E3 Category: Editor-in-Chief Blog

Gerd Oswald is one of the most powerful and successful former SAP board members. He was the driving force behind the successful deployment of SAP R/3 and Business Suite 7, thanks to tools such as SolMan and initiatives such as the Customer Competence Center (CCC).

SAP is extremely interested in customer evolution and has set up a dedicated department to this end. It has excellent IT tools for finalizing the S/4 conversion. However, RISE with SAP is an imprecise and variable goal without core strengths.

Legacy systems are not uncommon in the fast-paced world of IT. Many computer users are currently experiencing the pain of being forced to switch from the familiar Microsoft Windows 10 to the barely improved—albeit more secure—version 11. For SAP customers, it means saying goodbye to ERP/ECC 6.0 and AnyDB.

The “Innovator's Dilemma”, as defined by Harvard professor Clayton M. Christensen, is evident in the SAP community every day. While SAP and its partners are cautious, their competitors are rushing ahead with innovations.

Artificial intelligence requires a radical new approach in many areas of IT. How should SAP guide its well-established and highly successful ERP system through the AI revolution? It's an AI dilemma.

SAP is rightfully proud of its ERP automation with the AI agent, Joule. However, in its excitement about this successful product, SAP overlooked holding a briefing with customers to discuss where and how far the AI agent can go.

Savoir-vivre—the art of enjoying life! The French seem to have achieved this even with information technology. Viva Technology, an annual IT and AI festival in Paris, attracts 180,000 visitors. AI is revolutionizing information technology. SAP is working on evolutionary optimization.

Although AI agents like SAP Joule show great potential, their ability to adhere to all compliance rules has yet to be proven. Might SAP and other AI providers suffer the same fate as the sorcerer's apprentice in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's eponymous ballad?

The idea is obvious yet has not been widely discussed. An operating system for managing AI agents. Instead, SAP is constantly creating new Joule AI universes for specific tasks. Does SAP not see the “big picture” of AI?

The familiar CCoE (Customer Center of Expertise) could become the CCCoE (Customer Cloud Center of Expertise) because RISE and GROW are not all-inclusive offerings. Without the contribution of SAP customers, little will change. SAP itself is undergoing a transformation!

It is one of the most discussed topics in the SAP community: license costs for the SAP Cloud ERP Suite. SAP and the hyperscalers claim that cloud computing also brings savings for users. Statements by SAP CEO Christian Klein suggest otherwise.

At the virtual SAP Annual General Meeting in mid-May, CEO Christian Klein explained the entire ERP offering and the BTP and BDC platforms. It was a consistent picture, but S/4 was missing and the flagship product was not mentioned. What now?