Having worked at some giant firms that heavily depend on SAP, I would think their position as "system of record for procurement/production" would get stronger with AI.
e.g. AI + a good database of what your company does seems like an excellent combination.
Would a technology famous for hallucinating data often enough, and in many context unable to guarantee it won't assume and hallucinate when it feels "confident enough" despite a robust system prompt, be really considered for a "system of record for procurement/production" usage?
“Under the policy, only Al-related hiring, customer-facing travel and trips directly linked to the company's Al initiatives or mission-critical employee Al training are exempt, reflecting SAP's focus on "be disciplined in how we spend" while expanding its Al capabilities.”
It will be interesting to see if SAP can turn into the basis for companies that use AI heavily or if companies that use AI heavily will prefer to replace SAP.
Who are the contenders that start fresh with focus on AI?
One that comes to mind is IONOS. They seem to be in the process of building something like a "SAP in the times of AI" from the ground up. Starting with the demands of SMEs. It looks like an interesting approach to me: Having a "knowledge base" for each customer, initially filled with the data from the website. Then let the customers add more data. Then offer agents that do work for the customers. Answer calls and emails and do marketing for example.
I have in mind what I think is a very strong framework to allow companies to replace legacy ERPs quickly with AI help. I guess I should get on with it and publish something!
> It will be interesting to see if SAP can turn into the basis for companies that use AI heavily or if companies that use AI heavily will prefer to replace SAP.
Considering the human and institutional complexity of implementing ERP, CRM, whatever the hell Concur is supposed to be, etc. I'd bet on most organisations implementing AI around and with those systems instead of replacing them with something vibecoded / "AI native" vendors.
Telling that SAP now exfiltrates all your company data to the U.S. AI cartel:
https://www.sap.com/products/ai-platform.html
Having worked at some giant firms that heavily depend on SAP, I would think their position as "system of record for procurement/production" would get stronger with AI.
e.g. AI + a good database of what your company does seems like an excellent combination.
Would a technology famous for hallucinating data often enough, and in many context unable to guarantee it won't assume and hallucinate when it feels "confident enough" despite a robust system prompt, be really considered for a "system of record for procurement/production" usage?
(yes yes RAG exists)
So will AI be what finally kills SAP, making world a little bit better? ;-)
Seems like they're doing fine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP#mwAeo
Does it? Those are big numbers, but it looks like in 2024 they sold €4b of assets to juice income for 2025.
So they are using AI to run the company, and AI allocated all the money to AI?
Like their systems aren't shitty enough.
TL;DR:
“Under the policy, only Al-related hiring, customer-facing travel and trips directly linked to the company's Al initiatives or mission-critical employee Al training are exempt, reflecting SAP's focus on "be disciplined in how we spend" while expanding its Al capabilities.”
no-paywall: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49222851
I would pay to understand what mission critical employee Ai training is that can't be provided in other ways
"Daddy, vodka got more expensive now, does it mean you will be drinking less?"
"No, kids, it means you will be eating less."
It will be interesting to see if SAP can turn into the basis for companies that use AI heavily or if companies that use AI heavily will prefer to replace SAP.
Who are the contenders that start fresh with focus on AI?
One that comes to mind is IONOS. They seem to be in the process of building something like a "SAP in the times of AI" from the ground up. Starting with the demands of SMEs. It looks like an interesting approach to me: Having a "knowledge base" for each customer, initially filled with the data from the website. Then let the customers add more data. Then offer agents that do work for the customers. Answer calls and emails and do marketing for example.
I have in mind what I think is a very strong framework to allow companies to replace legacy ERPs quickly with AI help. I guess I should get on with it and publish something!
> It will be interesting to see if SAP can turn into the basis for companies that use AI heavily or if companies that use AI heavily will prefer to replace SAP.
Considering the human and institutional complexity of implementing ERP, CRM, whatever the hell Concur is supposed to be, etc. I'd bet on most organisations implementing AI around and with those systems instead of replacing them with something vibecoded / "AI native" vendors.
If you believe that AI does add to productivity gains, say equivalent to adding 10-20% employees, would you do anything differently than SAP?
These are enough gains that you don't need to believe, they should be measurable
In other words, AI is now driving their budget decisions.
teach everyone they live in a lobster bucket, and suddenly everyones a lobster.