{"id":4505,"date":"2026-07-29T21:43:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4505"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:43:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:43:55","slug":"southeast-asia-is-hungry-for-innovation-and-eager-to-leapfrog-says-saps-new-apac-president-verena-siow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4505","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Asia is \u2018hungry for innovation\u2019 and eager to leapfrog, says SAP\u2019s new APAC president Verena Siow"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>\u201cSoutheast Asia holds a lot of market potential because it\u2019s very hungry for innovation,\u201d Verena Siow, SAP\u2019s new APAC chief, tells <em>Fortune<\/em> in an interview at the firm\u2019s Singapore office. \u201cThe economies which had a later start are looking to leapfrog into the latest and greatest tech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4503\">Inside China\u2019s two-speed economy: Why goods consumption is slumping even as exports and services boom<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Southeast Asia, home to young, digitally-savvy populations and a rising middle class, offers fertile ground for leapfrogging, a phenomenon where countries bypass traditional stages of development and move directly towards newer technologies and business models.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For European software giant SAP, this has translated into burgeoning interest in its business AI propositions. \u201cCompanies in this region tend to have fewer resources and smaller IT departments, so they\u2019re looking to move straight to the cloud, rather than explore on-premise software, which requires more maintenance,\u201d Siow explains.<\/p>\n<p>She points to regional firms like transport conglomerate ComfortDelGro, and carriers like Thai Airlines and Singapore Airlines, as early adopters of AI. (In May, SAP unveiled a new business AI platform, which brings together existing offerings like its business tech platform, as well as AI and cloud services, for firms looking to build and scale their AI use.)<\/p>\n<p>Despite Siow\u2019s optimism, she admits that AI adoption among APAC firms remains gradual. A research study commissioned by SAP and Oxford Economics last November found that despite spending an average of $14.5 million per year on AI, Singapore firms report an average ROI of just 16%.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThere is still a lot of potential to realize,\u201d Siow says. \u201cMany organizations talk about deploying agents, and while it\u2019s good that they\u2019re moving from pilots towards execution, AI integration is still very piecemeal.\u201d (She adds that the veracity and rigor of data is also a key factor which firms tend to neglect.)<\/p>\n<p>Artificial intelligence\u2014and the breakneck speed at which it\u2019s advancing\u2014has forced \u2018legacy\u2019 firms like SAP to re-think their business models.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Analysts and market watchers alike have pointed to the SaaS-pocalypse, or the belief that agentic AI will render SaaS platforms obsolete, as one of the greatest challenges to software companies today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4501\">Fauci accuses Rand Paul of \u2018unhinged obsession,\u2019 pleads Fifth at least 100 times on Covid origins despite full Biden pardon<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Siow, however, pushes back against this notion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cYou still very much need applications and processes in place to get the best outcomes from AI,\u201d she argues. \u201cVibe-coded apps can maybe serve ten people, but for large enterprises, you still need platforms like SAP to ensure that security and governance measures are in place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SAP\u2019s yearly earnings show that the . In 2025, the firm raked in an annual revenue of 36.8 billion Euros, or $41.8 billion, up 8% from the year before. Its cloud business also grew, bringing in 21 billion Euros, or $23.9 billion, in yearly revenue, up 23% from 2024. (Despite this, SAP\u2019s software revenue has taken a hit, falling 34% year-on-year to just 0.45 billion Euros.)<\/p>\n<p>The software company\u2019s shares are down 25% for the year thus far.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Siow was appointed as SAP\u2019s APAC lead on July 2, after rotating through six roles over a 14-year tenure at the firm. She joined SAP in 2011, heading Asia-Pacific Japan sales for the firm\u2019s education software. In 2018, she was elected as SAP\u2019s managing director of Indochina, and in 2020, the president and managing director for Southeast Asia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was first appointed as Southeast Asia president, it was during the COVID pandemic when we worked in isolation in our own rooms,\u201d Siow says. \u201cI had a bit of imposter syndrome, since there was no one to talk to, and wondered whether I was right for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Siow eventually settled into her role, and grew to appreciate the unique business needs of the APAC region\u2019s firms. \u201cIn APAC, although over 90% of Fortune 500 companies use SAP, 80% of our customer base is actually small and medium sized enterprises,\u201d she adds. \u201cThese firms often look to immediately leverage business AI solutions, as compared to larger companies which focus more on modernizing their existing platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Siow is the first woman to lead SAP\u2019s APAC operations, taking over from predecessor Simon Davies, who stayed in the role for just over a year. She\u2019s cognisant of the weight on her shoulders as the firm\u2019s first female regional head, and wants not just to lead by example, but also pave the way for other women to scale the corporate ladder.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMany female colleagues told me that my appointment proves that gender truly doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Siow, who has two daughters, says. \u201cIt\u2019s important not to let yourself be held back, or think that just because you\u2019re Asian and female, that you can\u2019t achieve your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4499\">Scientist on wildfires: \u2018we have our foot on the gas pedal\u2019 but \u2018we\u2019ve lost the brakes\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Southeast Asia, home to young, digitally-savvy populations and a rising middle class, offers fertile ground for leapfrogging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[507],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sap"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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