In conversations with customers last month at SAP Sapphire & ASUG Annual Conference, one question seemed to reverberate throughout the corridors of Orlando.
Amid the ongoing stresses to global supply chains exerted by tariffs, geopolitical tensions and the proliferation of mandates in many countries regarding electronic invoicing and materials traceability, how can organizations best deploy cloud-based business networks and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to extend visibility, steady the flow of commerce, and mitigate third-party risk?
To instill resilience throughout mission-critical operations and those of their trading partners, businesses are turning increasingly to AI-powered cloud solutions to orchestrate complex, often volatile, supply chains. But the sheer volume of transactions and rigor of processing across vast troves of underlying data require that digital commerce be anchored within an infrastructure durable enough to withstand today’s pace of change yet supple enough to sustain tomorrow’s scope of innovation.
That is why some of the most significant innovation underway for SAP Business Network, the world’s largest business-to-business platform, involves its ongoing move to SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), a shift with profound implications for SAP customers and their ability to counter disruption.
The cloud-native architecture of SAP BTP optimizes collaboration and innovation capabilities for organizations large and small, and the platform offers the scalability that SAP Business Network customers and their trading partners require to perform at their peak as business needs evolve. With its high-performing infrastructure, SAP BTP ensures seamless connectivity not only between SAP Business Network and other SAP solutions but across third-party systems as well.
Meanwhile, as differing regulatory regimes for electronic invoicing and materials traceability take effect in various countries, the built-in security and compliance features of SAP BTP ensure that businesses can manage multi-tier supply chains while adhering strictly to regional requirements. In addition, ongoing innovation to SAP Business Network takes full advantage of extensive AI capabilities in SAP BTP to automate complex workflows and securely augment applications with agentic capabilities.
Facilitating more than $6.1 trillion in commerce across 761 million transactions annually carries the obligation that a business network continually earn anew the trust of the enterprises that rely on it for operational continuity, data security, decision-support quality, and regulatory compliance.
For SAP Business Network, this means reinvesting on a regular basis in the architecture and infrastructure necessary to accelerate the speed of transactions, responsiveness to up-to-the-minute fluctuations in supply and demand, scalability to support business growth, streamlined integration across SAP and non-SAP systems, greater extensibility and deeper functionality, an intuitive user interface that reduces complexity and friction, and the most advanced, AI-augmented analytics capabilities available anywhere.
The ongoing transition for SAP Business Network to SAP BTP accomplishes all of the above. Over the long run, however, the change that customers are likely to appreciate most is the ease with which they can innovate alongside their trading partners and shape new business models through the insights harnessed by AI applications drawing upon sprawling repositories of accumulated day-to-day operational data.
While SAP Business Network upgrades its platform, it continues to innovate with several new capabilities announced at SAP Sapphire. To provide additional support for product compliance and quality control, SAP Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration is introducing these features:
- Mass upload of certificate documents: Suppliers can now bulk upload quality and compliance certificates directly within the advance shipping notification (ASN) upload template at the line-item level, significantly reducing manual effort and improving data accuracy
- Buyer-controlled document mandates: Buyers can specify which type of certifications are required for each purchase order, automatically enforcing compliance and quality standards while streamlining the process
These capabilities simplify the tracking of critical certifications, including sustainability credentials, carbon footprint documentation, and industry-specific certifications. Benefits include improved compliance, reduced delays, enhanced process adoption, and improved traceability, thus supporting regulatory compliance and sustainability goals throughout the supply chain.
To enhance supply chain efficiency and sustainability, SAP Business Network for Logistics is introducing these features:
- Enhanced greenhouse gas emissions tracking: Integration of actual emissions data from carriers and logistics service providers into SAP Transportation Management, enabling planned versus actual analysis, marks a crucial step toward capturing and analyzing scope 3 emissions data from external sources
- Extended ocean freight support: New ocean tendering and dispute handling functionalities within SAP Transportation Management are essential as the global container shipping market is forecast to grow at a 12 percent compound annual rate to around US$15.87 billion in 2028
To strengthen the ability of operators, manufacturers, and service providers to manage equipment and other physical assets via a digital network for resiliency and transparency, SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration is introducing these features:
- Cloud-based ERP integration: Users can now initiate and manage ERP integration directly from the cloud, offering greater control over data synchronization
- Enhanced material and model integration: Bi-directional integration of materials and models between SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration and ERP systems
- Inbound integration for shared functional locations: Synchronizing shared functional locations to improve collaboration between operators and service providers
- Asset administration shell (AAS) file upload for equipment creation: Automate equipment creation and associated document management through AAS file uploads, reducing manual data entry
- Quality inspection checklists: By the integration of checklists into SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration, operators can share their inspection checklists and characteristics with service providers, who can in turn record the results for the operator
All of these enhancements are scheduled to be available by the end of 2025, offering businesses across industries the opportunity to transform their supply chain operations, drive sustainability initiatives, and attain new heights in efficiency, visibility, and competitive advantage.
Jörn Keller is executive vice president and chief product officer for SAP Business Network.
