By : Bakinam Khaled

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redefining the business landscape, and companies that fail to embrace it risk falling behind. Speaking at LEAP 2025, recently appointed Chief Revenue Officer for SAP in Asia Pacific (APAC); Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA); and Middle Eastern Europe (MEE), Manos Raptopoulos, emphasized the urgent need for businesses to move beyond AI hype and unlock its real business value.

At a special event held on the main stage at LEAP this week, Raptopoulos shared insights on how the accelerating pace of technological innovation can help businesses worldwide tackle what seems to be a “normality” of continuous disruption. He outlined how SAP is taking a concrete view on AI, providing benchmarks on improvements customers can expect per board area and function.

“We see conviction with regards to the benefits. Business leaders we speak to everyday are past the “why” - they already want to connect AI to concrete business value. Our unique advantage is that we can provide AI immersed in the customers’ business context, going beyond just the technology,” said Raptopoulos. “SAP is at the forefront of helping organizations harness AI for business transformation, ensuring they can run their most critical processes with greater efficiency, agility, and visibility.”

Raptopoulos added, “SAP is firmly committed to Saudi Arabia and has over the past years invested more than 1 billion USD. As part of the long-term investment strategy, SAP established an SAP data center, launched an innovation center and invested continuously in talent. Building on this foundation, the focus of the past years, and in the future, will be to unlock the value of business AI for our customers.”

Raptopoulos’ participation at LEAP follows his recent appointment to SAP’s Extended Board, where he co-leads the global Customer Success board area alongside Jan Gilg. With his expanded role, he is set to drive SAP’s vision for AI-powered business transformation across key global markets.