SAPHILA 2025 highlights how cloud and business AI innovations are significantly boosting organisational growth across Africa

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]xperts, partners, and customers gathered at SAPHILA 2025 from 1st to 3rd June at the Sun City Resort & Convention Centre, confirming that cloud and business Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations are rapidly accelerating organisational growth across Africa.

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This was a key takeaway from the premier conference of the African SAP User Group (AFSUG), an independent, non-profit organisation representing SAP’s customer and partner communities on the continent.

According to conference organisers, SAPHILA 2025 took place as African organisations increasingly harness cloud and AI-powered technologies to overcome traditional limitations and explore new frontiers of innovation.

Sergio Maccotta, Vice President of SAP Middle East Africa South, underscored Africa’s importance to SAP’s global vision. “Africa is a vital region for SAP’s vision of bringing out the best in every business,” Maccotta stated.

“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.”

Thomas Pfiester, Head of Global Customer Engagement & Services and Member of the Extended Board at SAP, emphasised the critical need for a holistic approach to business transformation and cloud adoption to fully unlock the 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 noted.

Research conducted by SAP revealed that cloud and AI skills are the most highly valued attributes among African organisations when recruiting tech talent.

All companies surveyed in Africa’s AI Skills Readiness Revealed report anticipate an increased demand for AI skills this year.

Stefan Steinle, Executive Vice President and Head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at SAP, elaborated on how companies adopting an AI-first and suite-first strategy are revolutionising their business operations. Steinle explained, ”

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.”

This year’s SAPHILA programme featured keynote speeches and insightful presentations from both local and global experts, alongside a range of interactive sessions.

These included an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session, product deep dives via a personalised digital portal, and various practical sessions.

Nazia Pillay, Interim Managing Director for South Africa at SAP, described SAPHILA as the most crucial 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,” she commented.

“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.”

Amanda Gibbs, AFSUG CEO, echoed these sentiments, adding, “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.

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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.”