< Back to Blogs
play-button-podcast
Share:

SAP’s David Vallejo on the New Era of Planning: From Algorithms to Data-Driven Confidence

In a rapidly evolving global supply chain landscape, SAP’s David Vallejo believes the most exciting innovations are happening in planning—and that the industry is entering a fundamentally new era. At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit 2025 in Denver, Vallejo, who leads global product marketing for SAP’s supply chain portfolio, joined Scott Luton to discuss how planning is transforming, why data now sits at the center of competitiveness, and what SAP is doing to help organizations make faster, more confident decisions.

 

A Shift From ERP-Centric to Data-Centric

Vallejo described his team’s role as one that constantly scans the market—identifying trends, customer expectations, and the problems companies will need to solve next. Those insights help shape new innovations across the SAP ecosystem.

He noted that SAP has moved decisively from an ERP-centric worldview to a data-centric one. This shift is essential, he argued, because the biggest advantage in modern planning lies in having the right data—clean, connected, contextualized, and ready to drive decisions.

As Vallejo put it, “It’s all about the data that I need to make better planning decisions.”

 

Planning Models Are No Longer Static

Reflecting on how planning has evolved since he entered the field two decades ago, Vallejo described a dramatic shift. Historically, organizations built a static model of their supply chain—suppliers, stocking locations, customers—and ran algorithms to generate a plan.

Today’s world no longer allows for static assumptions. Trade uncertainty, shifting supplier networks, evolving consumer expectations, and generational changes in the workforce mean the “model” itself changes constantly.

Modern software, he explained, must reflect a world that evolves daily. That requires flexibility, agility, and a new level of responsiveness far beyond what traditional optimization engines were built for.

 

The New Competition: Confidence Through Data

For years, software vendors differentiated themselves through algorithmic capabilities, then through dashboards and user experience. According to Vallejo, the next competitive frontier is something deeper: empowering planners with the confidence needed to make decisions outside traditional norms.

To achieve that, organizations must integrate not only their operational data, but also financial, environmental, economic, and geopolitical signals—together forming a centralized data foundation.

With this foundation in place, companies can finally unlock AI in a meaningful way.

Vallejo emphasized that this isn’t about replacing humans; it’s about augmenting them. Grounded AI can analyze vast and diverse data streams, surface insights, and act as an intelligent assistant that guides users to stronger, faster, more informed decisions.

 

Meeting the Expectations of the Next-Gen Workforce

Vallejo also highlighted an important cultural shift: the growing expectations of younger workers. They want technology that guides them, teaches them, and accelerates their success. Intelligent assistants and AI agents are no longer “nice to have”—they’re what the next generation expects from modern enterprise systems.

SAP, he said, is positioning itself to deliver agents that not only support planning, but draw insights across logistics, manufacturing, and customer operations. The goal: a true, orchestrated supply chain.

 

Where to Learn More

Vallejo encourages leaders to explore SAP’s latest innovations at sap.com/scm and to connect with him directly on LinkedIn, where he regularly engages on supply chain transformation topics. Check out recent Supply Chain Now webinars featuring SAP leaders speaking on topics such as logistics optimization and supply chain orchestration.

We also invite you to listen to the full audio version of this interview with Scott W. Luton and David Vallejo: click here.

More Blogs

logistics
Blogs
July 31, 2025

5 questions I frequently get asked about automating operations with AI

Special Guest Blog Post written by Parabola Founder & CEO, Alex Yaseen   Operators are under pressure. They’re expected to move faster, do more with less, and somehow keep everything running smoothly while their systems, tools, and data are a mess. Now, AI is adding a whole new layer. On one hand, it’s exciting. The potential is real. On the other, a lot of teams feel stuck. They know they should be using AI, but they’re not sure where it fits into their day-to-day work. These are the five questions I get asked most often—whether someone’s trying to get started with automation, or trying to figure out how AI actually helps. 1. Can we automate this, or is it too messy? This question usually comes from someone deep in a spreadsheet that was never meant to scale. The short answer is: yes, you can probably automate it. But the longer answer is that you’ll need to rethink the process first. AI can help summarize, transform, and clean data—but it won’t fix a broken workflow. That’s on you. The best teams pair structured automation with lightweight AI to get leverage. Think: using rules and logic to standardize a workflow, and AI…
warranty management optimization
Blogs
May 5, 2026

Can the Warranty Claims Process be Improved?

written by Chris Cunnane with InterSystems   Automotive manufacturers have invested billions in digital transformation over the past two decades, achieving meaningful gains in production efficiency. Yet one area has stubbornly lagged behind: warranty cost performance. Despite advances aligned with Industry 4.0, warranty costs as a percentage of revenue have remained largely unchanged. This disconnect highlights a critical truth that while production has evolved, warranty operations have not kept pace. At the heart of the issue is a fundamental inefficiency: time. Specifically, the lag between when a warranty claim is submitted and when meaningful problem-solving begins. This delay not only drives up operational costs but also impacts customer satisfaction and brand perception.   The Hidden Complexity of Warranty Claims Warranty management is more than a back-office function. It is a complex, data-driven process involving multiple stakeholders, systems, and validation steps. Each claim requires verification of warranty coverage, assessment of the issue, and coordination across service providers, suppliers, and internal teams. Much of this process remains manual. Organizations often rely on fragmented systems, inconsistent data formats, and time-intensive validation steps such as reviewing receipts, maintenance records, and warranty agreements. These inefficiencies introduce delays that can stretch into weeks before root cause…