Etosha Thurman, chief marketing officer for finance and spend management at SAP, explains how finance and procurement have evolved from back-office functions into strategic engines of resilience and business growth.

1. First things first: What shifts in the past few years have made both procurement and finance central to the way companies build resilience and respond to disruption?

Thurman: The last few years have stress-tested every assumption about stability as supply shocks, labor shortages, interest rate swings and geopolitical tensions all hit at once.

In that environment, the functions closest to spend, liquidity and suppliers suddenly took center stage. Procurement teams became crisis managers, securing supply, renegotiating contracts and mitigating risk. Finance teams had to forecast and re-forecast constantly, keeping boards informed while protecting cash and funding growth.

Resilience is no longer just a supply chain or IT concern. It lives in how companies forecast and mitigate risks, spend and manage cash, and how quickly teams can act on signals from their network of suppliers, partners, and customers.

2. Next steps: How is SAP supporting finance and procurement teams in their efforts to turn disruption into opportunity through innovation and integration?

Thurman: Companies do not need more tools; they need intelligence built into the work they already do.

That is where SAP fits in. Instead of asking organizations to jump between systems to find answers, intelligence now appears directly inside sourcing events, supplier interactions, workforce decisions, financial workflows, and more.

Teams shift from firefighting to opportunity finding. Seeing risk sooner and being able to act in the moment turns disruption into a catalyst for better decisions, not just a shock to absorb.

3. More info: How are SAP's new AI capabilities across finance and spend helping customers make smarter, faster decisions?

Thurman: Many of us have been working with AI as a tool — something we query, prompt or delegate tasks to.

• This is starting to show positive results with 75% of our recent survey with The Economist respondents saying that they have seen some or significant improvement in productivity and efficiency because of AI. The truth is that it is no longer discretionary to use AI, it is now essential to long-term competitiveness.
• At SAP, we have introduced new task-specific AI agents alongside our co-pilot, Joule, which helps surface insights and allows users to take action directly within business applications. For example, a sourcing team evaluating supplier bids can use SAP's Sourcing Assistant to scan proposals in seconds, highlight key differences and flag areas that require a closer look. The result is more time spent on judgment and strategy and less on gathering information.

4. The results: As teams embed AI into their workflows, how are they using the time they get back to create greater business impact?

Thurman: This shift in how work gets done also changes how teams spend their time. Instead of assembling data or processing transactions, they are actively mitigating performance risks, strengthening supplier relationships, shaping business strategies and partnering earlier with internal stakeholders.

Efficiency gains are creating space for influence. With room to think ahead rather than react, teams can assess long-term risks more deeply and explore new opportunities that once felt out of reach.

5. The background: How does SAP Business Suite help unify data, applications and AI across finance and procurement to support more intelligent operations?

Thurman: As teams expand their strategic role, they need decisions grounded in a shared view of the business. SAP Business Suite provides that foundation by linking finance, procurement, supply chain, HR and other core functions so workflows and data move across the organization rather than staying in silos.

When the business is connected at the data level, leaders can see impact earlier, coordinate more effectively, and make decisions that reflect the full context of the organization.

6. More info: What does effective leadership look like when guiding finance and procurement teams through AI-driven transformation?

Thurman: What we see working well across organizations that are moving fastest and delivering the strongest results is leaders setting a vision for AI and communicating it broadly. This creates transparency, which builds understanding and trust in AI. Providing AI training and change-management is essential, so people know how to work with AI, not resist it.

Start small, build trust and make sure teams understand when and how to use AI. Every organization's path looks different, but it's important to start with a clear vision, a focus on high-impact areas, and a people-first mindset. Anchoring AI to finance and procurement mandates like supporting business growth, resilience and value creation drives meaningful, scaled impact.

7. How it's done: As automation reduces manual work, what new skills or capabilities will define strong finance and procurement leaders?

Thurman: To fully realize the potential of AI, organizations must reconsider what it means to lead, manage and develop talent — both human and agentic. New skill sets, such as AI proficiency and AI ethics are now required. But at the end of the day, this is still about people. Even with the smartest algorithms, we still need people involved. There are three domains that matter now more than ever.

• The first is relationship management: Finance and procurement teams need to understand the full stakeholder landscape, which includes internal business needs, supplier communities and geopolitical dynamics. AI can surface signals, but humans must interpret, collaborate, and respond.
• The next domain is judgment: Not everything AI recommends is right. Hallucinations are a real thing. It is essential to be discerning and ask: Is this supplier risk-appropriate? Does this strategy align with our sustainability goals? Is the context right? Human judgment is essential.
• Creativity: As automation removes repetitive work, teams are freed up to think differently; with time to ponder things like new business models, global expansion, supplier innovation or supply chain design. AI doesn't replace creativity — it augments it.

8. Looking ahead: With next-gen capabilities on the horizon — like agentic assistants in SAP Ariba and AI-led finance automation — how do you define enterprise resilience in 2026 and beyond?

Thurman: Resilience will depend on how seamlessly companies can bring intelligence into every part of their spend and finance operations.

SAP's products work in lockstep with customers, so they do not have to navigate uncertainty alone, helping them anticipate disruption sooner, advance strategic goals, and unlock new value beyond cost control.

Amplify the power of procurement and finance by giving organizations the clarity, capability, and confidence to realize the full value of AI. When connection and context come together, uncertainty becomes an opportunity to move faster, operate smarter, and grow with greater resilience.

Learn more.