The technology space—and the business world—are changing rapidly. The race to explore and capitalize on AI’s potential is accelerating that change even more. However, businesses can only realize AI innovations if they transition from on-premise systems to the cloud to leverage the unparalleled speed and agility they offer.

SAP’s vibrant ecosystem of over 25,000 partners and SAP PartnerEdge open ecosystem members helps ensure customers are supported and thriving across the entire customer journey. These trusted partners share SAP’s vision of helping companies bring our their best and can be the catalyst to true business transformation. Partners apply their deep technical expertise and business experience to build on, sell, service, and run SAP’s leading cloud ERP and AI solutions.

Recognizing this and the need to empower partners to set the right foundation for the cloud, SAP is revamping SAP PartnerEdge—its flagship, global program to engage with partners, no matter their route to market. The program, now 100% cloud-focused, is designed to help recognize and elevate partners that are ready to support customers in the cloud-powered AI economy.

A Closer Look at the Changes Coming in 2025

Prioritizing partners that are in lockstep with SAP’s vision to drive business growth and customer value, we are focusing on the following key pillars for the SAP PartnerEdge program in 2025:

• Aligning with SAP’s cloud vision: We’ve redesigned the program with elements that support and incentivize partners to reflect SAP’s strategic cloud focus. This helps differentiate partners that are fully aligned with SAP’s direction.
• Deepening SAP expertise: Under the new framework, expertise plays an even stronger role in determining partner levels. Competencies and specializations—focused on cloud solutions from SAP—serve as benchmarks of a partner’s maturity and credibility. These also signal to customers that they can trust a partner’s expertise in areas most critical to their business.
• Championing AI adoption: To meet the AI moment, partners are further motivated to innovate on tools that can lower the bar to entry for customers to leverage AI technologies. From no-code simplicity to advanced customization, partners are encouraged to build on SAP’s embedded AI portfolio and create tailored solutions that meet our customers’ unique needs.
• Committing to customer value: Long-term success for our customers is our top priority—and it holds true weight in our partner program as well. By prioritizing solution adoption-led growth, aligning delivery practices to SAP’s cloud methodologies, and delivering measurable outcomes, partners can create lasting value throughout the customer lifecycle, ultimately propelling their partnership too.

An Approach Endorsed by Industry Experts

These changes to the SAP PartnerEdge program signal our deepened commitment to the cloud, AI innovations, and, most importantly, our customers and their success. Industry experts agree, highlighting the drivers behind this transformation and SAP’s proactive approach:

“The convergence of cloud and artificial intelligence is ushering in a new era of business innovation,” said Dave McCarthy, research vice president, Cloud and Edge Services at IDC. “This synergy is driving transformative advancements across industries.”

“SAP understands this shift and is actively taking steps to ensure its partner ecosystem is aligned and paving the path for businesses to leverage breakthrough innovations,” added Steve White, program vice president, Channels and Alliances at IDC.

Supporting Customers to Find Their Best-Fit Partner

Under our new program framework, SAP and partners will be able to experience increased synergy as they move forward focused on the cloud and AI. However, customers will see the greatest benefits. While SAP PartnerEdge is designed for partners, its goal is to ultimately create a robust ecosystem that has the experience, knowledge, and specialization to address the unique needs of all of our customers and create a blueprint for long-term success.

For businesses ready to find their best-fit partner, SAP Partner Finder can provide easy search functionality to quickly find partners that match their industry, line of business, or size. It also showcases each partner’s level, competencies, and unique qualifications, such as the GROW with SAP partner designation. 

For customers to find success in the AI-driven era—and to thrive with the pace of innovation it brings—partnerships are more crucial than ever. By combining partner expertise with the power of SAP’s robust portfolio of cloud solutions, AI technologies, and data capabilities, customers can capitalize on this exciting moment as they transform their business.

SAP encourages businesses to explore our ecosystem of partners today and take the next step towards business transformation, greater competitiveness, and growth.

Karl Fahrbach is chief partner officer at SAP.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating at an astonishing pace, quickly moving from emerging technologies to impacting how businesses run. From building AI agents to interacting with technology in ways that feel more like a natural conversation, AI technologies are poised to transform how we work.

But what exactly lies ahead? We’d like to share five key themes for AI in 2025 that undoubtedly come with challenges for businesses but also the potential to redefine what’s possible. Ready to glimpse into next year and beyond? Let’s dive in.

1.  Agentic AI: Goodbye Agent Washing, Welcome Multi-Agent Systems

AI agents are currently in their infancy. While many software vendors are releasing and labeling the first “AI agents” based on simple conversational document search, advanced AI agents that will be able to plan, reason, use tools, collaborate with humans and other agents, and iteratively reflect on progress until they achieve their objective are on the horizon. The year 2025 will see them rapidly evolve and act more autonomously. More specifically, 2025 will see AI agents deployed more readily “under the hood,” driving complex agentic workflows.

Users will interact with a copilot for their tasks, which will deploy the request and coordinate among systems of multiple expert AI agents to complete more difficult tasks. Future AI agents, or multi-agent systems (MAS), can collaborate to understand the business user, have all the context, and structure the problem to subsequently interact with these domain-specific expert AI agents — each performing specific sub-tasks that together complete a much more complex task. In the future, users will not even need to trigger an action. Instead, AI agents will proactively respond to business events such as incoming customer inquiries, supply chain disruptions, or demand surges. They will automatically prepare a decision workflow as far as they can before pinging the human user for feedback.

If we look at a five-year horizon, AI agents will simplify significant portions of workflows, even aspects that have been resistant to automation, such as exceptions in customer service, long-tail administrative tasks, and specific programming activities like coding or debugging software. AI agents will be flexible and can plan, fail, and try something else or self-correct based on reasoning. AI agents will handle and complete routine, repetitive tasks end-to-end as effectively and often even more effectively than humans, leading to increased productivity and demonstrable cost savings. Agents will be more adaptable and robust than conventional robotic process automation (RPA) for longtail and highly extensive tasks. This means figuring out the best result out of many possible outcomes, which is almost impossible to hardcode in an RPA algorithm with classical automation methods.

Adopting AI in these domains will also shift workforce dynamics, with human roles evolving to focus on anticipating uncommon scenarios, coping with ambiguity, factoring in human behavior, making strategic decisions, and driving genuine innovation — complemented, not replaced, by AI capabilities. 

In short, AI will handle mundane, high-volume tasks while the value of human judgement, creativity, and quality outcomes will increase.

2. Models: No Context, No Value

Large language models (LLMs) will continue to become a commodity for vanilla generative AI tasks, a trend that has already started. LLMs are drawing on an increasingly tapped pool of public data scraped from the internet. This will only worsen, and companies must learn to adapt their models to unique, content-rich data sources. Model improvements in the future won’t come from brute force and more data; they will come from better data quality, more context, and the refinement of underlying techniques. Companies must spend more time innovating to make better models through fine-tuning and model adaptation rather than just training larger and larger models. Neurosymbolic AI techniques, especially knowledge graph, will see a renaissance since they can provide both learning objectives for foundation models and context to significantly improve the performance of generative AI while reducing hallucinations.

We will also see a greater variety of foundation models that fulfill different purposes. Take, for example, physics-informed neural networks (PINNs), which generate outcomes based on predictions grounded in physical reality or robotics. PINNs are set to gain more importance in the job market because they will enable autonomous robots to navigate and execute tasks in the real world, from warehouses to manufacturing plants, or models trained on tabular, structured data, like SAP Foundation Model, and can handle tasks that LLMs cannot do well, like predictions of numeric values.

Models will increasingly become more multimodal, meaning an AI system can process information from various input types. AI applications will eventually evolve into “any-to-any” modality solutions capable of understanding, processing, and reasoning across text, voice, image, video, and sensor data within a single model. In addition, smaller and more specialized LLMs with scalable finetuning techniques and the ability to work on any device will become more common, a trend that may lead to hyper-personalized models for organizations or even individuals in the future.

Enterprises will shift toward strategies utilizing multiple foundation models (not to be confounded with multimodal capabilities in a single model, described above), leveraging a diverse set of AI models and techniques tailored to specific use cases. This is backed by the trend of fine-tuning small slices of models, which requires fewer resources and much less data, resulting in full model flexibility and enabling businesses to extract more value from their unique data and gain a competitive edge. Enterprise software vendors will offer or extend integrated AI model marketplaces and platforms that support seamless model deployment, management, and updating. Benchmarking and lowering model switching costs will help deploy the same use cases in heterogeneous environments. Context equals value. Knowledge graph technology has been around for 40 years and is now seeing a revival because it can overcome key LLM challenges, such as understanding complex formats, hierarchy, and relationships between business data. Knowledge graphs offer data meaning and explain the relationship between entities, significantly supercharging the abilities of LLMs. The next step in this journey will be large graph models, allowing further advancement in generative AI.

Implicit knowledge is power, and making knowledge explicit to others is a superpower.

3. Adoption: From Buzz to Business

While 2024 was all about introducing AI use cases and their value for organizations and individuals alike, 2025 will see the industry’s unprecedented adoption of AI specifically for businesses. More people will understand when and how to use AI, and the technology will mature to the point where it can deal with critical business issues such as managing multi-national complexities. Many companies will also gain practical experience working for the first time through issues like AI-specific legal and data privacy terms (compared to when companies started moving to the cloud 10 years ago), building the foundation for applying the technology to business processes.

From a technological perspective, while 2024 saw significant advancements in AI, 2025 will see companies focus on making these advancements more meaningful through seamless data integration, ultimately enhancing the accuracy and significance of AI-powered outcomes and boosting adoption. Lastly, in 2025, we might glimpse a shift in the software business model from building static software features and functions to an outcome-as-a-service model focused on achieving process objectives.

4. User Experience: AI Is Becoming the New UI

AI’s next frontier is seamlessly unifying people, data, and processes to amplify business outcomes. In 2025, we will see increased adoption of AI across the workforce as people discover the benefits of humans plus AI.

This means disrupting the classical user experience from system-led interactions to intent-based, people-led conversations with AI acting in the background. AI copilots will become the new UI for engaging with a system, making software more accessible and easier for people. AI won’t be limited to one app; it might even replace them one day. With AI, frontend, backend, browser, and apps are blurring. This is like giving your AI “arms, legs, and eyes.” While power users will still have singular, expert interfaces, most users will demand flexibility across multiple access patterns. At the same time, there will be a growing acceptance of longer inference times for high-quality answers to complex, previously unsolvable problems and actions in domains requiring deep analysis and research. Ultimately, users will recognize the trade-off between latency and complexity of tasks handled by AI.

Importantly, we will see organizations move beyond viewing AI as a collection of productivity tools and begin reimagining their workforce as a network of collaborative intelligence with AI agents and humans working to accelerate innovation within the enterprise. For example, combining human expertise in strategic thinking with AI’s strengths in large-scale analysis and pattern recognition will create new competitive advantages for companies that effectively orchestrate these hybrid intelligence networks to drive breakthrough discoveries and market opportunities. Next year will also mark the early stages of a significant shift in how humans and AI work together, with agents evolving into workflow partners, taking initial steps toward independently navigating software environments and automating routine tasks – from data analysis and report generation to schedule coordination and software testing. This will also start a longer journey toward transformed work processes and patterns, with forward-thinking organizations developing new roles, metrics, and training approaches for effective human-AI task collaboration.

5. Regulation: Innovate, Then Regulate

It’s fair to say that governments worldwide are struggling to keep pace with the rapid advancements in AI technology and to develop meaningful regulatory frameworks that set appropriate guardrails for AI without compromising innovation. The regulatory landscape will become even more fragmented, with the OECD AI Policy Observatory tracking hundreds of AI regulations under discussion worldwide. This requires evaluating model compliance with and technical interpretation of various regulatory frameworks.

In 2025, the discussion will shift from what we try to regulate from a technical standpoint to how we innovate and what we deem fundamentally human. This discussion will elevate the role of humans, contribute a much more positive perspective, and help shape a long-term vision for how we want humanity and AI to live and work together. 

In this environment, it will continue to be critical for companies developing and deploying AI technology to adhere to responsible principles around safety, security, and ethical use. This will also help set the stage for important precedents and compliance.

Executing on the Themes in 2025

Indeed, these are just a few of what we are sure will be many exciting advancements for AI in 2025. Overall, the biggest takeaway from the year ahead will be making existing breakthrough technology more meaningful. We will see AI much deeper and almost invisibly embedded in consumer and enterprise applications and witness more advancements in how vendors and organizations that use these applications embed their individual contexts and data into AI seamlessly.

Getting to the point of leveraging AI generally, however, will require businesses to take advantage of a modern cloud suite with unified data access and harmonized data models to overcome data silos and fully benefit from AI innovation that spans across the whole enterprise. This will drastically increase the accuracy and significance of AI-powered outcomes, ultimately boosting adoption, specifically in the enterprise space.

We can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Sean Kask is vice president and head of AI Strategy for SAP Business AI at SAP.
Walter Sun is senior vice president and global head of AI for SAP Business AI at SAP.
Jonathan von Rueden is head of AI Frontrunner Innovation for SAP Business AI at SAP.

According to the latest research from SAP and Oxford Economics, only 57% of business transformations end up being worth the time, money, and effort they require — but this can change.

Today’s business transformations are diverse, ranging from creating new products or services and entering new markets to adopting cybersecurity frameworks and transitioning to net-neutral carbon emissions. However, these transformations are neither swift nor inexpensive, and sometimes the costs can be hidden.

That is why SAP has partnered with Oxford Economics on a new and comprehensive survey of large organizations, providing an exclusive look at the current global state of business transformation.

“The Estimation Game: What Do Business Transformations Really Cost?” reveals the true cost of business transformation, with the data aimed at helping organizations maximize transformation success and take the guesswork out of transformation budgeting.

Spanning a range of industries and focusing on companies with a minimum revenue of $500 million, the report provides insights from a balanced audience of 800 respondents, including IT professionals and leaders from corporate strategy, R&D, finance, manufacturing, HR, and operations.

The paper further reveals that:

• Barely half of transformations go according to plan (51 percent)
• Fifty-eight percent of transformations end up going over budget
• The average cost of transformation efforts is €9.5 million
• Sixty-three percent of respondents face resistance from leadership regarding the value of transformation efforts
• Nearly half of the initiatives highlighted by respondents remain incomplete, and budgetary constraints pose a significant challenge

From Strategy to Execution

In broad terms, this disconnect between the confidence level of respondents and what the report data reveals about the true cost and organizational impact of transformation can be understood in the equivalent disconnect between strategy and execution.

For example, while three in five say their major transformation plan was well communicated across their organization, only 53 percent say it was clearly defined in the first place.

While most companies are employing strategic practices such as crafting mission statements, appointing dedicated leaders, and forming cross-functional teams, they can lack the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to converting strategy into action. That is where SAP comes in.

“Transformation challenges will always exist, particularly in aligning execution with strategic road maps,” Dee Houchen, head of Marketing for SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX, shared. “As companies navigate these complexities, the path to successful transformation remains a critical focus for global businesses, which is why this research is so relevant.”

“SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX solutions offer clarity and transparency in business transformation, helping organizations leverage enterprise analytics and process data to really turn transformation plans into action through supporting decision-making, setting timelines, and tracking progress effectively,” Houchen said. “This report is an invaluable resource for anyone wondering why their transformation efforts have slowed, what they can do differently, and how others have identified and overcome similar hurdles to their own.”

Lucas de Boer is Global Marketing program lead for SAP Signavio at SAP.

One of my favorite times of the year is here—the time when SAP dedicates a forum to honor our customers that are leveraging emerging technology to transform their fields. Submissions for the SAP Innovation Awards in 2025 are open! Until March 14^th, you’ll have the opportunity to showcase how you’ve not only revolutionized your organization, but helped the world run better.

Now in its 12^th year, SAP Innovation Awards celebrate future-minded organizations that have harnessed the power of SAP products, including cloud-based solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) or generative AI. In a time of immense change, these awards feel more relevant than ever as they highlight innovations that drive business growth and move society forward.

Making a Difference

The 2025 winners will be recognized for utilizing SAP technologies in distinct and dramatic ways to support new business models, inspire industry convergence, and connect with customers. And I, for one, cannot wait to see what you all bring to the table!

At its core, SAP Innovation Awards are devoted to encouraging every organization to live up to its social responsibility by creating initiatives that engage the broader community around environmental and other crucial issues that, in one way or another, affect us all.

Before entering a submission, think about how your innovation is resilient and sustainable, helps businesses, including your own, addresses workforce concerns, and adapts to the needs of the public.

How to Tell Your Story

Every organization has its own story, and the judges want to hear them all—specifically the challenges each group faced and how SAP products were used to effectively overcome obstacles.

When asked about the best way to catch the judges’ attention, I always say that more important than simply listing the products you used is sharing the thought process that motivated you to use technology creatively to overcome barriers and forge new paths. Want to get a sense of what winning looks like? Check out the 2024 entries for examples of inspiring submissions.

The heart of your story should revolve around the outcome of your efforts:

• The impact the solution had on your company, community, and individuals
• How it transformed your vision of the future

The best way to showcase this? Provide at least three primary metrics and business proof points that demonstrate your business outcomes.  Remember, nobody understands your innovation story better than you. After all, you are the storyteller! Keep it compelling, human, and, yes, inspiring.

So Many Ways to Win

Along with access to networking and promotional opportunities, each winner receives a trophy and the option of either a complimentary pass to SAP Sapphire—where an exclusive SAP Innovation Awards celebration will be held—or a US$1,000 SAP4Good donation voucher to a charity of your choice.

The great thing is that you can win in a variety of categories. These include:

• Partner Paragon, for an SAP partner that has developed a next-generation application
• Business Network Innovator, for a client that utilized cloud solutions from SAP—including those using AI—to transform supply chains, processes, or business networks
• Cloud ERP Champion, for a customer that took advantage of SAP cloud ERP opportunities to future-proof its business
• Transformation Titan, presented for solving problems by making the most of SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), an integration suite combining such technologies as data and analytics, application development, AI, and automation

Other award classifications are Customer Experience, People Experience, AI Excellence, Services Superstar, and Sustainability Hero. Read more about all the categories on our website.

This is your opportunity to imagine big and inspire your peers. These transformations inspire us all to grow without limits, expand our industries, and enrich lives. So, join us and participate in the 2025 SAP Innovation Awards! Visit our submissions page to get started and watch this video to learn more.

Ada Agrait is executive vice president and global head of Corporate Marketing at SAP.