While everyone’s watching the flashy AI startups and hyperscalers duke it out, two enterprise software giants are quietly crushing it in the Age of AI. Oracle and SAP—companies many wrote off as legacy dinosaurs—are now posting some of the most impressive growth metrics in the entire enterprise software landscape.
Yes, your grandfather’s enterprise software company is crushing it in the age of AI. 🙂
The numbers tell a remarkable story of transformation and positioning that every B2B founder should study. Especially ones that don’t think they can keep up in the Age of AI.
Oracle: The Infrastructure Play That’s Actually Working
Let’s start with the metrics that matter. Oracle’s cloud infrastructure revenue should increase more than 70% in the 2026 fiscal year, up from growth of 52% in the quarter, according to CEO Safra Catz. That’s not a typo—we’re talking about 70%+ growth for a company with over $50 billion in annual revenue.
The Revenue Reality Check:
- Total revenue of $15.90 billion beat estimates of $15.59 billion in Q4 FY2025
- Cloud Services became Oracle’s largest business, with non-GAAP operating income up 14% in constant currency to $5.7 billion
- Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) hit a record $99 billion, up 53% year-over-year
But here’s what’s really wild: In Q4 alone, Oracle signed over 30 AI sales contracts totaling more than $12.5 billion, including one with OpenAI to train ChatGPT in Oracle Cloud. When Larry Ellison says “I’ve never seen anything remotely like this” about demand, you know something fundamental has shifted.
The company is literally getting orders for all available cloud capacity. Recently Oracle received an order from an unnamed client for all available cloud capacity… “We never got an order like that before,” Ellison said.
The CapEx Reality: To meet this insatiable demand, Oracle’s capital expenditure for this fiscal year will more than double to $16 billion. For context, that’s more than many entire SaaS companies are worth. CEO Safra Catz confirmed that CapEx for FY 2025 is expected to surpass $16 billion – more than double the previous year.
SAP: The Transformation Nobody Saw Coming
If Oracle’s story is impressive, SAP’s is downright remarkable. Four years ago, when SAP announced its cloud transformation plan, the markets had some serious doubt if we could pull it off, as CEO Christian Klein recently reflected. Today, the numbers speak for themselves.
The Cloud Revenue Acceleration:
- Cloud revenue was up 27% to €4.71 billion in Q4 2024
- Cloud ERP Suite revenue growth of 33% in 2024
- Current cloud backlog grew by 32% to €18.08 billion
For fiscal year 2024, SAP’s overall revenue climbed to €34.18 billion, marking a 10% increase compared to the previous year. But the real story is in the cloud numbers: cloud business earned €17.14 billion: a sharp 25% jump from 2023.
The AI Integration That Actually Matters: Half of SAP’s Q4 cloud order entry included AI. SAP delivered more than 1300 generative-AI use cases in 2024, with more than 30,000 customers using SAP Business AI.
The 2026 Outlook: Accelerating Into Hypergrowth
Both companies are projecting acceleration, not deceleration, in 2025 and into 2026:
Oracle’s Ambitious Targets:
- 15% revenue growth for fiscal 2026 and 20% in fiscal 2027
- More than $67 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue, compared with consensus of $65.18 billion
SAP’s Confident Projections:
- €21.6 – 21.9 billion cloud revenue for 2025, up 26% to 28%
- €10.3 – 10.6 billion non-IFRS operating profit, up 26% to 30%
Why This Matters for Every SaaS Company
The Oracle and SAP success story reveals something crucial about the AI market that most SaaS founders are missing: AI isn’t about standalone products—it’s about enhancing existing, mission-critical workflows.
Three Key Lessons:
- The Trust Advantage: Enterprises trust these companies with their most critical systems. When Oracle or SAP says “now with AI,” customers buy it because they’re already dependent on the underlying platform.
- The Integration Reality: SAP’s AI strategy plays a key role across their Cloud ERP suite, with 30% of cloud deals containing AI components. This isn’t selling AI as a separate product—it’s AI-enhanced versions of software customers already can’t live without.
- The Infrastructure Moat: Oracle’s success shows that while everyone was focused on the model layer, the real money is in the infrastructure that makes AI possible at enterprise scale.
The Bottom Line
Oracle and SAP prove that in the Age of AI, being “boring” enterprise software with existing customer relationships might actually be the best position to be in. They’re not selling the promise of AI—they’re delivering AI-enhanced versions of software that customers are already paying for and depending on.
For SaaS founders, the message is clear: instead of building yet another AI-first product, consider how AI can dramatically enhance the workflows your customers already rely on. Sometimes the best AI strategy isn’t to start from scratch—it’s to make what already works work dramatically better.
The enterprise software giants aren’t just surviving the AI revolution—they’re leading it. And they’re doing it by being exactly what they’ve always been: the reliable, mission-critical backbone of enterprise operations, now supercharged with AI capabilities that customers actually want to pay for.
If Oracle and SAP Can Reaccelerate in the Age of AI, Why Can’t You?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Oracle is 47 years old. SAP is 52 years old. These companies have legacy codebases, technical debt, and organizational complexity that would make most startup founders break out in cold sweats. Yet they’re posting growth rates that would make unicorn startups jealous.
So what’s your excuse?
If companies with decades of legacy infrastructure can reinvent themselves and achieve 30%+ cloud growth, what’s stopping your SaaS company from doing the same? The Oracle and SAP playbook isn’t rocket science—it’s just disciplined execution around a few key principles.
The Reacceleration Framework:
1. Start Where You Already Win Oracle didn’t abandon databases to become an AI company—they made databases AI-powered. SAP didn’t ditch ERP to chase the latest trend—they embedded AI into ERP workflows. Your existing customers and core competencies aren’t limitations—they’re your launching pad.
2. Make AI Enhancement, Not AI Theater Both companies focused on AI that solves real business problems within existing workflows. Oracle’s autonomous database actually reduces operational overhead. SAP’s Joule actually makes business processes more efficient. Stop building AI features for demo purposes and start building AI that customers will pay more for.
3. Play the Long Game Oracle’s spending $16+ billion on infrastructure. SAP restructured 10,000 positions to fund AI investments. They’re not looking for quick wins—they’re repositioning for the next decade. If you’re not willing to make significant investments in AI capabilities, your competitors who do will eat your lunch.
4. Leverage Your Trust Advantage Both companies succeeded because enterprises already trusted them with mission-critical systems. Your existing customers trust you too—probably more than they trust the latest AI startup. Use that trust to expand into adjacent problems and workflows.
The Hard Questions Every B2B Founder Should Ask:
- Are you enhancing your core product with AI, or are you chasing shiny new AI features that don’t move the needle?
- Are you investing enough in AI capabilities to actually differentiate, or are you making cosmetic changes?
- Are you leveraging your existing customer relationships to expand your footprint, or are you starting from scratch?
The Reality Check: If 50-year-old enterprise software companies with massive technical debt can reaccelerate growth and post 30%+ increases in their core business lines, then age, legacy systems, and “being established” aren’t valid excuses for stagnation.
The question isn’t whether you can reinvent your SaaS company for the AI era. Oracle and SAP have proven it’s possible. The question is whether you have the discipline, investment appetite, and long-term vision to actually do it.
Because if you don’t, your “legacy” competitors just might.
Revenue figures and growth metrics cited from recent earnings reports and analyst calls.
