The Leonardo Disaster

SAP Leonardo at the wrong time

At SAP, the term Leonardo was initially synonymous with IoT (Internet of Things, or as it was also known in Germany: Industry 4.0). Many innovative IoT concepts were developed under then SAP Chief Technology Officer Bernd Leukert. This innovation was present at the highest level as well, as former SAP CEO Professor Henning Kagermann was the keynote speaker at a major SAP conference on Industry 4.0 and IoT. At the time, Kagermann was an advisor to then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

Over time, the topics of AI, machine learning, and blockchain were added, and SAP Leonardo evolved into an innovative modular system. There were considerations that Leonardo would generate more revenue than SAP's ERP in the distant future. With the benefit of hindsight, SAP Leonardo could be seen as the forerunner of today's SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), but SAP BTP came to market far too late for that to be true.

Leonardo disaster and BTP construction site

"We are approaching a turning point in the AI boom. Because companies want to use the technology—and they are starting to differentiate between mere hype and safe, trustworthy solutions with real business value," says Jaroslaw Kutylowski, founder and CEO of DeepL. DeepL's AI language technology has been proven to deliver significant cost savings and efficiency gains. A recent study by Forrester Consulting found that global organizations have achieved a 345 percent ROI with DeepL, reducing translation time by 90 percent and translation workload by 50 percent.

With Leonardo, SAP missed an opportunity to be an innovator in AI. Today, OpenAI, Aleph Alpha, and DeepL are setting the trends. SAP is trying to stay in touch with small investments and individual partnerships. SAP's current hope for the future is based on the Business Technology Platform, which is still more of a construction site than a solution.

At a BTP partner summit held in early May in Heidelberg, Germany, SAP presented interesting concepts and positioned this platform as a beacon of hope for the SAP community, but SAP BTP still remains only a promise for the future and a vision for future ERP generations.

AI without SAP

Demand for AI solutions continues to grow among global enterprises. A recent IBM study found that 42 percent of companies are already actively using AI and 40 percent are exploring its potential. In this dynamic environment, DeepL has established itself as a pioneer.

With Business AI and Joule Generative AI Copilot, SAP is attempting to automate upcoming decisions at the BTP. A joint white paper by the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) and SAP states: "Artificial intelligence will radically change business processes and, if used correctly, can lead to significant productivity gains and cost reductions. At the same time, the ability to leverage the value of AI is a new, decisive competitive factor."

The value of AI is undeniable, but this insight is now several years old. SAP missed the AI trend. The DSAG-SAP concept also states: "The value of generative AI for companies can hardly be overestimated. Employees in companies spend a large part of their working time compiling data or creating digital content. Generative AI can generate almost the entire range of this content quickly, creatively, and almost infinitely scalable through training.

Many SAP BTP services already include AI capabilities, for example, for software development (SAP Build Code) or for easy analytics creation (SAP Analytics Cloud). In addition to these embedded AI capabilities, BTP offers the AI Foundation, which enables custom development, deployment, and integration of AI to train custom models and integrate LLMs (large language models) from multiple providers.

The AI path is the goal

With BTP as the successor to Leonardo, SAP is on the right track, but perhaps too late. Professor Hasso Plattner has often led his SAP to success, but even he seems to have missed the boat on AI and database concepts beyond SQL. The potential for a new ERP revolution is there. With the Hana database platform and graph and vector engines, Analytics Cloud, Build, and above all the SAP Business Technology Platform, there is a chance for a successful future, but it won't be easy. SAP CEO Christian Klein will have to intensify both the pace and SAP’s investments significantly if the company wants to avoid a BTP and AI disaster after the Leonardo disaster.