AI Tutoring

Leonardo: AI, IoT and Blockchain

Many years ago, SAP developed Leonardo, a very ambitious program. SAP CEO at the time, Bill McDermott, once went as far as to claim that in a few years, AI, machine learning, Industry 4.0 (IoT), and blockchain, as well as predictive analytics, would generate more revenue than ERP.

SAP drove the Leonardo program crashing into the wall. All activity ceased and Leonardo was deleted from SAP's scope of language. This was one of current SAP CEO Christian Klein’s many efforts to tidy up SAP’s portfolio. The Leonardo disaster can probably also include the Qualtrics sale, although the venture could still result in a financial gain for SAP.

Qualtrics

Now SAP has invested in the AI start-up Aleph Alpha from Heidelberg, Germany. The ERP world market leader is obviously attempting to obtain an AI tutorial through this investment. This endeavor will also end in failure. As long as when asked about relevant scenarios for AI and machine learning, Christian Klein can only name the automated transfer of incoming invoices, SAP’s understanding of AI remains too underdeveloped to achieve added value from the Aleph Alpha investment.

Innovation

Innovation is more than spending money on innovative cloud applications and start-ups. In recent years, SAP has repeatedly tried to compensate for the lack of know-how and innovation by acquisitions and buyouts. However, if SAP lacks its own understanding of the market, the users and the products, then this deficit cannot be made up with a lot of money.

Aleph Alpha

Now SAP has bought into the AI start-up Aleph Alpha from Heidelberg and apparently the ERP world market leader is trying to get an AI tutorial via this route. This attempt will also fail. As long as Christian Klein can only name the automated transfer of incoming invoices when asked about relevant scenarios for AI and machine learning, the understanding of AI is too little developed to achieve added value from the Aleph Alpha investment.