SAP's David Robinson to Outline New AI & Cloud Blueprint at Vegas Keynote

By Amanda Clark

LAS VEGAS, NV – February 19, 2026 – In a move signaling a pivotal moment for SAP's direction in North America, newly appointed president David Robinson will deliver the opening keynote address at the SAPinsider Las Vegas 2026 conference. The event, a major gathering for the global SAP community, is scheduled for March 16–19 at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

Robinson, who took the helm as President of SAP North America and Americas Customer Success Functions in January 2026, is set to articulate a strategic vision for navigating the complex world of enterprise transformation. His keynote on March 17th is highly anticipated, promising to detail how SAP intends to help customers convert years of accumulated technical debt into a foundation for cloud-native, AI-powered innovation. The address is expected to be a defining statement for thousands of enterprises weighing their next steps in the digital economy.

A New Leader's Blueprint for Transformation

David Robinson's prominent role at SAPinsider Las Vegas comes just two months into his new leadership position, making his keynote a crucial platform to outline his mandate. With over 25 years of global technology experience, predominantly within SAP, Robinson is uniquely positioned to address the challenges facing the company's vast customer base. His career has been defined by leading large-scale cloud transitions, including serving as President of Cloud ERP and heading the influential RISE with SAP program.

His background is steeped in customer-facing initiatives, having previously led efforts that transitioned over 60,000 legacy customers to cloud-based solutions. This deep experience forms the bedrock of his keynote's theme: shifting enterprise IT from a model of one-time, disruptive projects to one of persistent, agile innovation. His appointment is widely seen as a move by SAP to double down on customer success and accelerate adoption of its next-generation solutions, particularly SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

"David Robinson's deep experience guiding customers through complex transformation journeys and his focus on trust and outcomes make his perspective especially relevant for today's SAP community," said James Bedard, President and CEO of SAPinsider, in a statement. Robinson's address is expected to go beyond product announcements, offering a strategic blueprint for CIOs and business leaders on how to build a resilient and adaptable technology core.

Beyond 'Go-Live': The Push for a Clean Core

A central pillar of Robinson's expected message is SAP's 'clean core' strategy—a paradigm shift in how organizations manage their ERP systems. For decades, companies have heavily customized their SAP environments to fit specific business processes. While this offered tailored functionality, it created a significant long-term burden known as technical debt. These complex customizations make upgrades difficult, expensive, and slow, effectively trapping innovation within brittle, aging systems.

The clean core approach advocates for keeping the central ERP system as close to standard as possible. Customizations and extensions are instead built on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) using standardized APIs. This methodology provides several critical advantages: it simplifies system maintenance, lowers the total cost of ownership, and, most importantly, allows organizations to adopt new SAP innovations and security updates seamlessly and rapidly. By maintaining a 'clean' digital core, companies can pivot from massive, multi-year upgrade projects to a state of continuous improvement.

Robinson's keynote will exemplify why this shift is essential for survival and growth. He will argue that the 'go-live' of a new system should no longer be seen as the end state, but rather the beginning of an ongoing innovation cycle. This message directly confronts one of the biggest pain points for established SAP customers, offering a path to untangle complex legacy landscapes and embrace the agility promised by the cloud.

The AI Imperative in a Fiercely Competitive Market

Underpinning SAP's strategic push is the transformative power of artificial intelligence. Robinson's address is set to highlight how a clean, cloud-based ERP core serves as the essential launchpad for meaningful AI adoption. Without a unified, real-time data foundation—which a modernized ERP provides—AI initiatives often fail to scale beyond isolated pilots. SAP is embedding its AI capabilities, including the generative AI copilot 'Joule,' across its entire product suite to automate processes, generate predictive insights, and enhance decision-making.

This AI-first strategy is not happening in a vacuum. The enterprise software market is in the midst of an intense competitive battle, with major players like Workday, Microsoft, and Infor all aggressively marketing their own AI-powered, cloud-native platforms. Workday touts its unified data model as an advantage for AI, while Microsoft leverages its vast Azure and Copilot ecosystem to integrate AI agents across its Dynamics 365 offerings. Infor is carving out a niche with industry-specific AI agents.

SAP's response, championed by leaders like Robinson, is to leverage its deep industry knowledge and the comprehensive nature of its RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP offerings. These bundled solutions provide a structured pathway for customers to migrate to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, adopt clean core principles, and begin leveraging embedded AI tools. Robinson's keynote will likely frame this integrated approach as SAP's key differentiator, providing not just technology but a holistic business transformation service.

SAPinsider as the Ecosystem's Barometer

The choice of SAPinsider Las Vegas as the venue for this strategic address is significant. The conference is more than just a user group meeting; it has become a crucial barometer for the health and direction of the entire SAP ecosystem. With over 200 expert-led sessions on topics ranging from SAP S/4HANA migration and data analytics to finance transformation and cybersecurity, the event encapsulates the key priorities and challenges facing SAP professionals today.

By placing Robinson at the forefront of the event, SAP is speaking directly to its most engaged and influential users, partners, and developers. His message of turning technical debt into an innovation engine is designed to resonate deeply with an audience grappling with these very issues. The discussions and feedback generated at the conference will provide a real-time pulse check on the community's reception to SAP's strategy, making the event a critical moment for the company as it navigates the next era of enterprise computing.