LV Podcast_SvenDenek 0:00 Hello, I'm Robert Holland and this is the SAP Insider Las Vegas 2025 podcast. 0:06 Thank you for listening as we speak with SAP insiders and industry experts about their experiences in the SAP space. 0:13 In this episode, I'm speaking with Sven Deniken of SAP. 0:16 Many of you who had any relationship with SAP is Rihanna Cloud over the last few years probably knows Sven very well. 0:25 But Sven, tell us a little bit about yourself and your your current role. 0:29 Yeah, happy to do so and thanks for having me. 0:31 Absolutely great event and looking forward to those days with the community. 0:35 We'll talk about that later. 0:36 So currently you're looking at all things industry, especially the last two years globally, figuring out where customers want to differentiate and can differentiate with the SUV portfolio. 0:47 Before that, you said it seven years as four. 0:50 I've been around for a while and of course proud of my ERP background, still know what that means and all the cloud acquisitions what got my upgrade. 0:59 But yeah, all things industry is what drives me currently. 1:03 Fantastic. 1:04 So what do you see? 1:07 I mean, you've worked in SAP as Farhana Cloud, cloud ERP. 1:12 You're now you've got now got a more more of an industry focus. 1:15 What do you sort of see as the biggest challenges that the customers you're interacting with are having today? 1:20 So first of all, it is the macro environment. 1:23 Absolutely. 1:24 It's the volatility of making the right decisions for the business, of changing and adopting the business to what it's out there. 1:31 And I think that that started when we truly all looked into the supply chain and the potential interruptions there. 1:38 We optimized to a degree that if any interaction is with our suppliers, with our customers interrupted, we are really, really peddling hard to recover that. 1:50 And it goes in certain industries, of course, take the regulated ones. 1:54 I see there's a proclileration of legislation each country is pulling up, each E region is pulling up. 2:01 So that's a huge challenge specifically if you want to hold all those pieces together and make a business just run. 2:08 Yeah, that would be definitely number one on my list. 2:11 Yeah, I mean, and it is, there's a lot of volatility at the moment. 2:17 Oh yeah. 2:18 So you know, you know, that makes that makes perfect sense. 2:21 So, you know, one of the things that I know SAP is is working to do address this is provide solutions that help people bring all the information in the organization together to to to have a better view of what's going on. 2:36 And this is obviously through Business Data Cloud, you know, there's a data is brought together across the organization so it can be leveraged in a way that that wasn't possible previously. 2:47 So you know from maybe an industry focus or you know what role do you see BDC playing in a combined strategy for SAP customers. 2:57 Of course, Business Data Cloud as it is built for business and there's a clear rationale why I think we need to invest more there SSAP together with our clients and partners. 3:07 But before I come there, the fundamentals are still true. 3:10 So it is about the applications who provide the business process. 3:14 It is about understanding how that business process which actually not only starts and stops at the gates for company, you need to look at the entire value chain as I just mentioned before. 3:26 And that is fueled by data and data. 3:28 And let's, we'll talk about, I guess AI at some point in this podcast. 3:33 Yeah, good data is good AI. 3:35 Now, if you take it to the level of the business data cloud, what we're coming up to is to realise that of course we understand the semantics of SAP data best because we're SAP, because we have a huge ecosystem billing on top of our platforms, augmenting in what we do, but with a semantical integrity. 3:55 Now to leverage that I'm, I'm coming from a time and you see the demand of my hair while you can't hear it in the podcast, but I come from a time where extract transport load was, was kind of a cool thing. 4:09 And it is not because the moment you extract data and you load it somewhere else and now think about optimizing that, automating that, making just reports out of that. 4:19 The moment you do that, it's old. 4:21 And that if you're now speaking to terms of data cloud, those pipelines of data are very cumbersome. 4:28 And the moment actually you extract your data is old because new transactions happen, new changes happen. 4:34 This is why we figured out with Business Data Cloud BDC, how to really leverage that to make sure that the data doesn't need always to be replicated, that you know how the data looks like, where it comes from, and even extend it now to a world beyond the SAP. 4:50 Because of course there's, there's a lot of data beyond the SAP, which we also want to leverage for business processes. 4:56 I think that's a really good point because, you know, it's one of the challenges. 5:02 And I worked for SAP for 12 years before I came to SAP Insider and everyone loves it. 5:09 I loved it. 5:09 I loved my time in SAP. 5:12 But everyone, you know, wants to extract data, put it in a spreadsheet, and then do something with it. 5:17 But you're right, as soon as it's out of the system that it comes from, it's it's out of date. 5:24 Yeah. 5:25 And and new information comes in all the time and augmenting that with external data, I'll give you an example out of an industry, we all I think think we know retail well, the core of retailers by the way, not finance, the core of retail is the customer repository. 5:41 It's a customer data, but everything that evolves around that customer data and then applying that for my business, having everything on the shelf that I need that actually making sure the supply is in time and in cost. 5:54 So those are topics which also external data, for example, like weather, that doesn't matter if I travel here where we are today with some insider, I better know the better might be interesting, but I know I'm sitting in a freezing cold environment, so I better have my supply with me or I buy it here. 6:13 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 6:15 And you know, some of the, we've got weather systems impacting the East Coast of the US right now. 6:20 There's severe storms sort of on the southeast. 6:23 There's heavy rain in the Northeast. 6:24 This all impacts you as a retailer and the decisions you need to make and what you're going to be selling on any given day and manufacturing and supply chain and you name it. 6:34 That's why I think the Business Data Cloud, making sure that the data from SAP for the purposes of planning, for the purposes of executing your business plus external data goes hand in hand and goes real time. 6:47 Yeah, yeah. 6:48 And and this is where, you know, I think SAP, you know, is bringing Business Data Cloud into a broader business suite, a new business suite. 6:59 And there's a lot of people that are familiar with the the term Business Suite, but this is a new Business Suite, you know, and, and so that's going to be the underlying platform. 7:09 There's line of business applications. 7:11 So how do you see Business Suite impacting customers that perhaps have already moved to SAPS for HANA or some of them are still on the fence? 7:21 Yeah, I could easily depict that we were born in a time where actually was it ERPECC 4.6, the last hyper integrated monolith which caused your pain on the other side of the fence. 7:36 But those times are gone. 7:37 We know that solutions best of breed have been for some time very shepherded by the market. 7:46 But I think the business suite, the suite always wins. 7:48 And I think the idea of a business suite is the parts either from SAP or the ecosystem, which we also should talk about because they play an impactful role. 7:59 How you develop that, how good you think about the semantics, think about AI crossing those systems, how actually the availability of that data and understanding the data semantics does matter. 8:10 And now for people who actually embarked already, let's take S4 or IBP and you name it, that is where we're investing that taking the next part of an SAP solution is properly integrated, connected, the data flow, the the, the pipeline of data for even business data cloud, the business technology platform, how to extend it rightfully and wisely, all that comes together. 8:35 And I think that's why the business suite does matter and that's why I think we're so outspoken about it. 8:41 Yeah, I mean, you know, from my perspective, something that SAP always had as a strength was the integrated suite of applications. 8:50 And that was something that fell away a little bit when SuccessFactors and Arriba and you know, Field Glass and you know, they all came into the picture, but they weren't initially as integrated. 9:03 And now you're getting back to that. 9:06 Well, actually we had some homework and we did that homework and it started. 9:10 And then let's go to another angle. 9:11 If you if you think about how you interact with those systems in the future, so do you exchange what you want from the system and natural language maybe via copilot, then this copilot needs to understand all those solutions and #2 if you have one or two of them, it needs to be easier to plug in the third one for very specific need that you have and absolutely, but you can't do that in a monolith which is actually then you need to have it everywhere. 9:41 There we are open. 9:43 We are by the way now capitalizing on a very good decisions we made and think about large language models being open, think about the hyperscalers. 9:51 Let's be open and in the same we're going to do with data be open to those vendors who actually have an engineering pride as well do that at best. 10:01 But I would argue that together with the ecosystem we also see here, it's up insider and those discussions that we're having here, they understand that the core data and the data of SAP, there is a value. 10:14 This is actually the premium oil that you have and you need for your business. 10:19 Yeah. 10:20 And that's the ecosystem that you see as being so important, right? 10:24 It's your SAP applications plus the ecosystem, whether it's LLMS, whether it's cloud, cloud providers, hyper scalers, you know, they're all part of that broader ecosystem supporting customer success. 10:39 Yeah. 10:39 And then I'm pretty sure tomorrow here again on on the show floor and talking with a lot of partners, even them extending and building own IP, hopefully with the benefit of the services we have in the SAP business technology platform. 10:54 They understand that all that questions about resiliency, about availability, about security, about actually the way how I built and, and by the way, I can build stupid stuff on PTP, but I can build it the right way. 11:08 So I think the enterprise architecture and the guidance we give and the ecosystem, how they extending the portfolio, that's amazing. 11:17 And that actually makes, makes my, my job pretty much easier because if there is a immediate need, then why not do it with a partner? 11:27 Yeah. 11:28 And, and I think that and the perspective that the partners bring, it only adds to that value, right? 11:35 Because each of them have their own experiences in the SAP space. 11:38 They have their own customers that they're working with, you know, and they can bring something that SAP maybe hasn't considered to the picture. 11:46 I'm a big fan of partners that actually have that wish to adopt. 11:50 And tell me a partner who doesn't want to adopt what he built. 11:54 Yeah. 11:55 No, I'm not going to find them tomorrow in the show floor. 11:57 Yeah. 11:57 I'll take it back. 11:58 Right. 11:59 Oh, no, we will. 11:59 Absolutely. 12:00 So you know, we talked a little, you mentioned AIA little bit earlier, BDC Business Suite, they have AI capabilities. 12:08 How is business AI making a difference for SAP customers? 12:13 Yeah. 12:13 So first of all, there is a lot in that name. 12:15 And again, it is about business, what is relevant for business process, the decision to make sure that data doesn't leave the client. 12:25 But we are able with the concept of close to 30,000 customers now to train those algorithms. 12:31 The moment we apply them, they're on your data. 12:33 It's a super important concept about business AI which we can fulfill that leads to security, that leads also to the to customers really wanting to adopt it beyond the buzzword. 12:46 Second, of course, with business technology platform, you can leverage all those services from different large language models and there are good ones for certain purposes which are not good for other purposes. 12:58 Take regulation, take actually specifics of a certain large language model broader or more focused, even focused for certain industries. 13:07 And via that technical semantic also decisions that we made that via the business technology platform, you can address the right large language model for the right use case that has been extremely powerful. 13:19 And on top of that, you can extend it. 13:21 You can actually build even your own applications, your AI applications as you can in the business Data Cloud, build your own inside apps. 13:29 And I think that's a super important element because you don't want to be locked in or in technology and not in a vendor and fully get that argument. 13:38 But the moment you leave, then you invest a lot on keeping those things working together. 13:43 And that that's the beauty of a very open platform. 13:46 Yeah, no, absolutely. 13:48 So, I mean, to leverage that open platform, what skills do you think are going to be necessary, you know, for SAP professionals to have over the next few years? 13:59 That is, I think the $1 million question. 14:01 Now everyone would say, OK, I need to understand AI. 14:04 And so do we both, right. 14:05 We'll, we'll, we'll go to those trainings and we'll figure out what it truly brings. 14:10 What do I need to have a skill set if I build up on top of a copilot, the right business language to enter? 14:16 What do I build as AI use cases to automate at the end of the day, what technology I use? 14:22 But I still happen to believe that next to understanding AI and maybe be able to define, to grasp or even code something there, I would argue enterprise architecture for me is still #1 how do those pieces really work together? 14:38 Well, How are they working in a way that they provide that value? 14:42 And there are, I wouldn't argue easy. 14:45 Everything in AI isn't easy by the way, other than we as consumers using it without knowing it. 14:51 But in the business context and in a business world we are living in that is enterprise architecture is playing for me is still number one. 15:01 Now even if you look at AI are you're more the data architect, are you're more savvy about business processes, where to implement automation or you're more knowledgeable about certain large language model and how to leverage them on a hyperscaler, all of that does matter, but it comes together an architecture view. 15:19 Yeah, yeah. 15:20 Now architecture is super important, not just in terms of bringing everything together across the enterprise, but these days also managing the cost of bringing everything together across the enterprise. 15:30 And and that's why I think, again, any use case needs to be relevant. 15:35 Yeah. 15:35 If not, there's there's no point to do it. 15:38 Second, it's to be reliable. 15:40 And reliable also doesn't mean cost efficient. 15:43 Because the moment you put your toe into that water, I can get cumbersome. 15:47 And that's why the earlier adopters now figuring out it was good to to test. 15:52 And then it's super important really to figure it out also with open technology out there. 15:59 But it wants to be relevant and it needs to be that reliable and responsible. 16:04 That's a Third Point. 16:05 Is the AI applied responsible? 16:07 Is there the ability to interact with the other in the room? 16:11 Who still figures out what comes out of that? 16:15 If we would have more time, I'd tell you my awakening moment for AI. 16:19 Cool. 16:19 We'll have to talk about that at some point. 16:22 But one last thing just before we wrap up, if you could provide recommendations to our community, the SAP insider community, what would you recommend? 16:30 Well, selfishly, that's why I'm here. 16:32 Yeah. 16:32 I think events like this, gatherings with the community are, are the, the lifeblood of, of, of anything that is happening out there. 16:42 And that's why use also those abilities to talk with your peers, use, of course, the ability to talk with the SAP experts here. 16:50 And there are many formats. 16:52 But I think that's why I came here. 16:53 Also, it's an insider because those are people who day in and day out trying to do their best and doing their best with that technology we have and the feedback they give to us and that exchange with the community. 17:07 That's that what actually engages me every time that I love that. 17:11 And and thanks also just being said to put together. 17:13 It's just a great event again, to bring experts to exchange in a very open format and an honest format. 17:21 You know, I'm a born German, a Black Forest guy, very stubborn and open. 17:24 I love open feedback and they get the German answer. 17:29 Fantastic. 17:30 Well, Spen, thank you so much for speaking to the SAP Insider community today. 17:34 It has been absolutely amazing to have you on this podcast. 17:37 Thank you very much, Robert. 17:38 Enjoyed it. 17:39 Thank you.