It’s open season on AI investment. Governments are throwing hundreds of billions at it, startups are pitching AI moonshots, and enterprises are piling into generative AI pilots. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most companies are not seeing any real returns.
SAP SE CEO Christian Klein has a blunt take on why. The problem, he says, is not the AI itself—it’s the outdated software and data chaos most businesses are running on. The fix starts with cloud migration.
A McKinsey survey makes it clear: over 80% of organisations globally have yet to see any profit impact from AI initiatives (McKinsey). The hype cycle is in full swing, but the operational reality is lagging.
“The companies failing with AI are the ones stuck in legacy IT,” Klein says. Decades-old on-premise software, fragmented datasets, and sprawling, poorly integrated systems are choking off AI’s effectiveness before it even starts.
That’s where cloud migration comes in—not as an IT upgrade, but as a survival strategy. Companies that shift to cloud platforms unlock real-time data, speed up processes, and cut the cost of maintaining outdated systems. Most importantly, they make it possible for AI to do more than just pilot projects—it can actually transform the way the business runs.
And this isn’t theoretical. SAP is betting on what happens when cloud software, modern data management, and AI agents converge. Digital coworkers—AI agents that do more than just summarise reports—are already automating complex workflows like tracking payments or resolving customer issues without human intervention.
For businesses, this is a clear blueprint: get off legacy software, migrate to cloud, clean up data infrastructure, and deploy AI where it can make a measurable impact. Companies that get this right will cut costs, boost operational speed, and outpace the competition.
The investment floodgates around AI are wide open. The companies that will win are those who build the right digital foundations first. That starts with cloud migration.