Recorded on the ground at SNP's Transformation World conference in Heidelberg, Germany, this conversation between Dr. George Vossos and Katarzyna “Kasia” Kwiatkowska of Smart People is the first in a podcast-style series of AI updates. Both attended the conference last year too, which makes this a rare opportunity: a twelve-month before-and-after reading of where SAP-centred digital transformation actually stands.
Three themes dominated the conference: digital transformation, AI, and leadership through both. AI had a noticeably bigger share of the stage than last year — yet in every session and every conversation, the role of people kept being underlined.
The migration question. A year ago the message was a big push to move everyone to S/4HANA. Twelve months on, the level of transformation is not as spectacular as everyone expected. The blocker is rarely technical: management boards struggle to see the business reason for what looks like a platform change alone, and the market simply doesn't have enough skilled people to run these programs at pace. Vendors have arrived with a plethora of agents, tools and kits promising seamless migrations — but the business case still isn't landing. The good transformations are real, but they're multi-year commitments; one example discussed took two and a half years, a full year of which was decision-making.
AI innovation doesn't have to wait. The prevailing narrative says AI is something you inherit once you've moved to S/4HANA. But if migrations have stalled, where does that leave innovation? The discussion lands on a sharper view: migration and AI innovation are not mutually exclusive, and there is no mandatory sequence. You can automate and reimagine processes in your current ECC landscape first — and that early value may be exactly what unlocks the decision-makers' perception of the bigger transformation. Notably, at the conference AI was being discussed almost exclusively as a tool to speed up migration projects, not as a way to make the business itself more effective. Thinking innovation-first could be the game changer.
Leadership, teams and the new business case. If the focus shifts from a business case for migration to a business case for innovation, people become the deciding factor. The best product on the table achieves nothing if the organization won't pick it up. That means leadership that manages humanely, deliberate investment in competencies — technical and soft skills alike — and team composition that mixes genuinely different thinking and acting styles, not just different backgrounds. Organizations locked into hiring scarce specialists for internal teams may also need to rethink: sharing competencies, reskilling and even the unfashionable outsourcing model deserve another look.
The conclusion both speakers arrive at: with great people, a well-composed team, the right competencies and real leadership, you can do innovation first — and let digital transformation follow.
Wondering what innovation-first AI could look like in your organization — without waiting for a platform migration? Book a complimentary 60-minute AI Business Discovery Session with George Vossos to map your own incremental-innovation blueprint.