Charlie Brennan's questions to SAP (SAP) leadership • Q3 2025
Question
Charlie Brennan with Jefferies inquired about SAP's investment levels for AI, specifically whether required funding can be met by reallocating R&D spend and reinvesting efficiencies, or if an acceleration in investment is needed. He also asked about the accelerating decline in support revenues and the impact of total cloud backlog moving into current cloud backlog (CCB) on in-quarter deal pressure.
Answer
Dominik Asam, CFO of SAP, confirmed that the accelerating decline in support revenue is a trend SAP has anticipated. Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, stated that AI investment focuses on quality over quantity of R&D personnel, shifting developers to AI and data science roles. He noted internal AI adoption, like Joule for Developer, is driving efficiencies, allowing SAP to manage R&D investment effectively without a radical shift, while still having a strong development backlog.