The global and independent platform for the SAP community.
Cover story April 2024

SAP Basis with Cloud ALM, on-prem
and licenses.

Salzburg 2024: Hana and S/4 also need a robust SAP basis. The Customer Competence Center of SAP R/3 and Business Suite 7 is transforming itself with ALM, process mining and enterprise architects. The SAP Competence Center Summit in Salzburg is dedicated to this transformation process.

TO THE COVER STORY
Cover Story November 2025

Cloud Between Euphoria and Crash

Cloud was a much-discussed topic, then a standard, and—thanks to hyperscalers—it then became an enormous market with sky-rocketing sales. Cloud computing is currently under discussion once again, and it oscillates back and forth between sovereign, hybrid, private, and public clouds. Which ERP architecture should SAP customers select?

TO THE COVER STORY
Although the German economy believes it is well equipped when it comes to digital sovereignty, the majority is still dependent on digital solutions from non-European providers. This is shown by the first „Digital Sovereignty Index“ compiled by SAP Gold Partner Adesso and the HRI.

89 Percent Affected by Data Theft

November 18, 2025
E3 Magazine
Nine out of ten German companies have been affected by data theft in the past three years. 92% see an acute need for action due to geopolitical risks and are adapting their cyber strategies. Weaknesses are evident in protection against AI and quantum risks.

SAP Outsourcing From Cologne to New Zealand

November 18, 2025
E3 Magazine
Just imagine: It's 6 p.m. in Frankfurt. An SAP manager finishes his working day, takes one last look at the system dashboard - and breathes a sigh of relief.

Manage Master Data Centrally in S/4 

November 18, 2025
Stefanie Wenzel, FIS
Werner und Mertz strives for more efficiency, better data quality and transparent processes with centralized master data management. The focus was on clear workflows, flexible customization and SAP integration. With FIS/mpm, the manufacturer quickly achieved noticeable improvements.

AI Is Not a Panacea for Data Chaos

November 17, 2025
Julia Rettig, Nagarro
I was shocked to realize two things: This is my last column and I haven't even written about artificial intelligence yet. But few buzzwords are better suited to the grand finale.
How can existing SAP customers, companies and public institutions use artificial intelligence securely and profitably?
In an interview for the German-language medium Computerwelt.de, SAP Executive Board member Thomas Saueressig defined a Frankenstein ERP architecture, shortly after his Executive Board colleague Muhammad Alam warned of the danger of an ERP patchwork quilt.
At the end of AI development, there will also be a small language model at SAP. SAP is now content with small successes. Based on its own Abap tables, mechanisms such as machine learning are to be used as a supplement to SAP PAL. Uncertain added value?

Mind the Gap With SAP

October 31, 2025
SAP customers want and need cloud, AI, and IT platforms. SAP has good offerings with Joule, Cloud ERP, BTP, and BDC. However, the licenses and IT conditions do not align with users' ERP reality. SAP does not understand its customers, and vice versa.

E3 Roundtable on ERP Platforms, Data Streams, and E2E Workflows

Successful ERP, supply chain management, and CRM architectures are built on IT platforms. Data streaming and collaboration are essential to the orchestration of ERP systems. IT platforms are the new operating system for cloud computing. The E3 Roundtable will highlight the importance and strategy of platforms for a holistic IT infrastructure and ERP architecture. SAP customers will implement platform technologies for digital transformation. The E3 Roundtable will discuss the ERP architecture principle of platforms using Boomi's offering as an example.

Comments

I was shocked to realize two things: This is my last column and I haven't even written about artificial intelligence yet. But few buzzwords are better suited to the grand finale.
No-name column
The gut feeling is that 99 percent availability would be okay - but it means that a system or service is unavailable for around 3 days and 15 hours per year. An ERP system and AI agents need more stability.
An eventful year is coming to an end. There have been numerous new developments relating to Linux and open source. They show that transparent open source principles, technologies and solutions are becoming increasingly relevant.
November 11, 2025

AI Glaze

SAP's commitment to AI is like a glaze poured over everything and everyone. The main thing is that it tastes like artificial intelligence.

SAP News

Nine out of ten German companies have been affected by data theft in the past three years. 92% see an acute need for action due to geopolitical risks and are adapting their cyber strategies. Weaknesses are evident in protection against AI and quantum risks.
Just imagine: It's 6 p.m. in Frankfurt. An SAP manager finishes his working day, takes one last look at the system dashboard - and breathes a sigh of relief.
SAP customers can now unlock real-time data from ECC, S/4 Hana, and BW, with integrated CDC and no custom code.
Boomi is opening up another data channel in the SAP universe, giving SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) considerable competition with the Databricks extension. It remains to be seen who will ultimately win the race for the final ERP data platform.

Business Management

Werner und Mertz strives for more efficiency, better data quality and transparent processes with centralized master data management. The focus was on clear workflows, flexible customization and SAP integration. With FIS/mpm, the manufacturer quickly achieved noticeable improvements.
How can existing SAP customers, companies and public institutions use artificial intelligence securely and profitably?
Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ushering in a new era of transformation for both corporations and humanity. While much attention has been given to the ways consumers interact with AI-driven processes, the enterprise systems domain offers equally significant potential.
November 11, 2025

Security black box S/4

How to better secure your company's crown jewels - and take care of SAP security? Oliver Villwock, Consulting Director with a focus on SAP security at cbs, and Robert Stricker, Head of Security Consulting at Materna, talk about this in an E3 interview.

IT Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping supply chain planning at an unprecedented pace. Traditional, linear processes are giving way to data-driven strategies powered by advanced technologies and sophisticated platforms. Among these, SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP) stands out as a foundational tool for enabling an agentic AI framework.
Isolated solutions and a lack of shared document access resulted in complex, error-prone handling. SSE introduced S/4 Hana for the MCAD team and created a powerful, expandable solution for efficient product data management with SAP ECTR.
Many companies need to reorganize their IT security. SAP and hybrid systems can also be secured with "Zero Trust". The SAP Business Technology Platform with services such as Identity Authentication and Build Work Zone creates a central, secure access point for this.
October 21, 2025

SAP and Non-SAP?

Almost all SAP customers also use non-SAP systems, which also need to be managed. Empirius wants to take greater account of such tasks in future. CEO Hans Haselbeck talks about his views on SAP and non-SAP in an interview with E3 Magazine.

Economy

Although the German economy believes it is well equipped when it comes to digital sovereignty, the majority is still dependent on digital solutions from non-European providers. This is shown by the first „Digital Sovereignty Index“ compiled by SAP Gold Partner Adesso and the HRI.
The DACH region remains a dynamic field of innovation: start-ups continue to gain in strategic importance. This is shown by the Start-up and Innovation Monitor 2025 of the digital consulting, solutions and software company Valantic.
November 5, 2025

German CEOs rely on AI

AI as a top investment: 68 percent of German CEOs name AI as their top investment goal in the latest KPMG CEO Outlook. 80 percent plan to invest at least ten percent of their budget in artificial intelligence in the short term.
IDC forecasts: European spending on public cloud services will rise to 229 billion USD in 2025 and to 452 billion USD by 2029. Despite geopolitical uncertainties, the cloud remains the engine of digitalization—driven by AI, regulation, and the healthcare boom.

People Management

E3 Book Tip

Programming on the SAP BTP

Discover the modern development methods on the SAP Business Technology Platform! This book systematically introduces you to the various tools and approaches of cloud-native software development with SAP. From proven models such as CAP and RAP to ABAP development in the cloud and modern programming with SAP Build and AI: learn how to create data models, implement services and design intuitive user interfaces using practical examples.

- Your entry into development on the SAP Business Technology Platform
- Programming with CAP, RAP, ABAP Cloud and SAP Build
- Development environments, programming models and AI integration at a glance

Order here

Working on the SAP basis is crucial for successful S/4 conversion. 

This gives the Competence Center strategic importance for existing SAP customers. Regardless of the S/4 Hana operating model, topics such as Automation, Monitoring, Security, Application Lifecycle Management and Data Management the basis for S/4 operations.

For the fourth time, E3 magazine is organizing a summit for the SAP community in Salzburg to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of S/4 Hana groundwork.

Venue

FourSide Hotel Salzburg,
Trademark Collection by Wyndham
Am Messezentrum 2, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
+43-66-24355460

Event date

Wednesday, June 10, and
Thursday, June 11, 2026

Early Bird Ticket

Regular ticket

Subscribers to the E3 Magazine Ticket

reduced with promocode CCAbo26

Students*

reduced with promocode CCStud26.
Please send proof of studies by e-mail to office@b4bmedia.net.
*The first 10 tickets are free of charge for students. Try your luck! 🍀
EUR 390 excl. VAT
available until November 30, 2025
EUR 590 excl. VAT
EUR 390 excl. VAT
EUR 290 excl. VAT

Venue

Hotel Hilton Heidelberg
Kurfürstenanlage 1
D-69115 Heidelberg

Event date

Wednesday, April 22 and
Thursday, April 23, 2026

Tickets

Early Bird Ticket
Regular ticket
EUR 390 excl. VAT
available until 30.11.2025
EUR 590 excl. VAT
Subscribers to the E3 magazine
reduced with promocode STAbo26
EUR 390 excl. VAT
Students*
reduced with promocode STStud26.
Please send proof of studies by e-mail to office@b4bmedia.net.
EUR 290 excl. VAT
*The first 10 tickets are free of charge for students. Try your luck! 🍀
The event is organized by the E3 magazine of the publishing house B4Bmedia.net AG. The presentations will be accompanied by an exhibition of selected SAP partners. The ticket price includes attendance at all presentations of the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2026, a visit to the exhibition area, participation in the evening event and catering during the official program. The lecture program and the list of exhibitors and sponsors (SAP partners) will be published on this website in due course.