DSAG Annual Congress 2026: A clear course in turbulent times

Are there parallels between the SAP world and the Wild West? Given the key visual and the theme of the DSAG Annual Congress 2026, this question certainly comes to mind. DSAG CEO Jens Hungershausen also addressed this question in his opening keynote. His view: These are certainly wild times for companies right now – including for those organizations operating within the SAP ecosystem. To best navigate constant change, companies should demonstrate a certain pioneering spirit, much like there was in the Wild West. What matters is being curious and having the willingness to explore new things.

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The coverage of the DSAG Annual Congress 2026 at a glance:

• Preview: High noon of the SAP world in Cologne
• Day 1: A clear course in turbulent times

Problem-solving instead of blind action

How can companies ensure direction, stability, and the ability to act when the technological, strategic, and organizational conditions are constantly changing? First and foremost, companies must understand their own scope of action and realistically assess their individual goals. It’s about staying steadfast, claiming your ground, and not blindly following every new technology trend – in line with the motto of the 2026 DSAG Annual Congress: “Claim your ground. Lead your business.”

The three-day event in Cologne aims not to present participants with the next big innovation promise in these times of constant transformation, but rather to honestly assess which strategies, systems, and technologies can be used to overcome current and future challenges. Companies must define their own scope for action, act autonomously, and make well-informed decisions when dealing with change. Due to intense economic pressure, increasing regulatory requirements, disruptive technologies, and unstable global political conditions, companies are increasingly scrutinizing their investments and allocating their budgets more strategically.

Cloud transformation at your own pace

The cloud is the future – there’s no question of that, even for Jens Hungershausen. However, the DSAG CEO makes it unmistakably clear that every company should determine its own path to the (public) cloud – especially with regard to SAP S/4HANA. This leads to the demand that key innovations should not be reserved solely for cloud customers and that on-premise customers must not be disadvantaged. Fair, transparent licensing and maintenance models are equally important.

AI benefits must be measurable

DSAG paints a mixed picture of artificial intelligence (AI) in the SAP ecosystem: Of course, AI is also a strategic priority at SAP. However, the use of AI must deliver measurable benefits for companies. Although there is a veritable gold rush atmosphere surrounding AI – another analogy to the Wild West – artificial intelligence has not yet been widely adopted across organizations.

Currently, high expectations are still at odds with a lack of maturity, so the question of practical feasibility remains unresolved. Undoubtedly, AI offers enormous potential for the entire value chain. However, from DSAG’s perspective, it must become easier to generate AI benefits within existing system landscapes. Furthermore, AI can only be as good as the data it works with. Another task for companies, therefore, is to establish a harmonized and AI-ready data landscape.

The path to the Autonomous Enterprise

SAP had a new face in town: Thomas Pfiester, Head of Customer Engagement & Adoption at SAP, made his debut at the 2026 DSAG Annual Congress and delivered the SAP keynote. In his presentation, he explained how the Autonomous Enterprise, in which entire business processes run autonomously via AI agents, is expected to contribute to companies’ business success. So far, organizations have primarily used AI to improve individual workflows. The next step is to generate real added value across systems and throughout the entire company. SAP Joule, the SAP Autonomous Suite, SAP Industry AI, and SAP Business AI Platform – as essential components of the Autonomous Enterprise – contribute to this. Furthermore, SAP’s AI portfolio sets itself apart from the competition through deep process and industry knowledge, semantically enriched business data, and enterprise-grade governance.

Every company embarks on its AI journey from its own individual starting point. Thomas Pfiester emphasized, however, that SAP is capable of showing all organizations the path to the Autonomous Enterprise. Seven migration and modernization assistants also contribute to this by significantly shortening the duration of the transformation and implementation. The mission and the expectation are clear: SAP must prove that the Autonomous Enterprise delivers real added value and measurable success.

Conclusion: Moving into the future with a pioneering spirit

Turbulent times call for a pioneering spirit, but not for knee-jerk reactions: Companies should understand their scope for action and determine for themselves how quickly they move to the cloud and where AI delivers real value. This requires a harmonized, AI-ready data landscape and solutions that can be easily integrated into existing system landscapes. It’s up to SAP to prove that the Autonomous Enterprise works in everyday practice, so that companies can claim their grounds and confidently manage their businesses.