SAP is preparing to broaden access to its artificial intelligence offerings to customers that have not moved their systems to the company's cloud services, according to people familiar with the matter.
Management intends to make the new availability public at the company's Sapphire sales conference next week in Orlando, Florida. The rollout will include AI tools tailored for clients who continue to use ECC, one of SAP's principal on-premise platforms that supports functions such as financial planning, sales and human resources.
Chief Executive Officer Christian Klein has directed a companywide refocus on AI, with the objectives of driving customer adoption of the new technologies and protecting SAP's market share from AI-focused entrants. That sense of urgency, the people said, has prompted a reversal of the firm's prior approach - which had limited access to AI tools to cloud customers and used such features as an incentive for on-premise clients to transition to subscription-based cloud services.
Some clients and channel resellers have expressed criticism of the company's initial AI offerings. In response, Klein has signaled changes to SAP's pricing model and plans to deploy specialist teams dedicated to helping customers implement the tools more rapidly.
SAP's share price has come under pressure recently amid investor concerns about how traditional enterprise software vendors will compete with new AI-driven tools. Leaders in the AI space, including Anthropic, have introduced products that automate tasks previously managed through legacy subscription software, raising questions about competitive dynamics for firms such as SAP.
Context and next steps
The company is expected to provide details at Sapphire on scope and timing of the on-premise AI features. The ECC platform referenced is among SAP's core on-premise offerings and serves a range of back-office and operational functions. Management's public comments indicate an intent to alter pricing and to provide hands-on customer support through specialist teams, but precise terms and rollout timelines were not described by the people cited.
The move represents a tactical shift from positioning AI features as a cloud-only benefit to making them accessible to customers that remain on older, locally hosted systems.