SAP CTO: 'SaaS Is Dead' Claim Confuses Building Apps With Running Them

SAP Chief Technology Officer Philipp Herzig addressed the “SaaS is dead” debate in an interview published on Oct. 25, 2026, arguing that AI's ability to generate software is different from the responsibility of running enterprise applications. He also discussed how AI is changing workplace software, how agents can obtain accurate information, controlling AI costs, and building models for business data.

Herzig said the “SaaS is dead” narrative confuses generating an application with running it. As an example, generating an expense app is one thing, but running it across 40 countries, keeping up with tax rules, enforcing permissions, and reconciling reimbursements is another. As agents take on more autonomous work, he said, they depend more on trusted data, business context, governance, and security. The interface may change radically, but the need for reliable business processes does not.

Asked why many AI pilots never reach production, Herzig said there is still substantial human work between a prototype and an enterprise-scale production system, including managing underlying technical dependencies and complexity while keeping the user experience simple.

He said adoption has been harder than technology at SAP. Useful AI changes who makes decisions and how, affecting expertise, authority, and professional identity. Companies moving fastest have often given access to employees whose judgment is already trusted, he added, noting that a respected supply chain manager saying a tool helped catch a disruption is more powerful than any training program.