SAP's vision for the AI era

Good morning, AI enthusiasts. SAP is gearing up for their Connect 2025 conference with a bold message: AI is the new backbone of enterprise workflows.

As teams race to make faster, smarter decisions, the global tech leader says the real unlock will come from AI agents running on a unified data foundation, able to see, predict, and act across supply chains, finance, procurement, and customer experience.

To understand how SAP is driving this transformation, we sat down with Muhammad Alam, Chief Product Officer, for an exclusive Q&A.

In today’s AI rundown:

• Built-in AI turns real-time data into value

• Agents ‘scout’ to take proactive actions

• Trust and active support, from day one

• More workflows set to transform

• Localization flexibility with full compliance

• The future of work with AI

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

SAP AI STACK

🤖 Built-in AI turns real-time data into value

The Rundown: While many enterprises are racing to integrate AI by bolting on new tools, SAP is taking a different path and baking AI and agents directly into its core business suite, all powered by a unified data foundation.

Cheung: What is SAP’s secret sauce when it comes to AI? How do you help businesses make smarter/faster decisions across functions?

Alam: First, what makes SAP Business AI unique is that it’s powered by semantically rich, real-time data from SAP applications that cut across end-to-end business processes such as Finance, Spend, Supply Chain, Human Capital Management and Customer Experience. This breadth provides the broadest context to AI, enabling better recommendations and more accurate results.

Second, SAP Business AI is natively embedded in the applications users use every day — both through in-application capabilities as well as via SAP Joule. This makes adoption, and hence the realization of value, more scalable and predictable for organizations.

Alam added: The SAP Business AI is also both role and context-aware. It knows you and works for you as an intelligent assistant. Whether you are in Accounts Receivable, Planning, Controlling, Customer Service and so forth, there is a Joule Assistant tailored for your role — powered by multiple Joule Agents and tools to help you do your job more effectively and efficiently.

Why it matters: By baking seamless, scalable AI into existing workflows and running everything on a single data foundation, SAP removes the complexity that slows most AI rollouts. The result is faster decisions, proactive insights, and automated processes that break down silos and turn real-time data into measurable business outcomes.

AGENTIC APPROACH

🔥 Agents ‘scout’ to take proactive actions

The Rundown: In addition to a prompt-based copilot, SAP is going all in on agents, which act like digital scouts and proactively track ops to flag issues and automate fixes, delivering faster planning, higher accuracy, and big efficiency gains.

Cheung: How do SAP’s agents solve problems before they happen in different business environments? Can you share some AI success stories?

Alam: Our Assistants and their agents don’t just wait for instructions — they act proactively, predict outcomes, and help keep your business running smoothly. In supply chain, an Assistant instructs its Agents to detect potential stock-outs or logistical delays early and suggest fixes. In HR, they guide employees through onboarding and recommend personalized learning paths.

It’s like having a team of digital scouts — always on the lookout. With SAP as the control tower, uncertainty becomes visibility — and visibility is a powerful advantage.

Why it matters: Proactive AI agents turn SAP’s business suite into an active problem-solver, helping companies move from firefighting to future-proofing their business by slashing time, reducing errors, and staying ahead of disruptions before they impact the bottom line.

TRUST

🦄 Trust and active support, from day one

The Rundown: When AI is baked right into the business suite, customers can have questions about safety and how their data is being protected and used.

Cheung: How does SAP ensure its AI offerings remain not only powerful but also trustworthy, safe, and easy to use for customers?

Alam: SAP builds AI you can trust, use, and rely on. Every feature undergoes an ethics review and aligns with global standards such as the EU AI Act and UNESCO principles. Data privacy, user roles, and human oversight are built into Joule and our agents, so you remain in control.

At the same time, SAP AI is powerful: it delivers insights across your business, automates routine tasks, and integrates seamlessly with your processes. And it’s easy to use: intuitive interfaces and conversational tools enable natural interaction, while SAP ensures that promises made are promises kept — from order to delivery to service.

Why it matters: Businesses can innovate confidently, knowing their AI is secure, compliant, and backed by hands-on support. This combination of trust and guidance helps organizations unlock real value, scale AI adoption effectively, and turn insights into measurable business outcomes.

UPGRADES

🧠 More workflows set to transform

The Rundown: SAP’s gearing up to roll out some major upgrades for its AI-enabled Business Suite, right from predictive Supply Chain Orchestration and agentic procurement to customizable AI agents and a touch of AI-powered robotics systems.

Cheung: What new capabilities can SAP customers expect from the AI-enabled Business Suite in the coming months?

Alam: We are shipping AI capabilities at an accelerated pace across the suite. So, get ready for some big updates. For example, a new supply chain orchestration solution that predicts and prevents impacts from disruptions before they are realized. It uses a network knowledge graph and AI to analyze real-time data across suppliers and logistics.

We have also completely rebuilt SAP Ariba Source-to-Pay as a modern, AI native solution – the only one of its kind in the industry. It allows you to leverage agentic procurement, with embedded analytics and AI agents to handle complex sourcing events.

Alam added: We are also announcing new finance agents that automate cash and treasury management and compliance, saving up to 80% of time on routine tasks. SAP Joule action bar brings your Assistant to every screen, and the agent builder lets you customize Assistants and the Agents that work for them — with zero coding required.

We’re even bringing AI into robotics for real-world automation. With SAP, every employee decision becomes smarter, faster, and always connected to the customer.

Why it matters: SAP is going deeper with AI to deliver faster, smarter, and more automated business processes across the board, helping companies act on insights in real time and drive greater value across every function, redefining what it means to run a truly intelligent enterprise.

GLOBAL VISION

⚡️ Localization flexibility with full compliance

The Rundown: SAP maintains a global AI vision while adapting to diverse markets by embedding privacy, security, and ethics into every product. Lessons from Europe’s strict regulatory landscape guide development, and an open ecosystem ensures flexibility for local needs.

Cheung: SAP’s a global giant. How does it deliver a unified AI strategy while adapting to different markets and regulations worldwide?

Alam: We’ve learned from Europe’s strict regulatory landscape that privacy, security, and ethics are non-negotiable. Our open ecosystem and global standards keep us unified, but flexible for local needs. We close the gap by offering a connected SAP Business Suite that helps you not only meet, but exceed, customer expectations - while staying compliant wherever you operate.

Why it matters: With this flexible yet focused approach from SAP, businesses get the benefits of a trusted, globally consistent AI platform that adapts to local regulations and market priorities, ultimately enabling innovation without compromise, no matter where you are.

FUTURE

🧪 The future of work with AI

The Rundown: With AI advancements, enterprises will shift toward increased autonomy and proactive actions. SAP envisions that this change will drive efficiencies and enable employees to work alongside intelligent agents and apps.

Cheung: How will enterprise needs change as AI evolves? What will this mean for the future of work — will it augment human work or replace roles?

Alam: AI will primarily augment human work by automating routine tasks and freeing people to focus on strategic and creative activities. While some roles may evolve, the emphasis will be on collaboration between humans and AI to increase productivity and drive innovation.

It will also elevate the role of the employee to one of oversight, strategy, and managing exceptions, making their work more valuable — not obsolete.

Why it matters: The trend is clear: people will need to learn to work with AI to thrive in an AI-driven future. Employees will increasingly rely on intelligent agents to support decisions, anticipate challenges, and streamline day-to-day operations. Agents will handle the tasks as humans strategize and verify to ensure success.