SAP launches Business AI Platform & Autonomous Suite

SAP has launched a new Business AI Platform and Autonomous Suite, expanding its push to embed artificial intelligence across its core business software.

The new platform combines SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Business Data Cloud and SAP Business AI in a single environment. It also includes Joule Work, a new interface designed to let users complete tasks through AI-driven interactions instead of moving through multiple applications and screens.

The launches form part of SAP's broader effort to tie AI tools more closely to business data, workflows and governance controls. Many enterprise AI projects fall short, SAP argued, because systems lack enough business context to produce reliable results in operational settings.

At the centre of the platform is SAP Knowledge Graph, which maps business entities, processes and relationships across a customer's SAP estate. SAP also highlighted Joule Studio as a tool for building AI agents, applications and workflow automation, with both no-code and pro-code options.

SAP paired the release with the launch of SAP Autonomous Suite, which will bring more than 50 domain-specific Joule Assistants across finance, supply chain, procurement, human capital management and customer experience. Those assistants are intended to work alongside more than 200 specialised agents assigned to narrower tasks.

One example is an Autonomous Close Assistant for finance teams. According to SAP, the software can shorten the financial close process from weeks to days by automating journal entries, reconciliation and error resolution.

Industry focus

Beyond horizontal business functions, SAP is adding seven industry-specific autonomous products. These are designed to incorporate sector process logic, data models and regulatory requirements into automated workflows.

The company pointed to work with German energy group RWE in offshore wind operations. In that example, AI agents analyse records from past incidents, identify a likely root cause, and generate pre-filled work orders with recommended tools and fixes.

Joule Work is intended to sit on top of those systems as the main point of interaction for users. Staff will be able to describe a desired outcome and have Joule assemble the relevant workflows, data and AI agents across SAP and non-SAP systems on desktop, mobile and voice interfaces.

It is also designed to surface insights and automate routine tasks in the background. That reflects a wider shift in enterprise software toward conversational and agent-based interfaces, as major suppliers try to move AI from isolated copilots into operational systems.

Partner network

SAP also disclosed a broad set of partnerships tied to the new products. On the platform side, it is working with Anthropic, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Mistral AI, Cohere, n8n, NVIDIA and Parloa.

Those partnerships cover foundation models, data integration, interoperability between agents, workflow design and runtime infrastructure. Claude from Anthropic will be among the models used by the AI platform for Joule agents in areas including human resources, procurement and supply chain.

With Amazon Web Services, SAP will offer zero-copy data integration between SAP Business Data Cloud and Amazon Athena. Work with Google Cloud and Microsoft will support agent-to-agent interoperability between Joule and external agent frameworks.

According to SAP, NVIDIA's OpenShell will provide the runtime for Joule Studio. Parloa, meanwhile, is being integrated with SAP Service Cloud to support AI-led customer interactions using business data and service process information.

Implementation partnerships include Palantir, Accenture and Conduct. SAP said those relationships are focused on complex data migration work and AI-supported moves to cloud ERP systems.

Migration push

SAP also used the launch to sharpen its migration message for existing ERP customers. New agent-led transformation tools can reduce ERP migration effort by more than 35% by automating analysis, code remediation, configuration and testing, according to the company.

It has also adjusted its RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP programmes to include access to Joule Assistants. Customers running older on-premises SAP systems will also be able to access selected AI scenarios if they commit to moving most of their estate to SAP Cloud ERP.

SAP has created a EUR 100 million fund for partners to help customers deploy SAP-built assistants and agents, as well as products developed by partners on the new AI platform. The fund is intended to encourage wider adoption through SAP's services and channel network.

Chief executive Christian Klein said SAP was trying to make AI more dependable in core business processes. "For the mission-critical processes of our customers, 'almost right' just isn't good enough," he said.

"By uniting SAP Business AI Platform with SAP Autonomous Suite, we anchor AI agents in the business processes, data and governance so they can deliver accurate, compliant and secure outcomes, unlocking new sources of revenue and meaningful cost savings," Klein said.