Southeast Asia Hungry for Innovation: SAP’s Verena Siow Charts Leapfrog Path

Southeast Asia hungry for innovation

In a candid interview at SAP’s Singapore hub, the newly appointed APAC president Verena Siow declared that Southeast Asia hungry for innovation is no longer a slogan but a market reality. Smaller economies, unburdened by legacy stacks, are sprinting toward AI‑native cloud platforms, aiming to bypass traditional IT upgrade cycles.

“The region wants to leapfrog straight into the latest tech,” Siow told Reuters.

Young, mobile‑savvy consumers and a swelling middle class create fertile ground for rapid digital adoption. Companies such as ComfortDelGro, Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines have already piloted SAP’s AI suite, signalling early momentum.

A SAP‑Oxford Economics study revealed that Singaporean firms, despite spending an average $14.5 million annually on AI, see a modest 16% return on investment, underscoring a piecemeal rollout.

Siow warned that many organisations still treat AI as a series of isolated agents rather than an integrated layer, and that data quality remains a blind spot.

Industry chatter about a “SaaS‑pocalypse” – the notion that generative AI will render traditional software obsolete – meets Siow’s rebuttal: “Enterprise‑grade applications, governance and security frameworks remain indispensable for large‑scale AI outcomes.”

Financially, SAP posted ↑ 8% revenue growth to €36.8 billion in FY2025, with cloud earnings climbing to €21 billion, while software licences slipped. The company’s share price is currently ↓ 25% year‑to‑date.

Siow, the first Asian woman to steer SAP’s APAC unit, rose through six senior roles since 2011, navigating the pandemic’s isolation and overcoming early imposter syndrome. She notes that while >90% of Fortune 500 firms in the region run SAP, the bulk of the customer base – roughly 80% – consists of SMEs eager for plug‑and‑play AI solutions.

Her mandate blends growth ambition with a push for gender parity, a message she echoes to her two daughters and to aspiring female leaders across the continent.

Intel provided by Tariq Al-Fayed (Middle East Geopolitical Strategist).