00:00You're guiding cloud revenue to grow at least 23% in 2026.
00:05Can you give us some details in terms of what the upside risks to that forecast are?
00:10Yeah, so first of all, thanks for having me.
00:15We posted great results for 2025.
00:17I mean, our total cloud backlog came...
00:20Came in with a 30% growth, now up to 77 billion euro, and that's the foundation, yeah?
00:25Therefore, accelerate total revenue growth also in the years to come.
00:28Now, especially on cloud...
00:30Very important to mention, already in Q4, two-thirds of the deals already included.
00:35AI has clearly become the main driver of SAP's growth in the cloud.
00:40As customers clearly seeing now, hey, yes, there is geopolitical volatility, we need more...
00:45We need to become more productive, and they understand an LLM alone won't...
00:50Cut it, so we need the business data, the business contact which SAP can provide us, and that leads...
00:55Also to a very optimistic outlook for 2026.
01:00OK, it's interesting you talk about geopolitics being a catalyst for AI adoption, Christian.
01:04Can you give us...
01:05Can you give us some numbers, give us some data?
01:07What are you forecasting in terms of to what extent...
01:10These AI products that you're now shipping will be a driver of growth and profit...
01:15For SAP in the next two to three years?
01:18I mean, for me, actually, it's...
01:20Super clear that in 2026, in the years to come, I mean, AI will just be a standard part of...
01:25All of our solutions.
01:26Think about, when you talk about geopolitical volatility, to give you...
01:30One example.
01:31I mean, a lot of companies really want global supply chains.
01:34How can I...
01:35How can I still, you know, run my global supply chain?
01:37How can I manage inventory?
01:38How can I...
01:40Manage smarter the demand?
01:41How can I make sure the assets are at the right point at the right time?
01:45And in the past, we had supply chain products for that.
01:47Now, this is all done by very smart agents.
01:50And again, these agents use the best LLM modules in the world, but they need a context.
01:54They need a...
01:55So, actually, in all of our deals, we are going to close in 2026...
02:00And in the years to come, AI will be just naturally embedded.
02:05Christian, good morning.
02:06It's Guy.
02:07SAP, its stock, has dropped from this time last year...
02:10Let's call it kind of circa 280.
02:12You're now trading at 196.
02:14You're not alone.
02:15Software companies generally are under pressure at the moment.
02:20Because the market is worried that you guys are going to get disrupted.
02:23That this is what the story is...
02:25And it's going to be much easier to disrupt you going forward.
02:27Microsoft is seeing the same thing.
02:29SAP is seeing it as well.
02:30Do you think there's validity to that argument?
02:33Yeah, Guy.
02:34I mean...
02:35Yes, indeed.
02:36There is, of course, there.
02:37I see the concerns out there in the market, but...
02:40More importantly, what I see with our customers is actually they're saying,
02:43Hey, Christian, I, of course...
02:45You know, the LLMs will play a huge role.
02:47I mean, there's definitely a huge market and they are getting...
02:50stronger and stronger.
02:51But Guy, I mean, again, I just met a customer yesterday and they said,
02:54Hey, cash flow is...
02:55It's a huge challenge for me.
02:56What kind of authentic AI capabilities can I have?
02:59And actually they started with...
03:00With an LLM and then realized, Hey, but what I'm missing is all my customer data.
03:04What I'm missing is all my...
03:05My data in support on the sales side, et cetera.
03:07So I'm missing the structure of data.
03:09So at the end...
03:10It will be the combination of the two.
03:12So to have the broadest business suite in the world, to have...
03:15To have all of these business data, petabytes of business data is super, super important.
03:20Last but not least, I guess what also the investor community need to understand.
03:24It's about the data.
03:25But also the business context, these agents, they want businesses.
03:29And so they need to...
03:30To understand also the underlying context of how business are getting one.
03:33And that is what SAP is...
03:35Doing.
03:36Christian, you sound like you don't think the investor community gets it.
03:40What is the investor community not getting?
03:42Is it true that you think the investment community doesn't get what you're doing?
03:45Yeah, no, look, I mean, at the end, you know, what the investors totally understand.
03:50I mean, there's rightfully a lot of hype around infrastructure, semi-con...
03:55...conductors, and so on.
03:56And when you look back into all technological innovations...
04:00...which happened over the last 10 years, it always started on the hardware side of the house.
04:05Because now these LLMs are so powerful because of, you know, all the chips, all...
04:10...the hardware, the progress, you know, we have made there.
04:13But over time, it's also always...
04:15...that the real value creation is lying on the apps layer.
04:18So the investors are...
04:20...of course, now seeing, hey, first, the groundwork needs to be done, but I'm...
04:25...100% sure that they already understand today that the value creation at the end...
04:30...to arrive on the business side of the house will come via companies like...
04:35...SAP.
04:36Christian, good morning to you.
04:39How do you decide...
04:40...which third-party AI tools to work with, to integrate with, to allow your systems...
04:45...to be interoperable with?
04:47Yeah, absolutely.
04:48I mean, we decided and...
04:50...we are actually super agnostic.
04:52I mean, look at Claude.
04:54We are using Claude.
04:55...already for a lot of planning agents in supply chain, in finance.
05:00Because we see the module works really well.
05:02We, of course, also embedded Claude as a code generation.
05:05And we are using the tool on our platform.
05:06But we are also using OpenAI for Juul, our co-worker, because we see...
05:10...that actually we can translate best voice to text with OpenAI with...
05:15...GPT.
05:16And so, and Mistwell, we are using when customers are here and they have...
05:20...actually big sovereignty ask, we are using a European module.
05:23So customers can actually...
05:25...you know, make the decision, and we are making the decision and recommendation because...
05:30...not every module performs best for certain business scenarios and also what is...
05:35...true, is that we can also change the module over time.
05:37It takes us two to three weeks to change the prompts.
05:40And then we are actually combining another module with our AI foundation.
05:44So we are...
05:45...we are agnostic.
05:46So you are agnostic on those tools.
05:48Christian, you talk about voice to text...
05:50...which prompts me to think about something you said very recently...
05:52...which really caught my eye and possibly will be interesting.
05:55...to the audience.
05:56You said this week that we are heading to the end of the keyboard.
06:00Because we will just use our voice to interrogate data.
06:03Talk us through what difference this...
06:05...will make to our work lives.
06:06I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, Christian.
06:09But it will certainly be a big change.
06:10I believe it's a good thing.
06:12Because, I mean, honestly, I am an inducer by myself.
06:15...of our software.
06:16And, you know, think about how many analytical requests, you know...
06:20...how I did with an SAP system.
06:22I did a lot of sourcing.
06:24I did my...
06:25...and T&E stuff with it.
06:26And, in the future, you can use your voice.
06:28And, actually, it's not only that...
06:30...that you then just can tell the system...
06:32...okay, please do this and that.
06:33No, the system comes back...
06:35...with very intelligent recommendations on how to source.
06:39It will actually also...
06:40...completely automate T&E travel and expense.
06:42Why should you now, you know, actually, again...
06:45...type in data.
06:46Actually, this is what the system is doing for you.
06:48The system also does all the approval changes...
06:50...and then, at the end, you have actually completed a complete process.
06:53So, the way how you work...
06:55...the future of work is changing a lot, especially via this...
07:00...LLMs, and again, but it's very important that also then...
07:03...the digital co-worker in...
07:05...our world, Juul, also understands the business context to it.
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