Key Insights from valantic’s SAP Study – 2024 Trends

Survey: Customer Perspectives on SAP, AI, Cloud, S/4HANA, and BTP

Munich, August 28, 2024: Since 2018, the digital solutions, consulting, and software house valantic has been conducting an annual survey among SAP experts in the DACH region. The survey explores their perspectives on S/4HANA migration, investment trends, preferred technologies, business opportunities, business process management (BPM), cloud solutions, and, most recently, artificial intelligence (AI). By comparing year-on-year results, the survey reveals long-term trends and evolving developments. More than 200 SAP experts participated in two survey periods of this year’s study.

The 2024 valantic SAP survey established that companies using SAP in the DACH region are eager to fully harness the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities offered by SAP S/4HANA and the Business Technology Platform (BTP). Business strategists are carefully contemplating how best to integrate these cutting-edge technologies into their SAP modules and company workflows to maximize value and drive significant benefits. One of the key findings from the survey is the enormous confidence in SAP’s platform of the future, S/4HANA. An overwhelming 78.6 percent of respondents expressed their intention to migrate to S/4HANA, aiming to leverage its enhanced automation capabilities through AI, predictive analytics, and associated data science technologies. This move is seen as crucial for strengthening their competitive position and ensuring long-term success.

The survey also revealed that SAP users fully recognize the strategic importance of AI in the corporate environment and are eager to unlock its numerous benefits. SAP made a significant impact last September with the launch of its AI assistant, Joule. According to SAP, because Joule is designed to understand business contexts and is seamlessly integrated into companies’ mission-critical business processes, it greatly benefits SAP cloud applications like HR management, finance, supply chain management, and BTP. Many of the polled confirmed significant efficiency, productivity, and creativity enhancements after the initial induction phase. Joule has quickly evolved into a popular AI application, with 42.9 percent of respondents favoring it.

Opinions remain divided when it comes to the cloud. Despite the widespread hype surrounding cloud models – now considered standard for many services – nearly 60 percent of the companies surveyed by valantic still prefer on-premises operations for their most critical asset: their ERP system. This is surprising and suggests that a lack of communication and information may play an important role. Nevertheless, 31 percent of respondents are transitioning to the secure SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud which is specifically tailored to their company’s needs—a trend already emerging last year. However, confidence in the SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud remains subdued, with just 9.5 percent of participants expressing trust in it, and 23.8 percent outright rejecting it.

Ten Key Findings of the valantic SAP Study 2024

• 78.6 percent aim to use SAP S/4HANA to drive automation in their company, leveraging technologies including AI.
• 45.2 percent of participants are seriously contemplating a transformation to SAP S/4HANA, a significant increase from 13.2 percent the previous year.
• 40.5 percent – by far the largest share – prefer the fast-track, less costly brownfield migration approach, despite its potential downsides, such as missed optimization opportunities.
• 69.1 percent lament insufficient resources for transformation projects.
• Nearly 60 percent still operate their ERP systems on-premises.
• 47.6 percent cite the large number of in-house developments and, the same percentage, the limited ability to influence cloud operations as major concerns when considering cloud migration.
• 23.8 percent categorically reject the public cloud.
• At 42.9 percent, the AI assistant Joule is the most popular AI application in the SAP community.
• Only 6.6 percent use AI as an integral part of their business processes.
• 64 percent view the Business Technology Platform (BTP) primarily as an integration engine.

The large number of in-house developments that need to be migrated to the cloud, coupled with the limited ability to influence cloud operations, are causes for concern among the hesitators (in each case 47.6%). The SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), which 64 percent view primarily as an integration engine, could be crucial in facilitating the migration of in-house developments and AI add-ons. However, there is still a significant need for information, especially regarding AI. Only 5.5 percent of respondents have explored the current AI functionalities offered by BTP, while 36.7 percent have taken an initial look. As for the remaining 57.8 percent? Niente!