Executive Dinner
AI Without Regret: Building the Trusted Foundation for ERP Transformation and Business AI
October 15, 2026 at 5:30 pm | Club A Steakhouse | New York
Enterprise leaders are no longer debating whether to invest in AI. Instead, they are determining whether their organizations have the foundation to support it. AI-mature organizations report stronger outcomes, including higher customer retention and profit improvement, than those early in their AI journey.
Yet many AI initiatives fail to scale due to foundational gaps. For 2026, organizations are prioritizing data intelligence (45%), data management automation (39%), and data governance and privacy (36%) as key investments. While 50% cite security and compliance as the top barrier to moving AI beyond proof of concept, only 22% rely on existing governance programs to manage AI risk. As a result, decisions around data, governance, and operating model investments have become critical to AI success.
IDC and SAP will bring together executives in New York City for an exclusive roundtable dinner to discuss how organizations can turn AI investments into lasting business value, using evidence-based insights to guide future AI strategy decisions.
IDC projects that by mid-2026
60% of the Global 2000 will have adopted new KPIs to align AI-infused workflows, improving operational efficiency by 45%.
Topmost important data-related area of focus and investment
Investments in data intelligence, automation, and governance highlight that AI success depends on reliable, accessible, and well-managed data.
Enterprises are prioritizing data quality, lineage, and metadata to ensure consistency and trust in AI outputs. Automation is increasingly used to manage data at scale, while governance and privacy requirements continue to rise.
Data is no longer a supporting function but a central pillar of AI strategy, with readiness directly determining the ability to scale AI and deliver consistent, enterprise-level outcomes.
Source: IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 1, February 2026, Worldwide = 903 and IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 1, February 2026, Worldwide = 408
Discussion Themes
Four Conversations Every Senior IT Leader Should Be Having Right Now
Measuring success: AI Changes the Goalposts
AI-mature organizations are already pulling ahead on retention, profit, and efficiency. What metrics leaders are using to define AI success and how organizations are positioning AI transformation as a business-model decision beyond an IT program.
Data Debt, the Hidden Cost of AI
Isolated AI pilots rarely scale because of the data debt beneath them. How leaders are facing the challenge of fragmented data, how it is impacting their scaling agility, and the criteria used to prioritize investment in data, governance, and operating models.
Confidence at the Speed of Change
Innovating at speed takes tiered governance and continuous assurance before autonomy outpaces oversight. How leaders are managing change across increasingly interconnected systems, and scaling AI without losing confidence in quality and resilience.
From AI Experimentation to Competitive Advantage
Trusted data, governance, and human-and-AI decision models are the foundation for tomorrow’s advantage. How leaders are building trust into their architectures when scaling, and how is it helping their organizations to capture AI value.
What To Expect
An executive dinner led by a skilled moderator
An intimate gathering of senior IT leaders from diverse industries, grappling with similar issues
A secure, private conversation open only to a carefully vetted group
Your host
Megha Kumar
Research Vice President, Analytics & AI
IDC
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Megha Kumar
Megha Kumar heads software and cloud services research at IDC Canada. As a research vice president, Megha is responsible for managing and delivering projects across technology areas such as cloud services, enterprise applications, software and digital transformation for the Canadian market. She manages both the Canadian Software as a Service (SaaS) and Canadian Cloud Platforms (PaaS and IaaS) research programs in Canada
In addition to research, Megha has aided vendors with go-to-market engagements to improve market awareness and provide end users with essential guidance on technology adoption. She regularly interacts with CIOs and IT decision makers regarding their technology preferences, priorities, and concerns.
She originally joined IDC in 2007 covering the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey region, based out of Dubai, U.A.E. In her previous role at IDC, she regularly provided insights on market dynamics, vendor strategies, and end-user trends across the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey for both global and regional ICT firms as well as public sector organizations.
Megha presents at various industry and vendor conferences. She is often quoted in the media, providing opinions on technologies and market dynamics. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Marketing from York University, Canada.
Kirk Wohlers
ISV Business Transformation Management Lead, Partner Ecosystem Success
SAP
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Kirk Wohlers
Kirk Wohlers is the Business Transformation Management Leader within Partner Ecosystem Success at SAP. He works with SAP Global Solution Extension partners to identify and close whitespace in the SAP market and drive customer success. Drawing on extensive hands-on experience across Business Objects and Firstlogic in business development, OEM partner sales, strategic alliances, and direct enterprise account leadership, he helps partners and customers design and scale embedded data and analytics solutions that deliver measurable outcomes. His background includes positioning Data Services products for OEM resellers, leading alliance motions, and managing major accounts, grounded by early-career experience in finance and front-line sales. He focuses on building high-trust partner ecosystems, orchestrating go-to-market execution, and turning strategic partnerships into sustained customer value.
Michael Gray
VP, Global Software Partner Management
SAP
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Michael Gray
Michael manages a of a team of Software Partner Managers who manage a portfolio of partners which enhance and extend the SAP portfolio. Michael has spent the last 25 years working with the SAP portfolio including Data Quality, Information Management, Business Intelligence, HCM, Content Management and most recently focused on SAP Business AI Platform adoption. Working daily with customers, partners and internal teams, Michael helps to align customers’ requirements and our partner portfolios with SAP’s strategy to maximize customer outcomes.
Manuel Saenger
Global Head of Agent-led Toolchain Strategic Customer Engagements
SAP Business Transformation Management
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Manuel Saenger
Manuel Saenger works closely on guiding large strategic enterprise customers on cloud and AI-led transformation, bringing extensive hands-on experience from complex customer transformation programs. His focus is on understanding and addressing the real-world challenges organizations face when adopting AI at scale—from building the right foundations to managing change and operational risk. He helps organizations make transformation an ongoing capability and turn AI into sustainable business value.
Agenda
IDC Executive Dinner in partnership with SAP, New York
One Day Event
Networking Reception
A private reception bringing together senior executives and industry analysts to connect, exchange perspectives, and set context for the evening’s discussion.
Dinner & Discussion
A moderated, off‑the‑record discussion over dinner focused on real‑world execution challenges, emerging industry priorities, and their implications for enterprise leaders.
Event Concludes
The evening concludes with brief closing remarks and informal follow‑up conversations, reinforcing key takeaways and ongoing peer engagement.
Partners
Sponsored By
SAP
As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience.
