SAPinsider Issue 07 Q1 2026

THE VOICE OF THE GLOBAL SAPINSIDER MEMBER COMMUNITY

Issue 07 / Q1 2026

PLUS

David Robinson The Architect of Adoption

The SAPinsider Awards Finalists

Steve Lucas

Chairman and CEO, Boomi

Great The Activator

Accelerate Innovation Today Save the date for Boomi World 2026, May 11-24 in Chicago. Explore the future of data activation with modern integration, data readiness, and AI agent management featuring industry leaders, product professionals, and the Boomi Community.

Learn more at boomiworld.com

OPENING REMARKS insider

Real Wisdom from Real Transformations

As we gather in Las Vegas this March, I’m reminded why SAPinsider events remain such an essential anchor for our community. These events dig deep into the hard- won wisdom that comes from doing the heavy lifting, making those tough calls, and sometimes, getting this wrong before getting them right. SAPinsider Las Vegas 2026 will do just that. The conference this year brings together over 2,000 SAP professionals from March 16-19 at the Bellagio. It features more than 200 expert-led sessions across SAP S/4HANA, cloud modernization, security, finance, and data analytics. But what makes this gathering truly valuable is its foundation in real customer stories and in unfiltered lessons from leaders and experts about successful transformations, setbacks, and what they’d do differently. Equally important are stories from organizations that have navigated transformation successfully, learned from setbacks, and emerged stronger. This issue of SAPinsider reflects that same commitment to practical, experience- driven guidance. Our cover story features an exclusive interview with Steve Lucas, Chairman and CEO of Boomi offering his perspective on why how we use data is changing and what SAP professionals must do to stay ahead of the curve. This issue also explores the 2026 outlook for cloud, AI, and clean core architectures—three pillars that will define successful SAP modernization in the coming years. You’ll find compelling transformation stories from end users such as Woodstream, KPMG, Kyocera and PetMeds, along with expert insights from SAP executives David Robinson, Hans-Georg Uebe, and Jan Gilg on enterprise architecture strategies and the way forward for SAP. We also highlight the inaugural SAPinsider Awards finalists who represent the best in SAP innovation and execution. And our research team examines the evolving RISE with SAP roadmap to help you make informed platform decisions. From customer identity management and supply chain optimization to data transformation, integration suite capabilities, and automation success stories, this issue is packed with the technical depth and business context that matter to your role—whether you’re an architect designing scalable environments, a security professional hardening compliance, or a transformation leader proving business value. In Las Vegas, these themes come to life through best practices , roadmaps, and architectures you can immediately apply. Bring your toughest questions and your team. Connect with peers solving the same challenges you face. Leave with actionable frameworks that reduce project risk and accelerate delivery.

MAGAZINE

CHAIRMAN & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER James Bedard

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER David Southwick CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Constance Sayers CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Jeremy Reube CHIEF EVENTS OFFICER Lisa Riley CHIEF DESIGN OFFICER Ceci Perriard CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER Robert Holland VP & RESEARCH ANALYST Susan Galberaith

CONTENT DIRECTOR Radhika Ojha

COVER PHOTO Austin Heppler

PHOTOGRAPHY shutterstock.com

See you in Las Vegas.

James Bedard, CEO, and President, SAPinsider

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover Story

Interviews

18 Steve Lucas

The Boomi Chairman and CEO on why Data activation is vital to AI.

34 The Architect of Adoption David Robinson on his new role as President of SAP North America and Americas Customer Success. 42 Trusted Intelligence in Action

SAP Trendlines 07 Spotlight on the new trends

Thomas Callway, VP of Product Marketing, Kyriba, gives insights on AI in finance.

SAPinsiders should be prepared for in 2026.

48 The Power of the Suite

Jan Gilg, Global President Customer Success and Member of SAP’s Extended Board on enabling enterprises to win in the age of AI.

Expert Opinion

User Success

26 Beyond the Digital Front Door Reimagining trust and identity with SAP Customer Identity and Access Management. 62 The Foundation of the Future Why SAP BTP is the heart of the 2026 intelligent enterprise. 74 Reimagining SAP Implementations When speed meets precision to accelerate SAP S/4HANA delivery. 78 SAP’s Cloud Sovereignty Shift Jim Loiacono, Sales Lead, HPE Worldwide on why the future of enterprise ERP is about moving back to the data center. 82 Inside the AP Revolution Using AP as a strategic lever to transform finance.

10 Innovation in Action

52 The Evolution of AP

An exclusive look at the finalists of the inaugural SAPinsider Awards.

From Automation to Intelligence.

66 Breaking the SAP Glass House Matt McLarty, CTO of Boomi on fueling agentic AI with real-time data. 68 A Trusted Path to Large-Scale Cloud Transformations

30 How Visibility

Can Change the Game Real-time visibility with SAP Cloud ALM is changing Woodstream’s business.

46 Going Beyond the Hype How KPMG is turning Joule for

Hans Uebe, Global Head of Partner Business Growth at SAP on RISE with SAP Validated Partner recognition.

Consultants into a delivery advantage.

58 The No-Customization Transformation

Modernizing retail at PetMeds by refusing to break the core.

88 Risk Over Hype

Why Kyocera chose SAP Cloud ERP Private to reduce risk.

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SAP TRENDLINES

5 Key Topics for SAPinsiders in 2026 From the end of mainstream maintenance to product usage perspective, here are the priorities that SAPinsiders should be prepared for.

sit from a product and usage perspective, the following areas should be noted when preparing for the year ahead. End of Maintenance Deadlines in 2027 Most SAPinsiders are aware of the upcoming end of mainstream maintenance of SAP ECC and SAP Business Suite for SAP HANA at the end of 2027. What is not as

considerations such as, the end of mainstream maintenance of core SAP Business Suite solutions and applications based on SAP NetWeaver, are well known. Others may only have impacted a relatively small proportion of the SAP customer base and will become more widespread this year. No matter where SAPinsiders

well-known is the fact that any solutions running on SAP NetWeaver will also end mainstream maintenance at the end of 2027. This includes solutions such as SAP Business Warehouse (BW) 7.5 and versions of SAP BW/4HANA earlier than 2023, SAP Solution Manager (SolMan), SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, and the SAP NetWeaver

By Robert Holland

The start of a new year offers opportunities for reflection, goal setting, and focusing on the year ahead. However, for SAPinsiders, there are many priorities that will continue into 2026, and organizations should be prepared for what is to come. Some of these

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SAP TRENDLINES

These factors make it imperative for SAP ERP customers to prepare for a cloud ERP future. The adoption of cloud ERP will continue to accelerate with many organizations already running solutions that make up the SAP Cloud ERP Private (formerly RISE with SAP) package, the support available from SAP in completing a transition, the credits and offers available from SAP to facilitate the move, and the need to access functionality available in SAP S/4HANA Cloud that is not available in existing offerings. Data and Analytics While SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) was announced early in 2025, the real push for adoption will come during 2026. This is for several reasons. First is that many of the features, such as natively accessing SAP Datasphere within SAP BDC, were not available until late in the year. SAP has also recently announced partnerships and support for Snowflake, Databricks, Google BigQuery, and Microsoft Fabric through SAP BDC Connect which will help accelerate adoption. Moreover data is playing a foundational role in the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Capabilities like bi- directional data sharing with SAP HANA Cloud will also provide additional support for organizations that want to maximize the value of their data between SAP Datasphere, solution extensions like SAP Databricks and SAP Snowflake, and SAP

shown that the approaching end of 2027 is creating anxiety in the SAP space. Those that are not already underway with a transition to SAP S/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA Cloud are looking to accelerate their deployments and move as quickly as possible even if that means ignoring plans for broader transformation. Accelerated Adoption of Cloud ERP Adoption of RISE with SAP was relatively slow for the first three years following its announcement. While small- to medium-sized SAPinsider research has shown that the approaching end of 2027 is creating anxiety in the SAP space.

organizations and new customers often chose GROW with SAP, overall adoption of cloud ERP has been relatively low—just between 10% and 15% of customers surveyed by SAPinsider. However, 2025 saw that adoption accelerate with 43% of respondents to SAPinsider research reporting that they were using, implementing, or actively preparing for an implementation of cloud ERP. This trend is set to continue in 2026. Not only will those that already deployed SAP S/4HANA move to SAP Cloud ERP Private in increasing numbers, more of those that are transitioning from older ERP systems make the move to cloud ERP. This is only emphasized by the strong push that SAP account teams are making around adoption.

platform itself. For those that are running these solutions, plans should already be in place to either transition to a newer version or replacement offering, especially since the end of 2027 is now less than two years away. However, additional planning is required for solutions like SAP Solution Manager that do not have a like-to- like replacement available. Although SAP Cloud ALM has been positioned as the strategic successor to SAP SolMan, it is a cloud- native offering and may not support legacy Change Request Management and ITSM, highlighting a need to combine with offerings such as SAP Focused Run or even adopting third-party solutions in some areas. From an ERP standpoint, SAPinsider research has

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Business Suite data products such as SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors, sustainability, and customer experience. New Artificial Intelligence Scenarios Although SAP has focused on its generative AI assistant Joule as the main use case for generative AI in SAP solutions, Joule is increasingly becoming what SAP sees as the primary interface for accessing applications. While adoption is still relatively low among SAP customers, access to generative AI capabilities like Joule is a major factor influencing the thinking of a significant number of SAPinsiders deciding whether to move to SAP Cloud ERP Private (formerly RISE with SAP). Additionally, during 2026, Data is playing a foundational role in theuse of artificial intelligence. SAP will be introducing new means for customers to access AI in applications. One of the announcements at SAP Connect 2025 was that the next generation procurement applications, due to be released during the first quarter of 2026, have been rebuilt on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and will be AI-native. SAP plans to take similar steps for other line of business applications in

capabilities such as LeanIX AI Agent Hub and Signavio AI Agent Excellence. These features allow organizations to support and effectively govern AI whether that is from SAP or a third-party. This ensures SAPinsiders that are looking to support transformation, continuous innovation, or AI-related deployments will have the capabilities required to do so. Preparing for 2026 Every SAPinsider is at a different point in their journey whether that is to the cloud, transforming their ERP system, or deploying AI. However, at least some of these topics will be relevant to customers in 2026 regardless of what they are doing or the point they have reached in their journey. As organizations look to execute their plans for 2026, it is important they take these topics into account to ensure a greater likelihood of success.

the future, ensuring that AI is not an add-on but a built-in capability. This is also part of SAP’s broader strategy to enhance and move customers to the new cloud- based SAP Business Suite. Since these updated applications will be AI- native, they will introduce new ways of leveraging AI for SAPinsiders. In fact, even users that are not interested in using a generative AI assistant such as Joule will be leveraging new AI scenarios and capabilities in the applications without necessarily realizing that they will be doing so. These changes will continue to make data cleansing and harmonization vital heading into 2026.

new capabilities to address changing business needs, SAPinsiders will need the ability to effectively manage these changes and updates. flexibility, but these ongoing changes need to be managed differently than in the past. This is why SAPinsiders must be ready in 2026 for continuous innovation. First discussed by SAP at Sapphire 2025, SAP’s integrated toolchain for innovation now encompasses SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, SAP Cloud ALM, WalkMe, Moving to cloud-based environments provides Tricentis and Syniti, SAP BTP and SAP Build, and Joule for Consultants or Developers. These offerings combine to help organizations support the four elements of transformation: business processes, the application landscape, data, and people. To adapt these tools to meet the needs of organizations using AI, SAP has introduced new

Transformation, Innovation, and Governance

With the move away from large, complex projects and a need to support regular updates, extensions, and

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Innovation in Action Introducing the 2026 SAPinsider Awards finalists.

From revolutionizing American football with AI to securing national defense systems, this year’s SAPinsider Awards finalists aren’t just implementing software—they are rewriting the playbook on business transformation. Selected from a competitive pool of global submissions, these 21 finalists represent the bleeding edge of the SAP ecosystem. They range from multinational behemoths like Nestlé and Microsoft to agile innovators like Fit Foods and Riddell. What unites them is a shift in focus: SAP projects are no longer just about going live but about coming alive by using technology to empower people, secure critical data, and drive tangible, human-centric value. We give you an exclusive look at the finalists of the SAPinsider Awards who are setting the standard for 2026.

ERP Transformation Project of the Year

A 70TB Leap: Microsoft’s Weekend Migration

Loparex’s Agility Shift

Brown-Forman’s Global Tax Unity

Following a turbulent SAP S/4HANA go-live, Loparex faced a critical choice: fix the software or fix the culture. With operational friction and inconsistent data threatening its largest client relationship, the company partnered with Reveal USA to focus on organizational enablement. Moving beyond technical configuration, the initiative retrained teams to abandon manual spreadsheets and trust live SAP data. By aligning master data with business rules in Production Planning (PP/DS), Loparex transformed a source of frustration into a trusted strategic asset. The results were definitive. Loparex saved its key client, improved On- Time In-Full (OTIF) delivery by 24%, and slashed total inventory by 39%, unlocking millions in working capital. By reducing supply chain exceptions by 96%, the project eliminated thousands of “human struggle hours.” This shift from reactive manual workarounds to data-driven decision-making didn’t just optimize the balance sheet; it restored employee confidence and secured the company’s manufacturing future across four global sites. Nominated by: Reveal USA

Microsoft managed a high-stakes migration of its 70 TB SAP ECC/BRIM landscape—the backbone of its global revenue—to SAP S/4HANA with a strict zero-disruption mandate. Partnering with SNP, the company utilized the Bluefield selective data migration approach and the SNP Kyano platform to transition only essential data. This precision enabled a single-weekend cutover with just 24 hours of downtime, successfully modernizing a system that manages everything from individual subscriptions to massive enterprise agreements. The results were monumental: migration effort plummeted by 90% compared to traditional methods, achieving a flawless go-live with zero critical incidents. By enforcing clean core principles and purging decades of technical debt, Microsoft streamlined its architecture to cut future upgrade timelines by 40%. This new foundation ensures real-time billing accuracy and faster market entry, saving millions in potential disruption costs while securing the company’s long-term financial agility. Nominated by: Microsoft

Brown-Forman, the powerhouse behind Jack Daniel’s, turned a potential regulatory headache into a competitive edge by embedding tax compliance directly into its SAP S/4HANA transformation. Moving from legacy SAP ECC via a brownfield migration, the company partnered with Sovos to integrate real-time e-invoicing and reporting across 100+ countries. This compliance-first design replaced manual workarounds with an automated Indirect Tax Suite, anticipating a wave of global mandates through 2027. The impact was felt immediately: go- lives in Portugal and Mexico occurred with zero business disruption or penalties. By removing e-invoicing blocks, Brown-Forman accelerated month-end closes and eliminated supply chain delays. Most importantly, the shift freed IT teams from firefighting compliance issues, allowing them to focus on innovation. This proactive strategy ensures that for Brown- Forman, global tax complexity is no longer a burden but a streamlined, future-proofed operational standard. Nominated by: Sovos

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Digital/Cloud Transformation Project of the Year

Greenfield Power: EWEB’s Move to RISE After 30 years of navigating rigid legacy systems and spreadsheet silos, the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) launched a Greenfield transformation to RISE with SAP S/4HANA. Facing an urgent need for climate resilience, Oregon’s largest customer-owned utility prioritized a Clean Core approach to unify its Finance and Customer Information Systems. By integrating SAP Service Cloud and SAP BTP, EWEB replaced manual guesswork with a resilient digital infrastructure that connects directly to the community’s needs. The results mark a new era for the utility: 99.5% of daily billing is now automated, while a centralized Customer 360 view enables agents to resolve issues with unprecedented speed and empathy. Beyond the back office, real-time insights from SAP Analytics Cloud empower EWEB to optimize critical infrastructure. This modernization ensures that even amidst supply volatility, the community’s water and energy security remains protected by a data-driven foundation. Nominated by: Eugene Water & Electric Board

Waymo’s New Monetization Engine To support the rapid expansion of its Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo partnered with PwC to deploy SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. The solution addresses the high-volume complexities of Transportation-as-a- Service (TaaS) by automating the entire B2C invoice-to- cash lifecycle. Utilizing SAP Convergent Invoicing (CI), Contract Accounting (FI-CA), and Convergent Mediation, the platform provides a compliant, tax-ready financial backbone. PwC accelerated the rollout using its XaaS-in-a-Box framework, delivering the system in under seven months. The results confirm readiness for massive scale: the platform was validated at 5x projected transaction volumes. Automation of settlements, refunds, and ASC 606 compliance has slashed manual billing efforts and significantly accelerated financial closing. By establishing a reusable blueprint for mobility-as-a-service, Waymo is now equipped to scale its autonomous fleet across major U.S. markets with financial precision and administrative agility. Nominated by: PwC

Florida Crystals’ Data Revolution Florida Crystals, a leading organic sugar producer, transformed its master data governance by replacing a complex legacy SAP MDG system with SimpleMDG. Built on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), this no-code solution was deployed in just five months, unifying governance across 766,000 records—including materials, suppliers, and finance data. By integrating seamlessly with SAP S/4HANA and OpenText, the shift eliminated heavy vendor reliance and technical debt. The impact was immediate: development costs plummeted by 100%, and maintenance overhead dropped by 85%. Through its intuitive no- code architecture, Florida Crystals accelerated user onboarding by 80% and reduced duplicate records by 75%. This transition not only improved data integrity but also empowered the internal MDM team to manage governance independently. By simplifying complex workflows, the company established a scalable, agile foundation for growth while drastically enhancing operational efficiency and data quality. Nominated by: SimpleMDG

McKesson Migrates Massive SAP Footprint to Azure McKesson, a linchpin in the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain, recently neutralized a critical operational risk by migrating one of the world’s largest SAP instances to Microsoft Azure. Facing aging hardware and the need for hyperscale agility, McKesson— partnered with Lemongrass— completed this massive transition in just four months without disrupting patient care or vaccine distribution. The shift to cloud-native infrastructure delivered immediate 30–40% performance gains across SAP workloads and integrated automated disaster recovery. By moving petabytes of data to Azure, McKesson escaped technical debt and built a platform capable of supporting real-time predictive insights and AI. This high-velocity migration ensures that as McKesson distributes one-third of the nation’s medicine, its digital backbone is as resilient as the supply chain it serves, turning a hardware liability into a strategic, future-proof asset. Nominated by: Microsoft

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AI-Powered Innovation Project of the Year

BRG Sports’ AI Playbook

Automating Appetite With Fit Foods In 2025, Fit Foods overhauled its manual Accounts Payable by launching VisionAP, an intelligent procure-to-pay solution built to support double-digit growth. By integrating SAP Business One with Vision33’s iDocuments platform via Saltbox iPaaS, the company replaced fragmented, email-based workflows with a centralized, AI- driven system. The architecture utilizes OCR and secure DI API connections to capture invoice data with high precision, automating PO matching and enforcing tiered approval matrices. The results are transformative: manual processing time plummeted by 70%, and an 85% PO auto-match rate was achieved. This shift allows the finance team to transition from data entry to high-value exception management and strategic analysis. Crucially, VisionAP enables Fit Foods to scale its North American operations—accommodating 12–15% annual volume growth— without increasing headcount, turning a back-office bottleneck into a scalable engine for digital finance. Nominated by: Fit Foods

The Clean Core Catalyst HP Inc. developed the Intelligent Business Data Framework (IBDF) to tackle the manual burden of processing unstructured documents like invoices and contracts. By leveraging SAP GenAI, SAP Document Extraction (DoX) Premium, and SAP BTP, HP transformed resource-intensive workflows into automated, structured data streams. The solution supports 40 languages and 12 file types, integrating seamlessly with both SAP and non- SAP backends. The impact is significant: an 80% acceleration in document processing and a 30% reduction in back-office costs. Beyond efficiency, IBDF eliminates compliance risks and manual errors, freeing staff from the grind of tedious data entry. Built on a clean core-aligned platform, the framework ensures GDPR/CCPA compliance via SAP AI Core while providing a scalable foundation for global business onboarding. By turning unstructured chaos into operational clarity, HP has redefined back-office productivity for the digital age. Nominated by: SAP

For BRG Sports, data silos were more than a technical hurdle; they were a barrier to peak performance. To break through, the company deployed the Riddell Intelligent Assistant (RIA), a conversational bridge to their SAP ECC core. Developed with partner Saxon AI and built on Microsoft Azure’s RAG framework, RIA leverages Azure OpenAI and Semantic Kernel to transform complex ERP data into intuitive dialogue via Microsoft Teams. RIA moves beyond passive reporting by anchoring on three pillars: Information, Insights, and Call to Action. Instead of wading through spreadsheets, sales, operations, and finance teams receive context-aware, “next-best action” recommendations. This shift replaces manual guesswork with real-time operational truth. The human impact is significant. RIA has reclaimed 19% of sales representatives’ time, allowing them to pivot from administrative tasks to revenue generation. Internal friction has plummeted—evidenced by a 35% drop in support tickets—while customer follow-up velocity has accelerated by 18%. By dismantling the walls between departments, Riddell isn’t just managing data; they are empowering their workforce to serve coaches and athletes with unprecedented agility. Nominated by: BRG Sports Inc.

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Cybersecurity Project of the Year

National Defense Gets Zero Trust Architecture The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is fortifying its massive SAP ERP environments against evolving cyber threats by deploying a robust Zero Trust framework. Across the U.S. Army and USINDOPACOM, the DoD implemented NextLabs Zero Trust Data Security to manage GFEBS-SA cloud migrations and secure Mission Partner Environments. By utilizing Attribute- Based Access Control (ABAC), the solution enforces real-time, least- privileged access, ensuring sensitive data is segregated, masked, and encrypted. Developed alongside Accenture Federal Services, this architecture secures SAP and Microsoft ecosystems using a data-centric approach. The impact is mission-critical: the framework automates compliance and slashes manual provisioning overhead. Most importantly, it enables secure collaboration with international allies, allowing for the safe sharing of information without compromising national security. By moving beyond traditional perimeters, the DoD has turned data security into a strategic enabler for global defense operations. Nominated by: NextLabs, Inc.

Centralized Security at Siemens Healthineers Post-IPO, Siemens Healthineers faced a high-stakes challenge: securing regulated patient data across 24 sprawling SAP system lines under strict FDA oversight. To bridge visibility gaps in its hybrid landscape—including SAP BTP and on-premise systems—the company centralized governance through the Onapsis Security Platform. This strategic overhaul enforces internal standards that exceed standard cloud contracts, ensuring every configuration and code change is globally monitored. The impact is foundational to patient safety. Siemens Healthineers now maintains real-time visibility into 1,500 threat indicators, effectively eliminating shadow configurations. By embedding security checks directly into DevOps and vendor contracts, the company stops vulnerabilities before they reach production. This proactive stance ensures compliance with GDPR and FDA mandates while safeguarding the integrity of the systems that support critical healthcare delivery worldwide. Nominated by: Onapsis

Sainsbury’s Fosters Safe Shopping at Scale

Sainsbury’s secured its core commercial transformation by adopting a Security by Design strategy for its migration to SAP S/4HANA. Recognizing that cloud shared responsibility models require SAP-specific safeguards, the retailer deployed SecurityBridge to harden its landscape. The initiative centered on three pillars: configuration hardening aligned with NIST frameworks, automated patch management, and embedding security directly into the ABAP development lifecycle. By integrating SecurityBridge with Microsoft Sentinel on AWS, Sainsbury’s transformed security into a proactive prerequisite rather than a reactive afterthought. The human impact was immediate: within six months, the security team improved the company’s rating from one to three stars and reduced critical Hot News notes to zero. This shift to real- time transparency allowed teams to catch vulnerabilities pre-production, significantly de-risking the cloud migration and ensuring a resilient, compliant clean core for the business. Nominated by: SecurityBridge

SAP Woman of Impact

Lifting From Within Cindy Borgman, Chief Delivery Officer, apiphani

Cultivating Growth Carol McMillan, Senior Director IT & Head of IT, Naturipe Farms At Naturipe Farms, Carol McMillan defines success through the longevity and growth of her team rather than just system uptime. With over two decades in the produce industry, she views people as her most sustainable resource, fostering a culture of upskilling and constant innovation. McMillan is a proven trailblazer, having led a rapid migration to SAP S/4HANA in under six months and serving as an early adopter of SAP’s Blockchain program for farm-to-consumer traceability. A frequent industry speaker, McMillan champions internal mobility by transitioning non-technical talent into IT leadership roles. By coaching her developers to become speakers at major conferences, she ensures Naturipe’s digital evolution is powered by empowered professionals who lead with purpose.

The Anchor of Evolution Tami Fox, Senior Vice President IT, SAP, Monster Energy As Senior Vice President of IT, SAP at Monster Energy, Tami Fox is the architect of a digital ecosystem that balances rigorous governance with operational agility. By leading high-stakes initiatives—including comprehensive security redesigns, GRC upgrades, and Vendor Invoice Management rollouts—Fox has transformed risk management from a technical constraint into a strategic driver for global growth. Her systems-level intuition allows her to anticipate bottlenecks before they impact performance, ensuring a unified, resilient financial backbone. Beyond the technical architecture, Fox is a dedicated culture-shaper. She champions a people-first approach, fostering an environment rooted in psychological safety and collective ownership. As a passionate advocate for women in technology, her leadership is defined by active mentorship and authentic connection. By merging calm precision with empathy, Fox has evolved Monster’s SAP organization from a support function into a strategic foundation, proving that the most durable systems are those built on empowered people.

Cindy Borgman redefines SAP leadership by blending technical mastery with a fierce dedication to human connection. Throughout a career spanning Capgemini, Virtustream, and co-founding apiphani, Borgman has built a reputation for excellence in global managed services and complex SAP migrations. As Chief Delivery Officer, she pioneered a consulting model anchored in transparency, empathy, and accountability, ensuring that every consultant—from junior staff to senior partners—is treated as a valued contributor. Beyond technical execution, Borgman’s

legacy is rooted in her mentorship, particularly for women in tech. By

prioritizing a lifting from within philosophy, she has propelled countless careers and built diverse, high-performing teams that transcend traditional industry silos. For Borgman, digital transformation is about the empowered people who drive the software business. Her leadership proves that when respect and shared ownership are the foundation, world-class delivery follows naturally.

Nominated by: Navisite, Part of Accenture

Nominated by: apiphani

Nominated by: KPMG

Innovation Vanguard - Customer of the Year

Nestlé Modernizes Global Operations on Azure Nestlé unified its global operations by transitioning from six aging on- premise datacenters to RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure. This monumental migration—one of the largest data transfers in history—involved shifting 1,200 TB of data, 200 SAP instances, and 10,000 servers across 185 markets with near-zero disruption. By standardizing on Azure’s hyperscale infrastructure, Nestlé established a resilient foundation for AI-driven decision intelligence and predictive analytics. The impact is transformative: system availability reached 99.97%, while critical platform incidents plummeted by 80%. Processes that previously took hours now run in seconds, enabling predictive supply chain management and faster product time-to-market. By consolidating its landscape, Nestlé has turned 300 global factories into a high- velocity, cloud-native network. This shift doesn’t just secure their digital backbone; it empowers their global workforce to orchestrate complex manufacturing with unprecedented speed and precision. Nominated by: Microsoft

United Therapeutics Fortifies Finance Biotech leader United Therapeutics recently overhauled its financial decision-making infrastructure through a strategic SAP Datasphere Optimization initiative. By integrating SAP S/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud on Microsoft Azure, the company established a fault-tolerant, disaster- ready architecture. This co-innovation between IT and Finance focused on liberating teams from manual data wrangling, establishing a single source of truth accessible via Web and Excel. The impact is significant: manual reconciliation overhead plummeted by 70%, allowing analysts to pivot from spreadsheet maintenance to strategic forecasting. The transition to automated pipelines has eliminated human error and accelerated planning cycles while ensuring robust business continuity. By transforming data into a strategic asset, United Therapeutics has not only streamlined current compliance but also built a resilient, AI- ready foundation for future predictive analytics in the high-stakes biotech landscape. Nominated by: Protiviti

Patatas Meléndez Cultivates Industry 4.0 Agri-food leader Patatas Meléndez transformed a standard ERP migration into a groundbreaking Industry 4.0 evolution by moving from SAP R/3 to RISE with SAP S/4HANA. In collaboration with partner SEIDOR, the company deployed computer vision, plant sensors, and SAP Asset Management to create a digital fabric connecting every stage of production. By integrating SAP Datasphere, Meléndez now operates an intelligent platform capable of anticipating demand and ensuring total traceability from field to fork. The impact is measurable: real-time data access slashed planning time by 40%, while predictive maintenance cut unplanned downtime by 25%. Beyond efficiency, the initiative drove a 15% reduction in waste, directly supporting the company’s ESG and sustainability commitments. This shift modernizes the factory and empowers a workforce with predictive insights, ensuring Patatas Meléndez remains a resilient, technology-forward leader in the global food supply chain. Nominated by: SEIDOR

Next Generation Leader of Impact

Transforming What Matters Martin Rowan, Founder & CEO, Reveal USA Martin Rowan, Founder and CEO of Reveal USA, is a transformative force in the SAP ecosystem, championing the belief that success is born from aligning people and processes with technology. For over two decades, he has helped global giants—including Campbell’s Soup and GE Current—unlock the hidden value within their SAP investments. By guiding teams to let SAP run as an intelligent, connected system, Rowan’s methodology has released over $1 billion in working capital and delivered significant EBITDA improvements. Yet, his impact transcends metrics. Rowan specializes in restoring confidence to overwhelmed workforces, turning SAP from a source of frustration into a strategic engine. This philosophy of profit with purpose extends to his philanthropic work through the Reveal Foundation: Funding What Matters. As a thought leader and mentor, Rowan empowers the SAP community to pursue operational excellence that not only drives business results but also uplifts communities.

The Architect of Trust Andrew Reid, SAP Presales Solution Advisor, SAP

From Complexity to Clarity Erin Hughes, Head of Cybersecurity and Compliance Advisory, SAP As SAP’s Head of Cybersecurity and Compliance Advisory for the Americas, Erin Hughes transforms security from a technical hurdle into a strategic competitive advantage. Over six years, she has bridged the gap between risk management and business innovation, translating complex regulations into actionable strategies for SAP S/4HANA migrations and hybrid cloud architectures. Hughes champions a people-first philosophy, believing that technical excellence requires empowered, inclusive decision-making. Beyond her technical expertise, she is a fierce advocate for diversity, mentoring women and early-career professionals to dismantle barriers in the cyber field. By merging deep fluency with inclusive leadership, Hughes ensures SAP customers embed trust directly into their digital core, allowing them to innovate with resilience, clarity, and unwavering integrity.

Andrew Reid operates at the critical intersection of trust and transformation. With nearly two decades of expertise —including a tenure as Managing Director at KPMG—he currently serves as a Presales Solution Advisor Senior Specialist at SAP. Reid is a vocal advocate for the philosophy that governance, when integrated by design, accelerates business. By building forward-thinking SAP GRC and enterprise architecture frameworks, he transforms compliance from a reactive checklist into a proactive source of strategic insight. At SAP, Reid helps organizations reimagine their digital core through SAP S/4HANA and SAP Cloud ERP Private. He excels at simplifying complexity, translating dense cybersecurity and regulatory requirements into clear, actionable business outcomes. Beyond his technical mastery, Reid is a dedicated mentor and evangelist, fostering a culture of excellence. His leadership style, defined by curiosity and precision, inspires teams to view technology not as overhead, but as a growth enabler grounded in unwavering trust.

Nominated by: KPMG

Nominated by: Reveal USA

Nominated by: KPMG

COVER STORY

Great The Activator

Steve Lucas on why Data Activation is vital to AI and the quest for the autonomous enterprise.

By Robert Holland and Radhika Ojha | Photos by Austin Heppler

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COVER STORY/ STEVE LUCAS

“The most valuable thing you can feed AI is not user interaction. It’s trusted data.”

also making it breathe. To Lucas, this requires three essential factors that every modern enterprise must balance: 1. Integration: Connecting systems, applications, data- bases, and APIs so the organization can communicate. 2. Automation: Using data products and workflows to deliver information exactly where it’s needed without human intervention. 3. Agentification: Preparing for a world where the primary customer is no longer a human being, but an AI agent that consumes, interprets, and acts on the hu- man’s behalf. “You must have all three,” Lucas warns. “Right now, I see every company moving so quickly to change, evolve, and adapt to AI so they don’t fall behind. But, getting it right is so critical right now. I worry that the pressure to move quickly is going to cause many com- panies to fail in this area because they aren’t cleans- ing, automating, and making their data agent-ready simultaneously.” The AI Reality Check Indeed, there is a lot of hype surrounding AI. However, Lucas offers a stark reality check grounded in his own experience as a CEO. When he challenged his own teams at Boomi to deploy AI agents in accounting, le- gal, and HR, the roadblock wasn’t the technology—it was the data. “The world will not succeed with AI until we feed agents quality information,” he says. While humans back in the Business Intelligence era could look at a dashboard and instinctively know a number looked off, agents lack that gut feeling. They only read, interpret, and act. Therefore, if the data is bad, then AI can pro- duce bad results at an exponential scale.

n the quiet moments between the rhythmic beeping of a reversing construction truck—a humble re- minder of the digital plumbing that underpins our modern world—Steve Lucas, CEO of Boomi, is thinking about Isaac Newton. Specifically, he’s thinking about inertia.

“Objects at rest stay at rest and objects in motion stay in motion,” the Boomi CEO says, leaning into the conversation with SAPinsider. “Businesses that fail to act tend to stay at rest, and they end up being left be- hind. Businesses in motion tend to succeed. And how those businesses stay active, how they stay in motion, is through their data.” As we sit at the beginning of 2026, the stakes around this motion have never been higher. For SAP custom- ers, a window for completing foundational change is no longer a distant speck on the horizon; it is a giant, looming reality. In this backdrop, Lucas is evangelizing a philosophy he calls Data Activation. A New Era of Integration For decades, integration was the unsung hero of the enterprise world—the invisible pipes that moved a record from Salesforce to SAP and back again. But ac- cording to Lucas, that era is dead. Today, integration has transitioned from a back-office necessity to a core strategic asset. “The most valuable thing you can feed AI is not user interaction,” Lucas explains. “It’s trusted data. It’s get- ting critical information to those AI systems so that they create insight and discover new pathways.” This shift defines what Lucas calls “the Data Activa- tion era.” The shift not only involves moving data but

COVER STORY/ STEVE LUCAS

SAP insider Magazine

“The pressure to move quickly will cause many companies to fail because they aren’t cleansing, automating, and making their data agent-ready

simultaneously.”

It’s about pushing intelligence to where the data lives — whether that’s on-premises, in a private cloud, or at the edge of a manufacturing line — rather than forcing everything into a single, cen- tralized model. The Rise of Agents and the MCP Standard The conversation inevitably goes deeper into the agentic future. Lucas is keeping a close, “squinty- eyed” watch on Model Context Protocol (MCP). While he acknowledges its importance as a two- way street for agent communication, he reminds us that MCP alone isn’t a panacea. The concern isn’t the standard itself, but the lim- itations around it — specifically around authenti- cation and authority. “On whose behalf are these agents acting?” Lu- cas asks. “Are we going to allow an agent to make decisions on behalf of the CFO? Today, it sounds ludicrous. But there will come a time where that becomes reality.” This is where the Boomi Enterprise Platform enters the fray. It provides a governance layer that spans both agents and the APIs which they communicate through, a capability not provided by MCP. Lucas views the world as a mix of deter- ministic systems (traditional apps that follow the if-then-else logic, like running payroll on Friday) and probabilistic engines (AI agents that predict the next best action). “Why would we want an agent deciding if it feels like running payroll?” he asks. Still, according to Lucas, the future isn’t about one replacing the other; it’s about using an orchestration platform to allow probability engines to participate safely in a deterministic world.

To illustrate this point, Lucas cites Mark Cuban’s ominous prediction: there will soon be two kinds of companies—those that are good at AI, and those that used to exist. However, here’s the twist: Lucas doesn’t think organizations need all their data to be successful. In fact, he believes most companies are drowning in “digital sand.” “I would guess that 10% of the data companies actually collect is what matters to an organization,” he says. He adds that the secret to the coming years isn’t storing more; it’s identifying that 10% which informs an agent or a human to make a difference. Navigating the SAP Clean Core Anxiety For the SAP ecosystem, the conversation around Data Activation is inseparable from the 2027 dead- line. There is palpable anxiety in the market, but Lucas sees an opportunity for Boomi to act as the bridge. The challenge isn’t just about moving data; it’s about data sovereignty and compliance. In a world of shifting tariffs and rapidly changing regulations, where data resides and who administers it has be- come a boardroom-level concern. “One single person or agent with the wrong idea in an IT department can break every bit of sovereign effort you’ve made to comply with data laws,” Lucas says. Boomi’s solution for SAP allows customers to move data while ensuring that local, residency, and governance regulations are hon- ored — a feature he describes as unique to their runtime technology. He explains that by acting as a neutral orches- tration layer, Boomi allows SAP customers to keep their core clean while still innovating at the edge.

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COVER STORY/ STEVE LUCAS

“One single person

or agent with the wrong idea in an IT department can break every bit of sovereign effort you’ve made to comply with data laws.”

Human Value at the Speed of Agentic Automation

grounded in the human element. He points to a mantra that has guided him for decades: “Change only happens at the speed of trust,” he says. Lucas notes that some AI pioneers have forgot- ten that humans must trust technology before they will embrace it. He believes that when AI halluci- nates, “trust is lost in buckets” and this is why the job of the CIO is being redefined. “The CIO must become the Chief AI Officer,” Lucas asserts. They can be compared to the con- ductors of a symphony, the neutral partners who must evaluate which instruments, in this case, which models and agents, actually create the best outcome for the organization. The Autonomous Enterprise As we get close to ending our conversation, Lucas looks past 2026. If the current era is about Data Activation, he believes that the next frontier is the Autonomous Enterprise. Lucas draws a parallel to the first time he en- gaged the self-driving feature in a car to emphasize his point. “It was pretty scary... taking your hands off the wheel at 65 miles an hour,” he admits. “But as the technology evolved, it learned to handle stop signs, right turns, and eventually, the com- plexities of a left turn that crosses traffic.” He adds, “Your enterprise will evolve the same way. We are building the digital fabric that enables any organization to create as much of a self-driving or Autonomous Enterprise as they want.” His vision for the Autonomous Enterprise is bold: an enterprise that can navigate the high- way of global commerce at high speed, handling routine maneuvers autonomously, while leav- ing the high-level strategy to the humans in the driver’s seat.

According to Lucas, one of the most compelling examples of Data Activation in action involves a customer navigating a fragmented, heterogene- ous environment. This organization utilized SAP Concur for expenses and NetSuite for financial re- cords. While both were excellent systems, integrat- ing them required a lot of manual labor. The finance team was losing thousands of hours to what Lucas describes as “the soul-crushing rec- onciliation work of just manually going through and looking at expenses to finance and financial record entries.” Using Boomi’s platform, the organization built a single AI agent in just a few days. This agent was designed to: 1. Connect the data silos between SAP Concur and NetSuite. 2. Execute the financial reconciliation process autonomously. 3. Turn static expense records into active, recon- ciled financial data without human intervention. Lucas noted that, upon implementation, the CFO reported savings of 10,000+ hours per year for the finance team. Moreover, by automating the mundane, the team was freed to perform higher- value work, shifting from manual data entry and reconciliation to strategic financial analysis. Lucas added that this case serves as a blueprint for igniting decades-old processes with new agen- tic capabilities without needing to replace the un- derlying core systems. Speed of Trust Despite the talk of multi-agent systems and millions of actions per second, Lucas remains

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The “10% Data Rule”—Why Less is More in the AI Era In an age of infinitely growing data lakes, Lucas offers a counterintuitive perspective: most of your data is just digital sand. While organizations have spent decades obsessed with the exponential growth of data tracking, Lucas argues that the strategy of collecting everything is a silent failure. • The Signal vs. The Noise: Lucas estimates that only about 10% of the data a company collects creates tangible value for the organization. • Operational Distillation: “I can distil all the information I need to run a software company onto a single piece of paper,” Lucas explains, focusing on real-time customer satisfaction, engineer productivity, sales pipeline, and revenue. • The AI Implications: Success in 2026 isn’t about volume, but about activating the right data. Lucas warns, “The world will not succeed with AI until we feed agents quality information, secure information of the highest quality.” • Industry Variance: While the “10%” rule is a baseline, the specific data points vary. For a manufacturer, it might be machinery vibration data; for a CFO, it could be financial reconciliation; for Lucas, it’s “real- time customer satisfaction data.” The “10% Data Rule” —Why Less is More in the AI Era

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