Most people wake up expecting the world to run. Lights turn on. Planes land. Hospitals run. Supply chains deliver. What feels seamless on the surface is powered by a vast network of systems, data, and business processes working in sync behind the scenes.
That idea framed a keynote at SAP Sapphire in Orlando, where Thomas Saueressig, chief customer officer and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, and Jan Gilg, global president of Customer Success & Americas and member of the Extended Board of SAP SE, set out the company’s case for the Autonomous Enterprise.
Their message was clear: As AI moves from promise to practice, customers are no longer asking whether it matters; they are asking how to make it deliver measurable results across the business.
“Every day, billions of people wake up trusting that the world simply runs,” Saueressig said.
But making that happen is anything but simple. Saueressig pointed to the hidden complexity behind everyday routines — from power grids balancing supply and demand in real time to global supply chains moving goods across countries and continents. Enterprise operations, he argued, are the invisible backbone of modern life, even if most people never see them.
