SAP is buying it's way into the AI space with acquisitions like: Walk Me, Contextor, Aleph Alpha GmbH, Anthropic PBC and Cohere. All part of a $1+ billion commitment to invest in AI-powered enterprise technology startups according to our Chief Strategy Officer.
No question SAP is banking on acquisitions to get into the AI industry in a big way. For those who were around here 10-15 years ago, we did the same thing with Cloud based acquisitions, like Ariba, Success Factors, Concur, etc.. We can all debate how successful these acquisitions were but what is clear is that we didn't get into Cloud biz organically - we bought our way in.
But this strategy begs the question, just how much will SAP "need" its existing workforce many of whom came from our highly successful ERP business? You know, this is the one that CK has vowed SAP will exit -we can also debate how smart a move this is. Nonetheless the loyalty is gone and the BS about" reskilling" we know was just words, so I see a major downsize and cutting of the talent SAP has in favor of resources who will drive the AI investments. Something has to give as we once again buy our way into yet another market while we lose our most profitable businesses like ERP and Maintenance revenue and most likely what will give is our headcount