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Key Takeaways
What you need to know
AI has transitioned from a focus on productivity to serving as a genuine growth accelerator, contingent on a strong data foundation.
Quality data must be clean, harmonized, and trustworthy to be AI-ready, emphasizing the importance of foundational work in data management.
Successful AI adoption hinges not just on technology, but significantly on human factors such as executive sponsorship, change management, and user adoption disciplines.
Transformation World 2026 · SAP
For SAP’s Thomas Pfiester, the conversation around AI has shifted. Where enterprises once framed AI purely as a productivity or cost-efficiency lever, Pfiester argues we’ve entered a “proof of value” era in which AI becomes a genuine growth accelerator — but only for organizations that have done the unglamorous work first. That work is data: clean, harmonized, and trustworthy enough to be both AI-ready and agentic-ready. He positions the SAP–SNP partnership as exactly that enabling layer, giving customers a consolidated data foundation on which intelligent, autonomous processes can actually be built.
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“AI is only as good as the data beneath it — and adoption is what turns that promise into real business value.”
Just as critical, Pfiester says, is the human side of transformation. Technology alone doesn’t move the needle; executive sponsorship, structured change management, and digital adoption platforms determine whether new capabilities are actually used. Citing research on what separates successful transformations from stalled ones, he makes the case that adoption discipline — not the software itself — is the real differentiator. It’s a candid, practitioner-level view of why the winners in the AI era will be the ones who treat data quality and change management as first-class priorities.
About the Guest
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Thomas PfiesterHead of Customer Engagement & Adoption, SAP SE Thomas Pfiester is Head of Customer Engagement & Adoption and a member of the Extended Board of SAP SE, leading the unit that brings together Premium Engagement, SAP MaxAttention, and adoption services. A senior technology executive with more than 20 years at SAP, he has held leadership roles across services, sales, and customer success — including SVP and Head of Cloud Success Services for EMEA South. His focus is accelerating adoption of SAP Business AI, Joule, and SAP Business Data Cloud to turn innovation into measurable customer outcomes. |
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