Organizations often look at AI, automation, or new service tools as the starting point for service-led growth. In reality, service-led growth starts with a business model. Technology can help scale a service business, but it does not define how value is created, delivered, or monetized.
Service-led growth is one of the seven macro trends within Autonomous CX, SAP’s vision introduced at SAP Sapphire in 2026. At its core is a simple principle: every customer promise must be backed by the operational reality needed to deliver it.
Recent SAP research highlights a growing gap between customer expectations and the operational reality of service delivery. Disconnected handoffs, fragmented information, and pressure to adopt AI make service a business-model question, not just a technology one.
A practitioner’s perspective
More than twenty years ago, I was part of a global service organization that wanted to move beyond viewing service as a cost of doing business.
