Charting the course for business AI in an SAP landscape: A CIO’s guide for 2025

AI through the leaders’ lens

AI has emerged as a pivotal force, driving innovation and efficiency even within SAP environments. As organizations strive to enhance their digital presence and operational capabilities, the integration of AI into SAP landscapes offers unprecedented opportunities for growth and transformation.

A word of caution, though.

Successful AI adoption requires client organizations to redesign their processes, entire system landscapes, and revamp enterprise data management. While AI, particularly Generative AI (GenAI), is currently at the peak of its hype cycle, it is essential to recognize the multidimensional nature of AI and its varying degrees of complexity and impact that may impact your business strategy. It is imperative to keep an open mind, understand available options best suited to your organization, and move forward with a flexible yet robust AI-driven business plan.

CEOs are increasingly focused on achieving high operational efficiency and revenue growth through AI adoption. They view this as a significant opportunity to drive differentiation and new growth.

However, they also recognize the challenges associated with AI adoption, including costs, complexity, and technical debt. These overwhelming issues may push many organizations to even abandon their efforts. This is why the journey from hype to mastery requires careful planning and execution. In pursuit of this excellence, business leaders are increasingly turning to technology leaders like SAP and transformation experts like Eviden for a deeper understanding of AI in their business journey.

Let’s take a look at SAP Business AI — the latest from SAP, offering revolutionary technology for real-world results, and how SAP and Eviden teams are revolutionizing this in the SAP landscape.

Transforming business with GenAI

While AI has been providing significant benefits for organizations over the last decade, GenAI is now opening exciting new possibilities across an organization’s business portfolio, promising to revolutionize how businesses operate.

Eviden analysis highlights some of these key focus areas:

1. AI-enhanced document processing could save up to €300,000 per factory annually for customers with high-volume deliveries, by automating the verification of paper-based delivery notes.
2. AI-infused HR solutions can save up to €400,000 in productivity for large companies by streamlining job posting processes, allowing HR professionals to focus on more strategic tasks.
3. In Spend Management, AI-powered tools help category managers achieve 56% less onboarding time and 70% more category coverage, enabling more strategic decision-making in procurement.
4. According to SAP’s internal pilots, sales teams that use GenAI for tasks like preparing emails and account briefings saw a 16-20% reduction in effort.
5. On the development front, AI-powered code generation can reduce application development efforts up to 30%, speeding up development cycles.

GenAI is set to revolutionize business processes across the board, promising increased efficiency, cost savings, and more strategic use of human resources. As we move towards 2025 and beyond, the integration of these AI capabilities into core business processes will likely become a key differentiator for successful organizations.

Business AI in the SAP ecosystem

According to Eviden research, Business AI in SAP landscapes is categorized into three main dimensions: embedded AI, customized AI, and the user experience layer. These dimensions encompass a wide range of applications, from predefined SAP use cases to advanced custom AI solutions tailored to specific business needs.

Fig. 1: The different types of Business AI 

SAP’s AI-driven offerings are making an impact across the world, benefiting over 24,000 businesses globally. Here are some examples of how SAP is leveraging AI to drive value across various business functions:

• In SAP S/4HANA, SAP Cash Application is helping customers save up to $1.5 million annually by increasing the automated matching rate of invoices to payments. This reduces manual work and improves financial accuracy.
• SAP SuccessFactors in Human Capital Management provides personalized learning recommendations to 4.2 million learners monthly, enhancing employee development and organizational capability.
• In Spend Management, AI in SAP Concur Invoice Management has automated the processing of 40 million invoices in 2022, resulting in combined savings of €440 million for customers.
• For customer relationship management, AI analyzes 1.9 billion potential cloud intrusion events monthly in SAP Customer Data Cloud, enhancing data security and compliance.

These examples demonstrate how SAP is leveraging AI for tangible benefits across various business areas. As a digital consulting partner, Eviden can help organizations build a business case, effectively implement and optimize these AI solutions within their SAP landscapes.

Strategic approaches to SAP Business AI

To harness the full potential of Business AI in an SAP ecosystem, organizations must adopt a structured approach. This involves categorizing AI initiatives into quick wins, differentiating use cases, and transformative initiatives:

• Quick wins focus on immediate productivity improvements through task-specific AI applications. Easy to pilot and implement, they offer short time-to-value and measurable benefits.
• Differentiating use cases leverage GenAI within industry-specific or custom applications. These provide a defensible competitive advantage but come with higher costs and risks. Effective process redesign, upskilling, and risk management are crucial for success.
• Transformative initiatives aim to upend business models and markets through innovative AI applications but involve significant complexity, risk, and potential for technical debt. Organizations must prioritize strategic benefits over immediate financial returns to achieve long-term success.

Fig. 2: Categorizing AI initiatives

Six recommendations for CIOs to navigate AI’s hype cycle

Here are six recommendations for CIOs to navigate AI’s hype cycle seamlessly. These will help them prepare for a swift transition from the trough of disillusionment to the slope of enlightenment in the context of Business AI in SAP landscapes:

1. Be realistic with stakeholders. While promoting the transformational nature of AI (especially GenAI), highlight its limitations too. Share a balanced view with customers, employees, and peers to manage expectations and build trust.
2. Establish a corporate use policy that educates employees on the risks and benefits of AI. Include guidelines to maximize business value while minimizing risks related to contracts, cybersecurity, data privacy, and ethics.
3. Assess the business value for every use case. Evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks of AI applications on a case-by-case basis. Focus on use cases that offer clear advantages and avoid those that may lead to inefficiencies or inaccuracies.
4. Maintain rigorous testing standards. Encourage thorough testing and experimentation before deploying AI solutions (especially when you start with GenAI). Create internal communities of practice to share experiences and best practices across the organization.
5. Strive for the best but prepare for potential failures by establishing governance processes to monitor and address issues. Develop a response plan to mitigate the impact of mistakes and ensure business continuity.
6. Collaborate with industry bodies and academic institutions to establish an AI “code of ethics” in your industry. Eviden’s global Responsible AI portfolio is a great place to start as this equips you with all the necessary tools and expertise to bring Responsible AI to life in your organization and/or industry sector.

Success drivers

Now the success, speed and effectiveness of the above-mentioned six-step guide rely on a transparent consumption model.

SAP is also empowering its ecosystem by —

• Enabling software partners to build AI-powered offerings into their portfolio.
• Facilitating the building of innovative AI use cases and extensions.
• Accelerating cloud transformation value realization through AI-powered development tools

These initiatives are simplifying organizations’ approach to adopt AI technologies within the SAP ecosystem, while fostering innovation among partners. As an SAP Platinum Partner in this ecosystem, Eviden leverages these initiatives to provide tailored AI solutions for SAP customers. With expertise in AI Units and deep understanding of the Business Technology Platform (BTP), Eviden helps organizations —

• Optimize their AI Unit consumption for maximum value.
• Develop custom AI-powered applications and extensions that address specific business needs.
• Accelerate SAP S/4HANA migration and cloud transformation projects using AI-powered tools and methodologies.

Combining SAP’s AI capabilities with Eviden’s implementation expertise, organizations can fast-track their AI adoption journey and realize tangible business benefits more quickly.

Examples of Eviden Innovative Solutions with BTP

Eviden’s multiple SAP AI solutions provides value in Client’s transformation journey

Fig 3: Eviden’s expertise in SAP BTP

Driving AI ethics and security with SAP

Both ethics and security are key concerns of C-level executives while implementing AI. The SAP ecosystem answers those concerns by implementing a comprehensive approach to ensure ethical and secure AI development and use. Key features are as follows:

• A robust ethical framework guides all AI development and operations
• Adherence to a global AI ethics policy is mandatory for all SAP employees
• An internal AI ethics steering committee governs SAP Business AI development
• An external AI ethics advisory panel provides diverse perspectives
• SAP actively participates in public and private AI initiatives to shape responsible AI practices
• Stringent security measures are integrated into AI solutions to protect data and prevent misuse

By prioritizing ethical considerations and security, SAP ensures its AI solutions align with important societal values while meeting high standards of performance, reliability, and data protection.

Leading the way with SAP and Eviden

Eviden complements this ethical and secure AI approach by providing guidance and support to organizations implementing SAP’s solutions. As part of its digital consulting services, Eviden offers a range of customized solution offerings:

• AI security assessments
• Evaluation of the ethical implications and security risks of AI implementations in SAP landscapes
• Governance framework development
• Training and awareness programs
• Continuous monitoring and improvement
• Security-by-design implementation
• Data protection and privacy compliance

This comprehensive approach fosters trust, responsible innovation, and robust data protection in their digital transformation journey.

Business AI in SAP landscapes is a transformative force that can drive significant value for organizations. It will have its lightbulb moment, but not until we navigate the trough of disillusionment, ascend the slope of enlightenment, and reach the plateau of productivity. The journey involves experimentation, learning, and adaptation to achieve sustainable growth and innovation.

Connect with us to discuss how Eviden can accelerate your Business AI transformation with SAP. Start by booking a one-on-one Inspiration Talk with us.