How UiPath’s CIO Reframed SAP Transformation: Five Lessons From ‘Customer Zero’

UiPath CIO Mihai Faur did not arrive at his recommendations through theory or framework design. They emerged from running UiPath’s own automation-led SAP S/4HANA migration as a Customer Zero initiative under live operational constraints.

The initiative tested whether common beliefs about SAP transformation, automation, and organizational readiness actually worked in real, live finance operations.

As UiPath embedded automation directly into S/4HANA migration execution and later introduced agentic workflows, Faur’s perspective shifted away from traditional sequencing models toward an automation-first operating model. Each lesson reflects a point where conventional implementation logic had to be rethought under real delivery pressure.

1. Automation Belongs in the Migration

One of the earliest assumptions to fall was that automation should follow ERP go-live. UiPath initially viewed automation as a post-implementation efficiency layer. That changed quickly. Automation became essential to data preparation, integrations, reconciliation, testing, and risk reduction during the migration itself.

Faur now argues that postponing automation delays value and increases friction. “Automation should be embedded from day one,” he says. Used this way, automation shifts from optimization to delivery capability, accelerating timelines while stabilizing outcomes before systems enter production.

2. Clean Core Works Only When Complexity Lives Elsewhere

UiPath’s experience reinforced that clean core is achievable at scale, but only with discipline about architectural boundaries. Standard SAP handled core accounting well. Complexity emerged in exceptions, variability, and cross-system logic. Rather than customizing SAP, UiPath externalized those demands into automation.

“Variability, exceptions, and business-specific rules should live outside the ERP,” Faur says. Automation, and later agentic workflows, became the layer that absorbed complexity while allowing SAP to remain standard. Clean core succeeded not through restriction, but through deliberate separation of responsibilities.

3. Automation Must Be System-Agnostic to Scale

Faur’s third insight came from watching automation interact with both SAP and non-SAP systems. Treating automation as system-agnostic changed how teams designed processes. Instead of anchoring logic inside applications, UiPath decoupled execution from systems. “Design processes first, not around a single platform,” he says.

This shift enabled reuse across landscapes and prevented automation from becoming another silo. Automation-first thinking, in this model, is less about tooling and more about architectural independence that supports continuous optimization.

4. Agentic Futures Are Built, Not Switched On

Agentic automation did not replace deterministic automation at UiPath. It extended it. As rules-based workflows reached limits, agentic capabilities were introduced selectively, supported by orchestration, governance, APIs, and human-in-the-loop controls.

Faur emphasizes that organizations do not need agents everywhere immediately. They do need to architect with them in mind. Automation built during migration became reusable infrastructure, enabling agentic operations later without redesign. Agentic readiness, in practice, was an outcome of earlier architectural choices.

5. Operating Model Change Determines Success

The final lesson surprised Faur most. Technology was not the hardest part of the transformation. The operating model was. Aligning Finance, IT, and automation teams required redefining roles between humans, robots, and agents. Reuse depended on capturing patterns and governance, not just deploying tools.

“How teams work together matters more than the technology,” Faur says. Customer Zero showed that ERP transformation succeeds when organizational design evolves alongside architecture, creating a foundation for sustained automation and agentic operations.

What This Means for SAPinsiders

SAP migrations succeed when boundaries are explicit. UiPath’s Customer Zero shows that early architectural decisions shape every downstream outcome. Treating SAP as a system of record while assigning complexity to automation can create stability during migration and preserve flexibility as processes scale across differentiated operations.

Automation defines the path to agentic capability in SAP environments. UiPath reached agentic operations through disciplined sequencing rather than ambition alone. Automation embedded during migration created governance, orchestration, and reuse patterns that later enabled agentic workflows to operate reliably inside live finance processes.

Transformation advances at the pace of organizational alignment. Customer Zero revealed that sustained progress depended on how teams worked together. Aligning departmental and automation roles early allowed technology choices to reinforce execution models rather than expose gaps in ownership, accountability, and decision flow.