Signpost: Auto-sapiens systems 
are the next next

The most powerful decisions inside modern enterprises may well arise beyond boardrooms. They can now emerge from systems that learn, adapt, and act before anyone issues a command. In other words, intelligence no longer needs to wait for permission.

That compelling scenario was painted at Saphila 2025, the biannual conference of the African SAP User Group (AFSUG), held at Sun City this week. The event drew together technology leaders and enterprise architects from across the continent, focused on the impact of AI, cloud, and digital transformation on African business. In keynote sessions and breakout talks, a unifying theme emerged: the systems that drive operations are beginning to think for themselves.

In one of the most compelling sessions of the event, Jesper Schleimann, chief strategy and innovation officer for SAP EMEA North, described the concept as “auto-sapiens systems”. Such enterprise technologies act with purpose, interpret context, and make decisions inside live business processes.

“These systems follow purpose and context by design,” said Schleimann in his talk. “They act because the logic, the purpose, and the data already exist inside them.”

They handle invoice reconciliation, adjust logistics, dispatch field service teams, and optimise supply chains, all in real time. Tasks once dependent on manual triggers or lengthy approvals can now be executed automatically, with speed and precision.

“These systems operate with embedded awareness,” he said. “They apply intelligence where it matters most: inside the flow of work.”

It sounds like the concept of agentic AI that giants like Google, Salesforce and Microsoft regard as the next big thing, but it is more like the next next big thing.

“Intelligence lives inside the process,” he told Gadget on the sidelines of Saphila. “It aligns with context and delivers relevance. That creates real transformation.

“The process creates data, the data provides context, the context feeds intelligence, and the intelligence improves the process. That’s the flywheel. Each turn makes the system more effective.”

This dynamic feedback loop enables continuous refinement without waiting for external intervention. AI could not be separated from the action or bolted on.

“This has to be at the heart of the vehicle. It has to be embedded from the beginning. When you open up an application, you’re not just seeing a blank sheet. It will immediately have a level of insight that supersedes your own. That’s really the big thing: bringing the ontologies of data together with your own business and AI.

“It’s not about putting a brain on top. It’s about making the system itself intelligent.”

But it is also not about doing away with human beings. Schleimann believes this issue is deeply relevant to South Africa.

“You have a great tradition for mining. You have great natural resources. Now we’ve got to mine our people and our data.”

In his vision, the raw material of the future is not underground, but embedded in enterprise systems, processes, and minds. This shift, “from mine to mind”, as he puts it, redefines value creation. It is now about extracting insight from operational truth, refining it through AI, and using it to unlock human potential.

“That really is your moat long-term as an enterprise. Bringing people together with that data and unlocking their minds.”

This, he suggested, requires more than dashboards and data lakes. It calls for a transformation in how intelligence is designed, applied, and trusted, by every layer of the organisation.

Schleimann’s outlook extends beyond automation. “AI can make me better. It can bring out the best in me and help coach me. As we see AI increasing the productivity of people, the demand for people will go up. From an enterprise viewpoint, upskilling, reskilling, and change management will be the new competitive advantage.”

This human-centred view stands in sharp contrast to fear-based narratives around AI job displacement. Schleimann sees an urgent imperative for organisations to elevate their people alongside their systems, or risk being outpaced by competitors that do.

SAP’s latest S/4HANA enterprise resource platform reflects this mindset. It includes generative agents, embedded analytics, and intelligent workflows. These are defaults rather than add-ons.

“We don’t treat AI as a feature. It has to be part of the foundation from day one.”

Across industries, the results are tangible. Healthcare workflows accelerate. Educational content adapts. Procurement uncovers anomalies before they cascade. Each result builds from live intelligence, acting at the speed of need.

* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx, editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za, and author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI.