Software manufacturer SAP is planning to introduce a new cost control system aimed at managing rising expenditures associated with artificial intelligence (AI). According to the “Handelsblatt,” the company’s CFO, Dominik Asam, confirmed that token costs have been rising sharply this year. He explained that as SAP moves from the piloting stage to industrializing AI use, the integration of traditional controlling methods is necessary to ensure efficiency. Tokens are regarded as the primary unit of measure for both the usage and billing of AI functions.
The plan outlined in the “Handelsblatt” details a tiered model for managing these costs. The “Basic” level is set with a monthly cost limit of 100 euros. Employees fulfilling various technical roles would typically be assigned to the “Pro” tier, which offers a budget of 500 euros. For a select group of intensive users, the “Pro Max” stage is designed, featuring a cap of 5,000 euros per month, though exceptional cases may reach 50,000 euros with leadership approval. The corporation has not provided a detailed comment on this strategy.
Under the proposed system, several control mechanisms will be implemented. Employees will automatically receive notifications when they reach 50% and 80% of their defined budget. Furthermore, if an employee requires consistently higher capacity, prior approval from a manager will be mandatory.
Asam affirmed to the “Handelsblatt” that SAP has made significant progress in controlling and optimizing token costs. He noted that the company now possesses fine-grained transparency, allowing them to track exactly which organizational units use how many tokens and for what purpose. The development of this new system involved close collaboration between the finance department and internal IT.
