Andrew Vaughan

Scott Luton: “SAP Sapphire 2026 featured a major emphasis on the Autonomous Enterprise and AI-powered business operations. From your perspective, what was one session (or prevalent theme amongst attendees) that you found to be particularly intriguing? And why?” Richard Howells: “Great session by Dominik Mark Metzger on the Future of Supply Chain – SAP Sapphire Virtual – Session Catalog. At SAP Sapphire, we’re introducing Autonomous Supply Chain Management, enabled by new Joule Assistants and Industry AI scenarios that apply this model to daily operations across planning, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, and asset management. General availability will be phased throughout 2026, starting now. By introducing a new set of AI-driven assistants and agents, we’re moving orchestration toward an autonomous operating model, where planning, manufacturing, logistics, and asset operations increasingly anticipate, coordinate, and resolve without manual intervention at every step. Highlight for me was the simple definition of the Autonomous Supply Chain where “People direct, AI Assistants orchestrate, and Agents execute”. Also, a callout to Rebecca Kaufmann from Takeda Pharmaceuticals for a great overview of how her company are, and plan to leverage AI to “augment human expertise and reduce the technical burden”.” Scott Luton: “There’s a growing sense across the industry that…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Memory Mathema   Tackling climate change is one of the defining challenges of our lifetime. Understanding the implications of decarbonization is imperative to eliminating the risks that come with taking a complacent approach. Our responsibility lies in understanding the impact of our operations and acknowledging the escalating urgency to transition to a carbon neutral future and reduce the environmental footprint of all business undertakings. This is not only right for individual organizations but for the good of the whole society. South Africa ranks 14th globally in carbon emissions and stands as Africa’s leading polluter. The nation’s energy intense economy highlights its crucial role in spearheading efforts to reduce the continent’s carbon footprint and achieve net zero goals. Outdated energy generation methods, particularly coal reliance for 80% of energy needs, overshadow the country’s vast potential in hydrogen, solar and wind power. Both public and private sectors are recognizing the need for sustainable alternatives and are transitioning towards greener energy sources, fostering a shift towards sustainable carbon neutral supply chains. Addressing Scope 3 emissions, which constitute a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, is necessary to delivering carbon neutrality across operations. Organizations must entrench an…