This report examines the capabilities of SAP in Digital Transformation. It provides a comprehensive review of the products, services, and capabilities of SAP across 11 technology areas and dozens of functions, to determine its core strengths for meeting enterprise needs. The 11 technology families in which the vendors capabilities are assessed are IoT, Hyperconnectivity, Human Machine Interface, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Ledger, Data Sharing, Product Lifecycle Management, Robotic Process Automation, Edge Computing, Autonomous Robotic Systems, and 3D Printing & Additive Manufacturing. While these might not encompass every possible technology that organisations might need in order to purse a Digital Transformation, they certainly represent the most disruptive, and therefore the ones of which enterprises should be most aware.
The report includes rating across each of the technology areas and functional capabilities (specialised hardware, general hardware, software products, integrated solutions, application development, systems integration and project management, specialist services, field & operational services) using Transforma Insight’s four-level universal rating system for vendors in Digital Transformation. Internet of Things, for instance, spans hardware, software, application development, implementation, field services and specialist services. For each of the 92 combinations of function and technology, SAP is rated for whether its capabilities are ‘Emerging’, ‘Significant’ or ‘Market Leading’ (or ‘None’). This rating is based on both the credibility of the solution and the position of the offering in the market (e.g. market share).
Overall, SAP has secured a rating of 24% in Digital Transformation capabilities (compared to a theoretical organisation that is ‘Market Leading’ in every aspect of providing Digital Transformation across all technologies). It has built strong capabilities in software products in Artificial Intelligence, Data Sharing, Robotic Process Automation and Product Lifecycle Management.
In AI, SAP’s core business strategy revolves around embedding AI, including Gen AI, directly into its applications rather than creating a separate platform where customers need to navigate a different system and transfer data to make AI functional alongside their existing systems. With deeper integration into existing platforms, it becomes easier for customers to access these use cases with just upgrades forgoing the complexity involved with implementation of new systems. This integration of AI within existing applications also allows it to democratise the use of technology across its wide customer base. But one of the critical factors for this to happen is to accelerate the transition of customers from on-premise to cloud because of the easier provision of AI services to cloud users.
In RPA, SAP has significant capability in software platform and integrated solutions with a robust platform offering. In the area of Data Sharing, it has leading capabilities in Software Platform through Datasphere Marketplace. It gives access to exhaustive set of data from external providers and an easy integration process with SAP systems. It is also one of the founding partners of Catena-X.
