The SAP AI Experiment
In a recent internal experiment, SAP uncovered a revealing bias among consultants regarding AI‑generated work. Five teams were tasked with reviewing answers to over 1,000 business requirements. Four teams, believing the answers came from junior interns, rated them highly accurate. However, the fifth team, informed that the answers were AI‑generated, initially rejected them. Upon closer examination, they found the AI’s accuracy to be on par with the human‑rated answers, at around 95%.
Why Consultants Skeptically View AI
This experiment underscores the challenges of introducing AI to experienced consultants. Guillermo B. Vazquez Mendez, chief architect at SAP America Inc., stresses that AI is not replacing consultants but serving as a tool to enhance their efficiency. By handling technical tasks, AI allows consultants to focus more on business insights and customer goals.
Accelerating Onboarding with AI
AI is also transforming the onboarding process for new consultants. Junior consultants can ramp up faster with AI assistance, while senior consultants can concentrate on areas where their expertise is most valuable. This dynamic fosters better communication and mentorship between junior and senior consultants.
The Future: AI Copilots and Agentic Systems
Looking ahead, Vazquez envisions AI copilots evolving beyond prompt engineering to interpret entire business processes. SAP’s extensive repository of business processes and data will play a crucial role in this evolution, enabling the development of agentic AI that can solve complex challenges and push towards more autonomous systems.
Conclusion
SAP’s experiment reveals both the potential and the challenges of integrating AI into consulting. By addressing skepticism and leveraging AI to amplify human expertise, the future of consulting looks promising—with AI as a powerful ally.
