Another great conference by MasteringSAP
19 Dec 2025
Azahir Rahim
What we saw, what we learned
MasteringSAP delivered another well‑organised, high‑energy conference at ICC Sydney, spread over 2.5 days. More than 650 participants from 180+ organisations came together to share real experiences, successes and lessons learned across the SAP ecosystem. Realtech has supported and sponsored MasteringSAP for over a decade, and this year, once again, showed why: the open, practical exchange among SAP, business users, partners, and practitioners.
What we saw
Strong attendance and momentum: a packed ICC Sydney, diverse industries represented, and an audience ready to ask hard questions and share what’s working.
Keynotes that balanced AI with human focus:
- Jamie Bedard (SAPinsider) surfaced pragmatic realities from the S/4HANA Migration Report 2025: adoption is growing, but only 26% have switched and 42% plan to move before 2027, signalling a significant wave still ahead.
- Annette Slunjski (Mastering SAP) drove home the value of supportive networks and collaborative innovation with a memorable live lamb on stage to make the point stick.
- Jesse Hart (Team Liquid) showed how a top esports organisation blends SAP analytics, predictive tools, and AI with human instinct, think draft bots and real‑time opponent analysis for faster decisions.
- Dr Jordan Nguyen’s “Technology for Humanity” demonstrated AI‑driven accessibility through eye‑tracking interfaces (Psykinetic Stargaze) and “Koobo,” an AI companion robot that continues his grandmother’s legacy.
Business AI everywhere
From finance operations to UI development, we saw embedded AI making processes faster and smarter. Examples included AI‑powered treasury, automated tax compliance, intelligent reporting, and Standard Chartered’s FinSight Intelligence as a benchmark for predictive finance. SAP also showcased Joule accelerating UI development in SAP Build.
Hands‑on energy: the first‑ever Developer Garage complete with laptops loaded with tools and tutorials was always full and SAP Developer Advocates helping attendees troubleshoot, explore, and tinker.
What we learned
- S/4HANA is a business transformation, not just a deadline. The 2027 timeline matters, but migrations that win are anchored in outcomes: process redesign, data quality, and AI readiness rather than a calendar date.
- Business AI is reshaping roles. Finance and IT are stepping into transformation partner mode. Automation is moving teams from reactive reporting to predictive decision‑making, with human judgment providing context.
- Human‑in‑the‑loop is a feature, not a bug. Team Liquid’s approach reinforces that AI accelerates analysis, while human intuition and domain expertise set the risk boundaries and make the calls.
- Accessibility drives innovation for everyone. Designing for edge cases like eye‑tracking interfaces often unlocks breakthroughs that improve experiences broadly.
- Enablement accelerates adoption. When teams can learn by doing (Developer Garage), ask questions, and see working examples, the path from idea to value gets shorter.
- Speed needs guardrails. Tools like SAP Joule and Build can boost delivery speed; governance, data stewardship, model monitoring, and change management keep that speed sustainable.
Our takeaways for clients
- Lead with outcomes: define the business problems, then, design your migration and operating model around S/4HANA and the embedded AI capabilities.
- Invest in AI readiness: prioritise data quality, process standardisation, and user enablement, so predictive reporting and automation land well.
- Keep humans central: AI assists but keep human central in decision frameworks, build data literacy, and track impact on user experience, cost, and risk.
- Create safe sandboxes: replicate Developer Garage hands‑on environments energy in future conferences where developers and business users can experiment and collaborate.
- Govern for scale: set clear policies for data, models, and change, so you can move in modular fashion without sacrificing speed.
In short, MasteringSAP showed a community leaning into AI‑driven, outcome‑led transformation. The organisations that pull ahead will combine strong platforms with stronger practices, balancing speed, governance and AI with human focus.