Trendsetting in action: SAP's strategic transformation of customer advocacy

‍

Our Trendsetter:

Kevin Scanlon, VP Head of Global Customer References and Advocacy, SAP

About Kevin:

Manically customer-focused. High-energy global executive. Measurable track record of developing, deploying, and managing customer-focused solutions across diverse geographies to position organizations to exceed expectations. Results-oriented with a track record of overachieving targets. Calculated risk taker. Passion for adventure. Endless in curiosity. Child at heart. Father. Husband.

“An advocacy trendsetter is willing to go to the edge of innovation and take calculated risks on behalf of your customer, bring new ideas to the fold, challenge conventional wisdom, and make those dreams become a reality.” — Kevin Scanlon

‍

The trendsetter vision: Putting customers first

Kevin Scanlon believes his primary goal is to highlight the voices of his customers. With 1.1 million customers worldwide, that's no easy feat.

A respected leader in the advocacy space, Kevin has built his reputation through transformative work at Ernst & Young, Dell, and his current role as SAP's VP, head of global customer references and advocacy. As buying journeys increasingly blur, Kevin's forward-thinking strategies reshape how enterprise companies showcase value through authentic customer voices.

When Kevin Scanlon joined SAP, he brought the vision and drive needed to take on the monumental task of evolving the company’s long-standing reference program. SAP already had a strong foundation with their customer advocacy program, and Kevin felt fortunate to work alongside a talented team to build upon that foundation.

“When I came in, my goal was to better understand the heartbeat of our customers, understand where we could take them, and, more importantly, how we could highlight their experience through their voice—but at the same time highlighting their journey with SAP,” Kevin said.

Kevin understood the importance of a customer-focused, innovative approach that would challenge conventional wisdom, amplify new ideas, and take calculated risks on behalf of customers. Without it, Kevin said, companies won’t be around for long.

“Customers are truly the lifeblood of any organization,” Kevin said. “We understood that to be competitive in the markets and the industries that we play in, we have to constantly rethink and challenge ourselves.”

💡 Trendsetter tip: Being competitive in any market requires teams to constantly rethink and challenge the existing approach to customer advocacy.

How they did it: Formulating a modern advocacy strategy

With a vision in hand, the next step was to engage with a partner who could lead SAP to think outside the box and implement a fresh approach to customer collaboration. Kevin knew that partner was Captivate Collective. Kevin worked with Captivate Collective in a previous role, and knew they were the partners SAP needed to build the future of SAP’s customer-first program.

“Captivate Collective brought that lens to help us understand what we are doing right and where there were opportunities,” Kevin said. “Specifically, they helped us align how we advocate with our customers.”

Captivate Collective performed audience research for SAP, and then worked with the SAP team to formulate a program strategy to modernize the company’s approach to customer engagement. The new approach involved blending advocacy and loyalty practices to fuse B2B advocacy program benefits with B2C loyalty tiering.  

B2B programs often lack the clear structures of B2C programs, which clearly outline the advantages of participation and establish qualification cycles for customers as they continue in the program. The advocacy-loyalty fusion concept blended this clarity with the strength of B2B relationship building, professional development motivators, and community to create SAP’s Customer Advocacy Network.

Captivate Collective continues to work as an extension of the SAP team through the rollout of their customer engagement platform and integrations, recruitment campaign planning, and early stages of global program management. 

Underlying all of these changes was the dedication to listening to all customers, which is the keystone of any customer advocacy strategy.

💡 Trendsetter tip: Listen to every customer, not just the loudest one. The loudest one may be right, but quieter voices sometimes deliver the most valuable information.

The impact: Broadening advocacy reach across previously untapped segments

The new advocacy program includes layers of SAP users had never considered before. This expansion allows SAP to harness the energy, excitement, vision, and voices of all customers.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t want to explore these areas or that we didn’t believe that all segments could be advocates. We just hadn’t taken the steps to get to that edge,” Kevin said. “Captivate challenged our thinking and steered us in new directions. And in doing that, we came up with a very sound approach to a very complex challenge.”

Throughout this initiative, SAP has deepened their knowledge and position in the industry, ensuring they are not only aware of industry trends but often ahead of them. SAP continues to go to the edge of innovation, take calculated risks, challenge conventional wisdom, and surface ideas that make “the magic happen,” Kevin said.

“We’re in our development mode, but what I can tell you is that from a planning perspective and from a pragmatic perspective, when we look at the business case of what we are setting out to do and what we expect to achieve, it could be mind-blowing.”

For those looking to become advocacy trendsetters, Kevin believes it starts and ends with your customers. "Customers are truly the lifeblood of any organization," he said. "You have to listen to them, learn from them, react for them, and advocate for them." That advocacy on behalf of customers shouldn't be limited to inside your company — or what they can do for your company. True advocacy trendsetters help build their customers' brands and put customers first. If companies don't, Kevin warns, they won't be around very long. 

💡 Trendsetter tip: Be an advocacy trendsetter — someone who is willing to go to the edge of innovation, take calculated risks on behalf of the customer, and challenge conventional wisdom.

‍

Hear more from Kevin:

‍

‍

----

‍

The need for advocacy trendsetters

At Captivate, our mission is to not just keep pace with customer advocacy trends, but to lead them. Our most innovative customers forge new mindsets, build unique programs and implement processes that drive customer loyalty and collaboration to a whole new level. They are, in fact, customer advocacy trendsetters. And it is our hope that by sharing their stories, we will continue to grow the visibility, buy-in and impact not only of the CMA practice, but of the customer-powered enterprise.

‍