SAP Solution: S/4

Behind the cloudy AI marketing promises of the Walldorf-based software company SAP, a fundamental paradigm shift is currently taking place that will massively change the future of business data processing. LLMs naturally fail with abap tables.

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.

SAP is undergoing a fundamental transformation. The platform on which tens of thousands of companies run their business is moving towards a new architectural model - cloud-native, cleanly expandable and increasingly geared towards AI-supported business processes.

SAP custom code has become a cost driver and obstacle to innovation for many companies. Having grown over the years, it now blocks standardization and speed. In the course of the S/4 Hana transformation, there is now an opportunity to redefine the degree of customization.

Good and old program development is based on a waterfall model. Modern algorithms are created in dialog with AI. SAP overslept the Internet a long time ago, but currently does not understand AI either.

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.

SAP's clean-core strategy and exponentially growing AI capabilities are accelerating the pace of digital transformation. Some basic thoughts on how the accelerated change can succeed.

Companies are faced with the challenge of combining stable SAP core systems with the speed of modern development. Hybrid architectures, low-code platforms and AI agents create new scope for action.

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.

Manuel Sedlak, Head of SAP Public Cloud Services at Nagarro, explains in an interview with E3 magazine how the transformation to an „Intelligent Sustainable Enterprise“ can succeed with the SAP Business Suite.