What happens in Las Vegas doesn’t have to stay in Las Vegas, especially when it comes to the future of enterprise software. On the last day of SAP Connectwhich recently took place in Las Vegas, said SAP board member and chief operating officer Sebastian Steinhäuser in his Keynote how SAP is ushering in a new era for customers worldwide in which artificial intelligence increases productivity and business success.

Before Steinhäuser spoke about the central topic of his presentation, he asked the marketing managers of the SAP solution areas to briefly summarize the news from the various SAP Connect event tracks. In just under two minutes each, they covered finance, procurement, supply chain, human resources and customer experience. From autonomous accounting and forward-looking procurement to AI-powered recruitment of skilled workers and intelligent increase in customer loyalty, the message was clear: SAP develops innovations for all business processes.

The real challenge: aligning priorities

As Steinhäuser pointed out, each business area “has its own priorities and its own pressing and important issues.” The real challenge is not just bringing new features to market, but also aligning processes, data and teams to deal with uncertainty and achieve effective customer focus. “Simply putting an (AI) agent on top of a flawed process is not going to achieve anything,” he explained.

AI, data and applications set the SAP flywheel in motion

But how does the interaction work? The “flywheel” model is a dynamic cycle of AI, data and business applications that creates synergies across the organization. This is not just a theoretical concept. Steinhäuser showed how users at SAP – true to the motto “SAP runs SAP” – put the flywheel concept into practice.

First, he explained: “SAP uses role-based AI assistants that rely on specialized AI agents to support team members across all SAP business areas.”

Then he went into the data. At the beginning of the year, SAP was at the SAP Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC) their first own customer. SAP BDC connects all enterprise data on a single layer to provide faster and better insights into financial, workforce and sales planning. “We look forward to going live with the first group of intelligent applications, starting with People Intelligence,” he emphasized.

And finally he talked about the applications used. Using RISE with SAP, SAP is upgraded from SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC). SAP Business Suite and SAP Cloud ERP switched. “The SAP Business Suite is where data is created, and this is where AI makes an impact,” explained Steinhäuser.

But the processes continue to evolve with AI, he added. Solutions like SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX support SAP and its customers in the continuous transformation of their business processes and technology landscape – with AI functions that are integrated everywhere. And to ensure that employees are informed and involved every step of the way, SAP also WalkMe used.

“Now that I’m driving SAP’s own transformation, I understand the challenges you face,” said Steinhäuser. “If we leverage the flywheel effect of AI, data and applications across the SAP Business Suite, I am confident that we will be successful together.”

Seamlessly integrated AI support: safe use, measurable impact

Brenda Bown, Chief Marketing Officer of Business AI at SAP, then came on stage and explained how AI is increasingly finding its way into the daily work of companies. “In conversations (with customers), I always hear three things: Firstly, they want AI that offers concrete added value. Secondly, it should be able to be used safely and responsibly. And thirdly, it should be usable across teams and departments. We are there to offer exactly that,” she emphasized.

Joule is now embedded in proven SAP applications for various use cases – making work faster and easier across the entire company. “By the end of this year, we will have over 400 such AI use cases,” Bown said. Joule agents automate tasks across departments. The new Agent Builder in Joule Studio helps customers create, extend and customize their own agents. It will be generally available from December. And the SAP LeanIX AI Agent Hub and the agent mining functions in SAP Signavio provide overview and help orchestrate AI agents.

Customers like Matur Fompack use Joule in SAP SuccessFactors solutions to find and hire candidates faster and improve career development, Bown explained. “The results are phenomenal: the turnaround time of our HR processes is 48 percent shorter, employee development and career planning is 40 percent faster – and most importantly, the employee and candidate experience has significantly improved,” she said.

For processes that require multi-step workflows and granular decisions, SAP has introduced a new generation of role-based AI assistants. “The assistants know your role in the company because they are tailored to the role and context,” Bown added. They access the right agents for the job, make work guesswork a thing of the past, and help people gain new insights and work much more productively.

She also showed how agents can collaborate across departments, automate workflows, and even transfer SAP business logic to autonomous devices such as robots. Initial pilot projects with partners such as NEURA Robotics have already proven that Joule agents can plan and carry out real tasks in the real world.

Data and intelligent applications: unified and usable

Data is only valuable if you can do something with it. In this context, Irfan Khan, President and Chief Product Officer for SAP Data and Analytics, referred to the SAP BDC, which brings together distributed data and uses it for intelligent applications. “SAP BDC provides the most powerful foundation for connecting your existing data and developing cutting-edge applications, as well as the ability to support and deploy trusted AI capabilities,” he said. In addition, the new SAP Business Data Cloud Connect solution enables secure, bidirectional data exchange with partners such as Databricks and Google Cloud.

Intelligent applications close the gap between humans and AI. They create the conditions for smarter decisions and collaboration. “These applications learn from your data and provide simulations that help all leaders make smarter decisions,” Khan explained. “If you don’t have a reliable data foundation based on trustworthy, reliable data, it’s very questionable whether AI will be successful or not.”

From insights to implementation: transformation in practice

But how do companies implement their strategy? Michael Ameling, President of SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), demonstrated how the SAP Business Suite enables innovation. To do this, it brings together core applications, data and AI, all of which are based on SAP BTP and solutions for business transformation management. “Say you want to understand and improve a business process,” he said. “SAP Signavio helps you understand every detail and can suggest concrete actions. You can then use these insights to improve the process in SAP Build by automating processes and developing your own agents.”

He showed how SAP BTP and the business transformation management portfolio can help companies connect systems, gain transparency and automate processes. Tools like SAP Signavio, SAP Build and SAP Integration Suite help customers like Blue Diamond Growers optimize operations and drive their transformation.

Services and support: faster innovation and value creation

Anja Schneider, SVP and Global Head of Premium Engagement and Advisory, summarized her keynote segment by focusing on how SAP’s service and support teams help customers realize the full potential of their SAP investments.

“We’re with you every step of the way, like a personal trainer,” she said, explaining how SAP’s suite methodology, integrated tools like WalkMe and SAP Cloud ALM, and expert advice help customers get the most out of their SAP investments. She cited IBM’s transformation project as an example: Thanks to collaboration with SAP MaxAttention teams and a clean core approach, upgrades for more than 150,000 users in 175 regions went smoothly with only a few incidents.

The Customer’s View: Southern California Edison’s Project

Ultimately, what matters is that transformation leads to real results. Todd Inlander, SVP and CIO at Californian utility Southern California Edison (SCE), shared how his company modernized its core systems and optimized back-office processes through the SAP transformation project. Facing significantly increased demand and environmental challenges, the company is leveraging SAP solutions, including SAP Business AI capabilities, to transform its operations.

“We have to stay true to our motto, which is to provide safe, reliable and affordable energy,” he said. “We can’t do that if we do everything the same way. We have to rely on SAP. We use SAP technology to change the way we work in our environment. We have to use AI because we don’t have enough people to do all the work. And we have to scale.”

When introducing the SAP Business Suite next year, SCE will make sure to keep a clean core and make as few adjustments as possible. “We implemented ECC 15 years ago and never used about 66 percent of our extensions. Ultimately, we learn from that experience,” said Inlander. SCE will also use the solution implementation time to further transform its back office processes. “We will integrate Joule and other AI solutions, because leaving everything the same while hoping that something will change is pure madness.”

At the end of the keynote, Steinhäuser looked to the future: “We’ve made great strides across all areas of our business to bring you something special – with AI that becomes your personal assistant, powered by data that pushes boundaries, and applications that turn insights into action. The cross-application capabilities you just saw are what set the flywheel in motion.”

The future is now and is based on the synergy of AI, data and applications. Every company can use innovation to achieve real change.