SAP says AI governance is key to protecting profit margins

SAP says enterprise AI governance is becoming a business requirement as companies move agentic AI systems from pilots into production. The article says Manos Raptopoulos, SAP’s global president of customer success for Europe, APAC, the Middle East and Africa, argues that firms need tighter control, better data foundations, and clearer accountability to reduce operational risk. The piece focuses on how autonomous AI agents can plan, coordinate, and execute workflows, but may also create problems if they are not managed with strict policies, audit trails, and human escalation rules. It notes that adding these controls can increase latency and compute costs, which affects projected margins. The article also says SAP sees value in building AI on proprietary business data, such as orders, invoices, supply chain records, and financial postings, rather than relying only on generic models. It argues that companies that align governance, data quality, and workflow design may be better positioned to use AI in customer service, operations, and enterprise planning.