During a global press event announcing the completion of SAP’s acquisition of hybris, company executives touted a new term they are using in reference to retail: “OmniCommerce” defines the “omnichannel commerce challenge,” said Jonathan Becher, Chief Marketing and Communication Officer for SAP, in his opening statement.
Becher explained that retailers are struggling to deliver results based on two primary concerns: Big Data and the customer experience. With the acquisition, “hybris expands SAP solutions that address customer engagement comprehensively across marketing, sales service and commerce,” noted SAP in a company press release.
The goal is to “treat consumers the same across channels,” said Ariel Luedi, CEO of hybris during the event at SAP offices in New York. He explained that the combined company will “manage data and process complexity across channels.”
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Luedi went on to describe the hybris commerce suite as “modular, homogenous and agile.”
Additionally, the new company will be equipped to deliver solutions for three different types of business customers: B2C, B2B and those that serve both B2C and B2B, Luedi explained. Currently, hybris customers comprise all three types, including: H&M (B2C), Nespresso and Nikon (B2C/B2B), and Grainger (B2B).
To date, 70% of hybris customers are not also SAP customers. Luedi noted that hybris will continue to “be agnostic on the ERP side.”
In other news, Accenture and hybris announced an exclusive agreement the day before the SAP/hybris global press event. On August 5, Accenture announced that it has become the “sole global strategic partner of hybris…to help global companies implement cross-border multichannel commerce solutions more effectively.”
Accenture also recently completed the acquisition of Acquity Group, in July 2013.
Erik Larson, Managing Director, Digital, Data and Analytics at Accenture, asserted that the new partnership with SAP would not impact the company’s working relationship with other companies, such as Oracle. Accenture and Oracle recently collaborated on a global study focused on the changing role of the CFO.
