My answer to this is increasingly the same: You can’t deal with constant disruptions reactively. You build systems that can anticipate developments autonomously, on a large scale, and in real time—systems that can adapt to them and take action. This is possible today with Business AI, provided it is properly embedded in a company’s digital core. And the clearest proof of this comes from our customers. Many of them recently shared their impressive AI innovation processes at our SAP Sapphire customer conference.
Data is the foundation, not the result of after-the-fact deliberations
Ericsson’s approach is instructive because the company has faced a truth that many companies still resist. Esra Kocatürk Norell, Vice President of Customer Experience and Enterprise IT at Ericsson, summed it up this way: “Once you scale AI, it’s no longer an AI problem—it becomes a data problem.”
This realization was pivotal in driving a targeted investment in a unified Business Data Fabric. Ericsson developed it using the SAP Business Data Cloud, a managed architecture that allows data to remain in its original storage location while business semantics, governance, and lifecycle policies are centrally managed.
More than 85,000 users are now working productively on the unified AI platform Joule. Ericsson has confidently completed the transition from the experimental phase to enterprise-wide adoption. The company is advancing on two fronts simultaneously: It is modernizing its ERP backbone through RISE with SAP while also tapping into AI-driven potential in the areas of decision-making, efficiency, and new business models.
Ericsson thus demonstrates that the path to trustworthy, repeatable AI lies through data governance and that establishing this foundation early on represents a strategic advantage rather than a cost factor.
From the Digital Core to the Physical World
While Ericsson illustrates what AI transformation looks like at the data architecture level, Martur Fompak International, a global leader in vehicle seating and interior systems for the automotive industry, demonstrates what it looks like in manufacturing. The company has implemented an autonomous intralogistics model based on Joule with AI capabilities from SAP. Together with its robotics partner Humanoid, it is working to integrate AI-powered robots directly into productive manufacturing processes.
The system links production signals and business context with autonomous physical execution. Supported by material data, storage locations, sequencing, and production priorities, humanoid robots now manage material flows throughout the production environment. In doing so, they identify, transport, and deliver materials to the production line while continuously sending feedback to SAP systems.
The underlying logic is about “combining cognitive autonomy with physical automation to transform operations, accelerate decision-making, and scale intelligent business functions across the entire enterprise,” explained Özlem Altınışık, Group Intelligent Technologies Director at Martur Fompak International.
Initial results show higher throughput and fewer errors. A future goal has been set to achieve up to five times greater work efficiency in mass production. Martur Fompak International was the sole winner in the “AI Excellence” category at the 2026 SAP Innovation Awards. The company thus received recognition not only for its technology but also for its willingness to redesign factory environments.
Speed, Scalability, and the Intelligent Platform
Prysmian, the world’s leading provider of cable solutions with revenue of 20 billion euros and operations in more than 50 countries, took a different—but no less important—path. The company completed the development of an AI-enabled cloud platform using RISE with SAP in just four months. It then used this foundation to implement more than 100 AI use cases across the entire organization. The results are measurable: 70 percent automation of repetitive tasks, an 80 percent reduction in implementation time for new solutions, and a 50 percent acceleration in the time to market for new products.
What particularly impresses me about Prysmian’s journey is how the company is redefining the role of enterprise technology. Giovanni Cauteruccio, Group CIO and Executive Vice President for Digitalization at Prysmian, described integrated AI as “a key differentiator for accelerating the implementation of solutions and strengthening AI expertise and culture across the entire company.”
In other words, the platform is not simply a data storage system, but an engine for building capabilities that makes the company smarter over time.
Architecture of Agility
Taken together, these three stories point to something greater than the sum of its parts. The autonomous enterprise is not a distant goal. It is currently being built by companies that have made a conscious commitment to integrating AI into their core operations as a fundamental design principle, rather than as a mere function.
This is made possible by the interplay of a managed data foundation, an intelligent ERP platform, and AI capabilities that span from the desktop to the production line to the supply chain. When these elements are properly integrated, companies gain something that even the most reactive management cannot offer: the ability to gain insights, make decisions, and take action faster than disruptions can build up.
A certain degree of uncertainty will continue to exist. The companies that will handle it best are those that are building systems today that can transform volatility into signals and signals into advantages.
Manos Raptopoulos is Global President of Customer Success for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and a member of the Extended Executive Board of SAP SE.
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