dynamic promotions using a new rules engine powered by Drools. Business users use the Rule Builder interface to create and manage dynamic and flexible rules. This new functionality replaces the old Hybris promotion module (which is being deprecated to support mode with 6.1) and does a great job in an area that was considered subpar previously.   

3. Hybris Merchandising

Hybris Merchandising auto-optimizes and personalizes the customer experience based upon business goals and real-time context leveraging SeeWhy, a company acquired by SAP in 2014. This cloud-based technology captures user behavior to provide contextual personalization throughout the online experience. Merchants are able to adjust algorithms with an intuitive set of tools to control the selection and weighting of product recommendations.  Currently the Hybris Marketing solution is required to leverage these features and was introduced in May at Sapphire.  I like that SAP is using the Cloud to support this and take the infrastructure burden away from customers.  SAP is investing heavily in Hybris Marketing and we should continue to see many enhancements in future releases.

4. Customer Support

Hybris has introduced a totally new Customer Support cockpit that leverages the Assisted Selling Module (ASM) where call center agents can shop with the storefront on behalf of the customer. There is now an integrated ticketing systems add-on with the storefront that allows customers to associate their shopping cart or orders to a specific ticket.  CSRs are able to update customer accounts and tickets to provide faster issue resolution and access the OMS back office tooling with single sign-on integration.  With 6.1 SAP has deprecated the old Customer Service Cockpit to maintenance mode, so those that are suing the old Customer Service Cockpit should seriously consider upgrading.

5. Responsive B2B Storefront

With version 5.7 Hybris made the step to combine the B2B and B2C Accelerator storefront.  With version 6.0 they are both fully responsive and with B2B, field sales can now interact with their customer leveraging the mobile device of their choosing.  This is great for customer who have both B2B and B2C needs as the industry continues to converge the user experience between B2B and B2C flows. New with 6.1 are features to support Sales organization and the assignment of users to those organizations. Saved shopping carts where users can save and access multiple carts which is great in a B2B use case.  SAP also now allows the import and export of a shopping cart as well as quick order (sku/qty), again a necessity for B2B customers.

Conclusion

Evaluating the 6.0 and 6.1 release, SAP Hybris has done a commendable job listening to customers and making substantial improvements.  At Olson Digital, we have migrated from 5.6 and 5.7 to 6.0 and developed a migration plan to assist clients to upgrade with minimal disruption to their business.  So when is the right time to upgrade?  For many clients the 4^th quarter can be the perfect time to start the process with a release in January.  Most client are focused on the peak selling period and are in a code freeze until January.  IT can use this time to go through the upgrade and QA steps allowing the business to focus on the critical selling period.  Want to explore what it would take to upgrade your SAP Hybris instance?  Let's talk.