When Christian Klein started his career at SAP 24 years ago , his first visit was to SAP Labs in Bengaluru. “Back then, we had around 1,000 people. Now we have over 15,000,” says the CEO and member of the Executive Board, SAP SE. The lab in India is SAP’s fastest-growing and largest R&D hub outside of its headquarters that designs and develops next-gen software solutions. “India is one of the fastest-growing markets and will be one of the largest for SAP in the future,” Klein told Sudhir Chowdhary in an interview.
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How does SAP view India’s role in its global growth strategy?
India is a key market for SAP, both in terms of talent and market potential. India is one of SAP’s fastest-growing market and the largest R&D centre, outside of Germany, with over 15,000 employees. The Lab also plays a crucial role in SAP’s AI strategy, bringing AI to life across SAP’s entire product suite.
From a market perspective, with India exponentially adopting cloud solutions it is expected to become one of the largest markets for SAP in the future. Prime Minister Modi’s focus on education, talent development, and digital adoption in manufacturing, supply chain, utilities, renewables, and retail align well with SAP’s goals, making India an engine of growth, driving the company’s future in the region.
What role is your team in India playing to drive AI adoption?
The team in India is pivotal to SAP’s AI strategy, with large parts of business AI development being conducted in India. This team is integral to SAP’s overall ecosystem, contributing significantly to AI use cases and innovations. SAP ensures the responsible and ethical use of AI by adhering to strict data protection rules, especially given its headquarters in Europe. The company anonymises and encrypts customer data, using it only with consent to train its foundational AI models. This approach ensures that AI development is both innovative, ethically sound and real.
Can you walk us through your product strategy and pipeline for India?
SAP’s product strategy for India is centered around AI and cloud solutions. The company is embedding AI into all its business processes, making them more intelligent and automated. The innovation pipeline includes developing generative AI use cases for various industries, such as manufacturing, supply chain, and professional services. SAP’s AI portfolio is built on a foundation of business data, with a knowledge graph that understands the semantics and meaning of this data. This combination of AI and business data is the winning strategy. Recent advancements announced at SAP TechEd, including GenAI capabilities in SAP Build and seamless extensibility in SAP S/4 HANA, highlights our commitment to innovation and customer success.
There is a growing concern over job displacement due to automation…
We at SAP believe that AI will create more jobs by increasing productivity. While AI drives automation and efficiency, the company still sees a growing need for developers and other roles as its business expands. SAP is committed to continuous education and learning to help employees adapt to new tasks and technologies. The company works with partners to leverage AI and increase the productivity of projects, which helps accelerate migrations and decrease implementation costs. This approach ensures that technological innovation goes hand in hand with employment generation.
What does the market look like for SAP in India over the next 5 to 10 years?
Over the next 5 to 10 years, SAP envisions significant growth and expansion in India. The company plans to continue investing in education, talent development and infrastructure. The new labs facility in India will expand SAP’s capacity, and the company will over-proportionally hire in India. SAP’s focus on AI and cloud solutions will drive innovation and productivity, making India a key hub for its global operations. The company’s commitment to responsible and ethical AI use, combined with its strong market presence and talent pool, positions us for a bright and impactful future in India.
Can we expect more investments/initiatives aimed at the Indian market?
Yes. The company is expanding its new campus to accommodate 15,000 more seating. SAP’s AI strategy focuses on India because it can scale the best here. While AI drives productivity, SAP will still need more developers as its business grows. Continuous education and learning are key to adapting to new tasks and technologies. The commitment to investing in R&D and customer success in India underscores SAP’s strategic focus on the Indian market.
