The DSAG Annual Congress 2025 kicked off in Bremen with a keynote speech by DSAG CEO Jens Hungershausen. In accordance with this year’s motto, “The Art of Balance,” German-speaking SAP user companies will spend the three days of the congress focusing on finding a balance between the necessities arising from technological, economic, and geopolitical conditions and their own interests.
The destination of the transformation journey that most SAP user companies are currently on is clear: the cloud. However, the exact path to get there and the challenges that companies may encounter in the course of their transformation are not so precisely mapped out. The trick is to reconcile continuous change in an increasingly complex, dynamic, and uncertain environment with your own needs. The goal is to strike a sustainable balance, profitably combining stability and progress.
The new SAP Business Suite creates a holistic target vision for SAP and IT architectures in the cloud. It unleashes its full potential through the combined use of Cloud ERP, SAP Business AI, and SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). In addition, the goal must be to seamlessly integrate SAP Business Suite into existing architectures. Artificial intelligence (AI) also plays a decisive role in this context, as it reveals enormous opportunities, especially in conjunction with SAP applications.
The path to the cloud with the target of SAP Business Suite is certainly the right one and there is no alternative. However, it does come with certain challenges. Accordingly, the journey is likely to take longer for many companies. Numerous organizations are simply unable to keep up with the pace set by SAP for the transformation. Therefore, according to DSAG, they need greater flexibility in designing and implementing their individual roadmaps, greater investment security, and maximum transparency with regard to licensing and pricing models as well as planned functionalities.
Three fundamental elements of the new SAP world are cloud, artificial intelligence, and security. AI-based functionalities are designed to help companies overcome the complex challenges of today. Artificial intelligence can only be used successfully if it pays off and delivers measurable added value. The DSAG’s clear demand: Companies of all sizes must have access to AI. Currently, however, many AI functions are only available in SAP cloud solutions.
According to the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the state of IT security in Germany is cause for concern. Threats in cyberspace are developing at a rapid pace, making cyber security a continuous, complex, and challenging task. It is essential for companies to protect both their cloud infrastructure and AI applications from attacks. The goal must be to achieve a high level of security and maintain it in the long term. How can this be achieved? By not viewing the cloud, artificial intelligence, and security in isolation, but implementing them together.
The future will inevitably lead SAP user companies to the cloud – accompanied by the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and the need for the highest security standards. The key will be to strike the right balance between technological innovations, external conditions, and individual corporate interests. Hybrid system landscapes will be the reality in the coming years.
Even though SAP is setting the pace of change, DSAG believes that transformation should not become a race. Companies need a certain amount of flexibility to successfully complete their own transformation journey. Only when the cloud, AI, and security are conceived and implemented as an integrated unit the new SAP world can unleash its full potential.