While the world of enterprise AI is dominated by American tech giants, Europe’s biggest software company, SAP, is making a major push into the space. The company’s CEO, Christian Klein, said that artificial intelligence is now the “number one reason” why customers are signing new deals with the firm.
Klein was very optimistic about the company’s future, saying, “We actually now have our biggest quarter.” He pointed to a 23% jump in the company’s cloud backlog as a sign of strong demand.
However, the company’s latest earnings report was mixed. While cloud revenue rose a solid 22%, overall revenue came in slightly below Wall Street’s expectations. SAP’s stock, which initially rose on the news, ended the day down.
Still, Klein is confident that the company’s big bet on AI will pay off. He said that the technology behind large language models is now a “commodity,” and that the real value will come from how businesses actually use AI. “It’s super important that we are not only selling into a hype, but that we see real adoption,” Klein said.
The CEO also waded into the debate over AI regulation, questioning whether the European Union’s strict approach is the right one. He favored the U.S. model of letting companies innovate and then refining the rules over time.
For now, SAP is all-in on AI, and its CEO is betting that the company’s focus on real-world applications will make it a major player in the next wave of technology.
