The following My View, My Voice column was authored by Kelly Dowling, Director of Content Strategy at ASUG.
Attending this year’s SAP Transformation Excellence Summit in Austin was energizing in a completely new way for me. It was my second time attending the event, but my first year representing ASUG on my own, and stepping into that role let me really take in the full experience and connect with all sides of the community.
Here are my key takeaways:
The summit offered a clear look at SAP’s evolving vision for business transformation and how the entire integrated suite—SAP LeanIX, SAP Signavio, and WalkMe—works together to support and strengthen customers’ transformation capabilities.
From the AI agent hub in SAP LeanIX Application Portfolio Management first announced at SAP Sapphire, which is being positioned as a single source of truth for agent adoption and governance, to WalkMe’s new digital learning powered by AI, which promises to embed training directly into users’ most-used daily applications, the summit highlighted recent product announcements for SAP Business Transformation Management.
But being on site made it easy to go beyond the high-level headlines and see how organizations are approaching these tools in real time—what they’re asking, how they’re learning, and where they’re identifying new opportunities for innovation.
One of the first things that stood out at this year's event was how intentionally SAP designed the agenda. Instead of grouping sessions purely by technology, the event was organized around four core tracks: Enterprise Architecture (EA), Process Excellence & Mining, Digital Adoption, and Enterprise Resource Planning. Process, architecture, adoption, and core systems all influence one another in the modern enterprise, and seeing them presented as one connected story made it much easier to understand how everything fits together.
The EA track resonated especially strongly. Enterprise architecture has been a major focus for ASUG over the past year, and seeing SAP place such a strong emphasis on this role felt aligned with the evolving needs of our members. Architects on site discussed capability mapping, application rationalization, clean-core strategies, and the realities of designing systems with both stability and flexibility in mind—the kinds of conversations that reflect the daily work and pressures of our EA Community. And, with WalkMe officially integrated into SAP for the first time, the messaging around the larger business transformation management portfolio also felt more complete, making it easier for EAs to assess how they can leverage this integrated toolkit.
Talent and skills shortages came up consistently throughout the summit, echoing what ASUG continues to see from our annual ASUG Pulse of the SAP Customer research. I appreciated that SAP addressed this subject directly—through pre-conference seminars, hands-on demos, and direct guidance on upskilling opportunities, from EA certifications and learning pathways—especially as so many organizations are still figuring out how to manage new technologies with limited internal resources. It was encouraging to see SAP acknowledge not just the technology side of transformation, but the people side as well.
AI surfaced as another major theme, but in a way that felt grounded and practical. Attendees didn’t just want broad vision—they wanted specifics: Where does AI fit? How does it enhance insights? What does it mean for my role? The way SAP framed these conversations aligned closely with the types of questions we hear from members every day. Customers are ready for AI, but they need clarity around how to apply it, and this event made it clear that making AI real for business and IT users will be a major area of focus for both SAP and ASUG in the coming months.
Looking ahead, the opportunities for ASUG are clear—and exciting. We need to continue prioritizing EAs as a key focus area, but we also need to expand our integrated content across SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, and WalkMe; build out more upskilling content; and help members make sense of where AI fits into their transformation journeys. With dedicated communities already established around EA, Business Transformation, and AI, ASUG is well-positioned to support this work and meet members where they are—no matter where they are on their transformation path.
I left Austin confident that, as SAP refines its vision, ASUG will be right there helping members move forward with opportunities to connect, learn, and grow alongside a strong community that supports them.
For more on these themes, you can listen to my recent ASUG Talks conversation with Dee Houchen, CMO of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX, where we discussed how the event highlighted the full transformation suite and the growing need for clearer guidance across process, architecture, and adoption. To join any of our ASUG Communities, visit asug.com/connect.
Kelly Dowling is Director of Content Strategy at ASUG.