Episode 69: Leveraging GEN AI and Cloud ERP for Next-Gen Financial Excellence with E.ON Digital Technology and PwC

This episode delves into the dynamic future of retail, spotlighting the pivotal role of AI in reshaping supply chains and customer interaction. Experts discuss how retailers are harnessing AI to deliver hyper-personalized shopping experiences, leveraging clean data to anticipate consumer needs and optimize inventory. The conversation explores the increasing importance of sustainability, with brands adopting eco-friendly practices and transparent supply chains to meet conscious consumer demands. The rise of social commerce platforms like TikTok is also examined, revealing how retailers are integrating social media into their sales strategies and supply chain management for unprecedented agility. This episode offers valuable insights into how technology, strategic data utilization, and a commitment to sustainability are converging to redefine the retail landscape and create new opportunities for brands and consumers alike.

In this episode of The Future of ERP, host Richard Howells welcomes Sakis Tabakis from E.ON Digital Technology and Max English of PwC to explore how cutting-edge cloud ERP and Generative AI are reshaping financial excellence. Sakis shares how E.ON’s Digital Lighthouse project is not just about technology upgrades - it’s a strategic foundation for agility in a fast-moving energy sector. The trio dive into how SAP Datasphere, SAP PAPM, and AI-driven insights create a unified, reliable data platform that breaks down silos, ensures compliance, and empowers smarter decisions in real time. Sakis highlights a bold vision: “The future of ERP is invisible. It thinks before you do, it speaks your language, and it acts when it really matters.” Max emphasizes the human side of digital transformation, reminding listeners that embracing AI means gaining efficiency and trusting technology as an enabler - not a threat. Whether you're curious about AI’s impact on finance or the future of cloud ERP, this episode offers inspiring lessons and practical insights. Tune in and discover what’s next for enterprise systems in a rapidly changing world!

This episode explores the evolution of ERP cybersecurity, emphasizing the shift from on-premise to cloud ERP and the shared responsibility model. Key topics include the rising risk of cyberattacks on supply chains, the benefits of expert collaboration in cloud security, and the importance of integrating security from the design phase. The discussion highlights cultural changes, trust-building, and the role of employee training in strengthening defenses. Emerging technologies like AI are examined for their potential to enhance threat detection, automate responses, and proactively defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, shaping the future of secure and resilient ERP systems.

This episode examines how generative AI is fundamentally changing ERP systems and financial decision-making. It explores AI’s role in enhancing cash flow management, forecasting, and scenario modeling by integrating diverse data sources and automating complex analyses. The discussion highlights AI-driven hyper-personalized financial strategies, fraud detection, and cross-system communication, showing how AI helps manage uncertainty and volatility. It also addresses the importance of data quality, governance, potential biases, and risks in deploying AI in finance, emphasizing the ongoing value of ERPs as trusted platforms in a complex digital ecosystem.

This episode examines how digital transformation, cloud migration, and AI are shaping the future of banking and ERP. It opens with an overview of the most significant trends for 2025, highlighting the shift to digital-first strategies and the growing reliance on cloud solutions. Falk Rieker discusses the challenges banks face in understanding customer needs, building loyalty, and managing data complexity. The conversation covers practical examples of AI integration in banking, explores strategies for effective data management, and considers how banks can differentiate themselves in a competitive landscape. The episode concludes with advice for leaders on navigating business transformation and enhancing user experience in financial services.

This episode explores how technology and business truly come together to drive meaningful change, focusing on the shift from on-premise to cloud ERP. You’ll hear how companies are breaking free from outdated systems, overcoming technical debt, and embracing more agile, modular approaches to stay ahead in a fast-changing world. The conversation unpacks common myths about security and customization, explains why cloud ERP offers greater trust and flexibility, and highlights the priorities today’s CIOs are setting to future-proof their organizations. With insights on continuous innovation, compliance, and keeping your business unique, this discussion will leave you rethinking what’s possible for the future of work.

SAP’s Lauren Husum, Vice President of Product Marketing for SaaS ERP, dives into the evolving landscape of ERP systems. Lauren explains why ERP remains the heart of organizations, serving as a critical foundation for innovation rather than becoming obsolete. She highlights three key trends shaping the future of ERP: the integration of AI, the importance of smart data, and the continued evolution of ERP applications. Lauren explains how AI is revolutionizing business processes by enhancing decision-making, boosting operational efficiency, and increasing employee productivity. SAP’s approach to AI emphasizes relevance, reliability, and responsibility, ensuring AI solutions are embedded in enterprise applications, trained on extensive business data, and developed with strong ethical standards. She stresses that AI’s success depends on high-quality, harmonized data across systems, which ERP platforms uniquely provide. Ultimately, the episode underscores that ERP is not dead but evolving into a powerful enabler of digital transformation. Organizations that leverage ERP combined with AI and smart data will unlock greater agility, efficiency, and growth in the years ahead.

SAP's Brent Potts discusses five key trends shaping the sector in 2025. Companies are balancing traditional hydrocarbon production with investments in renewables like wind, solar, and hydrogen, recognizing that oil will remain vital for decades. Decarbonization efforts, including carbon capture and biofuels, are accelerating under pressure from stakeholders. The industry is also adopting standardized cloud ERP systems to improve efficiency, focusing AI on automating complex processes. Finally, collaboration and partnerships are crucial as companies navigate this complex transition, driving innovation and resilience in a rapidly changing energy landscape.

In this episode of The Future of ERP, Gaye Bingul, SAP Insurance Industry Lead, and Javier Gil, Head of Global Insurance & Reinsurance at SAP, discuss how the future of insurance relies on AI-powered ERP systems that unify all types of data-structured, unstructured, SAP, and non-SAP-to unlock deeper insights into customers and climate risks. They highlight key challenges insurers face, including complex global data privacy regulations, the growing aging population (“silver segment”), and a widening skills gap due to retiring experts and difficulty attracting new tech talent. Gaye and Javier emphasize how insurers can leverage connected devices, wearables, and AI-driven analytics to offer personalized health and wellness services that help the aging population stay healthy and independent while driving innovation and growth. Listeners gain insight into why digital transformation and advanced ERP solutions are critical for navigating regulatory demands and demographic shifts in the insurance industry.

In this episode of the Future of ERP, Sandeep Chowdhury, Senior Director in SAP’s Telecommunications Industry Business Unit, discusses how the telecom industry is evolving with advanced ERP systems to support Industry 4.0, 5G adoption, and smarter networks. He explains how emerging technologies like 6G and AI are transforming network operations and customer experiences. Sandeep also explores telecom’s influence on other sectors, regulatory challenges, and the increasing importance of AI in automation and fraud prevention. Sustainability is a key theme, as he addresses energy use, e-waste, and circular economy efforts. Overall, Sandeep reveals how telecom is balancing innovation and environmental responsibility to shape the future of connectivity.