Kathy Gibson is at Saphila Transcend in Sun City – We are living in a time of continuous disruption – so companies require digital transformation in realtime.
Thomas Pfiester, head of global customer engagement and services, and member of the extended board at SAP, believes that we are in the midst of an artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.
Not only has AI been incredibly disruptive, it is also changing quickly. “For instance, two years ago we wondered if we should be building our own large language models (LLMs). Today they are a commodity. Two years ago, the most needed skill was prompt engineer. Today, that is dead.
“So what is new today will be a commodity tomorrow,” he says.
Pfiester says that SAP has a number of tools and services that can help customers become future-ready.
The SAP technology capabilities create a cycle of AI, cloud, and data. Business AI is embedded everywhere, Business Data Cloud takes realtime decisions based on SAP and non-SAP data; and the business applications in SAP Business Suite use that data to run the business and generate new data with AI that feeds back into the cycle.
SAP delivers its methodologies, tools, and architectures through the SAP RISE and SAP Grow programmes.
“RISE is represented in 40% of the global economy,” Pfiester says. “There are currently 8 500 customers live on RISE with SAP.
“And it won’t stop there.”
SAP is constantly updating its technology and services.
“When it comes to technology, we have introduced that capability to do transformation into the cloud and to leverage AI.
“But transformation is a journey: it is more than technology, but includes methodology, competencies, and tools. We decided two years ago to double down on our technology and capabilities, also the methodology, competencies, and tools.
“So the RISE with SAP methodology helps companies to drive transformation into the cloud, building an environment that can constantly innovate.”
To help customers on the journey, SAP has invested in enterprise architects to provide expertise and competencies.
“An IDC study shows that business transformation is top of mind for CEOs,” Pfiester says. “And it is a constant process that lives in the organisation. So we integrated all our tools into a digital process innovation tool base.”
This lets customer modify business processes using a tool provided, and the system will then update other parts of the ecosystem and even generate user testing. A majority – 78% of RISE customers use this tool base.
The toolset also includes brownfield migration and selective migration as well. “The idea is to help customers to get from where they are today to where they need to be tomorrow.”
AI is embedded in the tools with the Joule for RISE with SAP methodology.
Clean Core is vital on the digital transformation journey, which is where SAP’s enterprise architects come into their own.
Johannes Langguth, global head of business transformation and architecture at SAP, says the role of the enterprise architect is to help with significant onboarding progress and simplify the engagement model for more value-based deliverables. They are interlinked in the engagement model with the toolchain, and ensure that customers get the right architecture early on in their transformation journey.
“We help you achieve a Clean Core, and also think about AI and data considerations.”
A year after it announced this service, SAP enterprise architects are serving more than 1 000 customers.
“We believe transformation itself has become a capability for customers, and you need to be adaptable,” Langguth says. “We want to help you to train the transformation muscle so you will be future-ready.
“We help you to create transparency and see the pitfalls you need to take care of as you design a path forward using our portfolio of agentic AI applications.
“We believe this will help you to replace guessing with knowing,” he adds. “And, because you know where to go, you can take decisions driven by clear facts.”
Use integrated toolchain includes solutions for business process (SAP Signavio), enterprise architecture (SAP LeanIX), validation, adoption and enablement (Tricentis, WalkMe and SAP Enable Now), building and monitoring (SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and SAP Build) and digital Backbone (SAP Cloud ALM).
“The real power comes from the integration,” Langguth says.
He adds that the results speak for themselves, with up to 30% reduced cost of transformation, up to 35% faster time to business value, up to 70% increased business agility, and up to 40% faster continuous innovation.