SAP Sapphire 2025 Review Podcast with Conor Riordan and Jon Reed

At SAP Sapphire in Orlando, UKISUG Chair Conor Riordan recorded a podcast with Jon Reed from diginomica, to give his thoughts on the some of the announcements that came out of the event.

Together Conor and Jon discussed a variety of topics including:

SAP Transformation & Migration – How many large organisations are still in the early phases of migration, often opting for technical migrations with plans to innovate later.  There is broad agreement with SAP’s strategic direction, but the “how” of getting there – especially at scale – remains a challenge.

AI – How organisations are interested in AI, but they continue to face barrier around data quality, context tagging and legal approvals. Conor noted that AI success depends on human-in-the-loop design, given the complexity of real-world decision making.

SAP Business Data Cloud – How BDC offers the potential to unify SAP and non-SAP data, but raises question about integration with existing platforms like DataSphere or BW. Many customers are still figuring out whether this will add cost or replace existing investments, and how to handle organisational change.

Public Cloud – How public cloud is gaining traction with customers looking for agility, upgrades and innovations. Conor noted success stories are emerging and highlighted how UKISUG is launching a dedicated Cloud ERP community.

Beyond this, Conor reflected on his personal journey from IT into business leadership and outlined UKISUG’s priorities for 2025.

To listen to the full podcast click here.