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BeijingJune 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — IBM and SAP jointly released the white paper “Consensus in the Cloud, Security for the Long Haul,” focusing on the core challenges in enterprise intelligent transformation. It proposes a digital transformation framework and implementation solutions tailored for the AI era, providing a reference for enterprises to build secure and sustainable business capabilities.
IBM Corporation logo.
I. Multi-Dimensional Challenges in Enterprise Intelligent Transformation
The white paper points out that as enterprises move from partial optimization to comprehensive intelligence, they must address challenges from three aspects: the external environment, internal business collaboration, and IT architecture:
- Accelerating External Environmental Changes: The global market environment, compliance requirements, and technology iteration pace are accelerating. Enterprise core business systems need to simultaneously adapt to complex supply chain management, data compliance standards, and rapidly evolving AI technologies.
- Internal Business Collaboration Barriers: Some enterprises face fragmented end-to-end business processes and inconsistent data standards, impacting the effectiveness of AI models in business scenarios. The existence of “shadow IT” also exacerbates data silos and security risks.
- Inadequate Existing IT Architecture Support: Some enterprises’ core ERP systems have been running for many years, and traditional processing models struggle to support real-time decision-making needs. Applications, data, and intelligent capabilities are not effectively integrated, making it difficult to embed AI into daily operational processes; less than half of enterprises have established comprehensive autonomous agent governance mechanisms.
II. Building an Autonomous Enterprise: A New Paradigm for the AI Era
The key to breaking through is to establish a digital foundation adapted to the AI era: rooted in a new-generation cloud-native digital base, unified by domain-wide data semantic consistency, and safeguarded by a full-process governance system. This empowers enterprises to achieve a core leap from capability supplementation to intelligent transformation. We believe that enterprises should build the capability of an “Autonomous Enterprise” and create a future-oriented operational model — not replacing humans with AI, but enabling agents to proactively execute within clear boundaries, while humans focus on judgment and decision-making.
Core Capabilities for Reshaping Enterprise Operations
- Joule Work Interaction Layer: Integrates data and workflows from multiple systems, proactively pushes business insights, automates routine tasks, and enables operations through natural language.
- Five Autonomous Management Suites: Covering the five core areas of finance, supply chain, customer experience, spend, and human resources, achieving end-to-end process intelligence.
- Industry and Globalization Adaptation Capabilities: Natively embed industry characteristics into SAP Cloud ERP core processes, support multi-country and multi-language compliant operations, and reduce customization development costs and cycles.
Security and compliance are the cornerstones of enterprise intelligent transformation. SAP Cloud ERP provides comprehensive security and compliance capabilities, including:
- Data Security: Technical measures provide effective support for ensuring data security and protecting sensitive business data.
- Compliance Certifications: Helps customers meet global and industry-specific legal and regulatory requirements.
- High Availability: 99.9% SLA guarantee, with 24/7/365 AI-enhanced threat management.
- Authoritative Certifications: Passes multiple authoritative certifications, including ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 9000; SOC1, SOC2; and China’s Ministry of Public Security Level 3 Protection.
Security is not a limitation, but liberation. Only when enterprises are confident that data cannot be tampered with, permissions cannot be overstepped, and compliance cannot be bypassed, will they entrust their most critical business to the cloud and AI.
III. IBM’s Five Implementation Phases: Enabling “Quick Wins with Controlled Risk” in Transformation
IBM has developed a phased, iterative, and value-releasing Cloud ERP accelerated implementation path, breaking down the complex transformation into five phases:
Phase 1: Laying the Foundation: Seeing Business Value in Weeks
Focuses on rapid delivery of core processes, offering three startup modes:
- Finance-Led Lean Start: Streamlines core chains from order to cash, procure to pay, and record to report, building a universal operational foundation for all industries.
- Service-Centric Business Scenarios: Targets project-based, subscription-based, and solution-based businesses, enhancing fulfillment, service, and customer value management.
- Product-Centric Business Scenarios: Covers manufacturing, planning, supply chain, logistics, and asset management, supporting complex physical business operations.
Simultaneously embeds basic AI capabilities, such as automatic sales order creation and automated financial reconciliation, allowing enterprises to quickly gain confidence in transformation.
Phase 2: Extending the Core: Breaking Down Data Silos
Integrates systems like CRM, SCM, and third-party BI through the Business AI Platform (BAIP), developing customized analytical reports and dashboards to provide structured cross-departmental collaboration.
Phase 3: Expanding Capability Boundaries: Adapting to Business Growth
Introduces more business modules such as supply chain collaboration and enterprise performance management. Leverages SAP Cloud ERP’s twice-yearly version upgrades to continuously introduce new features.
Phase 4: Unleashing Data Value: From “Cost Reduction and Efficiency” to “Innovation and Growth”
Integrates cross-platform, multi-domain data analytics, blending structured and unstructured data analysis to uncover new business opportunities.
Phase 5: Future-Oriented: Building a Self-Adaptive Enterprise
Integrates cutting-edge technologies like IoT, blockchain, and generative AI, transforming ERP into a core platform for continuous innovation, moving towards the goal of an “Autonomous Enterprise.”
Final Thoughts
The starting point of intelligence is not algorithms, but consensus — without unified semantic definitions across departments and systems, AI learns not patterns, but organizational conflicts. The end point of transformation is not technology, but trust — without a unified security foundation and governance framework, even the most advanced technology cannot be implemented.
The collaboration between IBM and SAP is not about chasing today’s technology trends, but about helping enterprises build an intelligent foundation capable of supporting tomorrow’s changes. Rather than patching fragments, it is better to rebuild on a solid foundation. In the cloud, we reach consensus; with security, we can go the distance.
For more insights, solutions, and case studies, please read the full report “Consensus in the Cloud, Security for the Long Haul: IBM and SAP Empower Enterprise Intelligent Transformation.”
About IBM Institute for Business Value
The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) is IBM’s thought leadership think tank. For over 20 years, it has provided research-backed and technology-supported strategic insights to help leaders make smarter business decisions. Leveraging IBM’s unique position at the intersection of business, technology, and society, the IBV annually surveys, interviews, and engages with tens of thousands of executives, consumers, and experts, synthesizing their perspectives into trustworthy, inspiring, and actionable insights.
Visit the IBM Institute for Business Value China website to download research reports for free: https://www.ibm.com/ibv/cn
About SAP
As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP sits at the intersection of business and technology. For over 50 years, enterprises have trusted SAP to help them perform at their best by integrating core business operations such as finance, procurement, human resources, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, please visit: SAP China News Center https://news.sap.cn