'We have over 34K clients leveraging AI globally'

German technology major SAP showcased that in an uncertain macro environment, businesses will rely on technology. The firm's Q1 2025 revenue grew 11 per cent in constant currency and operating profit was up 58 per cent, giving it confidence of a double-digit growth rate. SAP also called India one of the regions with 'outstanding' performance in Cloud adoption. SIMON DAVIES, president, SAP Asia Pacific, in an interview with Shivani Shinde, on the sidelines of SAP NOW AI Tour, talks about his priorities for the region. Edited excerpts:

- Simon Davies, President, SAP Asia Pacific

You completed about 10 weeks in this role and your appointment also saw a change in the regional division. Why the shift from Asia-Pacific Japan (APJ) to Asia-Pacific (APAC) and what will be your key focus areas?

Historically, we have operated as APJ, and Greater China was a separate region. We saw two trends—one, there was an opportunity for SAP to bring its capabilities at scale across geographies by combining them. This allowed us to offer best-in-class innovation around artificial intelligence (AI), data and Cloud, among others. We also saw that customers in APAC were increasingly coming together as a region. By merging the two company groups, we are now in a much better position to support our customers and leverage co-investments. For instance, we have a great footprint in India, with SAP Labs. It is the second-largest research and development (R&D) footprint for SAP and China is perhaps our third-largest R&D hub. So now, being a part of one APAC team, we can truly leverage the economic opportunities in these regions for our customers. My top three priorities for APAC are: To help customers unlock the power of AI, support their continued journey to Cloud, and scale up with our partners so that we can achieve the first two priorities.

Have you seen any impact of the tariff wars on your customer spends or tech roadmap?