Author: Peter M. Färbinger, E3-Magazin

The difference between AI for the manufacturing industry and for ERP may be small. But the fact is that the German industrial group Siemens has a strategy under CEO Roland Busch, while SAP boss Christian Klein is lost in numerous AI partnerships. Will Klein be rescued by Hana co-inventor Professor Zeier using ERP AI?

The SAP share price has been on a downward trajectory for around a year, and there is no end in sight. The Supervisory Board and the Executive Board are equally responsible for this development. For months, SAP CEO Christian Klein watched helplessly from the sidelines as the catastrophe approached. What now?

A survey of SAP user groups from the DACH region, the USA, the UK and Japan was conducted in mid-2025. The SAP cloud strategy was driven to the wall by CEO Christian Klein. Hardly any customers know about BDC and the new SAP Business Suite.

Since SAP's all-time high share price of around 280 EUR on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the price has fallen to around 166 EUR on the day the 2025 annual results were published, resulting in a cumulative loss of 40 percent.

The age of monolithic ERP, in which SAP controlled processes and data in the customer data center as the sole ruler, is coming to an irrevocable end. It is being replaced by a platform economy based around SAP BTP and Business Data Cloud. Composable ERP is the future.

In a remarkable interview with my colleague, Manfred Bremmer, from the German publication Computerwoche, SAP board member, Thomas Saueressig, warned against a “Frankenstein” architecture when using AI with on-prem resources.

The SAP CEO attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he discussed a paradox he claims to have found in AI. However, neither Klein nor his colleague, Thomas Saueressig, could offer a solution to the AI paradox or explain the disastrous SAP share price.

This number has been disconnected—this is a phenomenon that my colleague Andrea Schramm from Marketing and Sales and I are confronted with more and more often: Is there no longer a culture of conversation?

Although artificial intelligence can deliver added value in the ERP environment, it doesn't have to. This topic will be discussed in an experience workshop by E3 Magazine and Media and SAP Partner Snap. Topics such as observability and resilience will also be discussed. What does SAP have say on the subject? What about AI governance?

After the cloud fashion fiasco, the king has switched to AI. The new clothes don't suit him, and the stock market's response has been lackluster. However, financial analysts still believe in a positive outcome. But can SAP truly master AI?

The end of 2025 has been a difficult time for SAP CEO Christian Klein: SAP system landscapes are predominantly hybrid, and only a third of those surveyed by the user association DSAG are familiar with the new Business Suite. SAP's communication has failed, and public cloud is a marginal phenomenon.

Most of what SAP does is fundamentally correct. The global market leader in ERP cannot be accused of deliberate misconduct. Yet, SAP's share price is falling, and the mood within the SAP community is grim. The world of SAP and the world of ERP users are no longer aligned.