Download the full interview here.
With AI expanding the possibilities of what ERP systems can do, digital transformation is now the gateway to operating with speed, intelligence, and scale. For SAP customers, moving to the cloud offers greater opportunity to reimagine processes, integrate ERP with surrounding platforms, and innovate with AI that not only analyzes data but also drives action.
SAP and Microsoft have expanded their decades-long partnership to help enterprises rise to meet current challenges and take advantage of what comes next.
The collaboration between these two industry leaders has yielded massive infrastructure investments that ensure SAP systems run reliably at scale. Additionally, it’s led to joint programs like the SAP Business Suite Acceleration Program with Microsoft Cloud, which combines incentives, partner enablement, and advanced AI to accelerate transformation and reduce risk.
To unpack what this all means for SAP users throughout the Americas region, Geoff Scott, CEO and Chief Community Champion at ASUG, recently sat down with Santina Franchi, President of Corporate and Cloud ERP at SAP, and Wael Elkabbany, Vice President of Strategic Global Partnerships at Microsoft. (Watch the recent ASUG webcast here.)
In their conversation, all three leaders highlighted the operational imperatives driving cloud ERP adoption, the innovations shaping the SAP Business Suite today, and the ways SAP and Microsoft are working together to deliver business outcomes at scale.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
GS: Why is this partnership between SAP and Microsoft such a powerful opportunity right now? Santina, I’d love to start with your perspective.
SF: This partnership is very important because we see that we can deliver a much stronger value proposition and business outcomes to our customers by working together.
There is an urgency for clients to modernize with cloud ERP. Our customers are facing a rapidly changing business landscape, driven especially by AI developments and the increasing need for agility and resilience. They naturally want to future-proof their business to manage constant change.
It is clear that legacy systems can’t keep up with moving market demands, and AI and the microeconomic conditions have further exposed the truth of this situation. SAP Cloud ERP is a strategic enabler for streamlining operations and supporting AI agents in decision-making because it is modular, easy to use, and enables fast innovation consumption.
The partnership with Microsoft is important because Cloud ERP operates within a broader context of our clients’ legacy systems. A lot of our clients operate with Microsoft platforms, so it’s very important that we not only provide the solution that is SAP Business Suite but also ensure that SAP Business Suite integrates with the rest of the solutions in use.
Connect with Santina Franchi on LinkedIn.
GS: Wael, how is Microsoft helping simplify this transformation and modernization from the infrastructure side?
WE: We’ve been constantly serving customers with joint value propositions. To Santina’s point, customers have been dependent on SAP products, solutions, and data graphs, within their existing Microsoft solutions; we’re bringing our best products and solutions together to the benefit of customers.
Now, we’re bringing a different level of partnership into the discussion. As Santina mentioned, the imperatives of what AI is placing on ERP, CRM, and business apps platforms globally—combined with the disruption and transformation that’s happening—meant we needed an ecosystem capable of serving large-scale customers across the world, with abilities from both Microsoft and SAP to deliver impact at scale.
Through our partnership, we’ve been serving top clients, enabling them, and delivering value to them with AI, security, and innovation. But now, with a much larger customer base—thousands and tens of thousands of accounts—we’re working together to deliver on AI, security, and governance, taking these customers to the cloud between Microsoft and SAP.
Connect with Wael Eklabbany on LinkedIn.
GS: How do you see the SAP Business Suite Acceleration Program acting as a catalyst, not just a migration path?
SF: This program extends a long-standing partnership between SAP and Microsoft. Through this program, we want to promote the adoption of intelligent automation and advanced analytics that are already integrated in the SAP Cloud Platform and in many other solutions provided by Microsoft.
Through a structured approach, we also want to encourage customers to reimagine and redesign business processes rather than just continuing to replicate legacy workflows. To benefit at scale from AI, we want to make it easier for clients to bring together the respective capabilities of SAP and Microsoft, as well as the aspect of individual productivity, in which Microsoft is a leader, and the business productivity that comes with the SAP Business Suite, without having to leave the original workflow.
WE: We designed this program to ensure we are helping customers through the entire lifecycle of transformation, from the assessment phase of migration and transformation to execution, and all the way through to technical support during implementation.
We wanted to make sure that, in every single phase of the customer transformation journey, we’re adding investments, incentives, and resources from both SAP and Microsoft. To do that, we also had to ensure that both the qualified Microsoft and SAP partners were enabled and supported by the program.
There is a unique value proposition from this acceleration program. We went to renowned SAP partners who have deep expertise in SAP products and solutions and started working with them, enabling them with Microsoft value propositions and technical architecture. With this level of partnership and by complementing SAP investments and incentives with Microsoft’s capabilities, we’ll be able to support many customers at scale.
“We also want to encourage customers to reimagine and redesign business processes rather than just continuing to replicate legacy workflows.”
GS: What’s unique about running SAP on Microsoft Cloud, especially for customers who might be considering RISE or GROW?
WE: Several things come to mind.
First: the purpose-built infrastructure that Microsoft has for SAP. We’ve been investing billions of dollars in infrastructure across the world to make sure the SAP estate runs globally on the most reliable and high-performing infrastructure.
Second is Copilot integration: making sure the customer’s digital assistant has a seamless experience, all the way from Joule to Copilot, and making sure the platform is reasoning over structured and unstructured data across both platforms.
Third is having Microsoft Teams integrated with SAP systems—what we call collaborative ERP—where Teams, one of the most renowned collaboration platforms in the world, is fully integrated with SAP.
Next: the role Microsoft plays today in security, governance, and compliance. A lot of customers, as they embark on the AI journey, want to do so with the right level of security, governance, and compliance. We’re integrating seamlessly into the SAP estate with our security value proposition.
Then, there’s the activation of the AI layer and data layer with SAP and Azure AI Foundry, to support advanced use cases and scenarios.
Last point: we’re able to deliver truly differentiated value to customers. If I was a customer, I’d feel comfortable knowing I have access to that depth of corporate knowledge. We’re talking tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of resources delivering across Microsoft and SAP globally.
“We’re talking tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of resources delivering across Microsoft and SAP globally.”
Watch the recent ASUG webcast here.
GS: With all these different terms—Business Suite, SAP Cloud ERP, GROW, and RISE—what should we really be calling all of this right now?
SF: Well, the most important is SAP Business Suite. The concept we brought with us to SAP Sapphire is that the end-to-end integration of business processes across multiple functions is what matters.
The way the work goes is that it flows from one function to another. You might have an agent monitoring the market and identifying a disruption in the supply chain. That agent communicates with a finance agent that does forecasting, then with a workforce agent that plans the workforce based on changing scenarios.
SAP Business Suite comes first. That’s the overarching value proposition. The fundamental concept is best-of-suite instead of best-of-breed. Best-of-suite gives a more seamless experience. The biggest value in using AI comes from AI delivering high return on investment and business outcomes at your fingertips.
What do we do with all this other terminology? RISE was historically the move to private cloud, but now we talk only about it in terms of the move to public cloud. RISE is the journey that existing SAP clients take to the public cloud. GROW is the journey that new clients take to the public cloud. At the end of the day, it’s always public cloud. Why public cloud? Because that’s how we get the best of AI and the latest innovation.
“The biggest value in using AI comes from AI delivering high return on investment and business outcomes at your fingertips.”
GS: How does GROW figure into this? And if I’m using GROW, what role does it play in helping members innovate from day one versus just replicating what they have today in ECC?
SF: GROW delivers a modern cloud-native ERP foundation that is designed for rapid deployment and immediate value. We are doing ERP implementations in 28 days. You start immediately. You don’t have to go through a long project implementation. Cloud ERP provides embedded AI, especially what we’re discussing here with Wael, all the AI that Microsoft brings to the table.
That is the fundamental value provided by Cloud ERP. ECC is very rich in features and functions, but it was a static model. It doesn’t give you the speed of innovation that is so important now to respond to market requirements. The important thing in embracing GROW is that you always have the latest innovation and that you leverage the AI economy in full, where AI itself is doing reasoning and collaboration in an automated way.
GS: Where is AI already making an impact in the SAP environment? What does that look like in day-to-day operations?
SF: First, AI seamlessly integrates applications, data, and intelligent agents across the SAP Business Suite to turn individual solution strength into a collective advantage. This means decisions made in one corner of the business inform and enhance what’s happening in another.
In today’s business environment, every business function is interconnected. The CFO needs to balance growth and profitability, the CHRO needs to be on top of evolving talent needs, and the CIO needs to drive innovation. But they can’t solve these problems in isolation. They continuously communicate with one another, and their decisions are based on an amplified data foundation.
AI drives the insights. But now, with agentic AI, it can also take action and make things happen across the business. It’s very important all of this is well-connected. What’s unique about SAP is that you have a very consistent framework of data semantics and workflows or business processes.
GS: What’s the vision for embedding Microsoft’s AI capabilities into the SAP ecosystem, with Joule and Microsoft Copilot working together?
WE: When Santina and I were designing the Accelerate Program to support partners through the customer lifecycle of transformation, we wanted to make sure it supports all flavors of SAP value propositions. We said we wanted to meet customers where they are, whether it’s a complex RISE implementation or a standard, seamless GROW implementation.
We wanted all the investments, incentives, and resources we spoke about to be available to partners so they could meet customers wherever they are in their journey. It’s important that this program not be limited to certain customer categories. We designed it to be as broad as possible to deliver at scale.
When we speak to customers about AI adoption, we start with prebuilt AI models. That includes Copilot, Joule integration, GitHub Copilot, and Security Copilot; these are engines we’ve created in partnership with SAP, so we’re reasoning over the data back and forth. Then we start redesigning product transformation, marketing transformation, and customer journeys, using more advanced boundary tools, with Azure AI tools included in the mix.
I genuinely believe that bringing together the power of SAP and Microsoft in the AI journey starts with prebuilt models, then moves into the developer world and advanced AI transformation to deliver meaningful outcomes for our customers.
“We wanted to meet customers where they are, whether it’s a complex RISE implementation or a standard, seamless GROW implementation.”
GS: Could you share examples of real AI use cases you’re already seeing?
SF: First, we have more than 34,000 customers who have adopted SAP Business AI solutions.
Some examples:
- Predictive analytics for inventory: forecasting demand and optimizing stock levels to prevent shortages and overstocking.
- Personalized dashboards: customized data views for each user, surfacing relevant insights and key metrics in real time.
- Proactive maintenance alerts: the ERP predicts equipment failures based on sensor data and schedules maintenance before problems arise.
These are very concrete examples that save an incredible amount of time, reduce risk, and cut costs.
GS: How is SAP simplifying the path forward for customers with SAP Business Suite today?
SF: We offer guided migration paths, which are tools to help customers transition from Business Suite to cloud ERP solutions with minimal disruption.
On top of that, customers get tailored support programs and expert advisory services to reduce complexity during the migration process. We are also ensuring robust security, compliance, and governance frameworks to build confidence as organizations move to the cloud.
With the joint program we’ve put together with Microsoft, we also provide important incremental incentives to support migration. In many situations, we cover the entire cost of the migration.
GS: What should ASUG members be taking advantage of from Microsoft?
WE: Educate yourself on the Accelerate Program. There are portals and websites that point to the qualified partners SAP and Microsoft selected for this. Those partners are supported with incentives and investments. They also get technical support, technical architectures, and pre- and post-sales migration services from both Microsoft and SAP.
We’re bringing the programmatic investments Microsoft is known for into the SAP migration to make it easier. We’re also giving qualified partners technical enablement so they can deliver quick wins like AI integration, security, compliance, and governance into migration services. We’re even going all the way to GitHub development. Many customers and SAP users are using GitHub today, and we’re enabling them to deliver on that as well.
GS: What’s one program or tool you’ve seen customers and ASUG members often overlook that they should be spending more time with?
WE: Definitely the Azure Accelerate funds. It’s underutilized in some parts of the world, and it would help with pre-sale assessments and migrations.
The second thing I see often overlooked is the element around organizational transformation targets and cultural transformation. Aligning those transformation targets, as well as the cultural changes that come with AI, is critical.
SF: I’ve never decided if I like programs or tools, because personally, I’m very passionate about Joule for Consultants and Joule for Developers. It’s not overlooked—it’s so new that it hasn’t had time to be. But I wanted to mention it because there’s a lot of value there. WalkMe has blown me away. When I saw a demo, it was incredible how much you can grow adoption faster and realize more business value by using it.
GS: What guidance do you have for IT leaders who are trying to build a business case that resonates with their peers in finance and operations?
WE: I always start with monetizing data. When we talk about AI use cases, data is the biggest asset organizations already have, and monetizing that is often a low-hanging fruit.
Going straight to prebuilt AI models is my personal advice. Don’t go into the deep end of inventing a new thing unless building AI models is your business. Just use Copilot, Joule, Azure AI Foundry, and BTC environments.
Then immediately start aligning stakeholders: finance, operations, security, governance, and compliance. Bring them in early. Make sure your organizational development and transformation goals are aligned with what you’re doing. This needs to be on the CEO’s and CFO’s agendas. Make sure that they see themselves in your transformation project of what you are delivering for the organization.
GS: How can customers align stakeholders, especially those who are worried about change and disruption?
SF: It’s very important to have clear communication and to articulate the rationale behind the transformation, emphasizing the strategic importance and expected benefits. One thing that’s particularly helpful in the public cloud and AI world is that you don’t have to use words; you can show it. You can demo the impact. In the cloud world, if you put your data in, it’s already a minimum viable product. You can use it.
You need to involve stakeholders early. Bring in key groups like finance, operations, and users into the planning. Gather input. Build ownership. But also show the difference, because it’s incredibly different from what we were able to do before. That makes it easier to get buy-in. You also need to do the usual things: share success stories, highlight early wins, and show what competitors are doing. Address the risks and disruptions stakeholders might fear.
The important thing with public cloud is that it allows for a much more iterative approach. The go-live for public cloud is much smoother. I’ve talked to many clients who say, “This has been the best go-live of my life.”
GS: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone who’s still hesitant to start their cloud journey?
SF: Don’t hesitate. It’s so important for your organization to be agile, to act quickly in the market, to stay at the forefront of where things are going. There is no other way than embracing the cloud journey.
It gives you flexibility. It supports the long-term vision of your company. And the way you can embrace cloud is flexible enough that you can fit it to whatever internal needs you have to align stakeholders.
But don’t wait. Just start. Start the journey, and you’ll continue the journey over time.
WE: People feel like we’re ten years ahead because of how fast development is moving. But those are standard products. That’s where I’d start. I really value Santina’s advice about going fast, because whatever business you’re in, there are cloud-native, AI-born companies out there with agility, flexibility, and innovation. You can’t stay stuck in a legacy environment and still compete.
There is a lot of expertise that has been developed, and we have a lot of cool points with a lot of service and quality partners that exist for both SAP and Microsoft that are helping customers leapfrog through this journey with tens of thousands of qualified professionals.
GS: Any last comments for the ASUG community?
SF: We’re doing everything we can to help clients embrace the journey of RISE and GROW, especially GROW. Grow fast, as much as you can. Our partnership with Microsoft reinforces how much we care about delivering business outcomes in the best possible way.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 365,000 business and public-sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably.
About ASUG
ASUG is the world’s largest SAP user group. Originally founded by a group of visionary SAP customers in 1991, its mission is to help people and organizations get the most value from their investment in SAP technology. ASUG currently serves thousands of businesses via companywide memberships, connecting more than 130,000 professionals with networking and educational resources to help them master new challenges. Through in-person and virtual events, on-demand digital resources, and ongoing advocacy for its membership, ASUG helps SAP customers make more possible.