Interview | Emmanuel Raptopoulos (Chief Revenue Officer SAP)
Maneuverability, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital sovereignty. They are themes that are explicitly on the management agenda. During a visit to the Netherlands, Emmanuel Raptopoulos, Chief Revenue Officer Apac, EMEA & MEE at SAP, with Computable about the role of AI in business, the meaning of maneuverability in uncertain times and the calling call for digital sovereignty in Europe. “The question is not whether companies are taking steps, but how quickly and thought out they can do that.”
Uncertainty is central to the current economic and geopolitical situation, certainly within Europe, says Raptopoulos. According to him, many organizations realize that change is needed, but the restless circumstances make it difficult to make decisions. That delays decision -making. In that context, SAP sees a role for himself as a technology partner. With the intention to help companies optimize their processes and to get a better grip on what is to come. AI applications are crucial here.
According to Raptopoulos, the emphasis has shifted: what it is about earlier resilience went, it’s all about now agility. He explains: ‘Companies must be able to respond faster disruptions In supply chains or geopolitical developments. Speed in decision -making is crucial. ” He mentions as an example a customer from the German car industry who managed to return his planning cycle thanks to the use of AI from four days to fifteen minutes. “Such adjustments make it possible to adjust production and delivery strategies at lightning speed.”
Greatly varied
The way in which companies use AI varies greatly. Some organizations work with traditional predictive algorithms, others experiment with generative AI (Gen-AI). In almost all cases, the goal is the same: making processes more efficient and reducing manual work.
According to Raptopoulos, the subject now reaches the level of board. “Almost every organization we speak nowadays has an AI-related question,” he says. Most of the interest is to applications for task automation. SAP sees that more than 34,000 customers actively use such solutions.
An example is the automatic handling of recurring customer questions. For example, SAPs can analyze digital assistant Joule e-mails, collect corresponding documents and proactively make a proposal for the solution-all within the same interface.
To make this type of applications more accessible, SAP wants to have four hundred standard solutions in 2025, focused on functions such as CFO, CHRO and CIO.
Garbage
Good data is essential for effective AI applications. ‘The adage’Garbage in, Garbage Out“Still getting up.” SAP responds to this with so -called Knowledge graphswho retain the semantics or the context of data. By combining their data, including this semantic layer, with external data sources, companies gain more value from both structured and unstructured data.
SAP opts for a federative approach. Instead of physically moving data, they encourage information to publish and describe in such a way that it can be used for analyzes. It should not matter where that data is located.
Raptopoulos places the emphasis on a federative approach. Instead of physically moving data, information is published in such a way and describes that it is immediately usable for analyzes. It does not matter whether the data comes from SAP or other sources. This principle also forms the basis for industrial initiatives such as manufacturing-x. That step focuses on safe and standardized data schedule within industrial supply chains. SAP’s Business Data Cloud is also in line with this. This is a data platform that has been developed together with Databricks to make data from different sources accessible and usable.
Shortage
A common obstacle to the use of AI is the shortage of AI specialists. SAP tries to reduce that shortage by collaborating with universities, by offering low code and no-code solutions, and by making existing knowledge available more easily. An example is Joule for Consulting. This Gen-AI-based tool bundles SAP manuals, customer cases and solution scenarios. This allows partners and customers to implement implementations faster and more efficiently because a lot of knowledge is made accessible in an easy way.
In addition, SAP develops learning trajectories with which customers and partners can expand or deepen their knowledge of SAP technology. These processes are not only intended for IT professionals, but also for people without a technical background who want to work with data. ‘We try to offer an approach in which not only AI experts, but also so-called Citizen Data Scientists Being able to work independently, “says Raptopoulos.
We use an open strategy: the customer keeps control and makes choices based on risks, regulations and continuity
Another subject that is explicitly discussed is the increasing call for digital sovereignty within Europe. In many countries, care about the dependence on American hyperscalers is growing. Raptopoulos emphasizes that SAP consciously opts for an open ecosystem, where organizations themselves determine where and how they run their data and applications. This is possible via all major cloud platforms, but also via SAP’s own converged cloud. “We use an open strategy: the customer keeps control and makes choices based on risks, regulations and continuity.”
SAP also develops specific sovereign cloud solutions for organizations in regulated sectors and governments. In countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany, these have already been rolled out or developing. Customers have the opportunity to take control of their data in the event of an emergency. “But building such alternatives takes time and money,” says Raptopoulos.
Nevertheless, Raptopoulos does see a permanent trend towards more regional choices. That is why SAP is also involved in European innovation processes aimed at OpenSource and data sovereignty, such as the Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI). “It is important to prepare scenarios in which European autonomy is crucial, but market forces ultimately lead to a balanced outcome.”
Finally, Raptopoulos clearly indicates that in these uncertain times, SAP first and foremost positions itself as a facilitator of maneuverability, technological integration and digital autonomy. It is clear to him that the ability of companies and governments to connect data, processes and people is more than ever essential.
