Telecommunications equipment provider Ericsson has implemented a new enterprise data architecture using technology from software developer SAP to support the widespread deployment of artificial intelligence across its operations. The initiative centers on establishing a federated data model that allows the company to manage corporate information centrally without physically moving records from their original storage databases.
Ericsson builds mobile network infrastructure for telecommunications operators globally. As the hardware manufacturer attempts to integrate machine learning systems into its internal business processes, technical teams identified data consistency as a primary operational hurdle. Automated systems require standardized definitions for business metrics to generate accurate outputs across different regional divisions and software environments.
“Once you scale AI, it stops being an AI problem, and becomes a data problem,” said Esra Kocatürk Norell, Vice President, Customer Experience, Enterprise IT at Ericsson. “That’s why we invested early in a business data fabric. With SAP Business Data Cloud, we can define what data means once, from revenue to market structures and access rules, and apply it consistently across the enterprise. That’s what allows us to scale AI in a way that is trusted, repeatable and delivers real business value.”
The implementation utilizes the SAP Business Data Cloud platform to enforce governance and lifecycle policies across disparate systems. By establishing this foundational data layer, Ericsson has rolled out SAP's enterprise artificial intelligence assistant to more than 85,000 employees. The deployment is part of a broader technology modernization effort that includes migrating to a cloud based enterprise resource planning system. This transition relies on external platform extensions to build custom applications rather than modifying the core software code.
The organizations are also jointly developing specific software features based on this shared infrastructure. Within the human resources software suite, the engineering teams have built an automated capability that suggests contextual performance goals for personnel. The system analyzes corporate data to align individual targets with broader business objectives while reducing the administrative time required for personnel management.
“Ericsson’s approach shows how leading companies are moving from AI experimentation to execution by focusing on data, governance and business context,” said Manos Raptopoulos, Global President Customer Success Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa at SAP SE. “Together, we are helping organizations unlock the full potential of AI at scale.”
