The Customer Influence Website is a joke

[andreav]

@MelanieT The Customer Influence Website is a joke … you have to know what asset needs to be improved. I was told by the SAP Help Team to submit my suggestion in the Community. So I did.

Why does there need to be yet another site, with another login and password, to achieve the same goal. Oh, and to setup your account on that website, you have to receive a verification email and click the link to be able to finish setting up your account and logging in.

So it is obvious that SAP has the know-how to use an email for verification … why not simply instate that as an option for users that do not have a smart device.

Utilizing a web browser authenticator is not nearly as secure as SAPConcur sending an authentication code via email to the known email address on the account, with a code in the email. 

As cyber-security goes, if this is truly to make everything more secure, then for people without a smart device, the option for an email with a code to be sent to them is much more secure than utilizing a web browser authenticator option. 

My company has been the victim of a cyber-attack in the past, luckily we recovered without paying the ransom. However for this reason alone, my company does not want to utilize the Chrome, Edge, or other browser authenticator options. We currently use Microsoft Authenticator app, which does not have web option, and also offers the option for a text message code to be sent to the employee. 

The 2FA needs to be updated to not only use an authenticator, but to offer the text or email options in order to truly be accepted by the users without smart devices. 

Another layer of SAP/Concur ridiculousness, in my opinion.

[Freyr]

This flustercuck just keeps getting worse and worse.

Also, approvers higher up on the organization's totem pole are complaning about the inefficiency of the whole thing.

Used to be that an email notification of reports awaiting approval would be a one-step, one-click process to get to the approval screen.

Not anymore because 2FA is getting in the way.

Inefficient.

[KevinD]

@andreav I cannot comment on your statements about 2FA being more secure through email or text as I'm not in the field of authentication and security, but as for the Help team telling you to come this community to submit enhancement requests that is not correct and they shouldn't have told you that. If you happen to remember the name of the person who told you this, would you please send me the name in a a private message, please?

The reason we have another dedicated site for enhancement requests is so the requests go to the proper channels and directly to the teams who can make these changes.

[andreav]

@KevinD  I do not recall the name of the associate in the chat. 

However, this was the first time I have ever heard of the customer influence website, i have always been told to submit suggestions in the community for people to vote on. I do not know when this new website came into existence. 

[KevinD]

@andreav this community, not counting when it was on LinkedIn and called the business exchange has only been in existence for about 5 years, so it could not have been used to submit enhancement requests. Until about three years ago, we had something called Solutions Suggestions where customers submitted their requests. Solutions Suggestions was in existence for as long as I can remember and I've been at SAP Concur for 15 years. Having been acquired by SAP in 2015 we have had to make our systems more in line with SAP, hence the Customer Influence site which has replaced Solution Suggestions.

It is possible that the communication you received was that you could post your solution/enhancement reference number here in the Community to promote it, but voting has never been done on this Community. There have been several people who have done that to get the word out regarding their enhancement requests.

If you have questions or issues about the Customer Influence, let me know as I know one of the people in charge of this program.

[andreav]

The Community has been around since 2018, from what I can tell from email archives. 
I can guarantee you this is the first time I have ever heard of the customer influence site, otherwise I would have said something about how horrid that site is much sooner. I have attached a picture of the announcement email from 12/17/2018.

I have also attached a support email telling me to submit my suggestions in the community from 2/13/2018. 

As for any announcement emails about this fandangled customer influence site, nothing appears in my search. I distinctly remember in many conversations and support tickets being told to visit the community to post my suggestion. 

I thank you for responding to me, however acting like I do not know what I am talking about on what I have been told is not well received. 

[DeanR]

Hi @andreav ,

There is some confusion here around "Community". 

Within the Concur Support portal there is a 'Community Info' tab where Solution Suggestions used to live.  Community Info now has a link to Customer Influence since that platform replaced Solution Suggestions.  Concur Support is only open to Authorised Support Contacts.

It is not the same thing as the SAP Concur Community (this forum), which launched in 2018 and is open to any user to self-register.

[KevinD]

@andreav I asked someone from our Product Authentication team about using SMS. She wants to know what the use case is for using SMS over an authentication app on a mobile device. I'll be happy to relay your use case to her. 🙂

[andreav]

thank you @KevinD 

the use case for an option other than authenticator would be for users who do not have smart phones. At my company, we have several people who choose to not own smart phones, and we cannot make them own one either. 

thank you

[KevinD]

@andreav okay, so I clearly convey to my contact, users should be able to receive the six-digit code via email if they do not have a smart phone. That I totally understand. However, if a user doesn't have a smart phone, where or how would they receive an SMS?

[andreav]

@KevinD  regular (non-smart) cell phones are still able to receive an SMS, as it is not a rich text communication. However an SMS is not necessary if they can get an email, as they will be on their computer using the web browser, so they will have access to their emails. 

Basically, there just needs to be one other option, either email or SMS, email might be best. 

[KevinD]

@andreav thank you for clarifying. I will pass on this information. I can't say whether this will be something we move forward with as I was told that implementing an SMS option can be quite costly. We would need to evaluate how many of our users would need an SMS option. I'm thinking the email option would be a much more likely option since it would apply to any users, where SMS would only apply to a very small number of users.

Anyway, I've passed on the information and now we wait and see. 🙂

I was just informed that we do have some sort of email back up solution planned. I don't know anything else about this, but apparently it has already been discussed.

[melissag]

Hi @andreav,

Thank you for your feedback- SAP has recognized the challenges with the Influence website and are working to deliver a better experience for all of our users.

Until then, please review these resources (links are also available on the Support portal through your Concur product login if you are an Admin/Authorized Support Contact)- https://www.concurtraining.com/cnqr/continuous-influence-sessions

Concur switched from the Solution Suggestions to the new CIS platform on the Influence site in March 2022.  We also post updates to new Early Adopter Care programs and CEI programs here on the community on the What's New in Product pages.

In addition, SAP has introduced the new Universal ID user management system for all sap.com sites to ensure top level security and compliance with authentication- https://www.sap.com/account/universal-id.html

Hopefully this information will help answer additional questions for you regarding access, Concur users, and up-to-date authentication practices.

If you have additional questions or feedback about Concur and the SAP Influence website, please send us an email at SAP_CIS_Concur@sap.com.

Thank you!

Melissa

[andreav]

Thank you @melissag for this information. 
Maybe share this with the support staff running the chat.

Until the "challenges" with the influence site are corrected, it might be best to close that off and keep things the way they were. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

It is my opinion that SAP tends to want to "fix" thing that aren't broken, and turn them into things that are actually "broken". 

Stop enforcing these massive changes that require admins to remember which site we need to go to for which option. Just use the 'KISS' method and "Keep It Simple SAP".