Agentic AI Could Be the Path to Efficiency Goals for Tech Leaders

Tech leaders in the SAP ecosystem are prioritising process efficiency and visibility in 2025 more often than anything else on their agendas, according to SAPinsider’s recent research report, The Technology Leader’s Agenda for SAP in 2025. In that report, 64% listed process efficiency and visibility as a top priority. That was followed closely by building an organisational AI strategy (61%). Process transformation and AI are top of mind for executives, and it’s possible that the latter could provide a solution for the former.

The appetite for AI among tech leaders is evident, as AI and machine learning were the top skillsets they are looking to develop. AI and software services are the leading investment target from SAP solution and service partners. AI and machine learning are tied with SAP S/4HANA as the most often cited strategic investment planned for 2025, while AI and machine learning are also the top cloud technology investment target.

The top reason for interest in AI in our report was improving business processes, cited by more than two-thirds of respondents. AI is still in the early adoption stages for many organisations, and responsive AI, such as copilots, is often the first step. However, more active and intelligent AI with agentic capabilities is proving to be beneficial in expediting processes and improving outcomes.
Examples of Agentic AI Success

One example comes from a public university in Florida, where academic advisers are utilising an AI agent from Appian to query the university’s data fabric and answer questions about student cases, generate meeting agendas, action plans, and follow-up emails. This AI work saves 15 minutes for each 30-minute meeting, allowing advisers to spend more time engaging with students and less time sifting through information on tens of thousands of students to find answers.

Another case study where agentic AI created a more efficient process is at a leading fire protection provider, which had been manually processing thousands of invoices and order acknowledgments each month. To improve this process, they deployed an AI application using Appian that can classify documents and extract data. The AI-powered process reduced operating time on invoices by 36%.

Organisations that have been early adopters of agentic AI have found success in improving their business processes by intelligently automating tasks that may have been more complicated for traditional automation. This has led to greater efficiency, exactly what tech leaders are hoping to achieve. Given the appetite for AI among these leaders, they should consider agentic AI as an option to achieve their goals.

What This Means for Mastering SAP Insiders

• Set up an AI strategy that includes agentic AI. With process improvement and greater efficiency as the goal, companies are beginning to tap into AI agents to automate increasingly complicated processes.
• Ensure AI governance is in place to maintain process visibility and reliability. Tech leaders aren’t just interested in creating more efficient processes, they want visibility into those processes and the outcomes they are producing. An AI strategy should include guard rails for checking the work of agentic AI, which will operate more independently than reactive AI, and measuring its impact.
• Meet with end-users and lines of business to identify potential processes for AI agent assistance. To find where investments in agentic AI can be most effective, and possibly identify some quick wins, it’s important to involve those in the front office who are currently manually working through essential business processes.