Ste­fan Stein­le leads SAP’s Cus­tomer Sup­port & Cloud Life­cy­cle Man­age­ment orga­ni­za­tion, guid­ing cus­tomers through indi­vid­ual dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tions with end-to-end life­cy­cle man­age­ment and sup­port with cloud tran­si­tion. His orga­ni­za­tion is respon­si­ble for ensur­ing a seam­less cus­tomer sup­port expe­ri­ence across all SAP appli­ca­tions, safe­guard­ing cus­tomers’ mis­sion-crit­i­cal process­es through­out their jour­neys. With over 7,000 experts world­wide, the team col­lab­o­rates close­ly with engi­neer­ing units to enhance devel­op­ment and quality. 

Since join­ing SAP in 2000, Stein­le has held var­i­ous key lead­er­ship roles, includ­ing COO & Head of Strat­e­gy for SAP Prod­uct Engi­neer­ing, Head of SAP Glob­al­iza­tion Ser­vices, and COO of Glob­al Busi­ness Oper­a­tions. He also served as Chief of Staff and Head of Oper­a­tions for for­mer exec­u­tive board mem­ber Ger­hard Oswald. 

In con­ver­sa­tion with ASUG Exec­u­tive Exchange, Stein­le reflect­ed on the evo­lu­tion of SAP’s cus­tomer sup­port strat­e­gy and the gal­va­niz­ing role of gen­er­a­tive AI. 

This inter­view has been edit­ed and con­densed.

How have you seen strate­gic pri­or­i­ties evolve at SAP around deliv­er­ing an excel­lent cus­tomer sup­port expe­ri­ence? What is the role of AI here, espe­cial­ly gen­er­a­tive AI? 

AI allows us to shift from reac­tive issue res­o­lu­tion to proac­tive, intel­li­gent engage­ment. The main­stream­ing of AI has accel­er­at­ed this evo­lu­tion. For exam­ple, SAP’s Built-In Sup­port plat­form inte­grates AI to offer con­tex­tu­al assis­tance direct­ly with­in appli­ca­tions, pro­vid­ing imme­di­ate help with­out dis­rupt­ing the user’s workflow. 

Among the count­less improve­ments gen­er­a­tive AI can bring to cus­tomer expe­ri­ences, sup­port inter­ac­tions are espe­cial­ly enhanced by the opti­miza­tion of repet­i­tive tasks, the qual­i­ty of issue res­o­lu­tions, and the seam­less esca­la­tion of com­plex issues to experts. Gen­er­a­tive AI also helps cap­ture con­texts and seman­tic nuances from the customer’s request, help­ing us deliv­er pre­cise responses. 

Accord­ing to ana­lysts, com­pa­nies active­ly mak­ing use of AI in sup­port func­tions achieve up to not only 30% faster res­o­lu­tion times but also sig­nif­i­cant­ly improved cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion scores. SAP infus­es AI at every stage of the sup­port jour­ney to deliv­er excep­tion­al experiences. 

What are your pri­or­i­ties for 2025, and what is SAP’s long-term strat­e­gy for enhanc­ing the cus­tomer expe­ri­ence across its sup­port func­tions?

With the main­stream­ing of AI, the ante is up for all com­pa­nies in 2025, and SAP is no excep­tion. Our top pri­or­i­ties for this year include scal­ing inno­va­tion and ensur­ing that cus­tomer sup­port adapts to chang­ing cus­tomer needs: 

• Enhanc­ing the inte­gra­tion of AI to fur­ther improve the cus­tomer expe­ri­ence. For exam­ple, sim­pli­fy­ing how to access sup­port by auto­mat­i­cal­ly sug­gest­ing the appro­pri­ate pri­or­i­ty and the most effi­cient chan­nel — with the use of AI. 

• Address­ing more com­plex ques­tions using AI agents and incor­po­rat­ing a broad­er con­text of information. 

• Enhanc­ing AI-dri­ven automa­tion to increase effi­cien­cy while deliv­er­ing per­son­al­ized solu­tions that can include oper­a­tions and appli­ca­tion life­cy­cle data — for exam­ple — in SAP Cloud ALM. 

• Tak­ing advan­tage of insights from tools like SAP for Me, which pro­vides cus­tomers with a cen­tral hub for track­ing their sup­port cas­es, review­ing sys­tem health, and access­ing tai­lored recommendations. 

• Avoid­ing issues even before they hap­pen with pre­ven­ta­tive and proac­tive support. 

• Fos­ter­ing seam­less inte­gra­tion among tools like SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Sig­navio, SAP Enable Now, SAP LeanIX, and the WalkMe port­fo­lio to opti­mize project exe­cu­tion and oper­a­tional process­es. By com­bin­ing these tech­nolo­gies, we ensure that cus­tomers can unlock the full val­ue of their SAP invest­ments, and that these tools become an inte­grat­ed tool­chain for busi­ness transformation. 

All of this direct­ly applies to our sup­port func­tions as well. In our long-term strat­e­gy, tap­ping the full poten­tial of pre­ven­ta­tive sup­port is def­i­nite­ly right at the top when it comes to enhanc­ing cus­tomer expe­ri­ence and sup­port effi­cien­cy. Agen­tic and col­lab­o­ra­tive AI has opened the door for AI sys­tems to oper­ate autonomous­ly and pro­vide assis­tance with min­i­mal human inter­ven­tion. Col­lab­o­ra­tive AI would aug­ment human deci­sion-mak­ing in a part­ner­ship between humans and AI. 

How is the cus­tomer sup­port orga­ni­za­tion lever­ag­ing AI and automa­tion to han­dle repet­i­tive queries, scale sup­port, and con­tin­ue to fos­ter inno­va­tion with­in the team? Are the cus­tomers notic­ing? Can you share met­rics year over year? 

AI and automa­tion are at the core of SAP’s sup­port trans­for­ma­tion. Take the exam­ples of: 

• Intel­li­gent rout­ing: AI-dri­ven sys­tems clas­si­fy sup­port tick­ets instant­ly, enabling quick­er rout­ing and resolution. 

• AI-infused knowl­edge man­age­ment: Tools like search and intel­li­gent rec­om­menders pro­vide solu­tions based on his­tor­i­cal data and help in short­en­ing res­o­lu­tion times for com­mon queries. 

• Proac­tive sys­tem checks: These checks help us deliv­er busi­ness con­ti­nu­ity by pre­vent­ing ser­vice dis­rup­tions and degradations. 

Cus­tomers are def­i­nite­ly notic­ing the dif­fer­ence. SAP’s AI sup­port sce­nar­ios are called up more than 1 mil­lion times by our cus­tomers on an aver­age day. More than 35,000 end users use our AI capa­bil­i­ties per month. 

It is inter­est­ing to note that cus­tomers would notice AI-based sup­port improve­ments only indi­rect­ly: for exam­ple, with high­er lev­els of sys­tem avail­abil­i­ty or few­er issues being report­ed. Becom­ing more invis­i­ble to our cus­tomers is a good thing — when it comes to cus­tomer support. 

As enter­prise appli­ca­tions across the full spec­trum of oper­a­tions (CRM, SCM, gen­er­al ERP, etc.) become more sophis­ti­cat­ed, what shifts have you seen in clients’ expec­ta­tions for lever­ag­ing the full poten­tial of their SAP investments? 

Cus­tomers expect SAP solu­tions to deliv­er strate­gic val­ue, not just oper­a­tional effi­cien­cy. This includes real-time insights, intel­li­gent automa­tion, and sup­port for com­plex busi­ness scenarios. 

For exam­ple, our cus­tomers can make use of SAP Sig­navio for process opti­miza­tion, ensur­ing that their ERP solu­tions align with their busi­ness goals. The inte­gra­tion of SAP LeanIX into SAP envi­ron­ments fur­ther sup­ports IT land­scape trans­paren­cy, help­ing clients dri­ve inno­va­tion con­fi­dent­ly. Togeth­er with SAP Cloud ALM, we pro­vide an inte­grat­ed tool­chain for busi­ness transformation. 

Cus­tomers increas­ing­ly expect proac­tive guid­ance and intel­li­gent sup­port to nav­i­gate their trans­for­ma­tion jour­ney with ease. Beyond tra­di­tion­al issue res­o­lu­tion, they seek expert-dri­ven insights, AI-inte­grat­ed rec­om­men­da­tions, and best prac­tices to opti­mize their SAP investments. 

To meet these expec­ta­tions, SAP con­tin­ues to invest in AI-dri­ven tools, built-in diag­nos­tics, and pre­dic­tive sup­port capa­bil­i­ties that not only resolve issues but also pre­vent them in the first place. By embed­ding guid­ance direct­ly into work­flows and pro­vid­ing real-time rec­om­men­da­tions, SAP empow­ers busi­ness­es to max­i­mize effi­cien­cy, reduce com­plex­i­ty, and accel­er­ate their path to innovation. 

As cus­tomers move their SAP instances to the cloud, what are the most sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges SAP faces when tran­si­tion­ing cus­tomers to the cloud? How are these issues being addressed?

The top chal­lenges are: 

• Cus­tomers often face chal­lenges when man­ag­ing large-scale trans­for­ma­tions. SAP pro­vides proven tools and method­olo­gies to sim­pli­fy and accel­er­ate these process­es while ensur­ing busi­ness con­ti­nu­ity. At the same time, we work close­ly with our ecosys­tem of part­ners and experts to deliv­er tai­lored guid­ance and best prac­tices, help­ing cus­tomers nav­i­gate their trans­for­ma­tion jour­ney with confidence. 

• Change man­age­ment: Many cus­tomers require sig­nif­i­cant enable­ment sup­port. SAP offers tai­lored cloud readi­ness pro­grams and learn­ing and enable­ment plat­forms such as SAP Enable Now or WalkMe solu­tions — to help cus­tomers upskill their teams. 

• Busi­ness con­ti­nu­ity: SAP Cloud ALM ensures real-time vis­i­bil­i­ty into project progress and oper­a­tional aspects — allow­ing cus­tomers to address poten­tial issues proactively. 

• Accord­ing to indus­try stud­ies, cloud tran­si­tions with­out prop­er plan­ning see fail­ure rates as high as 60%. SAP mit­i­gates these risks with struc­tured method­olo­gies and expert-led guid­ance, help­ing cus­tomers achieve seam­less cloud adoption.

What can SAP cus­tomers expect from the cus­tomer sup­port orga­ni­za­tion as they tran­si­tion to the cloud in 2025?

This year, SAP Cus­tomer Sup­port con­tin­ues to focus on proac­tive and agile sup­port tai­lored to a cloud-first landscape. 

Cus­tomers can expect: 

• Per­son­al­ized AI-dri­ven inter­ac­tions, with SAP’s Built-In Sup­port plat­form offer­ing real-time, con­text-spe­cif­ic help direct­ly with­in cloud applications. 

• Trans­par­ent project track­ing, pow­ered by tools like SAP Cloud ALM, enabling cus­tomers to mon­i­tor progress and mit­i­gate risks. 

• Inno­va­tion-focused col­lab­o­ra­tion, with the cus­tomer sup­port team work­ing close­ly with prod­uct devel­op­ment to ensure cus­tomers achieve their strate­gic goals. 

Com­pa­nies with a proac­tive sup­port strat­e­gy report high­er cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion rates. SAP’s road map for 2025 is aligned with this strat­e­gy to ensure that we remain a trust­ed part­ner through­out every stage of the cloud journey. 

AI and large lan­guage mod­els have rev­o­lu­tion­ized the way we deliv­er cus­tomer sup­port by help­ing us pro­vide faster res­o­lu­tions and pre­dic­tive insights. We should, how­ev­er, keep in mind that, while tech­nol­o­gy enhances our abil­i­ty to deliv­er, it’s our peo­ple who make the difference.