India's significance for SAP's business is massive

SAP SE, the international software giant, reported a 25 per cent year-on-year revenue growth in Q3 FY24, driven by robust Cloud services expansion. SAP's executive and supervisory boards visited India recently for the first time. MUHAMMAD ALAM, head of product engineering and a member of the executive board of SAP SE, spoke with Shivani Shinde at the company's Bengaluru centre about engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and Indian talent. Edited excerpts:

- MUHAMMAD ALAM

In recent changes, you became part of SAP's executive board. What has been the impact of these changes to the board?

If you look at our transformation to become a Cloud company, we've reached a size and scale where it was crucial to have a dedicated board area focused on adoption and customer satisfaction. Previously, this function was part of customer success, which was mainly sales-driven, or product which remains core. It scales up leadership so that the product organization can focus on product innovation while the go-to-market function falls under our sales leader.

Now plans in the same increments, and every six months we reassess our roadmap based on customer feedback. For product engineering KPIs (key performance indicators), we emphasize usage and satisfaction. If those are met, revenue and margin follow.

Is this shift driven by AI too?

The board change wasn't solely due to GenAI (generative AI). However, having a dedicated board member allows us to drive AI thinking more effectively. There are multiple facets: Embedding AI into our products, using it internally, and progressing along a maturity curve. The change positions us as a product-led company, prioritizing AI in internal and external applications.