Esker + SAP S/4HANA: The Duo CFOs Are Talking About

The end of support for SAP^® ECC in 2027 and the announcement of new features only available in S/4HANA Cloud means companies are feeling the pressure to migrate to S/4HANA sooner rather than later.

While attending last month’s SAP Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference, we had many conversations on this topic with business leaders and we heard the same thing during all of them — using a tool like Esker’s end-to-end AI automation enables them to automate complex processes with Agentic AI that has been proven across hundreds of customers over the last 12 years, bringing added value and efficiencies to the entire Office of the CFO.

Why companies are turning to Esker as they upgrade to S/4HANA via RISE with SAP

Esker is currently the only provider with a pre-built Clean Core connector — and it’s certified compliant by SAP Clean Core. That means you can seamlessly integrate Esker’s automation solutions without touching the core ERP. It’s a plug-and-play connection that lets you keep automating critical processes like finance, procurement, order-to-cash and customer service while keeping your SAP system clean and agile.

The chatter we heard at Sapphire 2025 reinforced the value of using a solution like Esker in the S/4HANA environment:

• Agility and automation: While it will always be an important part of a company’s IT stack, SAP can sometimes lack flexibility in certain areas. Esker’s nimbleness means it can adapt quickly to solve a variety of issues in complex business landscapes. When time to market is important, customers turn to Esker for assistance.
• AP portal integration: While SAP offers a robust set of capabilities, supporting a company’s customers with AP portals often falls outside its expertise. Esker’s integrations with top AP portals allows invoices to be delivered as the customer requires and statuses sent back to the vendor so they get paid more quickly.
• Simple user interface: Even after upgrading to S/4HANA the SAP user interface (UI) can be complex and can take a new user a long time to learn. Esker’s simplified UI designed for specific processes like accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), and order management (OM) allows new users to be productive faster.
• Purpose-built: Esker’s solutions are designed specifically for order-to-cash and source-to-pay B2B use cases. For example, SAP customer service functionality is mostly B2C-focused. Esker’s Customer Service solution suite was built to simplify the complexity of B2B customer service, where contractual pricing, material production, and delivery schedules are critical.
• Messy data = no problem: Esker provides a mechanism to enable smart work when master data isn’t clean - capturing changes that are required in a business process. SAP performs better when master data is completely clean.
• Complex data extraction: SAP’s data extraction works with standard formats but can sometimes struggle with extracting non-standard data. Esker can handle complex data extraction from formatted as well as free text sources.

SAP customers prefer Esker to automate their critical business processes — here’s why

As an AI automation suite for the Office of the CFO with solutions for the entire source-to-pay and order-to-cash cycles that integrates seamlessly with hundreds of ERP systems, Esker helps maximize your SAP investment. It connects the entire business, streamlines the flow of data and gives the Office of the CFO real-time visibility, the ability to adapt quickly to change, and fully integrated systems that enable continuous improvement.

And, of course, AI is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s now the central force at the core of business strategy, growth and innovation. Esker combines a select group of targeted AI technologies that are most effective in business processes, which we call Esker Synergy AI. By combining technologies from companies like OpenAI and Google, Esker leverages (and maintains!) an inclusive stack of capabilities purpose-built for B2B use cases, including: 

• Machine learning (ML): ML is designed to imitate human intelligence, enabling systems to learn and improve from experience using data and algorithms.
• Natural language understanding (NLU): NLU is an AI subset capable of understanding text, extracting data, and discerning meaning, intent and emotion behind the input.
• Generative AI (GenAI): GenAI such as ChatGPT learns from large language models (LLMs) to generate original content that mimics human creativity (text, visuals, speech, etc.).
• Deep learning (DL): DL uses layers of artificial neural networks to recognize complex patterns and provide accurate predictions from raw input.
• Retrieval augmented generation (RAG): RAG is a progression of GenAI, combining the abilities of an LLM to understand and generate natural language originating from a knowledge base.
• Agentic AI: AI-powered agents understand the user’s vision and the context of the problem and then execute a variety of tasks that fulfill this goal.

With one suite, you can automate and empower sourcing, supplier management, contract management, procurement, AP, expense management, credit management, customer inquiries, orders, invoice delivery, cash application, claims and deductions, and collections.

That’s why Esker’s end-to-end AI automation suite is the preferred platform for today’s Office of the CFO — capable of automating any business process and breathing new life into data-driven decision-making and long-term growth strategies.

In addition, Esker:

• Has AI designed for the unique needs of financial and both customer- and supplier-centric processes and documents
• Supports multi-ERP/multi-system landscapes
• Allows companies to retain or add robust processing functions if some SAP functionality is lost when moving from ECC to S/4HANA
• Is built to foster collaboration with business customers and enhance the customer experience
• Contains automation for complicated use cases, including complex remit data extraction, complex inter-company cash application, complex trade deductions and complex e-invoicing compliance
• Offers streamlined UI built for AP, AR, and Customer Service including simple, intuitive AI agents that guide users through their work and make them more productive
• Provides local support on whatever continent you’re on

Our white paper, AI Automation Suite for the Office of the CFO goes into more depth on what the Office of the CFO is, the evolution of the CFO from financial overseer to growth architect, and the specific ways Esker leverages AI to help businesses overcome obstacles to growth and resilience.

Esker does AI differently

Built on 15+ years of research and development, Esker Synergy AI is thoughtfully and seamlessly integrated throughout our platform in ways that meet the unique needs of the AP, AR and customer service functions. No need to purchase add-ons to get the AI capabilities you want. We also continuously maintain and optimize our AI tools to ensure the highest levels of performance and security.

One of the most cutting edge aspects of our AI offering is Agentic AI. It can create and launch autonomous agents tailored to specific needs like supply chain management. These agents go beyond providing answers to user queries. They can actually develop strategies based on user’s needs and execute them to improve how business processes are conducted.

Our robust Synergy AI can benefit your team in a variety of ways, including:

• Flagging non-compliant clauses in supplier contracts to mitigate risks
• Answering routine supplier queries so your team can focus on higher-value tasks
• Analyzing customer financial statements to evaluate credit risk
• Answering user questions and generating reports to make using the platform easier
• Generating data-driven answers to customer questions to help customer service representatives respond more quickly
• Empowering customers with an AI assistant for self service

Final thoughts

SAP’s staying power as the world’s most popular ERP combined with Esker’s industry-leading AI automation solutions for the Office of the CFO create the ultimate power couple. We’re here to help you accelerate your automation journey today and as you transition S/4HANA Cloud to position your business for long-term success in fulfilling your company’s mission.