Summary
The core message of the session was that enterprise AI value will not come simply from using the same public models as everyone else; it will come from applying AI to proprietary business data, process knowledge, industry context, and governance. Greta Buschhaus introduced Thomas Saueressig, Chief Customer Officer and Executive Board member at SAP, as someone who has sat on both sides of the CIO conversation. Saueressig opened with a personal example: he uses AI agents each morning to scan the web for news about SAP and himself, summarize coverage, analyze sentiment, and correlate weekly sentiment with the stock price. His point was practical rather than futuristic: agents already remove repetitive information-gathering work and create more immediate insight.
Key Topics
5 key topics from Thomas Saueressig and Greta Buschhaus at Bits & Pretzels 2026 | Founders Festival in Munich. Thicker branches were mentioned more often in the talk.
Key Takeaways
- Reimagine business processes before automating isolated tasks with agents.
- Keep human accountability for customer communications and regulated decisions.
- Build compliance, auditability, and governance before scaling pilots.
- Combine data with process, industry context, and controls.
- Preserve model sovereignty with switching options and knowledge graphs.
“You can outsource a lot to digital labor for sure but you cannot outsource accountability.”
Up Next
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