SAP: Communing with the locals

Provision of localised versions of a Community section make for a strong statement about commitment to country markets.

The Site

SAP, the Germany-based business software provider, has a SAP Community section on its global and country websites. The Community is a password-protected area where SAP’s in-house experts, customers and business partners can exchange information and ideas.

Localised versions are available for 16 countries in the country-specific language. These can be reached from the Global site via a Country Communities index, but are inconsistently signposted on the country sites. For example, on the Spain site, SAP Community leads via a ‘Community nel mondo’ link to the country communities index (in Spanish), from where users can choose ‘Spain’ to access the localised version. Some sites label the Community link to indicate local content (SAP Community France, SAP Community Österreich), others not (Italy and Germany, for example). Most sites include the section in their universal menu, but not all, Argentina and Spain among them.

The Takeaway

SAP’s provision of localised versions of its Community section is in response to customer feedback, it states. Allied to country sites that operate exclusively in the local language (there are no ‘English’ or other alternative version buttons) this makes for a strong statement about the company’s commitment to country markets.

However, the inconsistencies in the way SAP Community is offered make it harder than needs be for some customers to find their localised version – Spain being the most glaring example. The range of variations also suggests that in the global/local struggle that goes on inside all international organisations, the countries are getting away with operating on a fairly loose rein. There is clearly either no central guideline on presentation of SAP Community links, or little active supervision of compliance.

First published on 12 April, 2005