SAP, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software provider, and OpenText, a company that provides information and content management software, have worked together since 1992. Estelle de Beer, Chief Partner Officer for MEA South at SAP, says the relationship now helps enterprise customers combine structured and unstructured data as a foundation for artificial intelligence projects.
SAP is a Diamond Influence Partner of the upcoming OpenText Summit Africa 2026 in Johannesburg. De Beer traces the collaboration to a period when enterprise software vendors focused primarily on structured data.
"Back in the early 90s, everything was about structured data – that's SAP's heritage and the backbone of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) that companies run their businesses on. But even back then, we had the foresight to recognise that large amounts of data weren't governed and controlled by SAP systems. This unstructured data included e-mails, contracts and drawings that were very relevant to business transactions," de Beer says.
De Beer says the two companies recognized the value of linking that unstructured material to core transaction records. "Remarkably, we saw the importance of connecting structured and unstructured data from a business perspective, knowing that this contextual information would add richness to transactional data," she says. "Our partnership with OpenText was a natural joining of forces, combining SAP's ERP with OpenText's secure information and content management. From the start, we put OpenText in our solution extensions, with OpenText probably the flagship. Over time, we have built something few can duplicate: a fully autonomous system that captures integrated data across portfolios."
De Beer illustrates the problem with an example from accounts payable. "When you pick up an invoice, for example, how do you know which transaction it relates to, what the broader picture is and what the lead-up to the transaction was? Connecting all of this information to the SAP system gives a full contextual view of the transaction and all related e-mails and contracts."
An IDC report titled "The Business Value of SAP ECM Solutions by OpenText" found a 351% three-year return on investment with a payback period of 13 months. The same report found a 37% improvement in accounts payable team efficiency, along with gains in the time required to make vendor payments and complete document migrations. OpenText has received the Pinnacle award, described as SAP's highest recognition for partners, 21 times.
Naeem Muhammad, ISV Partner Business Manager for MEA Region at SAP, says OpenText's solution extensions are treated as SAP products in practice. "OpenText SKUs are available in the SAP price list, and SAP offers end-to-end OpenText customer support, contracts and SLAs. We treat them like SAP products. We also find our Global Strategic Service Partners, such as leading consulting firms, work very well with SAP and OpenText in what we describe as 'the power of three'."
De Beer contrasts the arrangement with typical software partnerships. "When software companies partner, it's often a hands-off relationship, but this is very much hands on. We have trained people who sell, manage and support OpenText, and customers sign one contract with us."
The companies say they also work together on helping customers move from older SAP systems to newer versions. "When customers move from legacy SAP to later versions, and transformational projects, it is not always clear to customers how to bring the contracts and unstructured data along. OpenText supports transformational projects, helping with archiving and migration," De Beer says. "After migration, the partnership really comes into its own, giving customers connected systems and a foundation to build on."
Muhammad says combined access to structured and unstructured data matters as customers adopt AI. "AI is only as good as the data it has access to, so with SAP and OpenText, it is all combined. Our SAP Autonomous Enterprise can access the entire pool of data to take it to the next level. The structured and unstructured data together gives us the right base to build innovation and AI on."
De Beer says SAP and OpenText coordinate their AI roadmaps, with governance built into the SAP side. "Both SAP and OpenText have our own AI journeys, but our roadmaps are very connected and they augment each other. At SAP, we have embedded AI into our flagship Autonomous Enterprise solution, with AI agents in every process. This is where governance becomes important, because humans still need to be in control. With OpenText, we jointly decide where human interventions happen and how governance is applied."
De Beer says the arrangement benefits both companies, their partners and their shared customers. "With OpenText, we have a more complete, richer platform we can offer customers, that extends seamlessly because of the roadmaps we built together. For partners, it means more opportunities and a broader solutions set to take to customers. And the customer gets a very complete and governed view of all business information, with security and the same rules applied across the information chain. It's a win-win for everyone," she concludes.
The OpenText Summit Africa 2026 takes place on Thursday, 3 September, at The Canvas in Riversands, Johannesburg. SAP sales and partner teams will attend to discuss the partnership with customers and partners.
