Envision the Future of Generative AI with SAP's AI Agents

[christian_karaschewitz]

The generative AI market is booming and shows no signs of slowing down. Generative AI is forecast to add $2.6-$4.4 trillion in productivity (McKinsey) to the global economy in the next 3-5 years, rapidly transforming business operations. And AI agents are at the forefront, enhancing human collaboration, streamlining complex workflows across various business processes and redefining business efficiency. The immense potential of these AI agents is further underscored by IDC's forecast, predicting a $15 billion market by 2029 for AI copilots. Clearly, we're only scratching the surface of what's possible with generative AI in the business world.

At this point, you might be thinking what is an AI Agent and why should I care?

AI agents are like super-efficient digital teammates – smart systems equipped to perform tasks autonomously, learning from experience and adapting along the way. By automating repetitive tasks, they reduce the human workload and boost operational efficiency, enabling teams to focus on higher-value activities.

Let’s have a look at their core capabilities:

1. Planning: Agents go beyond executing single actions— they orchestrate processes, breaking down complex problems and mapping out efficient, step-by-step approaches.
2. Reflection: Unlike traditional software, agents reflect their actions in real time and learn from mistakes. They self-correct and iteratively reason through the problem until they find the best solution. This capability allows them to handle more irregular, complex challenges, makes them more effective over time.
3. Tool Usage: AI agents can use external tools—like calculators, APIs, databases, and even other AI models— to expand their capabilities, broadening the scope of tasks they can accomplish.
4. Collaboration and Multi-Agent Interactions: Agents aren’t limited to working solo. They thrive in cooperative ecosystems, coordinating with other specialized agents and humans, leveraging their unique expertise to achieve a shared goal.

Still a bit too abstract? Let's dive into how Agentic AI is transforming workplace efficiency with some use case categories:

• Data Structuring and Classification: Think of Agentic AI like your smart assistant organizing large amounts of data effortlessly. It classifies and categorizes information freeing up your time for more important tasks. For instance, it can autonomously sort out customer complaint emails into the specific actions needed for each without human intervention.
• System and Domain Bridging: Agentic AI acts as a bridge, enhancing connectivity between different systems or departments, ensuring everything runs smoothly without any hitches. It can automatically redirect a customer complaint from one department directly to the team best equipped to handle it, ensuring faster issue resolution and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• Complex Task Automation: Beyond simple processes Agentic AI is also great at handling tricky, multi-step tasks that typically would have needed a human touch. It adapts and offers solutions even to complex situations which automation tools can’t handle. Whether it’s sorting out detailed procurement requests or analyzing various data points to provide deep insights, Agentic AI is up to the challenge.

So far so good, but why is everyone talking about AI Agents now?

The answer lies in the remarkable advancements driven by foundation models, which are at the heart of generative AI. These models allow AI to handle complex data and produce outputs like code, text, or media that are tailored to specific tasks. They can think through problems deeply and autonomously, mirroring human cognitive processes.

For instance, the latest reasoning models like OpenAI's o1 and o3 are game-changers. They don't just perform tasks; they use real-time computing power to "think" and generate human-like outcomes. And the progress is mind-blowing— o3 aced a human-like reasoning test, scoring over 80% while its predecessor, GPT-4o, scored only 2% on the same test just a year ago!

With such rapid advancements, AI agents are getting better at automating and enhancing business decisions every day, truly pushing the limits of what autonomous systems can achieve!

A lot of companies are talking about agents. What does that mean for SAP and why is SAP special in this space?

To answer these questions, we should first look at the advantage of the SAP Business Suite. It isn't just a collection of solutions; it's a powerhouse for transformation that boosts continuous innovation. Here’s the simple breakdown:

• Unparalleled Applications: SAP’s business applications and technology platform aren’t siloed tools; they integrate processes end-to-end. This integration ensures that every action taken within these applications is based on trusted, business-critical data at its source.
• Unmatched Data: All the data, whether from SAP or other systems, is collected and unified in the SAP Business Data Cloud. This makes it a single, trustworthy source that breaks down data-silos and fuels advanced AI-driven insights. Because AI is only as good as the data you feed into it.
• Unrivaled AI: SAP Business AI goes beyond basic automation. SAP takes AI to the next level with Joule, the AI copilot. Joule helps employees coordinate intelligent agents to work together, breaking down barriers between functions and enabling real-time, company-wide improvements. Unlike others who might use AI in limited areas, SAP integrates AI throughout your entire organization, enhancing efficiency and resilience on a large scale.

As AI continues to refine processes, it produces even better data which leads to smarter decisions. This ongoing cycle of innovation is what sets SAP apart. We uniquely blend applications, data, and AI to revolutionize how your business runs.

SAP is in a unique position to turn AI agent technology into business value given:

• the breadth of applications and data we offer, allowing automation of tasks along all key business processes
• the domain knowledge grounded in real-world business data and process know-how maintained in SAP Signavio and SAP Knowledge Graph
• our unified entry point with SAP’s AI copilot Joule to use AI agents to automate processes and augment decision-making
  
  

Speaking of Joule!

Thanks to our fully integrated approach, we are designing a system of collaborative Joule agents that work within and across the suite to support every business function, solving way more complex challenges and driving cross-enterprise productivity. You don’t need hundreds of AI agents – just the right ones with the right skills, grounded in the right data, with the right guidance from SAP’s end-to-end business processes. Joule agents are available in all parts of the business, delivered out of the box with Joule and SAP’s suite of applications. This enables the transformation of entire business processes – end to end.

By now, you realized that agentic AI represents a transformative leap in business technology. Agentic AI is like having a super-efficient, all-knowing team member who makes sure that the workplace is more productive, collaborative, and smart. It’s not just about doing things faster, but also about doing them smarter! By bringing together structured data management, seamless system integration, and advanced task automation, AI agents empower teams to operate with efficiency, accuracy, and agility. It’s truly a game-changer for how we approach automation in today’s dynamic work environments.

Ultimately, that means that SAP needs to rethink software. SAP is taking the necessary steps for the next era of enterprise management by embedding systems of AI agents into SAP applications, fueled by context-rich business data, helping customers to realize the full potential of SAP Business AI.

So, now you’ve heard all about the benefits and you want to see AI Agents in action?

Watch how Joule Agents work here. And read more about the latest SAP innovation below.

Useful Links

SAP Debuts Business Data Cloud with Databricks to Turbocharge Business AI

Joule Agents: How SAP Uniquely Delivers AI Agents That Truly Mean Business

Watch the Business Unleashed Replay to find out more about SAP Business Suite

[gomeza74]

It's striking how difficult it can be to shift some clients away from their entrenched, customized business models, even when presenting clear explanations and diagrams of SAP's best practice processes. Now, to effectively promote SAP's new AI solutions, I suggest developing content that addresses the client's perspective, focusing on the human-psychological elements of change and how to effectively communicate the benefits of these solutions.

[pbaumann]

@christian_karaschewitz Thanks for this contribution. AI is really a hot topic and more and more information is coming, how Joule can be used with SAP BDC. Currently it is not fully clear to me, how it really will be connected. As you describe Joule AI Agents can improve and automate business processes. But this is not what happens in SAP BDC. Currently I miss a little bit the approach for SAP BDC. Happy if you have some hints.