SAP CX Trends 2025: Our Outlook, and How It Held Up

We wrote this outlook in March 2025, based on what we were seeing in customer projects at the time. It is a 2025 outlook, not a current forecast. Because readers still find it, we reviewed it in September 2026 and added a short note to each trend on how it played out. For our current view, read the future of CRM and SAP CX.

TL;DR: Our five SAP CX trends for 2025 were AI-assisted selling in Sales Cloud V2 through Joule, composable commerce as the default for new storefronts, the CDP as shared data infrastructure, marketing automation moving into B2B, and integration as the biggest project risk. Looking back from September 2026, all five held; the biggest changes were the rename of SAP Emarsys to SAP Engagement Cloud and the end of on-premise SAP Commerce maintenance in July 2026.

1. How is AI changing SAP Sales Cloud V2?

Gartner found that 61% of B2B buyers prefer a buying experience without a sales rep (Gartner, 2025). When buyers research on their own, sales teams need help focusing on the deals that matter.

In early 2025 we saw the move from V1 (C4C) to Sales Cloud V2 gain pace in our projects, and the driver was AI more than features. V2 brings Joule into the sales rep’s workflow: deal insights, call summaries, suggested next steps. Our advice at the time: complete the V2 move in 2025 to be ready as these capabilities matured.

Looking back (September 2026): This held. SAP’s new AI, including Joule agents, targets the V2 products. C4C still receives releases, and as of September 2026 SAP has not announced an end-of-maintenance date for it, so there is no hard deadline; the gap in capabilities is the reason to move. Our C4C to V2 migration strategy describes the sequence we use.

2. Is composable commerce now the default?

In the MACH Alliance’s January 2025 survey, nine in ten organisations that had implemented composable (MACH) technology said it met or exceeded their ROI expectations (MACH Alliance via Business Wire, 2025).

Most new SAP Commerce Cloud projects we scoped in 2025 were composable from the start: Commerce Cloud as the engine, the storefront decoupled. The reason was independence more than technical ambition: brands want to change their storefront without touching the commerce core. Franke runs this kind of headless platform on SAP Commerce Cloud today (Franke story).

Looking back (September 2026): This held for new builds, with a caveat we describe in composable commerce in B2B: it is not the right answer for every B2B shop. The bigger event was the end of mainstream maintenance for on-premise SAP Commerce on 31 July 2026 (SAP Help), which turned many storefront decisions into migration decisions.

3. Why is the CDP becoming central infrastructure?

The customer data platform used to be a marketing tool. In 2025 it was becoming the shared data layer between commerce, service and marketing. With a unified customer profile, you can react to signals such as abandoned carts, service escalations or churn risk in every channel at once.

The SAP Customer Data Platform connects natively to Engagement Cloud, Commerce Cloud and Service Cloud V2, which makes it the obvious choice inside an SAP landscape.

Looking back (September 2026): Partly held. Companies with many channels and data sources adopted it as expected; for others a clean CRM and ERP master was enough to start with. We describe the criteria in when you really need SAP CDP.

4. Why is marketing automation expanding into B2B?

In 2025 the product was still called SAP Emarsys, and it had made its name in B2C retail. We were seeing more B2B use: loyalty programmes for distributors, partner campaigns, reactivation journeys. Combined with B2B segments such as purchase frequency, product category and account data, the personalisation works in B2B too.

Looking back (September 2026): On 19 February 2026 SAP renamed SAP Emarsys to SAP Engagement Cloud, with the existing product continuing as the Emarsys edition and a new enterprise edition for multi-brand, multi-region organisations (SAP News). The older SAP Marketing Cloud reaches end of support in December 2026, with Engagement Cloud as its successor. Details are in SAP Emarsys is now SAP Engagement Cloud.

5. Is integration still the biggest risk?

BCG found that more than two thirds of large-scale technology programmes miss their time, budget or scope targets (BCG, 2024). In our experience, integration is the most common reason in SAP CX projects.

In every product category (sales, service, commerce, marketing) the number of connections between SAP CX, the ERP and non-SAP systems keeps growing. Companies that run SAP Integration Suite as a managed integration layer deliver faster and have fewer incidents after go-live. Our advice: plan integration as its own workstream, with its own timeline, architect and tests.

Looking back (September 2026): Unchanged, and it is the reason we now deliver the ERP core and the CX stack with one team: most CX problems we are called in to fix sit at the seam to the ERP. How that works in practice is described in S/4HANA Public Cloud and Sales Cloud V2 as one integrated stack.

Integration risk is ultimately a partner question. Our comparison of the best SAP CX consultancies in Switzerland shows what to ask, and our page on SAP CX consulting in Switzerland explains how one team covers the CX stack and the ERP behind it.

FAQ

Which of these trends had the biggest near-term impact?

AI-assisted selling in Sales Cloud V2. It affects sales productivity directly, and the move from V1 to V2 created a natural moment to introduce it. That remains true in 2026, since new AI capabilities are built for V2.

Is composable commerce only relevant for B2C?

No. B2B composable projects are growing, particularly for manufacturers and distributors that need product configurators, special pricing logic and account-specific catalogues on top of Commerce Cloud’s order management.

How does SAP CDP differ from a standalone CDP?

SAP CDP connects natively to the SAP CX products: Commerce Cloud, Engagement Cloud, Sales Cloud V2 and Service Cloud V2. Standalone CDPs such as Segment or Tealium have a broader third-party ecosystem but need more integration work with SAP.

What is the biggest integration risk in SAP CX projects?

The ERP connection. Linking Sales Cloud V2 or Commerce Cloud to S/4HANA involves data model mapping, master data synchronisation and middleware configuration. Plan it as a separate workstream from the first week.

Is this outlook still valid in 2026?

The direction is, the details are not. Product names and dates have changed (Engagement Cloud, the end of on-premise Commerce maintenance, the end of SAP Marketing Cloud). For our current view, read the future of CRM and SAP CX and our overview of the five SAP CX solutions.