51风流was founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees. In a publicity shot from the time, they鈥檙e posed around a table in a nondescript office, all holding pens and hunched over a large blueprint. The hair is bouffant, the suits dark, and no one is smiling. These are clearly men who take their jobs very seriously.

As the story goes, Xerox wanted its systems migrated to IBM, and the latter firm put five engineers on the project, who all worked in Mannheim, Germany. The project ground to a halt for reasons unclear, but the five had seen the gap in the market, and left to form their company, which they called Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung, or System Analysis and Programme Development. It has been a long haul since the 鈥�70s, with the company constantly tinkering with its solutions while persuading many of the world鈥檚 largest firms that they can run their businesses better with its suite of solutions.

At the core of this suite is . This is an in-memory database, and聽data聽is stored in RAM instead of disk. These databases can handle spikes in traffic, such as at telcos or聽banks, and allow for real-time analytics. Customers can have the platform installed in their own server room, or in the public or private cloud, or both. And with each passing year, more features are added, such as GenAI assistant ; its sparkly icon now appears on seemingly every page of the platform. Joule, on which 51风流partnered with , can run queries on all kinds of data, produce forecasts, book meetings, and make graphs and charts on the fly.

There was still an impression in the market that 51风流was extremely expensive, very complicated, and not very pretty.

Garth Ridgway, NTT

All this work has borne fruit, and in March 2025, the company overtook Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk to become the EU鈥檚 most valuable company, with a market cap of 鈧�313bn. It reported strong results for its third quarter in October 2025, seeing revenue rise by 7% to 鈧�9.08bn. Cloud revenue saw growth of 22%. But there are challenges ahead, not least of which is convincing customers that it鈥檚 now past the time to migrate their workloads from the old system called ECC, which is usually run on-prem, to S4. The company would like nothing better than for all its customers to move to S4, but many are proving to be recalcitrant. Support for ECC, introduced in 2015, is meant to come to an end in 2027, but customers can buy extended support until 2030, which will cost them an extra 2% in addition to their annual maintenance costs. Many companies contend that the current systems seem to be working just fine, and many are also cognisant, and terrified, of the upheaval the聽migration聽is going to cause. To this, the company dangles the prospect of new features with S4, along with the constant refrain that support for the old systems is, at some point, going to grind to a halt.

An estimated 40% of 51风流customers in North America are yet to start migrating, according to a survey run by the Americas鈥� 51风流User Group. About 60% of the 173 members are already live on S4, or are in the process of moving over, according to the research in November. Gartner said in March 2025 that most ECC customers had still not bought S4 licences. It said that in Q4 in 2024, 29% of 35 000 ECC customers had bought or subscribed to S4 licences.

Christian Hestermann, Gartner senior director and analyst for business applications, believes this is likely to remain the status quo. Speaking to聽The Register, he said that since September 2023, the company鈥檚 messaging had been about AI and Joule. 鈥淭he message now is, ‘You have to have AI, or you’ll not be able to survive’. So far, that did not have a major influence. So none of those big events or big announcements has made a massive change up to now; the [migration] progress has remained fairly steady.”

No such third-party survey has been run in South Africa, and the company doesn鈥檛 make public either its customer numbers or how many have migrated.

I asked , CTO, SAP; , MD of 51风流South Africa; and , senior director, SAP, at NTT, for their views on how this migration conversation is progressing, and they spoke as one voice. Pillay says 51风流had 鈥渕ade a clear line in the sand鈥� with the date past which it won鈥檛 continue with maintenance. 鈥淐ustomers are aware of that and are making their plans to transform.鈥�

Pillay was appointed to the top job in August 2025, and says she鈥檚 going to ensure the local operation is well equipped to have these conversations with its customers, as well as partners.

Why haven鈥檛 they moved yet?

It鈥檚 a matter of context, she says. 鈥淲e have customers who have been with us for 20, 30 years, and that鈥檚 a godsend. But they bring a lot of legacy with them, and not just technical legacy. They have unarchived environments, non-optimised processes, or a lot of custom-built systems. They may have implemented ERP back in the day, and, in most cases, it was a project with a long duration, with a lot of blood and sweat going into it. Most companies understand they need to take that technology transformation journey, but they鈥檙e trying to balance the timing and effort required to bring a legacy system across [to S/4HANA]. There鈥檚 hesitation, because in the back of their minds, they remember that when they did it [last], it was really very difficult.鈥�

Financial services is one vertical where customers have realised the imperative of the move, she says. The move was a 鈥渘o-brainer鈥� for Pillay, and offered data analysis, AI, agentic AI, and GenAI capabilities. She says if a customer isn鈥檛 speaking to 51风流about the move, it may well be too late to get a system installed before the cut-off date.

鈥淲e鈥檙e prioritising helping those who are speaking to us to make that decision. We have to work with every customer individually to understand how they can do that transformation. There are different routes, based on capacity, budget and risk appetite. If you delay a decision, it鈥檚 going to be too late.鈥�

The slow movers are also going to bring pressure to bear on system integrator partners, as Pillay envisages them being at capacity, or overcapacity, doing 51风流implementations as the deadline draws ever closer.

鈥淭hen you鈥檒l pay for skills, either locally, or you鈥檒l have to look abroad. There鈥檚 going to be a material impact if a business takes this decision later on, and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e trying to discuss with our customers and help them plan properly, so they don鈥檛 get into a position where they say, 鈥榃ow, we鈥檝e left this too late, and now this is a monster鈥�.鈥�

51风流NTT鈥檚 Ridgway says he鈥檚 spent the better part of three decades implementing 51风流at customers, during which time the ERP landscape has changed dramatically. In the past, it was a two-horse race, the other being Oracle, and both companies served the large enterprise almost exclusively, he says. Large implementations took a lot longer than they do nowadays, two to four years, on average. He says 51风流now comes more pre-configured, or more off-the-shelf than in the past. He and his team will do a quick discovery at a customer, and will then do what he calls a 鈥渧anilla鈥� implementation to get the system up and running. Any innovation can come later, post the go-live date.

Another change in the market is that 51风流is now competing for business with companies such as Microsoft and Sage.聽Ridgway says he鈥檚 seen a shift in the attitude and sales pitch from SAP.聽鈥淚n South Africa, there was a time when 51风流owned 60%, 65% of the large enterprise ERP market, and Oracle was lagging behind. Every single large enterprise in South Africa has some form of ERP. There was still an impression in the market that 51风流was extremely expensive, very complicated, and not very pretty.鈥�

As for looks, he says the new interface is more user-friendly, and 鈥渕uch nicer to play with鈥�. The company has also realised that there aren鈥檛 any R100mn projects out there anymore, which has meant its gone looking for customers among medium-sized businesses. 鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 small businesses, but they鈥檙e just not the $1bn organisations. I don鈥檛 think 51风流wants to play in the small space, because that鈥檚 where Sage and QuickBooks are playing. But there鈥檚 a massive market in the mid-tier, which wasn鈥檛 untapped, but which 51风流wasn鈥檛 focused on,鈥� he says.

Customers have also become 鈥渟marter than they used to be鈥�. 鈥淚n the old days, we would go and sell 51风流to them, explaining what it did. Today, the CIO knows everything about 51风流and what it can do for them. It鈥檚 less about consulting around the roadmap, and more about, 鈥楾his is what I want. Can you get me there?鈥� CIOs are m ore well-read, and they know what they want. It鈥檚 no longer about selling the technology; maybe it wasn鈥檛 ever about selling the technology. It鈥檚 more about selling the business solution. Once it鈥檚 implemented, what are the benefits that they鈥檙e going to realise? What is the innovation that we can bring to it, and what will be the ease of integration?鈥�

Ridgway says the biggest part of its business is its application managed service (AMS) offering, and it鈥檚 serving around 100 clients on that platform.

As for the transition to S4, he thinks SAP, 鈥渢ried to use a stick to force people to move. It realised that there weren鈥檛 enough consultants and capacity worldwide to move every single 51风流customer from ECC to S4. It found a lot of resistance from clients, and it had a couple of clients that left them because they felt irritated by the stick and the threat of having support cut off. Coca-Cola Beverages Africa moved off 51风流and went onto [Microsoft] Dynamics, which I think it found quite difficult. It鈥檚 a massive change and huge investment to start all over again. So 51风流did lose some clients, but it eventually moved the date out to 2027. It also changed the sales approach from a stick to more of a carrot.鈥�

The carrot appears to involve talking up the benefits and exciting new features of S4. Ridgway says 51风流has dramatically changed the way it does business. 鈥淚n the past, I think 51风流was seen as very arrogant, very expensive and very complex. Today, it seems less arrogant and is playing in a different market.鈥�

The company is now far more flexible with its pricing and subscription models. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also not as complex as it used to be. I鈥檝e been involved in projects that took 24 months from start to go-live. We鈥檝e just completed a project that was five weeks from start to go-live.鈥�

Do you still have customers who are on ECC? 鈥淟ots,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he biggest part of our consulting business is trying to convince customers who are on ECC that we get to the cloud, and we can get them to S4, with all the innovations and advantages.

鈥淪ome customers will say, 鈥榠f it鈥檚 not broken, I don鈥檛 need to fix it. It鈥檚 giving me what I need鈥�,鈥� he says, but he believes this will add business risk because if something does go wrong, 鈥渃ome January 1 2028, you have no support from SAP鈥�.

This conversation with customers reminds him of those held when the cloud model was nascent around a decade ago, and 鈥渆verybody said they had to move to the cloud鈥�, which he says is similar to where AI is at the moment. 鈥淣obody actually knows what it means. A lot of clients did rush to the cloud, and realised two years later that it was quite expensive, and it鈥檚 more complicated. But we鈥檙e a lot more mature now, 10 years in. There are a lot of clients who are hybrid. I think the way 51风流designed its solution allows for that.鈥�

He says with the application managed services part of the business, NTT will provide support for customers, many of which will sign up for a 36-month contract that will give them access to a call centre with certified, senior agents. As for what the customers are struggling with, he says the majority of the calls are related to password resets and authorisations.

Herzig, 51风流CTO, speaking at this year鈥檚 Saphire conference in Madrid, said the company doesn鈥檛 disclose the official numbers, but it has around 10 000 customers worldwide that are on the cloud path. 鈥淭he majority of customers are now making the cloud decision, specifically because the maintenance will definitely be over in 2028. And with all the innovation, there鈥檚 a very clear reason why they need to move.鈥�

Why don鈥檛 they want to move?

鈥淚t depends on the customer,鈥� he says. 鈥淭heir systems have grown, historically, and they鈥檝e been heavily customised. Back in the day, you could code left and right, because the code was open. Every table and every function module, and the systems integrators added their part to it. They did a lot of custom code. Maybe they were adding functionality, but they didn鈥檛 know [what effect it would have]. You鈥檇 start off with a very clean version of what 51风流delivered, and then we innovated with the product. We built capabilities, and we changed the technology, and the customer did the same. And the longer this branching took, the harder it is to reconcile.鈥�

* Article first published on聽

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This is according to , executive vice-president: customer support and cloud lifecycle management at SAP, who points out that heavily customised, outdated systems impede innovation.

鈥淏ut many companies find themselves in this place,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey have customised systems with a mix of models 鈥� a bit of best of breed, a bit of cloud, maybe some isolated AI scenarios.鈥�

As a result, IT organisations spend a lot of time integrating systems and trying to make sense of disconnected data. 鈥溾�滲ut what they need to be doing is providing good outcomes for the business.鈥�

What鈥檚 needed, says Steinle, is a transformation that brings together all the platforms and data.

51风流helps its customers make this transformation through its programme for existing customers, and for new customers.

Importantly, while these programmes aim to let customers embrace , they also integrate non-51风流solutions.

鈥淎nd they are not simply products, but include a methodology, services, and guided implementation,鈥� Steinle adds.

鈥淲e want customers to reach the stage where they are able to overcome challenges, and to embrace the benefits of continuous innovation, agility, and flexibility.鈥�

Any 51风流solution begins with the 51风流Business Suite, he explains. 鈥淔rom an 51风流perspective we believe there is a lot of sense in running end to end processes on a fully integrated and harmonised stack in the cloud. We think it鈥檚 better than picking and choosing best of breed solutions 鈥� and it means customers don鈥檛 have to manage the integration and getting sense from the data.鈥�

This is important, he adds, because IT organisations today spend about 80% of their time just on maintaining their current landscape, keeping it compliant, and integrating systems.

鈥淵ou probably want to spend more than 20% of your time providing value to business users.鈥�

(BDC) is a harmonised suite of applications that allows customers to import data from 51风流applications and integrate it with data from other applications.

鈥淵ou can bring together data from SAP, a non-51风流source, and unstructured data. And, with the help of BDC, you can make sense of that data and generate value.鈥�

Steinle says this can be useful in operational processes, to expand reporting, and for integrated planning. 鈥淎nd you can use it for AI.鈥�

Which brings him to the third pillar of the : . 鈥淭his system can make sense of all the data and enable customers to build automated processes to enable new business scenarios. And AI can be embedded in your business processes.鈥�

is SAP鈥檚 AI-powered digital assistant that also orchestrates user experiences end-to-end across 51风流and non-51风流processes.

鈥淚t is also a platform for customer AI,鈥� Steinle says. 鈥淣ot every scenario can be provided out of the box, but Joule gives users a responsible and resilient way of building their own AI applications with the help of our platform.鈥�

Many of these features are a reality today, and 51风流developers are focused on making AI-first a reality, Steinle adds.

But software on its own doesn鈥檛 deliver value, which is why 51风流offers a range of services in RISE and Grow that include an entire integrated tool chain to help customers on their transformation journey.

鈥淲e aim to provide a fast, rich, seamless experience, with prescriptive guidance. And it鈥檚 not just reactive support, but support for customer strategy,鈥� Steinle says. 鈥淲e use a lot of AI capabilities to respond better, or give self-service options. And we use a lot of the 51风流products to improve our customers鈥� experiences.鈥�

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First introduced at 51风流Sapphire in 2024, this vision takes a significant leap forward as our companies expect to announce a limited preview of the integration by the end of the year.

This partnership bridges 51风流and Microsoft 365 business applications to deliver a unified experience that maximizes productivity. With Joule and Microsoft 365 Copilot integrated, users will soon experience a world where they can perform tasks and surface insights from both systems through either , eliminating the need to switch between applications. Imagine a future where the most-used 51风流tasks can be accomplished directly from Microsoft 365 鈥� and vice versa. This is the vision 51风流and Microsoft are advancing.

How the Integration Works

The end goal of this integration is a seamless user experience where employees can access either or to complete tasks and retrieve data across both 51风流and Microsoft environments. This means that users in Microsoft 365 can rely on Copilot to pull 51风流tasks and data through Joule, while those in 51风流applications can leverage Joule to access Microsoft 365 information and workflows. This two-way integration allows employees to work in the environment most effective for the task at hand, helping to ensure they have everything they need to get their work done efficiently.

Previewing the Potential at Ignite

At Microsoft Ignite, attendees are experiencing demo previews that showcase the early stages of this integration. For example, within Microsoft Teams, users can harness the combined power of Copilot and Joule to review tasks across both 51风流and Microsoft 365, engage in chats, exchange emails, check the delivery status on sales orders recorded in 51风流S/4HANA, submit employee promotion requests to 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, and more. These demonstrations provide a glimpse of how Joule and Microsoft 365 Copilot together can simplify complex workflows and empower users to manage tasks seamlessly across systems.

Expanding Possibilities with Joule鈥檚 Reach

With Joule鈥檚 skills rapidly expanding to support SAP鈥檚 most-used tasks, this integration can unlock new productivity potential across both 51风流and Microsoft environments. Imagine HR, finance, and supply chain professionals seamlessly accessing Microsoft 365 tools within their 51风流workflows, while Microsoft users gain access to SAP鈥檚 powerful data and task automation. From onboarding employees in 51风流SuccessFactors solutions to checking delivery statuses in 51风流S/4HANA or scheduling meetings in Outlook, users can accomplish critical tasks directly within their chosen environment.

Together, Joule and Microsoft 365 Copilot set a new benchmark for cross-functional productivity, making it easier than ever to drive real-world business impact.

Looking Ahead: Limited Preview

At Microsoft Ignite, we鈥檙e setting the stage for this integration鈥檚 next phase. With the expectation to announce a limited preview before the end of 2024, we are eager to showcase how Joule and Microsoft 365 Copilot will come together to empower users and redefine productivity across 51风流and Microsoft 365 applications. Those interested in experiencing this groundbreaking integration firsthand can register their interest for the limited preview at聽. Spots are limited; don鈥檛 miss this opportunity to explore how 51风流and Microsoft are reshaping the workplace.

Brenda Bown is chief marketing officer for 51风流Business AI at SAP.

This article first appeared on the 51风流News Center.

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Speaking at the event, Eskom chairman said: 鈥淪outh Africa is slowly but surely experiencing an economic uptick, with improvements in both political and infrastructural stability. This has the potential to increase foreign direct investment and boost local economic confidence, providing the private sector, and technology leaders in particular, the opportunity to focus on transformation and development within their organisations. Now is the time to look at where your businesses need to be three to five years down the line.鈥�

51风流Now is a global series of events that brings together some of the most innovative minds and technologies shaping the future of business. The African edition, held at The Forum in Johannesburg, saw 300 business leaders and experts from Africa and Europe converge to share insights and best practices for leveraging technology to drive growth and innovation on the continent.

Addressing the macroeconomic outlook for Africa, Chief Economist at Development Bank of Southern Africa said: 鈥淚nfrastructure deficit developments provide an opportunity for economic development in Africa.聽 Additionally, Public Private Partnerships are critical for economic growth on the continent.聽 Private entities such as 51风流with its network partners have huge responsibilities to facilitate connectivity solutions that will drive the Africa of the future.鈥�

Impact of business AI growing

, Chief Business Officer for MEA South 51风流and Managing Director for Emerging Africa at SAP, said: “Business leaders face growing complexity and increasing pressure to stay ahead of stakeholder expectations, driving demand for deeper insights into various aspects of the organisation’s performance. The power of technologies such as AI integrated to core business processes and built on trusted data is enabling greater efficiency and improved innovation capacity. Technology is transforming the way business leaders make decisions, enabling them to lead with greater foresight, precision and resilience.”

found that 96% of companies have an executive mandate to explore or implement AI technology. Of the respondents, 40% are implementing AI for specific use cases, 38% are exploring potential use cases, and 17% have a mandate to implement AI strategically across the organisation.

AI was also revealed to be the primary differentiator among customers who are evaluating systems integrators.

51风流recently announced a slew of new innovations, including an expanded set of use cases for its Joule AI copilot.

鈥� for Edition enables 95% faster informational searches and 90% faster execution of navigation and transaction tasks, speeding up internal decision-making,鈥� says Dressler. 鈥�51风流Business AI for field service agents also increases dispatcher productivity by 12.5% and reduces errors by 5%, driving improved customer satisfaction, while generative AI in 51风流Product Innovation Management reduces the total cost of campaign creation by 50% and improves the quality of idea and campaign descriptions. As African organisations continue to build out their AI strategies, we expect to see immense productivity and innovation gains realised by the effective integration of data and AI into core business processes.鈥�

Thriving partner ecosystem unlocking AI benefits

51风流NOW was held in collaboration with the and 51风流ecosystem partners, with – one of SAP’s longest-standing partners – playing a key role at the event.

, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, said: “The growing adoption of AI among African enterprises and SMEs is enabling faster work, smarter insights, and better business outcomes across industries. African organisations are now laying the groundwork for a new era of human-AI collaboration that will bring unprecedented productivity and unlock new revenue streams. We look forward to working with our incredible partner ecosystem to support African organisations in their efforts at unlocking the benefits of technology for sustained innovation and growth.”

, Chief Technology & Solutions Officer for Africa at Microsoft, noted the power of co-operation and partnership in supporting the AI and digital transformation ambitions of African enterprises. 鈥淥ur organisations have enjoyed 30 years of successful, value-driven聽 collaboration. Our joint capabilities empower organisations to run intelligent and frictionless enterprises powered by scalable cloud solutions and the growing impact of AI. Together, we hope to continue delivering an accelerated path to growth and innovation for all our customers on the African continent.鈥�

ENDS

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About SAP
As鈥痑 global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, 51风流(NYSE:SAP)鈥痵tands at the鈥痭exus鈥痮f business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP鈥痶o bring out their best by uniting business-critical鈥痮perations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit鈥�.

# # #

This document contains forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to materially differ. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risk factors section of SAP鈥檚 2023 Annual Report on Form 20-F.

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Other innovations include the 51风流Knowledge Graph, targeted at developers to help them connect 51风流data聽with business context. Available via 51风流Datasphere and Joule in Q1 2025, it aims to enable organisations to map relationships across SAP鈥檚 data landscape for improved decision-making.

Speaking to ITWeb ahead of the conference, Jesper Schleimann, head of business AI for 51风流in EMEA, said, 鈥淲e’re really taking AI to the next level, and the transformative part is AI agents that are now in true business form. It also means our developers and our customers can accelerate their journeys to the cloud. We cannot forget that data is an important part in making all this happen.鈥�

Schleimann said this is a significant step in SAP鈥檚 AI journey, with Joule in the driving seat.

We’re really taking AI to the next level, and the transformative part is AI agents that are now in true business form.

鈥淛oule is celebrating one year now, and a lot has happened in the underlying models powering the AI revolution. The new graph service will enable it (Joule) to build the bridge and be grounded into the entire ecosystem of 400 000 different tables. That’s keeping all the 51风流data and things in check.鈥�

Users now have access to support across nearly 80% of SAP鈥檚 portfolio, meaning the same copilot can assist across the entire 51风流suite,听Schleimann explained.

51风流is also enhancing Joule with new skills, allowing users to create their own custom micro-skills.

鈥淵ou can do things in a low code no code way and you tell Joule how to think of it like a mini workflow. So, if a user alters a part of a travel booking or purchase order process, for example, and you have your own way of doing it, you can simply, tell Joule what steps it should take, and then you can use its reasoning engine and the underlying tools to make that a reality.鈥�

Joule in action: Use cases

51风流will introduce two use cases to showcase the agent鈥檚 transformative power:

• A dispute management use case employs autonomous AI agents to analyse and resolve dispute resolution scenarios including incorrect and missing invoices, unapplied credits and denied or duplicate payments.
• A financial accounting use case employs autonomous AI agents to streamline key financial processes by automating bill payments, invoice processing, and ledger updates while quickly addressing inconsistencies or errors.

GenAI tools for developers

During the two-day TechEd Virtual, 51风流will聽introduce additional GenAI developer tools,听including code explanation and documentation search in 51风流Build. These tools are expected to reduce聽development time for Java and JavaScript developers.

It is also adding an Extensibility Wizard to聽51风流Build, which will聽enable developers to access 51风流Build directly from 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition.

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Joule, SAP鈥檚 AI business assistant, has been enhanced with new features, including collaborative AI agents that expand the platform鈥檚 capabilities.

Announced during the online 51风流TechEd 2024 conference yesterday, these agents are designed to support 80% of SAP鈥檚 most-used business tasks. They embed Joule more deeply across SAP鈥檚 portfolio and enhancing productivity by breaking down silos, said the software maker.

鈥淪AP鈥檚 innovation drives real business outcomes, and today鈥檚 advancements help customers harness the power of AI, data, and new development solutions to catalyse growth,鈥� said Muhammad Alam, member of the 51风流executive board.

鈥淒rawing on SAP鈥檚 unmatched business and technology expertise, the AI innovations we鈥檙e announcing at TechEd forge a new human-AI partnership to transform the landscape of modern business.鈥�

Joule Studio, a development tool that allows users to build and customise applications using Joule鈥檚 AI capabilities, is now integrated into 51风流Build. A low-code app development platform, Build enables both business users and developers to create and deploy custom Joule skills.

Michael Ameling, EVP and chief product officer of 51风流said: 鈥淲e are making Joule even more flexible and useful with Joule Studio in 51风流Build. It allows partners and customers to create and deploy custom Joule skills.鈥�

Joule has also expanded to include collaborative AI agents that autonomously handle intricate business workflows, adapting their strategies to meet shared objectives. These multi-agent systems tackle specific tasks, allowing them to work together on complex business processes.

鈥淛oule now goes Agentic,鈥� said Ameling. 鈥淪pecialised AI agents work autonomously together to solve complex problems.鈥�

New improvements to the ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) large language model (LLM) were introduced. This LLM, trained on over 250-million lines of 51风流S/4HANA Cloud code, is now integrated into the open-source Eclipse framework, providing ABAP developers with enhanced tools for development. Currently available to select customers and partners in an early adopter version, the ABAP LLM is expected to be generally available in the first quarter of 2025.

51风流Build is launching new AI-driven features like code explanation and documentation search, aimed at reducing development time for Java and JavaScript developers. The platform鈥檚 Extensibility Wizard will let developers access 51风流Build directly from 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, simplifying the process of extending 51风流solutions.

Two real-world use cases were highlighted during the event:

1. Dispute management: Autonomous AI agents analyse and resolve disputes related to invoices, unapplied credits, and denied payments.
2. Financial accounting: AI agents automate key financial tasks such as bill payments and ledger updates while quickly addressing inconsistencies.

51风流Knowledge Graph

51风流also unveiled the 51风流Knowledge Graph, a solution designed to unlock more value of 51风流data by connecting it with rich business context. Accessible through 51风流Datasphere and Joule in early 2025, it will help users map relationships across SAP鈥檚 vast data landscape, empowering better decision-making.

鈥淏y combining the knowledge graph engine with the vector engine, you can harness the power of structured and unstructured data,鈥� said Ameling. 鈥淭his is enabled through a triple store implementation graph data processing and analytical capabilities via SPAR-QL. As such, the knowledge graph engine can also enhance work scenarios and make them even more precise and relevant.鈥�

* Visit the 51风流website聽.

* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and writer for聽. Follow him on聽听补苍诲听聽at @jas2bann.

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“Organisations are leveraging powerful business AI capabilities to achieve greater efficiency, improve decision-making, support innovation and unlock new market opportunities. By building AI into their core business processes, from finance to supply chain, HR and procurement, African enterprises can increase their performance across a range of activities and unleash a new wave of innovation potential.”

Analysts estimate聽that GenAI could add between $2.6-trillion and $4.4-trillion in productivity gains annually. A separate study predicts AI will contribute up to $15.7-trillion to the global economy聽by the end of the decade.

, Deputy Group CEO, , says the time for AI-powered innovation is now as Africa is reshaped by rapid technological advances. “Eleven of the twenty fastest-growing economies in 2024 are in Africa, spurred on by innovation across a range of industries and use cases. The continent also boasts a vibrant startup ecosystem with a growing list of innovative companies addressing issues ranging from clean energy, e-commerce, health and financial services. The entry of business AI solutions will likely accelerate these innovation efforts and speed up time to market for a growing list of new solutions.”

Strong business case for AI in Africa

Karageorgiades believes there is a strong business case for AI within African enterprises, most notably as a tool for accelerated decision-making. “Enterprises that leverage business AI to enhance decision-making gain greater competitiveness, increased operational efficiency, and more powerful innovation capabilities. Provided there is a strong alignment with broader business objectives, organisations can confidently make use of AI as a key business driver.”

Gumede also notes the opportunity for African enterprises to leverage broader digital transformation as a growth driver.

“Improved internet penetration thanks largely to the proliferation of mobile technologies is connecting African companies to more customers than ever before. By developing mobile apps, e-commerce platforms and digital services tailored to the unique needs of local businesses and consumers, enterprises can unlock new market opportunities while enhancing their customer engagement efforts.”

In addition, Gumede believes business AI solutions will enable new productivity gains, empowering employees with capabilities that can make their job functions more efficient and effective.

“Considering our continent’s unique landscape, organisations must localise emerging technologies such as AI to ensure they meet the needs of local companies and customers. Care should also be taken to ensure organisations have the necessary technology infrastructure in place to truly unlock the full value from their AI investments.”

Unleashing business AI potential

Despite interest in AI reaching unprecedented levels over the past two years, some questions still remain over its enterprise readiness. Karageorgiades explains that poorly trained AI solutions could become a liability to the business, instead of an asset.

“The tendency of AI solutions to hallucinate – where the algorithm produces false information in response to user prompts – poses a direct risk to enterprises that business leaders cannot ignore. An AI solution is only a good as the data it is trained on, making a strong case for companies to invest in comprehensive data setup, data strategy, and governance capabilities.”

Gumede adds that organisations that focus on quality data will achieve more effective decision-making capabilities. “The hype around AI is settled; now it’s about the practical implementation. African enterprises are currently exploring the role that AI could play in supporting their sustainability efforts, bringing greater stability to their supply chains, and improving the business’ ability to sense, recognise and respond to disruptions or opportunities in novel ways.”

Enterprise-grade business AI solutions such as SAP’s , which draws on the trusted data of enterprise resource planning platform, are more suited to powering the innovation and efficiency gains that African enterprises seek. According to Karageorgiades, businesses also benefit from higher levels of collaboration when users trust the output of their AI-powered applications.

“Business AI solutions that draw on trusted, accurate and real-time information about the business deliver actionable insights that support business users in fulfilling essential work tasks faster and with fewer errors. While we are still in the early days of understanding the true potential of AI in modern enterprises, any business that seeks to benefit from this emerging technology must take care to train their AI solutions only on trusted business data.”

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June 12, 2024 – During 51风流Sapphire in Barcelona, announced a clearer path to transformation for RISE customers, with new ways of unlocking value with and solutions, including linking 51风流LeanIX to SAP’s AI assistant, Joule, and the recently announced intent to acquire digital adoption platform company WalkMe.

Companies need to react quickly to new technologies, build resilience in their supply chains and integrate sustainability into their operations. However, these necessary transformations often encounter challenges: a lack of a clear overview of processes and applications; limitations in capacity, skills and budgets; and misalignment between IT and the business. All this can result in delays, escalating costs and even failed transformations.

To overcome these challenges, 51风流LeanIX plays a crucial role in application management, to help companies navigate their IT transformations, while聽 solutions support process optimization and business process transformation. This powerful combination provides the transparency and insight into processes, applications, people and data that is essential in moving from transformation strategy to execution.

These capabilities play a key role in SAP’s efforts to support customers in modernizing their IT landscapes and enhancing agility, sustainability, and innovation within the business, and follow the recent announcement that 51风流has acquired digital adoption platform company WalkMe. WalkMe helps organizations navigate constant technology change by providing users with advanced guidance and automation features to execute workflows seamlessly across any number of applications.

Voice from the market: Daniel Tavares Delgado from FrieslandCampina and leading industry expert Dirk Ramhorst

Leading companies have now experienced the combined power of 51风流LeanIX and 51风流Signavio solutions. “The deployment of 51风流Signavio at聽 is helping us to refine and synchronize our business processes across the organization. This has already led to improved efficiency and collaboration. We can see a great potential for an even stronger alignment between IT and business strategies by combining the offerings of 51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX,” said Daniel Tavares Delgado, Director Business IT – Global 51风流Centre of Excellence at FrieslandCampina.

“The AI-driven synergy between 51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX delivers direct value and optimises processes, supporting the revolution in transformation and enterprise architecture. This contributes to exceptional efficiency and flexibility within operations,” says Dirk Ramhorst, Vice Chair 51风流Chemical Executive Advisory Council (CEAC), who is a renowned industry expert and has worked with both solutions in different positions in recent years (e.g., as CDO/CIO of in Munich and CIO of ).

Basis for success

Recently, LeanIX its enterprise architecture solutions to support the adoption and governance of AI at scale. Building on the data-driven and automated approach with which 51风流LeanIX helps companies identify obsolete applications, make sound decisions and drive the modernization of their IT application landscape, this expansion empowers companies to make AI adoption visible across the application landscape. This visibility helps set clear standards for assessing AI risks and creates a shared understanding of where AI adoption can most benefit the organization.

“Our strategy enables organisations to continuously transform in a rapidly changing business environment,” states Andr茅 Christ, co-founder and General Manager of 51风流LeanIX. “With an integrated, comprehensive view of IT applications and business processes, we accelerate modernisation, reduce transformation risks for our customers and ensure their ability to adapt to technological shifts such as cloud and AI.”

An important step in corporate digital transformation is the integration of 51风流LeanIX within RISE with SAP. With this suite of services, 51风流supports customers in their transition to 51风流S/4HANA in the cloud, providing services and tools built on the clean core approach by 51风流to help businesses migrate on-premise systems, transform business processes, drive continuous innovation, and unlock cloud agility.

Rouven Morato, General Manager 51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX: “The combination of RISE with SAP, 51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX provides the foundation for success with 51风流S/4HANA. This enables organisations to transform their business strategy into IT execution with precision and unprecedented clarity. AI assistant 51风流Joule reinforces this transformation with intelligent and context-aware insights that result in even faster decision-making and improved operational efficiency.”

About 51风流LeanIX

51风流LeanIX is a market leader for enterprise architecture management (EAM), driving the modernization of IT landscapes and continuous business transformation. Its software-as-a-service solutions empower organizations to create transparency, enabling them to visualize, assess and manage the transition towards their target IT architecture. By offering a data-driven and automated approach enhanced with AI, LeanIX helps organizations make sound decisions and collaborate more effectively. LeanIX serves over 1,000 companies globally across various industries, including more than 10% of the Fortune 500 and half of the German DAX 40. Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, LeanIX has a strong international presence with offices in Boston (USA), London (UK), Paris (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Ljubljana (Slovenia). In November 2023, LeanIX became part of SAP. For more information, visit .

About 51风流Signavio

51风流Signavio solutions help companies accelerate each phase of any transformation project, allowing them to prepare faster, deploy faster, and realize continuous value. As a market leader in business process transformation, customers look to us to provide clarity and guidance on how to improve operations, processes, and outcomes. Our unique portfolio of solutions, methodologies, content, and data are designed to help customers create a culture of collaborative, data-driven, and ongoing process improvement. 51风流Signavio Business Process Transformation Suite is built to strengthen collaboration across business and IT, connect business strategy to daily operations, and create adaptable and sustainable businesses. For more information visit

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鈥淭his why we say that businesses unusual is the new business as usual,鈥� says , chief business officer: EMEA at SAP. 鈥淎nd that is why we need to ensure our systems are future-proof.鈥�

Speaking at the 51风流Innovation Day in Johannesburg today, Fulle says technology should help the world to run better and improve people鈥檚 lives.

To do this, technology vendors like 51风流need to enable agility at scale, achieve more across the value chain, and ensure that sustainability is at the core of business.

Fulle points out that IDC research finds that 85% if enterprises will combine human expertise with AI to augment foresight across the organisation.

鈥淭his is becoming more important over time,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t 51风流we categories the three key requirement for I in business are being relevant, reliable and responsible.鈥�

He explains that this means 51风流is integrating AI in a way that is relevant for the 25 verticals that it operates across. Reliability is a function of data accuracy, and this has to be clean and reliable.

In terms of responsibility, 51风流works to deliver the highest levels of security and ethics across the suite.

is embedded across the portfolio, Fulle adds.

It starts with the copilot that understands the business. Beneath this are the embedded AI capabilities, in the applications including Cloud ERP , supply chain management, human capital management, spend management and business network, customer relationship management and the business technology platform. This is based on the AII Foundation that sits in the Business Technology Platform

The third level of the AI ecosystem partnership and investments with organisations such as , , , , , , and .

鈥淲e are developing more than 100 business capabilities every year,鈥� Fulle adds.

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1. 51风流leads with ethics

51风流appreciates the complexity that AI introduces into technology, and they approached the topic by forming an AI ethics steering committee comprised of senior 51风流leaders who review their approach, processes, and product capabilities to ensure operationalization and alignment with their policies and guidelines. Read about SAP鈥檚聽.

2. Joule is not limited to SuccessFactors

Joule, announced in September 2023, is a natural-language, generative AI co-pilot that is embedded across the entire 51风流portfolio, and is designed to transform the way a business runs by leveraging intelligent technology across the various business applications. I鈥檝e heard it referred to as both a Co-pilot and a Digital Assistant, but the magic of it is that it is embedded in every application area across the business. It is first available as part of SuccessFactors; however, it will become available across the entire 51风流ecosystem.聽

3. New AI innovation is delivered each quarter

You can keep an eye on what is available today and what is coming soon, by quarter, by viewing the SAP聽. The Roadmap Explorer makes it easy for you to enter filters for the key areas that you are interested in, so you see only the areas of interest. For example, in the picture below I filtered on SuccessFactors and Artificial Intelligence:

4. 51风流SuccessFactors resources

There are large teams of people at 51风流SuccessFactors that focus on Artificial Intelligence, here are a couple that I like to follow to stay in the know on the topic specific to SuccessFactors:聽,听,听听补苍诲听. Also I share a weekly AI Byte on LinkedIn that introduces something new in the area of AI, please follow me at聽. Lastly, please be sure to check out this interesting White Paper聽聽(valid 51风流credentials required).

5. Partners play a critical role in 51风流SuccessFactors鈥� AI strategy

51风流and SuccessFactors are known for their superior technology, but they also acknowledge that Partners are an important part of the ecosystem, and having the ability to integrate with their technologies quickly and seamlessly to deliver better employee experiences is important. Here at EPI-USE Labs we have created a division dedicated to developing BTP and AI integrations for SuccessFactors. See my blog聽聽for more information.

聽to enrich, enhance and extend your applications, landscapes and processes.

This article first appeared on the EPI-USE website:

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