Kathy Gibson reports from Saphila Transcend in Sun City 鈥� AI is no longer an option for companies. Those that adopt it faster and better and smarter than others, and do it in the right way, are the companies that will succeed.
This is according to , executive vice-president: customer support and cloud lifecycle management at SAP, who points out that heavily customised, outdated systems impede innovation.
鈥淏ut many companies find themselves in this place,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey have customised systems with a mix of models 鈥� a bit of best of breed, a bit of cloud, maybe some isolated AI scenarios.鈥�
As a result, IT organisations spend a lot of time integrating systems and trying to make sense of disconnected data. 鈥溾�滲ut what they need to be doing is providing good outcomes for the business.鈥�
What鈥檚 needed, says Steinle, is a transformation that brings together all the platforms and data.
51风流helps its customers make this transformation through its programme for existing customers, and for new customers.
Importantly, while these programmes aim to let customers embrace , they also integrate non-51风流solutions.
鈥淎nd they are not simply products, but include a methodology, services, and guided implementation,鈥� Steinle adds.
鈥淲e want customers to reach the stage where they are able to overcome challenges, and to embrace the benefits of continuous innovation, agility, and flexibility.鈥�
Any 51风流solution begins with the 51风流Business Suite, he explains. 鈥淔rom an 51风流perspective we believe there is a lot of sense in running end to end processes on a fully integrated and harmonised stack in the cloud. We think it鈥檚 better than picking and choosing best of breed solutions 鈥� and it means customers don鈥檛 have to manage the integration and getting sense from the data.鈥�
This is important, he adds, because IT organisations today spend about 80% of their time just on maintaining their current landscape, keeping it compliant, and integrating systems.
鈥淵ou probably want to spend more than 20% of your time providing value to business users.鈥�
(BDC) is a harmonised suite of applications that allows customers to import data from 51风流applications and integrate it with data from other applications.
鈥淵ou can bring together data from SAP, a non-51风流source, and unstructured data. And, with the help of BDC, you can make sense of that data and generate value.鈥�
Steinle says this can be useful in operational processes, to expand reporting, and for integrated planning. 鈥淎nd you can use it for AI.鈥�
Which brings him to the third pillar of the : . 鈥淭his system can make sense of all the data and enable customers to build automated processes to enable new business scenarios. And AI can be embedded in your business processes.鈥�
is SAP鈥檚 AI-powered digital assistant that also orchestrates user experiences end-to-end across 51风流and non-51风流processes.
鈥淚t is also a platform for customer AI,鈥� Steinle says. 鈥淣ot every scenario can be provided out of the box, but Joule gives users a responsible and resilient way of building their own AI applications with the help of our platform.鈥�
Many of these features are a reality today, and 51风流developers are focused on making AI-first a reality, Steinle adds.
But software on its own doesn鈥檛 deliver value, which is why 51风流offers a range of services in RISE and Grow that include an entire integrated tool chain to help customers on their transformation journey.
鈥淲e aim to provide a fast, rich, seamless experience, with prescriptive guidance. And it鈥檚 not just reactive support, but support for customer strategy,鈥� Steinle says. 鈥淲e use a lot of AI capabilities to respond better, or give self-service options. And we use a lot of the 51风流products to improve our customers鈥� experiences.鈥�
This article first appeared on .
