SAP identified at least $100 million in AI token risk.
An SAP blog post revealed a triple-digit-million-dollar financial risk tied to AI tokens.
Lukas Deutsch, Chief Controlling Officer at SAP, and David Imbert, CMO for SAP Financial Management, explained how the company controls that spending.
A small number of accounts drove much of the consumption, particularly power users and automated agents. Costly frontier-model choices pushed the bill higher, as did tool sprawl.
The response started with token capping and model routing. SAP also rationalised tools to "remove waste, preserve productive demand".
After rolling out AI developer tools, SAP reports a mid-double-digit percentage increase in pull-request merge rates. Adoption kept climbing despite the controls.
The executives wrote, "Token spend is not a technology line item. It is a strategic and operational investment decision."
Who in your organisation can name today which accounts are spending your AI budget?
Sources
Our file on SAP
- 5 Nov
SAP says its network handles over $8 trillion of trade a year. Its AI agent post names no customer.
- 5 Nov
SAP says AI agents handle more than 90% of a wholesaler's 100,000 supplier confirmations unaided. Its Takeda figures are forecasts.
- 5 Nov
SAP says Somerset Council moved about 8,500 staff off its 17-year-old payroll system in 13 months, on budget. Nobody named the budget.
- 5 Nov
SAP offered 300 AI agents. Workday's product chief, a former SAP executive, called the autonomous enterprise idea "cold and soulless".
- 4 Nov
SAP won a Dutch military cloud deal of up to ten years. The ministry says it does not end its SAP dependence.
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