SAP is aligning itself strongly with AI agents that work directly inside business processes and company data. Its CEO sees this as the biggest growth opportunity in years. At the same time, OpenAI offers agents that run continuously and access thousands of applications via interfaces.
For a mid-sized company, this means there are two paths. An agent inside the ERP knows documents, master data and permissions. An agent outside is more flexible but only sees what an interface shows it.
We recommend clarifying four points before any rollout: which process should measurably improve, who is accountable for wrong decisions, whether master data is clean and what a single transaction costs. Promised productivity gains are no substitute for measuring in your own operations.