The transformative power of generative AI has already started to reshape productivity. From generating detailed reports to automating customer service tasks, AI helps streamline day-to-day activities.
However, the promise of AI-driven transformation has yet to be fully realized. This is largely because true business transformation doesn’t hinge only on improving individual productivity; it’s about unlocking the power of collaborative capabilities that enable cross-functional teams to solve ever-evolving business challenges. This shift paves the way for a new era of automation, driving the next industrial revolution.
This year at SAP TechEd, we extended our business AI strategy with a greater focus on transforming how businesses operate through autonomous, collaborative AI agents. Seamlessly infused into our AI copilot Joule, these agents span across business processes, breaking down silos and enhancing cross-functional collaboration.
At SAP, we believe that AI’s next frontier goes beyond isolated efficiencies and is about seamlessly unifying people, data, and processes to create business value and amplify the impact of outcomes.
Beyond Productivity Gains
What makes Joule different is its collaborative nature. Unlike other AI agents focused on single domains, Joule’s agents work together, crossing the boundaries of various business functions such as supply chain, finance, HR, and more. This approach enables our customers to solve multifaceted challenges in a way that isolated productivity tools simply cannot match.
“SAP’s AI copilot Joule is uniquely positioned to provide significant value with AI agents,” said Ritu Jyoti, GM and GVP of AI and Data, Market Research and Advisory, IDC. “With access to extensive contextual data and deep expertise across business functions like ERP, CRM, and HR, SAP will enable agentic AI solutions that seamlessly integrate across the business to transform the future of work.”
These AI agents are built with the ability to reason, plan, and execute; not just individually, but collectively, across multiple applications.
Imagine asking Joule to help settle a payment dispute. This involves monitoring and assessing accounts, issuing warnings, analyzing data, proposing recommendations, and generating comprehensive reports. In this scenario, a collection agent would plan a strategy by dividing the broader task into manageable steps. These steps are then seamlessly executed by collaborative expert agents, such as an email agent, an invoice agent, and a support case agent, which automate the entire workflow, freeing employees to focus on more strategic, value-driven activities.
Joule doesn’t just automate isolated steps; it brings together agents to deliver connected, cross-functional outcomes. The ability to break down organizational and data silos is what makes Joule stand out. It is a trusted copilot that harnesses AI to solve complex challenges that require collaboration across teams and systems.
Drive Business Transformation
Joule’s design principles are rooted in SAP’s unmatched business process expertise and access to business data. This gives Joule a unique ability to deliver transformative outcomes across the enterprise. By positioning agents at the intersection of high autonomy and deep collaboration, Joule pushes the boundaries of what is possible today.
Soon, Joule’s AI agents will further evolve with the help of SAP Knowledge Graph, a solution that will unlock the full value of data by connecting it with the rich business context captured in SAP applications. For example, a collection agent tasked with researching a payment dispute will use SAP Knowledge Graph to gather all the pertinent orders, invoices, and payments from the SAP applications, enabling other agents to complete their tasks more efficiently.
Our vision for Joule is in sharp contrast to many AI agents on the market, which can struggle to connect across various applications. Most are designed to address specific, single-use cases such as sales, customer services, or finance, based on pre-built language models with prompt engineering. These agents operate within narrow contexts, and while they improve personal productivity, they do not fundamentally transform business processes.
With collaborative agents that influence entire workflows and deliver new business value, Joule stands at the forefront of the next evolution of AI-driven business transformation.
We first introduced our vision for collaborative AI agents at SAP Sapphire in 2024, marking the beginning of a journey that has advanced significantly. With the developments announced this week at SAP TechEd, the first set of Joule’s agents will become available in Q4 2024, including extensibility capabilities. More out-of-the-box agents will be released in 2025, as well as the ability for customers to create their own agents with Joule studio.
With SAP, companies can expect a future where AI is a catalyst for truly unified and intelligent business operations.
To learn more about collaborative agents in Joule, visit our AI agents in Joule page, check out the SAP TechEd news guide, and read about the recently released business AI innovations.
Philipp Herzig is chief AI officer of SAP.