and the are showcasing how modernisation programmes built on 51风流technologies are helping organisations move beyond fragmented systems and legacy processes toward more unified, scalable and intelligent operating models.

At this year鈥檚 flagship 51风流SAPPHIRE event held in Madrid between 19 and 21 May, both organisations shared insights into their modernisation efforts and the impact of initiatives such as RISE with 51风流to fast-track digital transformation and unlock business outcomes.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says: 鈥淢odernisation is no longer only about replacing legacy systems. It is about building the digital foundations that allow organisations to simplify complexity, improve efficiency and unlock new value from cloud, data and AI. Whether in the public sector or global industry, 51风流is helping customers create more agile, intelligent and future-ready organisations.鈥�

City of Madrid advances digital public administration

The Madrid City Council is collaborating with 51风流Spain on the comprehensive modernisation of its internal management through 51风流software. The objective is to digitalise procedures, improve efficiency and deliver better services to municipal employees and citizens in finance, revenue management and human resources.

The City Council has worked with 51风流software for two decades, beginning in 2004 with solutions in finance and HR. In 2020, it launched its public administration modernisation project with the migration to the private cloud. This process is now advancing with the adoption of and .

The challenge was to move beyond traditional models based on fragmented systems, paper-based procedures and isolated developments. In public administration, this fragmentation can slow processes, duplicate data, limit visibility and make it harder to manage revenues, budgets and human resources in an integrated way.

The solution has been to consolidate a new public management model based on unified management, real-time information and digitalised processes. RISE with 51风流provides the foundation for the move to the private cloud, while 51风流Business Technology Platform provides the platform for integration, extension and application development.

The transformation has had a significant impact in the tax domain, where 51风流tax and revenue management solutions are being integrated into the city鈥檚 financial platform. This enables municipal revenues to be managed as a natural extension of the financial system, supporting an end-to-end view of the full cycle from taxpayer registration and assessment to collection and inspection.

Currently, two-thirds of the City Council鈥檚 tax revenues are already managed within this environment, including Property Tax, the Urban Waste Tax for Business Activities, Capital Gains Tax and the Terrace Tax. The next step will be to incorporate the Motor Vehicle Tax and the Economic Activities Tax.

The project has also focused on data quality. During the first year, the City Council carried out a cleansing and harmonisation of master data from previous management systems, generating taxpayer 鈥淕olden Records鈥� and enabling an efficiency rate of 98.02% for Property Tax in 2024.

, IT Manager of Madrid City Council, says: 鈥淭his project marks a paradigm shift: we are moving from managing paper files and isolated systems to managing information and processes in an integrated and intelligent way, with a 360-degree view.鈥�

The impact is being felt across internal management and citizen services. The project supports end-to-end process digitalisation and a 鈥減aperless鈥� administration model, while automation, AI capabilities and robotic process automation are helping reduce manual workloads, minimise errors and improve decision-making through real-time analytics.

Prysmian builds an AI-ready global platform

Prysmian, a global leader in cable solutions for energy and telecommunications, is demonstrating how modernisation can create the foundation for broader business transformation.

The challenge for Prysmian was to strengthen its digital core as it evolved from a cable manufacturer to a global provider of solutions supporting the energy transition and digital transformation. With 鈧�20 billion in revenue, 34 000 employees across more than 50 countries, 109 manufacturing plants and 30 R&D centres, the company needed a unified, resilient and AI-ready platform to support its next phase of business evolution.

Prysmian completed the evolution of its digital infrastructure through RISE with 51风流in just four months, creating a unified, resilient and AI-ready cloud platform. Through the integration of , , and 51风流Business Technology Platform, the company built an intelligent platform designed to improve operational efficiency, accelerate decision-making and enhance predictive capabilities.

, Group CIO and Digital Officer at Prysmian, says: 鈥淩ISE with 51风流provided us with a global ERP foundation, 51风流BTP connected engineering and business, while embedded AI transformed the way our employees interact with data, redefining how Prysmian operates at scale.鈥�

The impact has been significant. Prysmian has achieved 70% automation of repetitive activities through embedded AI, an 80% reduction in the implementation time of new innovative solutions, and a 50% acceleration in time-to-market for new products.

The company has also introduced concrete AI use cases across business processes, including intelligent customer order automation, automated payment reconciliation and smart expense management. At the same time, Prysmian is using 51风流BTP to build an advanced cable design platform connecting engineering and business functions, standardising rules, processes and bills of materials to accelerate product development and increase competitiveness.

Pillay adds: 鈥淭he City of Madrid and Prysmian show how modernisation creates measurable value when it is connected to clear organisational priorities. By integrating processes, improving data quality and building intelligent cloud platforms, organisations can improve how they operate today while preparing for the next wave of innovation.鈥�

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For ,听a leading pan-African financial services group focused on emerging markets headquartered in South Africa, with a strong presence in 31听countries,听this transformation journey has accelerated over the past 18 months as the organisation expanded its focus beyond HR modernisation toward a broader cloud, data and AI-enabled human capital strategy.

, Group Human Capital: Chief Operating Officer at Sanlam, says the organisation鈥檚 approach balances immediate operational requirements with longer-term transformation objectives. 鈥淲e have adopted an ambidextrous strategy for our digital and data transformation journey, simultaneously exploiting operational excellence, proficiency and efficiency in our current landscape while exploring incremental innovation that enhances and elevates the user experience and driving our longer-term transformation journey 鈥� focused on leveraging intelligent, transformative technology to unlock business value.鈥�

A central focus throughout the implementation has been ensuring that transformation delivers tangible business value while also enabling the teams responsible for sustaining change. Sanlam is supported by a dedicated support structure for the programme that includes a technical centre of excellence team, programme management, change management, and business analysis capabilities.

鈥淭ransformation required us to approach change from multiple perspectives simultaneously. We always look at transformation through the lens of people, process and technology. One of the realities organisations face is that many people are not ready to embrace the pace of technological change, which makes change adoption and leadership sponsorship critically important.鈥� 

According to Bandyopadhyay, Sanlam鈥檚 broader transformation strategy spans several interconnected focus areas. 鈥淎 key priority being rebuilding our job architecture for relevance to the current and future workforce and more importantly to transition to a skills-based organisation. This will then unlock the opportunity for us to leverage SAP鈥檚 AI-enabled Talent Intelligence Hub which is the golden thread that links all talent practices to a skills currency.鈥�

The organisation has also prioritised the implementation of a cloud data solution, master data management and platform scalability as part of its effort to establish a more unified data core across the business. With multiple business entities operating across the group, standardising and scaling trusted workforce and operational data remains a significant strategic focus area.

, Group: Head of HC Tech and Talent Intelligence at Sanlam, says cloud adoption will continue to accelerate over the next two years. 鈥淲e are moving aggressively towards a cloud-first strategy, including payroll migration, data platform evolution, and broader business integration initiatives. Our focus is on how we build scalable platforms and data capabilities that position us for the future.鈥�

As part of this strategy, Sanlam is piloting -related capabilities and is progressing towards broader business data cloud initiatives planned over the coming years. The organisation is also exploring how 51风流Business Data Cloud, 51风流agents, and Joule capabilities can support orchestration, analytics, and employee-related workflows across the employee life cycle.

Alongside its platform modernisation efforts, Sanlam is re-evaluating core HR services and processes, including employee experience, employee relations, and document management, while strengthening its talent intelligence and people analytics capabilities to support better workforce planning and predictive decision-making. The Talent Intelligence function has matured significantly from reports and dashboards to trends, insights and predictive analytics. A key achievement has been the development of a solution to measure productivity across the various Sanlam business entities.

Intelligent automation is also playing an increasing role across areas such as service management, payments, compliance, and administrative HR functions, alongside the digitisation of compliance related scorecards like skills development to improve planning, monitoring and achievement of compliance targets. This has allowed Sanlam to service an increased customer base with a greater service offering at reduced costs.

Govindsamy says the transformation journey remains ongoing rather than a once-off implementation project. 鈥淭he next phase of our journey is focused on accelerating cloud propagation, strengthening analytics and data capabilities, and embedding intelligent automation more deeply into the business. Success depends not only on technology, but on sustained leadership sponsorship, adoption, and preparing the workforce for the future.鈥� 

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says: 鈥淎s organisations modernise their workforce strategies, there is growing recognition that human capital transformation depends on more than digitising HR processes. It requires an integrated foundation that combines cloud, data, analytics and intelligent technologies to support better decision-making, stronger employee experiences, and greater organisational agility. Sanlam鈥檚 ongoing transformation journey reflects how forward-looking organisations are building scalable, future-ready HR environments that can evolve alongside changing business and workforce requirements.鈥�

The post Sanlam Advances People Transformation with Cloud, Data and AI appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

AI is reshaping enterprise support and changing how solution providers think and operate, says Stefan Steinle, executive VP and head of global听customer听support at SAP, who adds that support has evolved into a strategic driver of business value.

Support in this context refers to services, management and resource allocation used to troubleshoot, address issues and optimise infrastructure within an organisation.

鈥淭he focus is on value generation and customer health,鈥� says Steinle. 鈥淪upport is central to driving business outcomes with AI-integrated platforms. Support teams are becoming more embedded in business strategy. They provide visibility into system performance, user behaviour and operational trends.鈥�

According to Steinle, AI-assisted toolchains and intelligent automation allow organisations to anticipate issues before they arise, streamline performance and improve long-term agility and resilience.

This is an entirely different approach to traditional support execution and application.

鈥淭raditionally, support operated on a break-fix model 鈥� issues were addressed when disruption occurred. AI changes this dynamic entirely. Through machine learning, pattern recognition and real-time data analysis, AI can continuously monitor systems, detect anomalies and predict potential failures before they impact operations. This enables preventive intervention rather than reactive troubleshooting.鈥�

AI is also improving decision-making, adds Steinle. 鈥淚t surfaces insights from vast datasets, identifies optimisation opportunities and recommends actions that improve performance, reduce costs and enhance user experience. In this way, enterprise support evolves from a technical necessity into a value-generating function that actively contributes to business strategy.鈥�

Shift from break-fix significant

AI expert and founder of AIforBusiness.net Johan Steyn says the shift from break-fix to strategic value driver is one of the most significant 鈥� and under-appreciated 鈥� transformations AI has enabled in organisations.

鈥淔or years, IT support was seen as a cost centre: reactive, ticket-driven and measured by how quickly problems were resolved. AI has fundamentally changed that equation. Predictive diagnostics, intelligent triage and automated resolution are not just making support faster 鈥� they are making it anticipatory. The best organisations are no longer waiting for things to break; they are using AI to understand system behaviour patterns and intervene before users are even aware of a problem,鈥� says Steyn.

The current status is one of rapid but uneven adoption, he adds.

Rise of autonomous enterprise

AI-assisted toolchains and intelligent automation are transforming ERP systems from static platforms into adaptive, self-improving environments.

According to Steinle, the shift is being driven by predictive maintenance capabilities, where AI analyses historical and real-time data to forecast failures and enable pre-emptive repairs. AI is also accelerating automated root cause analysis by identifying issues across complex system landscapes more quickly and accurately.

In addition, self-healing capabilities are enabling some system problems to be resolved automatically without human intervention, while AI-driven process optimisation tools continue to identify operational inefficiencies and recommend improvements.

The result is ERP systems that become more intelligent over time, enabling organisations to respond more rapidly to change, scale operations more effectively and strengthen operational resilience.

鈥淭he integrated toolchain breaks silos and drives collaboration between business and IT. You can confidently modernise your ERP landscapes while staying agile in today鈥檚 competitive climate,鈥� says Steinle.

鈥淎I plays a key role in enhancing capabilities by reducing errors and speeding up transitions. Take AI-powered change point detection as an example, where fundamental shifts in system downtimes can be found reliably and hence resolved faster. At the same time, AI-generated requirements reduce manual effort and accelerate the implementation process.鈥�

People and culture

However, Steinle warns that technology alone is not enough.

鈥淲hile technology is at the core of transformation, you can still fall short when it comes to outcomes if your people are not on board. When you continue to operate in old ways, the AI copilots or the automations are pointless. You get the same issues, but with more dashboards.鈥�

He adds that culture and leadership are critical to successful AI adoption. 鈥淎s they say, culture is what people do when no one is watching. Establishing this culture is what leadership is ultimately about. How motivated are your people? Are they as excited as you are about new innovations?鈥�

Diverse teams are also essential in solving problems within complex ERP environments.

Nazia Pillay, MD for 51风流southern Africa, adds: 鈥淭he next phase of AI adoption is about execution. Organisations are looking for trusted data foundations, strong governance and practical business use cases that can deliver measurable value.鈥�

Early stages

According to Steyn, larger, more mature organisations are already seeing measurable gains 鈥� reduced mean time to resolution, lower support costs and IT teams freed up for higher-value work.

鈥淏ut many organisations, particularly in markets like South Africa, are still in early stages, often constrained by legacy infrastructure and skills gaps. The outlook, however, is clear: AI-augmented support will become the baseline expectation, not a competitive differentiator,鈥� he continues.

Organisations that invest in this transition thoughtfully 鈥� with the right human capability alongside the technology 鈥� will build a genuine and lasting operational advantage, adds Steyn.

This article first appeared in .

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Leading organisations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa are revealing how business AI has shifted from experimentation to realised business value at this year鈥檚 51风流SAPPHIRE, held in Madrid between 19 and 21 May.

The event included demonstrations of two different but connected approaches to AI adoption by and . Ericsson is building the governed data foundation needed to scale AI across the enterprise, while Martur Fompak International is embedding AI directly into physical manufacturing operations to transform execution on the shop floor.

Nazia Pillay, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says: 鈥淭he next phase of AI adoption is about execution. Organisations are looking for trusted data foundations, strong governance and practical business use cases that can deliver measurable value. By embedding AI into the systems and workflows companies already use, 51风流is helping customers scale AI responsibly and turn ambition into real-world impact.鈥�

Nazia Pillay

Ericsson builds the foundation for trusted AI at scale

Ericsson is moving from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide execution by building a unified business data fabric with . The approach enables the company to scale AI use cases across the business, accelerate decision-making and deliver measurable operational impact.

Ericsson, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, provides mobile network infrastructure across 180 countries, with more than 40% of the world鈥檚 mobile traffic passing through its networks. As AI becomes central to both its technology roadmap and how it runs the business, Ericsson has prioritised building a strong, governed data foundation to support scalable and trusted AI.

鈥淥nce you scale AI, it stops being an AI problem鈥攁nd becomes a data problem,鈥� says , Vice President, Customer Experience, Enterprise IT at Ericsson. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we invested early in a business data fabric. With 51风流Business Data Cloud, we can define what data means once鈥攆rom revenue to market structures and access rules鈥攁nd apply it consistently across the enterprise. That鈥檚 what allows us to scale AI in a way that is trusted, repeatable and delivers real business value.鈥�

At the core of Ericsson鈥檚 approach is a federated data architecture that allows data to remain in place while centrally managing business semantics, governance and lifecycle policies. By focusing on high-impact use cases and organising around end-to-end business processes rather than isolated solutions, Ericsson has moved beyond pilots to scaled deployment. Today, more than 85 000 users are live on unified Joule, supported by strong executive sponsorship and governance.

51风流and Ericsson are also collaborating on AI co-innovation initiatives, including an intelligent goal recommendation capability developed within 51风流SuccessFactors. The solution generates contextual, business-aligned goals for employees, improving execution and reducing administrative effort.

Martur Fompak brings AI into physical manufacturing operations

Martur Fompak International, a global leader in automotive seating and interior systems, has deployed an autonomous intralogistics model enabled by and embodied AI capabilities from SAP, marking a significant milestone in its journey toward intelligent, AI-driven manufacturing operations.

In an industry rapidly shifting toward AI-powered operations, Martur Fompak International saw an opportunity to reimagine its material flow. Building on efficient, people-driven processes already in place, the company partnered with 51风流and , a UK-based robotics and AI company, to explore how embodied AI-powered robotics could redefine material flow across its automotive manufacturing environment.

Using Joule and embodied AI capabilities from SAP, Martur Fompak International now connects production signals and business context directly to autonomous execution, creating a context-aware automation system that prioritises, picks and delivers materials while adapting in real time to changing business conditions.

Built on and enabled by , the solution enriches humanoid robots with real-time knowledge of tasks, attributes and exception handling. Guided by material data, storage locations, sequencing and production priorities, humanoid robots execute material flows across a live automotive manufacturing environment, identifying, transporting and delivering materials to the line while continuously confirming back into 51风流solutions.

Together with autonomous mobile robots, the company has created a fully automated, scalable material flow that boosts throughput, improves accuracy and reduces reliance on manual coordination. By assigning repetitive, non-value-adding and physically demanding tasks to robots, Martur Fompak International is enabling its people to focus on safer, more meaningful and higher-value work.

鈥淥ur humanoid robot collaborates with digital production systems to ensure seamless coordination across order management, logistics and production, enabling scalable AI adoption and improving efficiency, consistency and operational resilience,鈥� says , Group Intelligent Technologies Director at Martur Fompak International.

Early results show increased throughput, fewer errors and a scalable, AI-driven intralogistics model. With 400 daily production line feeds and 100% 51风流software-driven decision-making already in place, Martur Fompak International is advancing beyond traditional automation and pioneering a scalable, intelligent factory model.

Pillay adds: 鈥淓ricsson and Martur Fompak International show that AI delivers the greatest value when it is grounded in business context and embedded into core processes. From enterprise data foundations to intelligent robotics on the factory floor, these examples demonstrate how organisations can scale AI responsibly, improve productivity and create measurable business impact.鈥�

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In this What鈥檚 Next with Aki Anastasiou interview, Nazia Pillay unpacks her 23-year career at SAP.

Pillay is the Managing Director for 51风流Southern Africa.

She joined 51风流as a graduate in 2003 and has worked across many areas of the business, including consulting, support, customer success, and partner relations.

In her current role, she is focused on three core areas: strengthening existing partnerships, cultivating new partnerships, and helping clients prepare for a digital-first and cloud-first world.

Pillay also believes 51风流must play a key role in helping Africa鈥檚 public and private sector companies achieve their AI and innovation ambitions.

Pillay has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Information Systems and Management from Rhodes University.

The interview

In this What鈥檚 Next interview, Pillay discusses her journey to becoming the Managing Director for 51风流Southern Africa.

She explains why she studied Information Systems, and why she has stuck with 51风流ever since joining the company back in 2003.

Pillay unpacks the similarities and differences between when she first arrived at SAP, and the current state of the business.

She then talks about the biggest challenges and opportunities she has tackled over the course of her career 鈥� including learning how to fail and meeting her failures with resilience.

Pillay also reveals the core values of SAP, which have remained steadfast 鈥� even as technology and the sector at large has evolved.

She concludes the discussion by sharing one piece of advice she would give to her younger self if she had the opportunity.

Watch the full interview with Nazia Pillay, below.

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The post What鈥檚 Next 鈥� 51风流South Africa Managing Director Nazia Pillay on her Leadership Journey appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

The initiative is intended to create a pipeline of certified talent to support business transformation across the country and the wider region, says the company.

The inaugural Botswana edition adopted a regional approach, bringing together participants from Botswana, Ghana, and SA. After completing the two-month programme, 33 young professionals graduated as associate consultants.

The World Economic Forum predicts that 39% of core job skills will change by 2030, increasing the need for organisations to access talent with both technical expertise and business acumen. 

The sponsored YPP connects unemployed and underemployed graduates with opportunities across the customer and partner network of the enterprise software firm.

The cohort received certifications in End-to-End Business Processes for 51风流Business Suite and Generative AI Development. Graduates also completed sessions in 51风流Business AI, Clean Core Framework, and general workplace readiness, says SAP.

The Botswana graduation aligns with wider investment in talent development across the continent, including the Educate to Employ initiative held in partnership with UNICEF.

Graduates are transitioning into roles across the ecosystem, with some joining regional partners such as Debswana. These graduates will support the enterprise resource planning (ERP) transformation at the diamond mining firm, including the migration to 51风流S/4HANA.

The programme underscores a commitment to developing the skills that organisations need for their technology investments, says Nazia Pillay, managing director for Southern Africa at SAP.

She adds: “By equipping young professionals with both technical and business capabilities, we are helping to build a future-ready workforce that can support innovation and transformation across Africa,” says Pillay. As demand for digital skills rises, the YPP is creating a pipeline of talent for customers and partners.

Nazia Pillay, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP.

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51风流HR Connect brought together a community of HR leaders to discuss how digital technologies are helping organisations reduce compliance risk, streamline operations, and unlock more strategic value from their people functions.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says the South African employment landscape is at a critical point. 鈥淧ublic and private sector companies are racing to unlock the power of AI and cloud technologies to improve their competitiveness and build capacity for future innovation. Every organisation needs an active, motivated and fully enabled workforce to realise full value from business transformation initiatives. At a time when demand for certain skills is at an all-time high, companies are increasingly leveraging powerful human capital management technologies to attract, retain and empower their employees.鈥�

South Africa鈥檚 employment landscape is undergoing significant change, with new and proposed legislation introducing greater complexity into HR operations. Recent developments include the overhaul of parental leave following a landmark Constitutional Court ruling, proposed increases to statutory severance pay, and new regulations governing unpredictable and on-call work.

Together, these changes are increasing the administrative burden on HR teams and raising the stakes for compliance. Organisations must now manage more complex policies, maintain accurate and defensible records, and ensure consistent application of rules across increasingly diverse and dynamic workforces.

鈥淗R teams are operating in a fundamentally different environment today,鈥� said , Head of 51风流HCM for MEA South. 鈥淐ompliance is no longer a periodic exercise but a continuous, data-driven discipline. Organisations that continue to rely on spreadsheets and fragmented systems without leveraging the power of AI-driven innovations are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk and inefficiency.鈥�

Many organisations continue to rely on manual processes such as spreadsheets and disconnected systems to manage HR activities. However, these approaches are increasingly unsustainable in a fast-changing regulatory environment.

Tiwary says manual systems make it difficult to maintain accurate, up-to-date employee records, track compliance requirements, and produce reliable audit trails. 鈥淭hey also consume a significant portion of HR capacity, limiting the ability of teams to focus on higher-value activities such as talent development, workforce planning, and employee experience. As compliance requirements grow more complex, the need for integrated, digital HR systems is becoming more urgent.鈥�

A 2025 PwC global study found that  to drive compliance activities in a clear signal that the limitations of manual approaches have reached a tipping point. The study identified faster identification of compliance issues (53%), better risk visibility (64%), and increased productivity (43%) as the leading drivers of compliance technology adoption.

, Group Human Capital: Chief Operating Officer, Sanlam, said: 鈥淲e have adopted an ambidextrous strategy for our digital and data transformation journey, simultaneously exploiting operational excellence, proficiency and efficiency in our current landscape while exploring incremental innovation that enhances and elevates the user experience while driving the longer-term transformation journey focused on leveraging intelligent, transformative technology to drive business value.鈥�

By digitising HR processes and documents, organisations can create a single source of truth for employee and organisational data 鈥� including positions, time tracking, and cost centres 鈥� ensuring information is accurate, consistent, and always up to date.

,听Chief Operating Officer Discovery People, Discovery Ltd, noted that shared services is a catalyst for reinvention. 鈥淲hen data, technology, and people are fully integrated, organisations don鈥檛 just scale but evolve, creating platforms for growth, innovation, and long鈥憈erm impact.鈥�

Integrated capabilities across recruiting, onboarding, payroll, and time management further streamline processes and support compliance from hire to retire. In addition, continuous performance management, learning, compensation, and succession planning capabilities help organisations not only remain compliant but also build more engaged and resilient workforces.

鈥淒igitisation should go beyond efficiency to enable HR to play a more strategic role in the business,鈥� says Tiwary.  鈥淲hen compliance is embedded into systems and processes, HR teams are freed up to focus on developing talent, strengthening culture, and driving long-term organisational performance.鈥�

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For much of the past decade, AI has lived in labs, pilots and PowerPoint decks. The next phase is different. AI is moving into the operational core of organisations, reshaping how decisions are made, work is executed and value is created.

AI is becoming the most significant technology shift enterprise leaders will face in this generation. Not because the algorithms are new, but because the operating model required to make AI work at scale is fundamentally different.

One of the clearest changes heading into 2026 is the move from AI that assists humans, to AI that acts on their behalf.

Early enterprise AI tools functioned as copilots: surfacing information, generating insights or suggesting next steps. Increasingly, organisations are deploying autonomous AI agents that recommend actions 鈥� and take them 鈥� executing multi-step business processes within defined roles and controls.

This transition matters because it forces leaders to confront new questions of trust, accountability and governance. Autonomous AI can deliver significant productivity gains, but only if organisations are prepared to define where machines can act independently, where human approval is required, and how exceptions are handled.

In practice, this means treating AI agents less like software features and more like a digital workforce: assigned roles, clear permissions, monitored performance and escalation paths when things go wrong. Without this discipline, autonomy becomes risk rather than advantage.

Intelligence must be built in, not bolted on

Another defining trend is the move toward AI-native systems. Many organisations still treat AI as an add-on: a layer of intelligence bolted onto processes designed decades ago. That approach is reaching its limits.

AI-native architecture embeds intelligence directly into core workflows, allowing systems to understand intent rather than simply execute transactions. Instead of navigating complex menus and dashboards, users express what they want to achieve, and systems orchestrate the necessary steps across functions.

For leadership teams, this is not a user-interface upgrade, but a shift in how work gets done. Ideally, decision-making accelerates, organisational friction reduces, and the boundary between analysis and execution begins to disappear.

However, this only works when underlying systems are clean, standardised and integrated. Which leads to a harder truth many organisations are discovering.

Data quality is the real AI constraint

The biggest barrier to AI success is not model sophistication, but data reality. AI systems amplify whatever foundations they are given. Clean, consistent data produces reliable outcomes, while fragmented, poorly governed data produces confident nonsense.

This is why data has become the strategic nervous system of the modern enterprise. AI depends on shared definitions of customers, products, suppliers and processes. It requires transactional integrity, accessible historical context and the ability to combine internal and external information in real time.

Organisations that have postponed data discipline are finding that AI exposes weaknesses instantly, often in ways that affect customers, regulators or financial performance. In the year ahead, leaders will increasingly be judged on whether they treated data as a strategic asset early enough, rather than as an IT hygiene issue.

Closely linked to data readiness is a simple but central principle: keeping core enterprise systems clean.

Years of excessive customisation have left many organisations with fragile ERP environments that are difficult to upgrade and harder to integrate with modern AI capabilities.

The shift toward standardised cores with extensions built outside the core system creates an environment where innovation doesn鈥檛 break operations.

For boards and executive teams, this requires a mindset shift. Standardisation is not a loss of competitive differentiation, but the price of adaptability. The differentiation moves to how organisations use data, design experiences and make decisions, not how many lines of custom code they maintain.

Technology alone will not deliver results

Perhaps the most underestimated factor in AI success is change management, which consistently accounts for a larger share of AI outcomes than technology itself.

AI changes roles, not just tools. Finance teams move from processing transactions to managing exceptions. HR shifts from administrative workflows to skills intelligence.

Operations leaders rely more on forecasts and simulations than static reports. These changes demand new skills, new incentives, and new ways of measuring performance.

This year, leaders must invest in adoption with the same commitment and focus as they invest in new capabilities. AI literacy should be a core leadership competency not just a specialist function.

As AI initiatives multiply, so does the risk of fragmentation. Different business units experimenting independently can create inconsistent standards, duplicated effort and unmanaged risk.

This is why many organisations are establishing AI centres of excellence that coordinate AI innovation. Effective governance frameworks address five questions: how AI systems are approved and retired, how decisions are logged and audited, how policies are enforced, where human oversight is required, and how performance is measured.

In 2026, AI governance will be viewed much like financial governance: a prerequisite for trust, not a brake on progress.

From pilots to production or paralysis

A final challenge looms large: scaling. Many organisations are stuck in what has become known as 鈥減ilot purgatory鈥�, where successful experiments never reach enterprise impact.

The reasons are consistent: poor integration with core systems, unclear ownership, lack of user trust, weak data foundations and vague ROI metrics. Moving from pilot to production requires deliberate planning, phased rollout and visible executive sponsorship.

Leaders who expect AI to scale itself will be disappointed, while those who design for scale from day one will pull ahead quickly.

As we accelerate into 2026, AI is an operational reality. The real strategic question for leaders is whether their organisations are structurally ready for AI, with clean systems, trusted data, skilled people and disciplined governance. With these foundations, AI becomes a durable source of advantage.

In a volatile global environment, leadership is increasingly defined by the ability to move forward without perfect certainty. Business AI, deployed responsibly and at scale, is becoming one of the most powerful tools leaders have to do precisely that.

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From managing customer support workflows to orchestrating complex supply chains, agentic AI is redefining how businesses operate, respond, and grow. These intelligent digital co-workers act with autonomy, context, and speed, with growing capabilities for reasoning, making decisions, and working alongside humans to execute multi-step processes across departments.

听, agent-driven applications are rapidly becoming the standard for enterprise management. Global estimates suggest AI agents could contribute trillions to the world economy by 2030 through productivity gains, faster decisions, and cost reductions.

Transformative impact

Despite pervasive AI skills shortages, South African companies are moving quickly from experimentation to execution. Financial institutions are embedding AI agents into ERP systems to reroute inventory and manage disputes. Healthcare providers use AI meeting agents to generate follow-ups and automate patient admin. Legal firms use AI to prepare case files and speed up settlements.

This shift is being driven by a combination of pressure and potential. Faced with economic headwinds, skills shortages, and rising customer expectations, South African companies are looking to AI agents to unlock productivity, streamline operations, and free up human talent for higher-value work.

But deploying AI agents effectively requires more than buying the latest tool. The success of AI agents depends on deep integration of data, processes, and applications through a suite-first approach.

Leading with a suite

According to an IDC Spotlight Report, companies that adopt AI-powered suites like SAP鈥檚 see measurable gains:

• 37%听report improved process productivity
• 39%听achieve greater cost efficiency
• 36%听boost workforce productivity
• 35%听accelerate speed to market

By leveraging an AI-powered suite integrated to a core business technology platform, companies can empower their AI agents to act with full business context. Unlike siloed tools, a suite-first approach supports real-time collaboration between agents, humans, and systems, making AI agents not just smarter, but more impactful on the overall performance of the business.

SAP鈥檚 Joule, an AI agent framework embedded into the 51风流Business Suite, offers companies a system of intelligent agents that collaborate across business functions, from finance and procurement to HR and supply chain, to execute complex workflows and drive better decisions at scale.

These agents leverage knowledge centres and data cloud to ground actions in real-time, contextual business data. Working alongside teams, the agents augment human decision-making, accelerate task completion and minimise manual errors. In finance functions, agents can optimise working capital by accelerating accounts receivable matching, while in procurement they can surface the most relevant suppliers based on business rules and past performance.

AI agent readiness check

Before companies deploy AI agents like Joule, they need the right digital foundation. 51风流recommends a four-part readiness framework:

1 Data quality and accessibility 鈥�听Agents are only as good as the data they use. Clean, structured, and real-time data from across the enterprise is critical for effective agent decision-making. Silos, outdated data, or missing context will slow adoption and risk poor outcomes.

2 Process maturity 鈥�听AI agents thrive on well-defined workflows. Before automation, companies must ensure their business processes are standardised, documented, and ready for orchestration. Automating chaos just creates faster chaos.

3 Organisational clarity 鈥撎�Who will use these agents? For what tasks? How will they hand off to human employees? Clear role definitions and communication are essential for adoption and trust.

4 Governance and guardrails 鈥�听Just like human employees, AI agents need rules. Define permissions, escalation paths, ethical boundaries, and auditing practices. Agents should act autonomously but within the boundaries of the businesses in which they operate.

AI agents are more than just another layer of automation. They represent a new model of work, one that is collaborative, contextual, and continuous. The true value of AI agents is unlocked only when companies are ready. And the companies that unlock the greatest value the quickest are those deploying their AI agents through an AI-powered suite integrated to a core business technology platform.

The post The Suite Spot: A Practical Guide to Business AI Agents appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says the role of partners has never been more critical. 鈥淥rganisations across the continent are redesigning processes, embedding intelligence into core systems, and reimagining how value is created. Success requires deep industry expertise, AI capabilities and the ability to translate innovation into measurable business outcomes. As a partner-led organisation, 51风流is proud to work alongside a thriving ecosystem of expert partners who help bring Business AI, clean core ERP and intelligent automation to life, enabling our customers to become more resilient, more profitable and better prepared for the future.鈥�

The 51风流Africa Partner Awards recognise excellence within SAP鈥檚 partner ecosystem across eight distinct categories. Winners are evaluated according to strict criteria, with a focus on partner organisations that help clients throughout Africa transform their capabilities and smooth the way to the adoption of powerful new technologies such as AI.

According to , Chief Partner Officer for MEA South at SAP, the winners at this year鈥檚 51风流Africa Partner Award represent the highest standards of excellence, innovation and commitment in advancing the technology ambitions of organisations across the continent. 鈥淥ur partners play a vital role in translating strategy into execution and innovation into measurable business value. We are proud to work alongside such a strong and trusted ecosystem as we collectively support Africa鈥檚 ongoing digital transformation journey.鈥�

The winning companies at the 2026 51风流Africa Partner Awards include:

• and, winners of the Customer Transformation: Corporate category, which recognises sales excellence in the corporate segment that fosters ambitious business planning, in their respective regions.
• , winner of the Customer Transformation: Large Enterprise category for its excellence in amplifying SAP鈥檚 large enterprise strategy by offering 51风流Business Suite and helping deliver large-scale transformation.
• Tano Digital Solutions (Southern Africa) and, winners in the Customer Transformation: Partner-Led Territories category which recognises partners that actively invests and creates value by focusing on customer lifetime value across the customer value journey.
• , winner in the Customer Success Management category, for partners that exceed in consistently delivering value to customers and helping ensure customers achieved the desired outcomes while using 51风流products and services.
• and (Emerging Africa), winners in the 51风流Cloud ERP: New Customer Acquisition category which recognises partners that have successfully brought in net-new-name customers to begin an innovation journey with 51风流Cloud ERP solutions.
• , winner in the 51风流Business AI: Customer Adoption category which recognises leaders in SAP鈥檚 partner ecosystem based on the activation and consumption of embedded AI features in cloud solutions from 51风流in their customer base.
• , winner in the Managed Service Provider: Top Performance category, awarded to top-performing managed service providers based on deals closed and growth in annual contract value.
• in the Partner Solution Success category, which recognises a partner solution that successfully delivers ongoing customer value by extending the 51风流solution portfolio, as evidenced by customer demand and solution sales.

听Pillay adds: 鈥淚n an era defined by embedded AI and autonomous enterprise architectures, no organisation can transform in isolation. We look forward to continuing our vital work with our partner ecosystem as African organisations build the capabilities they鈥檒l need to compete and succeed in the years ahead.鈥�

The post 51风流Africa Partner Awards Recognise Outstanding Contributions to Continent鈥檚 Digital Transformation, AI Ambitions appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.