SAP Sapphire is one of the most anticipated events in the technology industry, and this year was no exception. Having attended the events in Orlando and Barcelona, I had the privilege of witnessing the overwhelmingly positive response to our SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX solutions. 

The funny thing about events, of course, is that they always end. That's why I like to think about the ideas and concepts that will last once the screens are dark and the booths are packed away.

And what struck me most when thinking about Sapphire 2024 was how far we've come in just the 12 months since last year's event – and how quickly organizations have moved alongside us – and yet how consistent we've remained in what we can offer organizations seeking to transform the way they work. 

While the reveal of new generative AI capabilities specific to the process world are rightly treated as potential game-changers, to me they also feel like a natural extension of what SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX solutions have always tried to do: radically shorten the time needed for transformation projects.

Looking back at Sapphire in 2023, we unveiled closer integrations with SAP solutions, enhanced automation options, and innovative methodologies like the plug and gain approach, all of which bring actionable insights and quantifiable impact to SAP customers within a handful of days.

This year, we accelerated yet again, with our Process AI from SAP Signavio solutions.

With the process recommender feature providing ready to use, AI-generated business process model recommendations, and prompt-based process mining to automatically generate business-relevant charts and metrics in response to natural language requests, the time to insight for organizations of all shapes and sizes has never been faster.

And these are not just pie-in-the-sky, nice-to-haves – the value of AI-assisted transformation with SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX solutions has been well and truly embraced by our customers and partners.

I had countless conversations with customers and prospects in both Orlando and Barcelona along the same lines: “We will be implementing this straight away; it’s a no brainer to drive this with the business; this is life changing, I don’t know why we’re not using it already; getting started yesterday is not soon enough!”

This kind of feedback from customers is more confirmation we are heading in the right direction, and drilling down further into what exactly we can do better is always important to me.

That's why I was pleased to lead an executive roundtable as part of the Orlando event, along with SAP LeanIX General Manager Andre Christ, all about helping senior executives build a better understanding of the value of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX as go-to business transformation partners.

The discussion was a positive and engaging one, with plenty of questions revolving around the impact of the SAP LeanIX acquisition on our joint product roadmap, as well as the ongoing integration between SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX within SAP overall. 

Fortunately, the strong interest in what we offer is backed by an impressive array of new solutions and services from our partners as well, and I can't help but view this as a further vote of confidence in our solutions. New offerings include:

• The announced intention to acquire WalkMe, which offers advanced guidance and automation features to help organizations – and the people working within them – navigate transformation seamlessly
• Accenture will help customers with insights, governance and capabilities to achieve their transformation outcomes
• McKinsey Consulting unveiled an expansion of its Value Bridge consulting offering, powered by SAP Signavio
• Boston Consulting Group announced a recommendation tool that helps identify opportunities to maximize digital transformation investments and prioritize ways to onboard AI-based innovations using SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX.

Next steps

Customer events such as SAP Sapphire have an important role in presenting customers with a holistic view of SAP’s strategy and portfolio to help them realize their organizations’ full potential – or, to echo this year’s Sapphire tagline, to bring out the best in their businesses. And with packed demo stations, insightful sessions and exciting announcements, SAP Sapphire proved to be a platform where our transformation solutions truly shone.

If you'd like to find out more, I urge you to access the Sapphire sessions on-demand: SAP Sapphire Virtual in 2024 | SAP Events. There are guaranteed insights and information valuable to your organization, no matter the industry.

But none of us can take the next steps alone. If you're reading this, then I'm confident you're aware of the need for business transformation as not just an isolated project, but a dedicated way of working. Let me assure you that if you haven't started considering the impact of AI on your efforts, last year was the best time to start.

The second-best time is right now.