It has never been a more exciting time for artificial intelligence (AI). Generative AI and large language models (LLM) are dominating headlines and making AI a part of every business conversation. However, turning AI technology advancement into business impact remains a challenge for many companies as they lack in-house expertise.
That is what we solve at SAP with our unique approach to AI.
Built-In, Relevant, Responsible Business AI
At SAP, we deliver AI that is available from day one, as it is already built into the SAP applications that power the most critical business processes. It works for an entire business because it is developed using extensive industry-specific data and deep process knowledge. Organizations can use it with confidence, as it is created using responsible AI practices. In essence, SAP AI is AI built for business.
Today at SAP Sapphire, we are announcing 15 new business AI capabilities, many powered by generative AI. We have also expanded our partnership with Microsoft on generative AI.
Let’s have a closer look at a few of these new capabilities.
Strengthening Human Capital Management
A company’s greatest asset is its workforce. Our focus for human capital management (HCM) is to use AI to help organizations attract, retain, and skill their employees. New generative AI capabilities in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting enable hiring managers to create compelling and accurate job descriptions that capture the desired skills and attributes of each role. Integration with Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word allows them to fine-tune further and then seamlessly publish back in SAP SuccessFactors software. Generative AI capabilities in the SAP SuccessFactors solution also generates interview questions tailored to specific job descriptions and candidates’ resumes, helping ensure inclusive language. The combined effect of these business AI capabilities saves hiring managers precious time and improves interview quality, maximizing the effectiveness of the hiring process.
We are also announcing talent intelligence hub in SAP SuccessFactors software, which leverages people’s skills, competencies, capabilities, interests, work styles, and learning preferences to formulate recommendations that help employees develop and grow. These recommendations inspire, guide, and support employees by suggesting learning choices, roles, mentoring programs, and peer connections. Organizations also gain a better understanding of skill sets in their workforce to improve internal mobility, retention, and workforce agility.
Both of these business AI scenarios are planned for availability this year.
Growing Supply Chain Resilience
In supply chain, we are using AI to help predict, prepare, and respond to rapidly evolving demands. New generative AI capabilities in SAP Transportation Management enable automotive and manufacturing companies to automatically process the tens of thousands of delivery notes they receive daily in different formats. The automation avoids data entry errors and works out of the box without requiring curated training data.
Additionally, in SAP Extended Warehouse Management, we are introducing an intelligent slotting capability that uses AI to suggest how to optimize warehouse organization, stocking, and replenishment based on a product’s characteristics, demand, or forecasts. This capability helps maximize warehouse space and increase the efficiency of warehouse management.
Users can take advantage of the intelligent slotting capability today; intelligent goods receipt is planned for availability later this year.
Increasing Efficiency and Compliance in Procurement
In procurement, we are using AI to help users contain costs and increase compliance across different markets. The new intelligent invoice conversion capability in SAP Business Network makes it easier for procurement teams to onboard new suppliers by automatically extracting and processing relevant information from supplier invoices. A close feedback loop improves the mapping accuracy over time, further expediting invoice processing and accuracy.
We are also using AI to enhance the employee purchase experience with personalized recommendations in SAP Ariba Buying. The guided buying capability uses data, such as employees’ roles, to suggest products and services chosen by peers and other pertinent products from the company catalog to improve the buying experience and curb maverick spend.
The guided buying capability in SAP Ariba Buying is available today; the intelligent invoice conversion on SAP Business Network is planned for availability later this year.
Reducing Risks and Controlling Costs in Finance
In finance, we are using AI to transform all finance operations with insights, recommendations, and automation. The new intelligent collections in SAP S/4HANA helps collection specialists forecast the risk of a late payment on an invoice and better prioritize which customers require follow up. This not only streamlines an extremely time-consuming task, but also simplifies risk management and makes it easier for corporate treasury to manage liquidity and capital levels.
Intelligent collections in SAP S/4HANA is available today.
Improving Employee & Customer Experience
SAP Digital Assistant provides a unified natural language interface for SAP solutions. We are adding new generative AI capabilities to provide users with tailored assistance based on their context, helping new and experienced users be more productive with the tasks at hand.
SAP Digital Assistant is also expanding its capabilities to provide users with proactive and contextual assistance inside their applications, starting with SAP Customer Experience solutions. With the new SAP Digital Assistant for customer experience, sellers and support teams can easily get holistic insights, create recommendations, and automatically generate content to personalize customer experiences.
Both these capabilities are planned for availability later this year.
Increasing Agility and Foresight Across your Business
We have covered just a few of the many business AI capabilities we are announcing at SAPPHIRE. The figure below summarizes all of them — including the ones that bring value to several business functions, such as generative AI scenarios in SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Signavio Process Manager.
New AI Capabilities
Delivering AI with Trust and Transparency
Responsible AI has been integral to our AI strategy since its inception. We follow a holistic approach to delivering AI that puts humans at the center of our products and processes. To do so, we have established an ethics policy and compliance processes to put responsible AI into practice. The AI in our applications is transparent, so we can understand how it makes inferences and builds recommendations. It respects the privacy of sensitive data and helps users avoid bias in your decisions. Altogether, we ensure you remain in control.
Learn more about these announcements and how SAP AI is built for business:
Bharat Sandhu is senior vice president of Application Development and AI at SAP.
