Last week, the most anticipated event of the year for SAP’s technology enthusiasts and business professionals took place: SAP Sapphire in Orlando. Under the theme “Bring out your best,” SAP announced a series of innovations and strategic partnerships aimed at integrating Generative AI across its entire portfolio of cloud business solutions.
In his keynote, SAP CEO Christian Klein highlighted that the new Business AI offerings will transform business operations, providing customers with greater agility and innovation capabilities. Klein emphasized the company’s commitment to delivering technology that not only meets current market needs but also anticipates future demands, ensuring tangible results and competitive advantages.
“SAP is definitely getting bigger,” said Klein, surveying the attending audience. “We now come together to network and share best practices and learn from each other – this is why I love Sapphire, but this year is special because we are entering a new phase of AI with endless possibilities… and in the next two days we will show you how to capture this decisive moment in technology.”
One of the event’s highlights was the presentation of Joule, showcasing the increasing role of artificial intelligence in SAP solutions and its impact on customer interactions by providing faster and more personalized responses. Initially integrated with SAP SuccessFactors, Joule is now expanding to other tools such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP Build, and SAP Integration Suite. By the end of the year, Joule is expected to be available in SAP Ariba and SAP Analytics Cloud, along with a bidirectional integration with Microsoft Copilot to enhance the insights offered to users of both SAP and Microsoft’s suite of applications.
SAP’s proposal for AI includes the SAP Business Generative AI Hub, which simplifies complexity by allowing companies to use various models regardless of the platform (AWS, Google, Meta, OpenAI, etc.). These innovations are supported by a strong commitment to AI ethics, as reflected in the adoption of UNESCO’s ethical principles for artificial intelligence, ensuring that the developed technologies respect human rights and promote fairness.
In the realm of strategic partnerships, AWS emphasized its collaboration with SAP across the three layers that enable AI: infrastructure, models and tools (security, privacy, guardrails, agents, etc.), and applications in generative AI. AWS stands out as the platform with the most options for running NVIDIA GPUs, alongside its proprietary processors for AI applications. Innovations include the integration of AWS Bedrock with the SAP Business Generative AI Hub and the expansion of integration between the two platforms via the BTP SDK.
Regarding the partnership with NVIDIA, both companies are working to incorporate advanced technologies ranging from ABAP code generation to the simulation of manufacturing configurations through NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs, enabling the creation of industrial digital twins. NVIDIA’s CEO highlighted the NVIDIA NeMo Retriever microservice, which extracts insights from SAP product documentation and the SAP community to provide information to consultants through natural language interactions. He also emphasized how SAP Joule has helped NVIDIA’s developers within their organization work with ABAP and develop next-generation AI services with SAP.
Another notable partnership was with Apple, focusing on spatial computing. The collaboration aims to ensure SAP applications are fully integrated with Apple’s Vision Pro platform. Key features include advanced security (via iris recognition), Infinite Canvas (no screen space limitations), hyper-realistic digital twins, collaboration via Apple’s platform (e.g., using FaceTime), and the announced integration with Joule (Vision Pro, iPhone, and Apple Watch).
The collaboration with Google Cloud stands out for the integration of Joule and SAP IBP (Integrated Business Planning) with the Gemini AI models and the Google Cloud Cortex Framework, aimed at optimizing supply chains. The solution also incorporates additional contextual data, such as weather and search trends from the Cortex Framework, which can provide early warnings of potential disruptions. With these new capabilities, SAP IBP will be able to generate alternative scenarios and replan entire supply chains to mitigate disruption risks.
The partnership with Meta involves using the AI Llama 3 model to enhance analytical applications in SAP Analytics Cloud, while Mistral AI and their large language models will be new additions available in the Generative AI hub in SAP AI Core.
SAP continues to emphasize the importance of the cloud for business agility, offering new solutions that facilitate the transition to SAP S/4HANA Cloud and promote sustainable practices through the SAP Sustainability Control Tower and SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, tools that help manage companies’ carbon footprints in compliance with global regulations.
The RISE program, now three years old and considered a success by SAP, was highlighted as the path for all companies. There was a strong emphasis on Clean Core, reassuring the importance of addressing the Clean Core to fully leverage RISE benefits. SAP also highlighted BTP features and the power of the LeanIX + Signavio combination to enable AI (which will not run on on-premises products).
SAP also announced the acquisition of WalkMe, a digital adoption platform considered strategic for SAP’s cloud products uptake. WalkMe will complement the current product EnableNow to enhance customer adoption and enablement across all SAP digital products.
During the event, there were showcases highlighting the intelligent industry journey in real-time, starting with a personalized order-taking digital screen. This provided participants with an immersive experience through the journey of a customer request to the final delivery of the product. Participants could choose from three main options for their products: availability (at hand), agility (in mind), and sustainability (at heart). These customizable choices demonstrated how SAP technology enables precise adaptation to the specific needs of each customer.
The intelligent system swiftly identified required parts and inventory availability, demonstrating SAP’s capability in managing the make-to-order challenge. Production started with automated order translation to the production machines. Participants observed in real-time how orders were converted into products, monitored through dashboards displayed on multiple screens. These data provided insights into production progress, resource consumption, and operational efficiency.
This year’s SAP Sapphire was a resounding success, attracting more participants than ever before. Presentations on SAP S/4HANA, Clean Core, and AI underscored the widespread adoption of innovative approaches and new technologies among companies. Through customer cases and live demonstrations, the event highlighted that the future of businesses is evolving to be smarter, more efficient, and more interconnected than ever.
By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy.
At NUMEN, we are on a mission to connect technology and human expertise to deliver exceptional solutions.