Author: Peter M. Färbinger, E3-Magazin

For the German-speaking SAP user group (DSAG), it is unacceptable that SAP severely restricts the use of APIs for undocumented purposes, for systematic mass data extractions and for interaction with autonomous generative AI systems from third-party providers.

SAP CEO Christian Klein propagates the dawning age of Agentic AI, in which autonomous AI agents as digital „super workers“ no longer just passively answer questions, but independently analyze, orchestrate and execute complex end-to-end processes in Composable ERP.

Anyone who believes they can successfully implement an S/4 migration with the lift-and-shift concepts brownfield or greenfield is mistaken. Pure code conversion - even in SAP Clean Core - leads to strategic failure. Nova Intelligence relies on understanding instead of conversion: Cleanfield and Composable ERP for sustainable transformation.

In the new Abap Cloud world, unlimited direct access to database tables, the local file system or the kernel of the application server is strictly prohibited. For existing SAP customers, this development doctrine results in a painful and expensive refactoring process.

The former pioneer of standard business software seems to have lost its innovative compass. Hana, cloud, AI, qubits - what adds value to ERP?

Investors fear that expensive cloud software subscriptions will be radically devalued as sophisticated AI agents perform the tasks of office workers largely autonomously, drastically reducing the need for thousands and thousands of individual licenses.

The term „narrative economics“ was coined by Robert J. Shiller, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and describes an approach to explaining how narratives drive significant economic events.

E3 editor-in-chief Peter Färbinger spoke to Stefan Nogly, Chief Technology Officer at the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG), at the Technology Days 2026 in Hamburg. Stefan Nogly tries to keep an eye on and orchestrate all aspects of the members.

While SAP CEO Christian Klein uses artificial intelligence primarily as a sales vehicle for his cloud strategy and invests huge sums in hyperscaler partnerships, Siemens CEO Roland Busch has a much sharper and more independent vision.

A unique selling proposition some fifty years ago has been transformed into an ERP group with no history and just any old thing. Where is the SAP added value?

AI and Agentic AI do not add value to ERP. AI will eventually replace, marginalize and eliminate traditional ERP. S/4 will be around for many years to come, but the future lies elsewhere.

Under the strict dictates of the SAP Clean Core strategy, the future of Abap is defined by cloud compliance, AI, strict governance and absolute upgrade stability. Users are forced to rethink their historically grown and individualized ERP architectures.