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What Qualtrics integration questions should IT ask of SAP?

Qualtrics has certain technical integration challenges, and IT needs to address questions to uncover what they are and how they will affect the implementation. Here's a look.

Luke Marson
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Published: 14 Dec 2020

Qualtrics is a well-designed application with an easy-to-use interface for administrators and end users. However, as with any enterprise software, Qualtrics has certain technical integration challenges, and IT teams need to be aware of them.

It's important that IT ask the right questions about Qualtrics integration so they can fully understand the capabilities and challenge areas. IT needs to do so before they embark on an implementation project.

Here are a few Qualtrics integration questions IT should be sure to ask SAP.

What is the Qualtrics integration strategy and roadmap?

Following the announced IPO of Qualtrics by SAP, there's uncertainty about whether Qualtrics integration with SAP SuccessFactors will remain the strong focus for SAP that it has been for the last two years. The integrations SAP has delivered have covered some scenarios in a rudimentary way, but more wide-ranging and complex integration scenarios have still not arrived.

Although SAP says many integrations are being planned, IT should ask SAP to provide a roadmap for those integrations. IT should also ask which integrations are the subject of concrete delivery plans, which have been put on the back burner and which are only possibilities for a later date based on SAP customers' uptake of Qualtrics.

What is only demoed and what are actual integrations?

As with any demo given by a vendor, it's always prudent to check whether what you're seeing has generally available functionality. Right now, some of the Qualtrics integrations demoed by SAP don't always work as expected, have not yet been built or have not yet been made generally available and may not be before your planned project go-live date.

As with any enterprise software, Qualtrics has certain technical integration challenges, and IT teams need to be aware of them.

IT teams need to dive deep into conversations with SAP so they can understand if what they're seeing is a working integration or just a staged demo. If it is a staged demo, then IT should ask if the actual integration is planned for delivery and, if so, the projected date.

What are its capabilities?

Sometimes SAP's information about Qualtrics integration can be unclear or conflicting. A business process might be easy to understand, but the mechanics behind how integrations operate may not always be clear. For example, SAP may recommend using a Qualtrics API versus SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), while Qualtrics or an integration partner may say the SFTP is a more reliable option.

IT should be ready to ask tough, detailed questions about packaged integrations, APIs and SFTP capabilities. Such questions should include:

  • What packaged integrations and integration processes are provided?
  • How does each integration process work from a technical perspective?
  • What technology is required for these integration processes to work?
  • How much work is required on the Qualtrics side to get the integrations to work?
  • Are there any data prerequisites in Qualtrics and have these been considered for the integration processes?

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