Riddell Brings SAP Data to Frontline Sellers with an Azure-Powered AI Assistant
Riddell, a 96-Year-Old Sports Brand partnered with Saxon AI to empower frontline sellers—giving them the SAP insights they need, when they need them, without the usual system friction.
21,000+
hours saved
annually
20%
reps make
1-5 additional calls/day
59%
reps now respond
to customer questions faster
34%
reps now use RIA instead of sales support
73%
reps use RIA regularly at work
Overview
Riddell, an iconic leader in protective sports equipment with nearly a century of innovation, faced a growing sales productivity bottleneck: its field sales reps spent excessive time navigating multiple enterprise systems to find pricing, order status, delivery updates, and invoice information stored deep in SAP ECC. This fragmented access to critical data reduced selling time and impeded rapid, informed customer engagement.
To address this challenge, Riddell partnered with Saxon AI to build RIA — the Riddell Intelligent Assistant on Azure, powered by Saxon’s AIssist platform. RIA brings real-time SAP data and contextual insights directly into Microsoft Teams, enabling sales reps to get answers through natural language without leaving their workflow.
The Challenge
“We had a choice. We could have added more sales support team members. That wouldn’t have solved the problem.”
— Aravind Kashyap, Chief Information Officer, Riddell
Riddell’s sales teams struggled with 3 main challenges:
Multiple disconnected systems and reports for routine data (pricing, order status, delivery, invoices).
Spending too much time on computers rather than with coaches and customers.
Inability to instantly answer critical questions in the field — slowing response times and reducing sales effectiveness.
Aravind Kashyap captures the bigger ambition behind RIA well:
“We want our sales organization to focus more on long-term relationship building and the ability to cross-sell and upsell. Can they sell other products and services that they have instead of all helmets, shoulder pads, and reconditioning? Can they look at smart helmet technologies like InSite Analytics’, uniforms and custom/stock apparel, or the tackling and training equipment, that we have?”
Our Solution: RIA - The Riddell Intelligent Assistant
Riddell and Saxon AI co-engineered RIA on Microsoft Azure using Azure Data Lake, Microsoft Fabric, and Semantic Kernel. The solution:
- Integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams, meaning reps get answers without context switching.
- Delivers real-time SAP ECC data through simple natural language queries.
- Provides contextual insight, not just raw facts — e.g., current vs. past season metrics, competitive trends, and suggested next steps.
- Supports proactive selling with daily nudges about deliveries, invoices, and key actions.
RIA was engineered using a “day in the life” methodology — studying real rep workflows and prioritizing the most time-consuming tasks for automation and insight delivery.
Business Impact
Since deployment, RIA has delivered measurable value across the sales organization:
21,000+ hours saved annually, freeing up more time for selling
73% weekly active usage, driving strong adoption across teams
59% faster customer responses, improving turnaround time
20% increase in daily calls, expanding customer outreach
34% shift to self-service, reducing dependency on support teams
Implementation & Rollout
Beyond efficiency, RIA delivers context-aware intelligence. When a rep asks about helmet sales for a customer, RIA surfaces this season’s numbers alongside last season’s — revealing upsell and cross-sell opportunities. It shows what neighboring schools are buying, provides immediate pricing visibility, suggests next actions like email drafts or promotional materials, and even sends proactive morning nudges alerting reps to deliveries or pending invoices
Extending SAP into the sales workflow
Riddell’s story also shows how AI can extend the value of SAP beyond the back office. With RIA, built by Saxon AI on Azure, sales reps can access real-time SAP ECC data such as pricing, order status, delivery updates, and invoice details through natural language in Microsoft Teams. Instead of making teams go back into ERP systems for routine answers, the solution brings SAP data into the flow of work, making it easier for sellers to respond quickly with the right context.
Looking Ahead
Riddell’s intelligent assistant continues to evolve. Planned enhancements include:
- Outlook calendar integration to generate proactive meeting briefs.
- Connection to additional enterprise systems for broader operational insight.
- Automated pricing quotes and custom design workflows via future system connectors.
As Riddell transitions from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA on Azure, RIA will adapt alongside, preserving continuity while unlocking deeper automation and data access.
(Originally published on Microsoft Customer Stories.)
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