The business landscape in Southeast Asia is undergoing a complete transformation. Whereas the early 2000s were driven by the "Digital Economy," we are now entering the era of the "AI Economy," with artificial intelligence powering business growth.
A key driver in the region is the younger generation, digital natives who have grown up with technology, combined with strong GDP growth. This has shifted business perspectives beyond merely using technology as a tool to fundamentally redesign organizational workflows from the ground up.
At the heart of this transformation is the concept of the "Autonomous Enterprise," which SAP regards as the most significant technological leap in its history. This is no longer a future concept but is actively being realized, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises that make up the bulk of businesses in the region.
This concept became the central theme of the SAP NOW AI Tour Southeast Asia 2026 held in Singapore, where attendance doubled compared to the previous year, reflecting the rapidly growing demand for Business AI in the region.
To truly understand how the AI economy operates, organizations must look beyond consumer AI trends and grasp how SAP integrates autonomous technology into the real business context, which involves complex processes and critical data.
In the history of enterprise software, each decade has brought major changes—from the emergence of modern ERP in the 1970s to the launch of SAP HANA, a pivotal moment for the company.
However, SAP views the Autonomous Enterprise as the company’s greatest technological advancement to date.
This concept goes beyond simply layering AI onto existing business processes; it redesigns how businesses operate, enabling humans and AI Agents to collaborate continuously and seamlessly.
The Autonomous Enterprise structure comprises five interconnected components:
A key principle of Autonomous Operations is that AI Agents must integrate with critical organizational processes. SAP has established essential guidelines required for serious enterprise AI adoption.
Liher Urbizu, President and Managing Director of SAP Southeast Asia, used surfing as an analogy during the keynote: when planning a surf trip, AI can help arrange general travel plans using public data, which is fine for common information.
However, asking AI for specific, detailed data—like exact tide times, wave directions, or local wind speeds—can lead public AI to hallucinate or give wrong answers. For personal travel, errors may be low cost, but applying the same standard in business results in very different consequences.
Liher Urbizu stated, "If you apply this at a business level with the same standards, the impact is vastly different. Your financial reports cannot be 80% accurate; they must be 100% accurate at all times."
Using AI without connection to verified organizational data can cause problems like incorrect supplier information, inventory discrepancies, and mismatched financial data. To prevent costly damages, AI must operate on secure organizational data under strong governance frameworks.
This is why Business AI differs significantly from consumer AI.
While global tech events often highlight multinational corporations, Southeast Asia’s real business landscape is highly local. SAP data shows over 80% of SAP customers globally and in Thailand are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Therefore, SAP’s technology is not just for global giants but is becoming a vital tool that supports Thai brands’ growth regionally. Many Thai companies are adopting modern ERP and cloud standards to expand while reducing bottlenecks caused by overreliance on manual human workflows.
Thairath Money had the opportunity to speak with Kulwipa Piyawatmeth, Managing Director of SAP Indochina, and two Thai companies, Sotus and Journal, during the SAP NOW AI Southeast Asia 2026 event. These companies exemplify how Thai organizations use modern ERP and cloud systems to scale their businesses.
Sotus, a key player in Thailand’s agricultural manufacturing sector, has partnered with SAP for over 15 years. Jirath Pratuengwong, Managing Director of Sotus International Co., Ltd., recalled that when Sotus was a medium-sized business, leadership recognized that sustainable growth required a strong operational foundation.
The company chose SAP for its comprehensive growth-supportive systems and robust operational governance, which helped establish organizational standards.
After 15 years using SAP, Sotus worked with implementation partners to migrate directly to SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. Over this journey, the company nearly doubled its business value.
Using S/4HANA Public Cloud also created long-term cost advantages, eliminating the need to maintain physical servers while receiving automatic software updates.
As a result, Sotus reduced operating costs, maintained compliance with Thailand-specific requirements, and gained faster access to new AI innovations.
Journal, a premium Thai perfume brand, was another Thai representative at the event. Thananya Sutheerachai, co-founder and CEO of Journal Corp, shared that the company, founded in 2017, grew rapidly to 25 branches.
However, as the business expanded, its existing IT systems became a major bottleneck. Previously, Journal used three completely separate domestic systems: one for POS, one for sales, and one for finance.
The fragmented data required extensive manual work for data reconciliation, increasing the risk of errors and inconsistencies.
For example, sales reported revenue after tax, while finance calculated figures before tax, causing confusion and delays in determining which figures were accurate.
To support long-term goals of international expansion, Journal chose SAP to create a centralized data source, or Single Source of Truth. They are currently migrating their core systems with implementation partners and aim to launch the new system in November.
Thananya believes this transformation standardizes internal work, reduces administrative errors, and improves interdepartmental communication, enabling Journal’s growth from a Thai brand to global markets.
SAP clearly emphasizes that the Autonomous Enterprise is not designed to replace people or reduce headcount but to improve customer experience by enabling faster responses and reducing service delays.
Therefore, the essence of the Autonomous Enterprise is not AI replacing humans but "buying back human time and enabling people to focus on more strategic work."
By automating repetitive and manual tasks, employees can dedicate time to what humans do best: analysis, creativity, solving complex problems, communication, and decision-making in ambiguous situations.
"AI will help gather information and automate preparation steps, but it will not make decisions. Under pressure, humans remain the decision-makers."
Thus, in the AI economy, business competition may shift from "who has AI" to "who can use AI to empower their people the most." Liher Urbizu said,
when employees receive AI "assistants" that handle data and lengthy preparatory tasks, businesses across Southeast Asia can maximize their existing resources. In a rapidly changing economy, these tools may become crucial factors enabling faster adaptation, stronger competitiveness, and the ability to seize new opportunities ahead of rivals.
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