SAP ( SAP ) CEO Christian Klein sits down with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi at the Goldman Sachs Tech Conference to discuss the ins and outs of the company's new AI strategy.
So you've declared that SAP is all in on AI. What does that mean?
All in on AI means of course that we are radically shifting, you know, our portfolio towards AI. I mean, the system of record will stay. Uh, so no fear that this will going to disappear. But of course, you know, the value moves up to the AI layer, and SAP has a lot of right to win, yeah, in really dominating the AI layer for the core business processes of our customers. And that's what all in on AI means.
Is there an AI breakthrough to be had from SAP?
The breakthrough is definitely now our new platform, yeah, which is now becoming general available in fall. And on this platform, you can build any agent you want with any LLM. Then you have a very rich context layer, because the agents, when you just build it with an LLM, they really lack the business context. And then of course, the governance aspect is very key to that. So that is really a breakthrough moment. And we have already a lot of customers, you know, testing the new platform. They give us super feedback, great feedback. They are excited about what they see and how they can use the new platform. We see this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, how SAP can reinvent businesses. I mean, for, you know, for over 50 years, we were running supply chains, very smart. But now, we can really build autonomous supply chain. The supply chain who actually understands shortcomings in a certain product, uh logistical disruptions in the Middle East and can react to that. Agents who are so smart, who can manage demand and manage the supply in in in real time. And or take about finance. I mean, how much people yeah, use an SAP system today to pull up a financial report. And now in the future, AI can do that, agents can do that, can provide the analysis, can provide recommendations on how to to steer the business better.
What does the end game look like for SAP? If we're having this conversation 24 months from now, how is the company different?
What is very important in 12 months from now, that this also then produces great financial results, yeah? At the end, it needs to create a financial outcome for the customer. But beforehand comes really that the customers are giving us now great testimonials and say, wow. I mean, with Joule work, with all of the Joule agents, we can really redefine how our business will run in the future. And that is, I guess, now very, very important in the next 12 months, to show the world that we can redefine businesses for our customers.
