From a virtually omnipresent Joule assistant to an expanded network of Joule Agents that work across systems and lines of business, SAP heralds a new era that democratises access to Business AI and can drive productivity gains of up to 30%.

“SAP combines the world’s most powerful suite of business applications with uniquely rich data and the latest AI innovations to create a flywheel of customer value,” said SAP CEO Christian Klein. “With the expansion of Joule, our partnerships with leading AI pioneers, and advancements in SAP Business Data Cloud, we’re delivering on the promise of Business AI as we drive digital transformations that help customers thrive in an increasingly unpredictable world.”

AI that boosts productivity

Joule can accompany business users throughout their day, in and out of the SAP application universe, to find data, surface real-time insights and streamline workflows. Joule’s new ubiquity includes an action bar powered by WalkMe that studies user behaviour across applications, turning the assistant into an always-available, proactive AI that can anticipate users’ needs before they arise — always adhering to SAP’s strict ethical AI guidelines.

A collaboration with Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine company, enhances Joule’s ability to draw on structured and unstructured data to solve complex business problems. Powered by Perplexity and the SAP Knowledge Graph, Joule now instantly answers questions with structured, visual answers — such as charts and graphs — grounded in real-time business data within SAP workflows.

SAP also unveiled an expanded library of Joule Agents that reimagine business processes and workflows from the ground up. Fuelled by the world’s most powerful real-time business data and orchestrated by Joule, these AI agents work across systems and lines of business to anticipate, adapt and act autonomously so organisations can stay agile in a rapidly changing world.

Leading companies reap business AI benefits

Several leading brands showcased how SAP Business AI has enhanced their operations.

Global brewer Heineken has introduced an internal artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, “Hoppy,” to enhance business processes and offer real-time data access. The AI-driven chatbot runs on SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) and represents a significant leap forward in Heineken’s commitment to streamlining internal processes and empowering its workforce.

By leveraging advanced natural language processing with data across multiple systems, Hoppy eliminates the need for time-consuming manual searches and allows business users to focus on more strategic and impactful tasks.

Since Hoppy was introduced within the company’s collaboration platforms, Heineken has seen the time knowledge workers need to retrieve information fall to 1 minute from 15 minutes. With SAP Business AI capabilities at Hoppy’s core, Heineken also is exploring automating repetitive tasks to enhance business processes and streamline communications and decision-making.

Competitive gaming organisation Team Liquid is tapping into Joule Agents for instant access to game statistics, player performance trends and strategic comparisons using natural language. Unlike traditional AI models, AI agents are designed to perceive their environment, set goals and take actions autonomously to achieve those objectives.

Team Liquid runs its data analysis through its “Next Level Esports Center” dashboard, built entirely on SAP Business Technology Platform. Team Liquid’s analysts rely on the dashboard to equip coaches and players with insights about upcoming opponents, managing high-pressure situations under short turnaround times and frequent data requests between games.

Instead of relying solely on technical analysts, players, coaches and marketing teams can ask the Joule copilot for player or team insights, tapping into more than 1.6 TB of data from 10 million games to find the right answer and uncover strategic advantages. This shift eliminates the need for manual data retrieval, empowering diverse users to make data-driven decisions at game speed.

Data that drives smarter decisions

SAP also introduced new intelligent applications in SAP Business Data Cloud, each built for a specific line of business. These applications can continuously learn, simulate outcomes and guide actions using business-critical data, detecting changes to optimise processes, anticipate needs, and collaborate with both human and artificial thinkers to drive meaningful impact.

The People Intelligence application, for instance, optimises team performance by transforming people and skills data into workforce insights and AI-driven recommendations.

Additionally, SAP and Palantir are partnering to facilitate joint customers’ cloud migration journey and modernisation programs. Seamless connectivity between Palantir and SAP Business Data Cloud will enable customers to build a harmonised data foundation across their enterprise landscape. Together the companies will responsibly deliver essential outcomes and support customers to quickly adapt to changes and disruptions.

For more information about the innovations revealed at SAP Sapphire 2025, please visit https://www.sap.com/events/sapphire/innovation-guide.html

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of SAP Africa.