At its annual SAP Sapphire conference, SAP SE unveiled a set of innovations aimed at embedding Business AI deep into the workflows of organisations around the globe. The announcements mark a significant evolution in how companies can harness AI, not just as a backend tool but as an omnipresent assistant, strategic advisor, and catalyst for enterprise transformation.
“SAP combines the world’s most powerful suite of business applications with uniquely rich data and the latest AI innovations to create a flywheel of customer value,” said SAP CEO Christian Klein. “With the expansion of Joule, our partnerships with leading AI pioneers, and advancements in SAP Business Data Cloud, we’re delivering on the promise of Business AI as we drive digital transformations that help customers thrive in an increasingly unpredictable world.”
Meet Joule
At the heart of SAP’s announcement is Joule, the company’s generative AI assistant, now more powerful and ubiquitous than ever. Joule is designed to accompany users across their workday, weaving itself into both SAP and non-SAP environments to provide real-time insights, suggest next steps, and surface relevant data before it’s even requested. With integration into an action bar powered by WalkMe, Joule learns from user behaviour and proactively assists, always operating within SAP’s ethical AI framework.
But Joule is no longer just reactive—it’s becoming highly anticipatory. Thanks to a new partnership with Perplexity, a cutting-edge AI answer engine, Joule can now deliver visually structured responses grounded in both internal business data and external events. Whether it’s forecasting the impact of global supply chain disruptions or identifying emerging market opportunities, users can now ask Joule for business intelligence in the form of instantly generated charts, graphs, and insights.
AI agents reimagine business processes
SAP’s innovation push doesn’t stop at assistance; it extends to action. There is an expanded suite of “Joule Agents”, redefining traditional workflows with intelligent automation. These agents operate across departments, including finance, supply chain, HR, and customer experience, enabling autonomous execution of end-to-end processes. Powered by real-time enterprise data and coordinated by Joule, these agents offer a level of adaptability and intelligence designed to keep companies agile in an era of constant disruption.
A new OS for enterprise AI
In a major step toward democratising AI development, SAP introduced “AI Foundation”—a unified platform for building, scaling, and deploying custom AI solutions. Marketed as the world’s first operating system for Business AI, this platform gives developers a centralised environment to bring AI-driven applications to life. One standout feature is a new prompt optimiser co-developed with Frontier Lab Not Diamond, designed to drastically reduce the time it takes to build high-quality AI use cases—from days to minutes.
Smarter data, smarter decisions
SAP is also enhancing the decision-making power of its platforms with intelligent applications built into the SAP Business Data Cloud. These apps use live business-critical data to simulate scenarios, recommend actions, and learn continuously from real-time inputs. One such application, People Intelligence, turns workforce and skills data into actionable insights, helping organisations build smarter, more adaptive teams.
A strengthened partnership with Palantir adds even more weight to SAP’s data strategy. By integrating SAP Business Data Cloud with Palantir’s platforms, joint customers can create a unified data environment that supports modern analytics, cloud migration, and digital transformation initiatives—efforts that already support U.S. government agencies and major global enterprises.