SAP experts, partners and customers, who converged at SAPHILA 2025, have stated that cloud and business AI innovations are accelerating organisations’ growth.
According to the organisers of the conference, in a statement, this was part of the fallouts of this year’s SAPHILA, the premier conference of the African SAP User Group—an independent, non-profit organisation representing SAP’s customers and partner communities in Africa— which was held from 1 to 3 June at the Sun City Resort & Convention Centre in South Africa.
“SAPHILA 2025 takes place as organisations across the continent increasingly leverage cloud and AI-powered technologies to break through traditional limits and explore new frontiers of innovation, the organisers added.
The Vice President of SAP Middle East Africa South, Sergio Maccotta, says: “Africa is a vital region for SAP’s vision of bringing out the best in every business. As our incredible customers, partners and experts gather at this year’s SAPHILA, we are excited to explore new opportunities to help organisations take advantage of the latest cloud and business AI innovations to power growth and success throughout the region.”
The Head of Global Customer Engagement & Services and Member of the Extended Board at SAP, Thomas Pfiester, noted the importance of a holistic approach to business transformation and cloud adoption to unlock the full value of innovations like AI. “Organisations are under pressure to stay agile and foster innovation across the entire enterprise. But this is much more than just a technology shift, it’s about capabilities, tools, and methodology to accelerate business transformation and deliver faster time to value,” he said.
Research conducted by SAP found that cloud and AI skills were the most prized among African organisations when recruiting tech talent.
All companies that formed part of Africa’s AI Skills Readiness Revealed report expected the demand for AI skills to increase this year.
The Executive Vice President and Head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at SAP, Stefan Steinle, highlighted how companies adopting an AI-first and suite-first strategy were revolutionising their business operations.
Steinle mentioned, “Organisations are unlocking smarter decision-making, seamless collaboration and innovation-fuelled growth by embedding systems of AI agents and leveraging a unified data layer enabled by SAP Business Data Cloud. For our customers and partners, the journey to unlocking the power of cloud is accelerated by RISE with SAP, the most effective route to transforming their on-premise ERP landscape to a cloud-first model.”
The organisers of the conference disclosed that this year’s SAPHILA included keynote speeches and insightful presentations from local and global experts and a range of interactive sessions, including an Ask Me Anything session, product deep dives through a personalised digital portal, and several practical sessions.
According to the Interim Managing Director for South Africa at SAP, Nazia Pillay, SAPHILA is the most important networking event for SAP’s ecosystem this year.
“As our customers and partners explore new realms of possibilities with powerful business AI and cloud technologies, this year’s SAPHILA will provide invaluable insights and guidance on how to best take advantage of this new era of innovation. We thank AFSUG for driving this essential event in this year’s calendar and look forward to sharing our latest insights and solutions with the broader SAP ecosystem.”
AFSUG CEO Amanda Gibbs added, “This year’s SAPHILA is an unmissable event for every company and partner that leverages SAP’s technologies to transform their operations and drive innovation. Thank you to our friends at SAP for their support and for the incredible lineup of local and global experts sharing their invaluable learnings with our delegates.”
