More personalisation, more speed, more future: get started with Emarsys

The most important currency in marketing is no longer reach, but relevance. Standardised mass communication is no longer enough to win customers and retain them in the long term. Customers expect personalised and relevant experiences that are consistently delivered in real time. Successful marketing is therefore not limited to digital campaigns, but requires intelligent automation and dynamic adaptation to customer behaviour. Close integration with sales is also crucial so that marketing and sales activities can be standardised along a common end-to-end process. This is the only way to create a consistent customer journey, from the initial contact to the conclusion of the sale.

SAP Marketing Cloud (SMC) – Status and classification

The SAP Marketing Cloud was developed as part of the SAP Customer Experience Suite to enable targeted and personalised communication with customers throughout their journey. It offers functions for campaign management, segmentation, lead nurturing and evaluation. Many companies still use SMC today, and it fulfils key tasks in campaign and existing customer marketing.

Gaps between SAP Marketing Cloud and today's requirements

Despite these functions, the solution is increasingly reaching its limits when compared to the current requirements of modern marketing and marketing automation:

Although SAP Marketing Cloud continues to perform basic tasks in campaign and customer marketing, it is increasingly reaching its limits. Marketing strategies require close integration of data sources and real-time processing. In addition, there is a lack of procedural integration with sales, i.e. a deep interlinking of processes between marketing and sales along a common end-to-end process. Omnichannel capability also shows that the solution no longer keeps pace with today's expectations, as communication must be consistent across email, mobile, social and web. The shortcomings are particularly evident in the context of personalisation and AI in automated recommendations, next-best-action approaches and predictive analytics.

Future and discontinuation

SAP itself is no longer strategically focusing on SMC. Officially, discontinuation is being discussed for December 2026; support will continue until then, but innovations will no longer be delivered. This means that companies can continue to work with SAP Marketing Cloud in the short term, but a strategic realignment will be necessary in the medium term.

Why Emarsys? The new SAP solution for marketing automation

SAP Emarsys is a modern, powerful and user-friendly marketing automation platform that has been specially developed for the requirements of data-driven, personalised communication. Compared to SAP Marketing Cloud, Emarsys offers significantly more options for implementing campaigns quickly, precisely and with direct business benefits.

Easy to get started thanks to ready-made tactics

Emarsys provides a wide range of ready-to-use marketing tactics – from classic email newsletters to complex, multi-stage customer journeys. Marketing teams can customise and expand these templates using drag-and-drop and put them to immediate use. This allows campaigns to be implemented without much lead time and without the need for specialised technical knowledge.

Measurable marketing performance in real time

Emarsys provides detailed analyses and reports immediately. Marketing measures are evaluated transparently, and the success of individual campaigns and channels can be clearly tracked. This enables targeted budget control and continuous marketing optimisation.

Future-oriented AI functions

In addition to classic analysis functions, Emarsys provides concrete recommendations for action (‘Next Best Action’) and forecasts of how customer behaviour will develop. AI-supported segmentation, dynamic content and product recommendations ensure a tailored customer approach – across channels and in real time.

Multi- and omnichannel capability

Emarsys orchestrates all communication channels such as email, SMS, push, social media, web personalisation and even offline touchpoints centrally in one platform.

Perfect collaboration between marketing and sales

Thanks to tight integration with SAP sales solutions, marketing and sales work on a common database. Leads, campaigns and sales activities are managed synchronously, so that marketing measures are directly visible in sales success and sales can react immediately to marketing impulses.

AI functions as a business booster

• AI Product Recommendations
  Personalised product recommendations in real time, based on customer behaviour, purchase history and preferences. This automatically exploits cross-selling and upselling potential.
• Send Time Optimisation (STO)
  Determines the optimal sending time for each individual recipient. The goal: maximum open and click rates without additional manual effort.
• Predictive Segmentation
  Predicts purchase probability, churn risk or sales potential. This allows target groups to be addressed in a targeted and differentiated manner, instead of working with mass mailings.
• Open Time Content (OTC)
  Dynamically adapts content at the moment of opening. For example, current offers, remaining stock or live prices are displayed.
• Predictive Revenue and Engagement Scoring
  Predicts the revenue potential and engagement of individual customers. This enables marketing teams to set priorities and invest specifically in profitable customer relationships.

The switch from SAP Marketing Cloud to Emarsys

For many, switching from SAP Marketing Cloud to SAP Emarsys is the logical next step in making marketing automation fit for the future. While SMC has taken on central tasks in campaign management and existing customer communication in recent years, SAP is no longer strategically pursuing its further development. With the announced discontinuation at the end of 2026, it is clear that anyone who wants to modernise their marketing strategy and secure it for the long term should actively switch to Emarsys, leveraging the strengths of their existing SMC implementation.

Advantages for existing SMC customers

A crucial point is that companies with existing SMC architecture have already laid much of the groundwork that will facilitate the switch:

• The governance processes established in SMC (e.g. consent management, GDPR-compliant data storage) can be transferred directly. This means that there is no additional effort required in terms of regulatory issues.
• Campaign and target group logic that has already been defined with SMC can be transferred to Emarsys and even expanded there.
• With SAP on-board tools and predefined connectors, customer data, preferences and interaction histories can be replicated automatically. The transition is quick and involves minimal risk.
• Existing SMC users already have a deep understanding of data models, segmentation and campaign logic. This expertise can be transferred directly to Emarsys, reducing the need for training.

Our migration approach

adesso has developed a clearly structured step-by-step approach for the switch from SMC to Emarsys:

• 1. Readiness check with an analysis of the existing SMC landscape, data models, processes and integrations.
• 2. Definition of the migration strategy with prioritisation of campaigns, channels and target groups.
• 3. Data migration with replication of customer profiles, preferences, consents and histories in Emarsys.
• 4. Implementation and integration into existing SAP and non-SAP systems, as well as securing data flows.
• 5. Enablement and training to provide targeted training for marketing teams based on their existing SMC know-how.
• 6. Go-live and hypercare with a step-by-step transition to production and close support.

Best practices from projects

Our experience from projects – including with Douglas and in the DFB environment – shows that the change is not only technically feasible, but also a real business booster. Companies have been able to shorten their campaign durations, take personalisation to a new level and achieve demonstrable increases in revenue thanks to Emarsys' AI functionalities.

Conclusion: Now is the right time to actively shape the marketing shift

For existing SAP Marketing customers, switching to Emarsys is not a risk, but an opportunity.

Processes, data and knowledge from the SMC can continue to be used directly, while Emarsys opens up new possibilities in personalisation, speed and efficiency. Those who make this change early on will gain a clear competitive advantage and ensure that marketing remains a growth driver in the future.

Request a readiness check now and get started

A structured readiness check provides the basis for a successful transition to a modern marketing automation solution such as Emarsys. It involves analysing the existing marketing and system landscape, examining integration options for data sources, evaluating processes and identifying potential for optimisation. Based on this, we develop a customised recommendation and a roadmap for migration or expansion of marketing automation. Our goal is not only to bring your system up to date, but also to ensure that the new environment is optimally tailored to your needs. Let's take a look at how this works with adesso.

Request a readiness check now

The benefit of such a check lies in the clear basis for decision-making, which makes it possible to avoid bad investments and plan the transformation efficiently. The effort, opportunities and potential of a migration become transparent, allowing implementation to proceed in a targeted and structured manner.

adesso contributes comprehensive expertise in SAP CX, Emarsys and related systems. From the readiness check to implementation, marketing automation is implemented in such a way that it works efficiently, flexibly and is future-proof. With this support, the transformation can be strategically controlled and the marketing strategy raised to a data-based, high-performance level.

The future won't wait, so it's time to stay one step ahead. Contact adesso to better understand your situation, leverage the benefits of SAP Emarsys for your business, and take the next step towards innovative marketing.