One critical aspect of success is knowing what customers think. Judging from the language and tone at the recent SAP CRM 2008 conference in Las Vegas, SAP is urging vendors to take it another step further by leveraging online communities to receive constant customer feedback.
 
Reza Soudogar, senior director of SAP CRM, said that reconnecting with customers is a major emphasis for SAP, a kind of "customer co-innovation," adding that there has historically been a "disconnection in the software industry" when it comes to recording -- and, more important, heeding -- the voice of the consumer. "[Feedback] is not a point-in-time process," he said. "We need to have a constant dialogue in the development process, and that must include our customers. We had to fine-tune our development process." For SAP, that meant opening up its Business Process Expert (BPX) community to all members of its ecosystem to share feedback on the company's offerings in forums, blogs, and articles. With this online community, Soudogar said that SAP has a "constant feedback loop in place, which is now a part of our DNA." While only those directly involved with SAP can actively participate, the site (www.bpx.sap.com) can be viewed by the public.
 
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