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 2024

SAP Ambassador

Thomas Saueressig was brought onto the Executive Board by SAP CEO Christian Klein and entrusted with numerous new and important tasks following the recent reorganization.

Thomas Saueressig is currently the face of SAP, and not just at the DSAG Annual Congress. 

TO THE COVER STORY
According to Adesso’s GenAI Impact Study, 41 percent of the companies surveyed are currently only exploring the basic applications of AI agents. Just under 31 percent are already using them in production. That sounds like a spirit of optimism, but it is primarily a sign of hesitation.
Many companies do not fully tap into the economic potential of their ERP landscape. Usage and operating costs are rising steadily, while opportunities for optimization often go undiscovered. Why taking a close look at licensing and operating models is crucial.
When migrating to Rise with SAP, the SAP archive is often overlooked. Companies must design their archives, interfaces, and operations on their own—ArchiveLink or CMIS are crucial for costs, compliance, and future-proofing.
While 60 percent of Austrian executives are in the pilot or experimental phase with individual AI solutions, only four percent of the companies surveyed have fully integrated AI into their core processes and made it the strategic backbone of their value creation.
At the 2026 Sapphire events, SAP refined its AI strategy. A vision is taking shape that encompasses autonomy, the partner ecosystem, and the „Autonomous Enterprise.“ It remains to be seen whether these visions will translate into robust solutions.
Hyperscaler power or European control? German companies want both. According to the Valantic study „Sovereign Hypercloud,“ many companies are focusing on expanding their IT infrastructure in Europe to combine the performance of international hyperscalers with greater sovereignty.
AI knows only one path: to solve a given task optimally and once and for all! What seems like a radical approach to humans is, for the machine, its logical raison d’être. Because AI has no humanistic values, it will continue to optimize until its very end.
With an antitrust ruling, the EU has provisionally brought an end to an anti-competitive chapter in SAP’s history. The global leader in ERP was accused of exploiting its dominant market position in maintenance and support to force customers into an inescapable service straitjacket.
Subscription or consumption? Buy, rent, or pay based on usage? Following the on-premise era, existing SAP customers are facing an almost insurmountable complexity of fees. The Business Data Complexity (SAP BDC) defined by the user association DSAG is just the tip of the iceberg.
First, my colleague Christof Kerkmann reported in the *Handelsblatt* on the restructuring of SAP’s Executive Board: CEO Christian Klein plans to focus on AI technology going forward, as Executive Board member Muhammad Alam (Product and Engineering) will be leaving the company in early 2027. Klein is supported behind the scenes by a strategic advisor.

Comments

At the 2026 Sapphire events, SAP refined its AI strategy. A vision is taking shape that encompasses autonomy, the partner ecosystem, and the „Autonomous Enterprise.“ It remains to be seen whether these visions will translate into robust solutions.
Artificial intelligence and agent-driven processes have long since become part of everyday life. But for Copilot and similar tools to deliver useful results, human expertise is essential.
July 10, 2026

Exit, Exit, Exit

The cloud exit problem has not yet been solved, and already the need for another exit strategy for AI is becoming apparent. How will sovereignty ever be achieved?
The SAP Integration Suite is moving closer to the shop floor. With the Edge Integration Cell and SUSE Rancher, it bridges the gap between cloud innovation and local control—a must for regulated industries and PI/PO migrants.

SAP News

According to Adesso’s GenAI Impact Study, 41 percent of the companies surveyed are currently only exploring the basic applications of AI agents. Just under 31 percent are already using them in production. That sounds like a spirit of optimism, but it is primarily a sign of hesitation.
Hyperscaler power or European control? German companies want both. According to the Valantic study „Sovereign Hypercloud,“ many companies are focusing on expanding their IT infrastructure in Europe to combine the performance of international hyperscalers with greater sovereignty.
In collaboration with Deloitte, UiPath relied on agentic automation, test automation, and a clear separation between the SAP core and the agent layer, and used its own S/4 migration as a stress test for a new ERP operating model.
For the majority of companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, data sovereignty within the EU is a very important issue. More than half would even be prepared to pay more. These are the results of a recent study commissioned by SAP.

Business Management

Many companies do not fully tap into the economic potential of their ERP landscape. Usage and operating costs are rising steadily, while opportunities for optimization often go undiscovered. Why taking a close look at licensing and operating models is crucial.
SAP is driving the adoption of AI agents and intelligent automation. However, many companies are unable to implement the necessary system upgrades in the short term. With the right governance and security strategies, AI can still be integrated into existing SAP landscapes.
With its product updates for Q1 2026, SAP is continuing to drive the integration of artificial intelligence into business processes and development environments. The focus is on the Joule AI platform, which is increasingly becoming the central user interface for various solutions.
Many companies do not fully tap into the economic potential of their ERP landscape. Usage and operating costs are rising steadily, while opportunities for optimization often go undiscovered. Why taking a close look at licensing and operating models is crucial.

IT Management

When migrating to Rise with SAP, the SAP archive is often overlooked. Companies must design their archives, interfaces, and operations on their own—ArchiveLink or CMIS are crucial for costs, compliance, and future-proofing.
When it comes to SAP Basis automation, the focus is usually on cost savings. However, this does not provide an adequate assessment of the situation. Security and resilience are just as important—in fact, in two ways.
The SAP Integration Suite is moving closer to the shop floor. With the Edge Integration Cell and SUSE Rancher, it bridges the gap between cloud innovation and local control—a must for regulated industries and PI/PO migrants.
SAP Build Apps as a standalone offering is a thing of the past. Why now, of all times, is still the right time to migrate—and which tools are best suited to reliably bring business, IT, and AI together for the long term.

Economy

While 60 percent of Austrian executives are in the pilot or experimental phase with individual AI solutions, only four percent of the companies surveyed have fully integrated AI into their core processes and made it the strategic backbone of their value creation.
Three-quarters of global AI value creation comes from just 20 percent of companies. Germany ranks ahead of the U.S., the U.K., and Japan in the AI Fitness Index, but lags significantly in AI-driven revenue growth.
For most companies in the DACH region, SAP transformation is a reality of business operations. For 70 percent of SAP customers, the S/4 migration is currently underway or has already been completed. This is shown by the latest SAP 2026 study conducted by Valantic in collaboration with the analyst firm Techconsult.
According to a recent study by Fivetran, only 15 percent of companies are fully prepared for the production-level deployment of agent-based AI—even though nearly 60 percent of companies are already investing millions.

People Management

E3 Book Tip

Quality management
with SAP S/4HANA

In this book, you will learn step by step how to map your QM processes in SAP S/4HANA and make the necessary customizing settings. The experienced team of authors explains the central master data and control instruments in QM. You will also learn about the new functions provided by SAP Extended Warehouse Management.

 - Map all quality assurance processes in QM
 - Inspection process, notifications and quality control
 - Fiori apps and new features of SAP S/4HANA explained clearly
- With a new chapter on SAP Quality Issue Resolution

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
+43-662-4355460

Event date

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

AI experience workshop only on June 11, 2026 (limited places)
Bonus: Access to all lectures on June 11, 2026

Regular ticket

Lectures, evening event and, depending on availability, the AI workshop on June 11, 2026
Places at the AI experience workshop are limited and registration is required.

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 305 excl. VAT.
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

AI onlyExperience workshop on April 23, 2026 
Bonus: Access to all lectures on April 23, 2026
Regular ticket
April 22, 2026: Lectures and evening event
April 23, 2026: Lectures and AI workshop
EUR 305 excl. VAT
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.