Exploring SAP's AI Strategy

This lesson contains the following topics:

• Describe Artificial Intelligence
• SAP's AI Strategy with SAP Business AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to technologies that complement and strengthen human abilities in seeing, hearing, analyzing, deciding, and acting. Under AI, systems that can perform mental work are meant - in the same way that humans do.

Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) are two important approaches to developing AI systems. ML enables systems to automatically adapt and optimize themselves based on data, without having to be explicitly programmed. DL is a form of ML that uses complex neural networks to recognize patterns in data.

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content, including text, imagery, audio, and synthetic data. It is a machine-learning model that is trained to create new data, rather than making a prediction about a specific dataset. There are several types of generative AI, including: text-based which generates text such as articles or stories, image-based which generates images such as illustrations, audio-based which generates audio such as music, video-based which generates videos or short clips. Next to these types of generative AI in business there’s another important one: code generation. So, generative AI can help writing code in generating code chunks for given scenarios. With this the development, the lifecycle can get accelerated.

SAP is positioning SAP BTP as the leading AI platform for SAP, aiming to integrate AI support across all SAP products and business processes.

The AI capabilities are divided into three areas: Joule, Embedded AI Capabilities, and AI Foundation on SAP BTP. Joule is a generative AI copilot embedded within SAP applications, offering generative AI, embedded assistance, natural language processing, predictive analytics, process automation, and context-aware recommendations. Embedded AI Capabilities enhance SAP products by automating tasks, analyzing data, improving user experience, optimizing processes, fostering innovation, and ensuring seamless integration. The AI Foundation on SAP BTP provides comprehensive AI services, integration with SAP BTP, data management, prebuilt AI models, scalable deployment, security and compliance, innovation and customization, and enhanced business processes.

SAP is positioning SAP BTP as the leading AI platform for SAP. In addition, all SAP products and business processes are to receive AI support. This is described in more detail here.

SAP offers different AI capabilities across the entire portfolio. These capabilities are divided into three horizontal layers. These are:

• Joule
• Embedded AI Capabilities
• AI Foundation on SAP BTP

Joule

Joule is a copilot based on generative AI, integrated into SAP solutions for business-relevant processes like HR, finance, supply chain, purchasing, and sales on the SAP Business Technology Platform. Launched in September 2023, Joule provides accurate answers, uses natural language, learns from existing data, and facilitates faster decision-making while ensuring data privacy. You can learn more about this in it's dedicated lesson.

Embedded AI

SAP's strategy is to embed SAP Business AI across the portfolio. This means that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are integrated into various SAP products and services throughout their entire suite of offerings. This integration aims to enhance the functionality and efficiency of these products by applying AI capabilities. Examples for this embedded AI are: automation of routine tasks, generating source code, generating integration flows, generating texts such as job posting description and more. We get into this a little bit later again.

AI Foundation

SAP's AI Foundation on SAP BTP refers to a set of integrated AI capabilities and services designed to enhance and extend SAP applications and customer solutions with AI capabilities. This is the foundation for a lot of SAP's embedded AI capabilities. There are also services like SAP AI Core with the Gen-AI Hub or the SAP Business AI Services. This will be further discussed throughout this unit.

AI ecosystem

SAP does not only build new AI capabilities we know that customers also want to utilize AI from other vendors and it also does not make sense that SAP is training a LLM from scratch. Therefore SAP has made a lot of partnerships and investments into a wide ranging AI ecosystem, leveraging partners like Microsoft, Meta, AWS, Google Cloud, NVIDIA and more.

Relevant, Reliable and Responsible AI

SAP's AI should be relevant for your business, which means you can drive immediate business impact with AI embedded across your organization. The results, data, and capabilities offered by our AI also need to be reliable that you can make confident decisions based on AI grounded in your business data. And last but not least, when working with AI, this needs to be done with the highest ethical, security, and privacy standards.

At SAP, we care deeply about the impact of AI on the well-being of people, the health of our customers’ businesses, and society and economies. We address bias and discrimination concerns when designing AI into our applications, and work to be transparent and explainable. We uphold our highest standards regarding data privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity.

You can learn more here: Responsible AI

SAP Business AI embedded capabilities revolutionize business processes by automating routine tasks, improving decision-making, increasing efficiency, and enhancing customer experience. By applying AI, organizations can unlock new levels of productivity, innovation, and competitiveness, ultimately driving business success.

SAP Business AI includes a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities embedded within SAP business processes, designed to help organizations achieve real-world results with responsible data usage. These capabilities are built into various SAP solutions, including finance, supply chain, procurement, sales, marketing, human resources, and IT.

1. Automation: AI automates routine tasks, freeing up employees to focus on higher-value tasks that require creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking.
2. Improved Decision-Making: AI provides data-driven insights, enabling organizations to make informed decisions and optimize business processes.
3. Increased Efficiency: AI streamlines processes, reducing manual errors and increasing productivity.

1. SAP Concur: AI automates expense reporting, reducing manual processing time and increasing accuracy.
2. SAP S/4HANA: AI-powered analytics and predictive maintenance optimize supply chain operations and reduce downtime.
3. SAP Procurement: AI-powered procurement solutions automate sourcing, procurement, and supplier management, reducing costs and improving supplier relationships.

1. Finance: AI automates financial close, expense management, and forecasting, reducing manual errors and increasing accuracy.
2. Supply Chain: AI optimizes supply chain operations, predicting demand, managing inventory, and reducing transportation costs.
3. Procurement: AI automates procurement processes, sourcing, and supplier management, reducing costs and improving supplier relationships.
4. Human Resources: AI-powered HR solutions automate recruitment, talent management, and employee engagement, improving employee experience and retention.

• SAP Business AI
• SAP Business AI for industries
• AI And Machine Learning In SAP Solutions