For Sonja Simon, CFO of SAP Americas, artificial intelligence and its potential to change the way work is done represents "a fantastic opportunity to help the finance organization be prepared and excited about what's to come," she told CFO Dive.

She noted that AI is still largely a "fast-moving train," with technology evolving rapidly and much of its potential still unclear or untapped.

"When technology changes as dramatically as this, people's initial reaction is natural: 'Wow, what does this mean for me? How will it impact my job? Will I still have a job tomorrow? And if so, what will that job look like?'" Simon said in the interview. "As a leader in finance, I feel we really have to help the team" get through that reaction phase, she said.

Getting teams familiar with new tools

Strategic use of technology, including automation, is a key part of how the Walldorf, Germany-based company runs its finance function. During Simon's 18 years at the multinational software provider, SAP has grouped finance tasks by setting up dedicated teams for areas such as human resources, compensation, and revenue accounting.

That move has made SAP "very, very lean" and able to take full advantage of technology: the finance team Simon currently oversees consists of 30 people managing roughly 40% of SAP's global revenue and related expenses, she said.

Over nearly two decades at SAP, Simon has held various roles. She previously oversaw external reporting and was appointed CFO for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2020. She took on the role of CFO for SAP Americas in April 2025, adding the U.S. and Canada to her responsibilities, she said. Before joining SAP, she spent seven years at Big Four accounting firm EY.

As AI and automation continue to evolve, it's crucial for finance functions to become familiar with new tools. In Simon's team, "we've taken some small initiatives to make sure people gradually get comfortable" with AI, she said. That includes mentioning AI in team meetings and inviting volunteers to share how they've recently used the technology—whether in professional or personal settings, she said.

Simon's team also has a member "responsible for continuously researching what tools are already available within SAP's finance organization, to make sure we're truly at the forefront of adoption," she said. As a global entity, many teams within SAP are exploring how to apply AI across their functions, and ensuring finance isn't overlooked is important.

"We always want to make sure they don't forget about us, so they'll ask us: 'Okay, do you want to be the first user? Do you want to be an early adopter?'" she said.

Fostering a 'culture of failure'

However, driving early adoption of emerging tools and technologies hinges on creating space for professionals to experiment and make mistakes. Simon said she "strongly believes in fostering a culture of failure," which is particularly challenging in finance. Because the numbers finance handles feed into reports used for executive decisions, there's little room for error.

But she noted that opening space for finance professionals to experiment with new tools and allowing them to make mistakes is equally essential for sparking creativity and finding new solutions.

"The tricky part is you really have to celebrate failure, and you have to make that culture stick, because it's human nature," Simon said of her approach.

For example, Simon challenged her SAP team to find better per-deal insights for one of the company's key performance indicators—current cloud backlog. That metric is the KPI investors and analysts rely on to assess its cloud transformation.

The team did develop a tool that helps simulate the impact of that metric, she said. Although the tool doesn't produce accurate numbers 100% of the time, "it's an example where I would say: 'Okay, what you've put together is far better than what we had before—and before, we had nothing,' she said. So, the tool isn't 100% right, but remember, you've still significantly improved the process." she added.