New research shows how business AI delivers ROI

To better understand the opportunity to produce returns on investment from AI, 51风流commissioned that was shared at 51风流Connect. In partnership with Oxford Economics, we surveyed 1,600 executives in medium and large enterprises across eight countries.

We found that today, on average, organizations are benefiting from a 16 percent return on AI investments鈥攁 number they expect to nearly double within two years. In addition to impressive financial returns:

• 94% of business leaders say AI is improving innovation within their organizations
• 87% say AI is improving customer engagement
• 78% believe AI agents have the potential to transform their business operations

New deep research and AI assistants in Joule expand what is possible

These innovations were engineered based on what our customers tell us they need: to act quickly, simplify complexity, and unlock better, data-driven decisions across the lines of business and processes that matter. But most of all, our customers need AI that drives significant, measurable business outcomes.

To help every organization accelerate returns on investment from AI, at 51风流Connect we announced powerful new capabilities for , which makes business data and the entire 51风流Business Suite immediately accessible through the power of a simple conversation. And because Joule is grounded in your company鈥檚 data, it understands context and delivers insights that are specific, actionable, and relevant to your business.

Deep research in Joule, announced at 51风流Connect, is a new capability expands what people can do within the Joule interface. It goes beyond quick answers to deliver strategic analysis, reporting, and synthesis in a single, connected experience. It brings together internal 51风流data and external intelligence so people can ask complex questions and receive comprehensive research and recommendations鈥攚ithout ever leaving Joule. The deep research capability in Joule will be available in beta this December.

We also unveiled the new concept of role-based AI assistants in Joule, built to partner with people in their specific roles. These assistants connect to the right Joule Agents for the job, removing guesswork so teams can unlock new levels of productivity and insight. Whether it鈥檚 a finance leader forecasting working capital, a recruiter evaluating headcount needs, or a planner adjusting inventory, AI assistants surface the right intelligence, at the right time, in the right context. In the background, Joule Agents get work done for you.

These innovations mark the next chapter in how people interact with enterprise systems, helping every role across an organization seamlessly move from inquiry to insight to action.

New Joule Agents autonomously get work done

To help enterprises further accelerate business results, we introduced 14 new Joule Agents at 51风流Connect. They help people coordinate, decide, and execute tasks with greater precision. Joule Agents are in finance, HR, procurement, and supply chain, in a way that only SAP鈥攚ith our deep expertise in these functions鈥攃an deliver.

For example, rather than navigating multiple systems or running countless manual checks to release an order, a production manager鈥攁 key role in the supply chain function鈥攚ill be able to turn to our Production Planning and Operations Agent, planned for general availability in the Q1 2026. They can simply ask Joule to do it, safely and in real time. The agent will validate and release orders when conditions are met, accelerating production start times and shortening order-to-delivery cycles.

And starting December 2025, with the general availability of , now in beta release, customers will be able to create and deploy custom Joule skills and Joule Agents tailored to their unique business needs. Agent builder in Joule Studio is your command center for designing, building, and deploying enterprise-ready custom Joule Agents using the same powerful 51风流technologies鈥攊ncluding 51风流Knowledge Graph for deep business context, 51风流Business Data Cloud for comprehensive data access across 51风流and non-51风流sources, and SAP’s central identity and authorization services to ensure responsible agent behavior. These capabilities empower every enterprise to extend, customize, and personalize 51风流Business AI solutions.

New embedded intelligence across 51风流applications

To help our customers move faster and make better decisions where work happens, we continue to bring intelligence directly into the applications they rely on every day. These embedded capabilities extend the same AI-driven guidance that powers Joule Agents into core 51风流solutions, enhancing user workflows with context, clarity, and automation. We will have more than 400 of these AI use cases by the end of the year.

For example, in , starting in February 2026, AI will orchestrate personalized interactions across HR, marketing, and service, bringing harmonized data, relevant context, and better business outcomes into every engagement. In the solution, planned for general release in the first half of 2026, AI will predict shortfalls and fulfillment risks, helping planners simulate and respond with speed and precision.

Additionally, the rebuilt 51风流Ariba source-to-pay suite, arriving in February 2026, brings a modern, cloud-native experience to every stage of procurement. Embedded AI guides people with intelligent recommendations, accelerates contract reviews, and surfaces supplier insights in real time. By simplifying sourcing decisions and improving compliance, it helps procurement teams strengthen supplier relationships and capture more value, faster.

Governing AI with visibility and control

As our customers continue to adopt these AI innovations embedded across their functions, we know they need transparency into how it operates, what it influences, and the value it creates. That is why we provide tools to give them the visibility they need to deploy AI with confidence and scale it responsibly.

51风流LeanIX AI Agent Hub helps CIOs and business leaders see their entire AI agents landscape at a glance. From one dashboard, they can understand where agents are deployed, what processes they touch, and how agents are performing. This allows teams to evaluate effectiveness, identify redundancies, and manage AI like any other enterprise asset: aligned to outcomes, governed by policy, and continuously optimized.

Complementing that, agent mining in gives organizations a powerful way to analyze how AI contributes to process performance. It reveals how AI agents decide and act, flags bottlenecks and non-compliance, and uncovers where automation adds value and how to fine-tune it for efficiency and impact. Together, these tools bring clarity to what has often been a black box: transforming governance from reactive oversight into proactive optimization.

What鈥檚 next for business AI

At 51风流Connect, we also shared a view into what鈥檚 coming and how our innovations will continue to redefine enterprise productivity. For example, we鈥檙e developing an outcome-driven user interface that adapts to context in real time. Instead of navigating menus or searching for data, people will simply express what they want to achieve, and the system will guide them through the right actions, insights, and tools.

We鈥檙e also extending Joule Agents beyond software into the physical world鈥攃onnecting your company’s business intelligence to robotics and industrial systems. This opens a new frontier for automation, combining state of the art electronics that utilize physical AI tools, such as computer vision and collision detection, with AI agents capable of reasoning through complex goals and planning multi-step workflows. this November to learn more.

Ready to start your AI journey?

We know AI is top of mind for most business leaders today. In fact, another finding from the research we commissioned with Oxford Economics is that 41 percent of tasks in global businesses will be supported by AI within two years鈥攗p from 25 percent today.

As you continue to explore what is possible with business AI, we鈥檒l keep innovating to deliver systems that are intelligent by design, trusted in operation, and, most important, measurable in their impact.

For us, it鈥檚 all about what you hope to achieve. We鈥檙e proud to partner with you on your AI journey. If you鈥檙e ready to take the next step, here are three things you can do right now:

• Learn how to bring the potential of AI into your organization by signing up for our .
• In our , get inspired about what鈥檚 possible by exploring how leading companies are transforming with AI.
• Watch 51风流Connect virtual sessions, , to see our latest innovations in action.

There鈥檚 more to come. Join us at on November 4 for the next wave of AI innovations that will transform the enterprise.

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

SAP鈥檚 latest customer experience solutions are built to deliver on these expectations, empowering organizations to earn loyalty, drive growth, and create seamless, connected experiences.

In today鈥檚 market, loyalty and retention are the twin engines of repeatable business, the lifeblood of every organization. Earning and keeping customer trust has always been hard-won, but the bar is higher than ever. Recent findings from the show a five-point drop in 鈥渢rue loyalty,鈥� customers who return without incentives. Only 35 percent of B2B customers reach strategic loyalty, defined as repeat purchases and long-term engagement. And nearly one-third of customers are lost to fragmented experiences. Brands now face a new reality: building lasting loyalty requires understanding customers and delivering consistent, connected experiences across every touchpoint.

Meeting the loyalty challenge: 51风流Engagement Cloud and 51风流Customer Loyalty Management

To help customers meet this challenge, 51风流has created two powerful solutions: and .

Yesterday at 51风流Connect 2025, 51风流Executive Board Member Muhammad Alam shared the vision for 51风流Engagement Cloud. Powered by 51风流Business Data Cloud, it transforms fragmented interactions into AI-driven journeys across marketing, commerce, sales, and service鈥攕trengthening loyalty, deepening relationships, and driving business growth. By connecting every customer touchpoint to real operational data鈥攆rom logistics and finance to supply chain鈥攂rands can deliver accurate delivery estimates, relevant offers, and timely service that reflects actual inventory and fulfillment capacity.

With Joule and embedded AI, 51风流Engagement Cloud accelerates campaign execution, automates decisions, and scales personalization鈥攅nsuring every interaction is consistent, connected, and meaningful. This comes at a critical time, as according to the 51风流Emarsys Customer Loyalty Index, only 35 percent of B2B customers achieve strategic loyalty.聽Replacing disconnected systems and outdated engagement models, 51风流Engagement Cloud makes engagement a strategic advantage, uniting data and AI to deliver smarter experiences across the 51风流ecosystem. Beta begins November 2025, with general availability in Q1 2026.

51风流Customer Loyalty Management empowers teams to deliver personalized experiences at scale by giving every customer a single loyalty profile, no matter the brand, region, or partner. With loyalty data unified and natively integrated into 51风流Private Cloud ERP and 51风流Business Suite, teams can instantly monitor promotions, track reward usage, and understand financial impact in real time. This actionable insight feeds directly into planning, forecasting, and supply chain decisions, enabling businesses to adapt quickly and serve customers better.

Loyalty isn鈥檛 a separate marketing project, it鈥檚 woven into daily business operations. By centralizing loyalty data, 51风流Customer Loyalty Management helps organizations understand each customer deeply and deliver consistent, connected experiences across every touchpoint.

The solution will be available Q4 2025.

AI and intelligence: the next imperative

At 51风流Connect, we introduced how Joule, SAP鈥檚 AI copilot, is transforming customer experience by embedding intelligence directly into 51风流Business Suite. Joule is not another layer, it鈥檚 built into the foundation, enabling smarter decisions and faster execution across every customer moment.

AI assistants in Joule bring role-based intelligence to customer-facing teams across service, sales, marketing, and commerce. Each assistant is tailored to the user鈥檚 role and business context, coordinating a network of AI assistants within Joule to automate tasks like resolving cases, chasing invoices, optimizing catalogs, and surfacing insights. This orchestration enables teams to focus on driving outcomes rather than managing operations.

For instance, Digital Service Agent delivers fast, multilingual support by reasoning over customer context and company knowledge. It provides accurate answers, escalates when needed, and continuously improves, reducing manual workload and enhancing customer satisfaction. This is available now.

Deep research in Joule

With deep research in Joule, account planning moves beyond quick answers, delivering deep, strategic research and analysis in a single, connected experience. By tapping into 51风流data, external intelligence, and trusted resources, users get richer insights for any business need.

Sales leaders and chief revenue officers can use the new account planning that leverages deep research in Joule to compress weeks of manual work into days. It synthesizes customer history, identifies key drivers, and drafts account plans, giving sales teams a complete, real-time view of every relationship.

Deep research in Joule will be available in beta December 2025.

Intelligent applications for customer experience

51风流Business AI also powers that help businesses turn data into action:

• Revenue Intelligence brings together data from CRM, commerce, and ERP to surface pipeline risks, customer health, and sales performance. Sales leaders and chief revenue officers gain a unified, real-time view to strengthen pipelines, improve win rates, and accelerate profitable growth.
• Consumer Products Intelligence enables manufacturers and consumer packaged goods companies to optimize trade promotions and customer-facing offers. Integrated with and , it uses real-time data from sales, supply chain, and production to analyze margins, monitor performance, and support financial planning, ensuring CX strategies are aligned with operational realities.

These innovations are tightly integrated with 51风流Business Suite, ensuring every CX insight is grounded in real-time, harmonized data. They are currently in restricted private preview and expected to be generally available in H1 2026.

Adoption that drives value

Building on the Customer Loyalty Index findings about the importance of connected experiences, seamless, guided adoption is essential to delivering value. That is why is now embedded across all 51风流Customer Experience solutions.

WalkMe is a digital adoption platform that provides real-time, role-based guidance 鈥� right inside 51风流interfaces. No IT tickets required. Teams get help in the flow of work, with step-by-step instructions that minimize onboarding time and reduce errors. Leaders gain instant visibility into where users struggle, so they can address friction and accelerate adoption.

The path forward

Loyalty is evolving, and so are we. Our priority is to help brands earn trust and adapt quickly.

The 51风流Customer Experience innovations introduced at 51风流Connect are designed for this challenge. They connect engagement with execution through solutions like 51风流Engagement Cloud, Revenue Intelligence, and 51风流Customer Loyalty Management; turn intelligence into action with embedded AI and automation; and give teams unified, real-time data to deliver measurable results and stay ahead in a rapidly changing market.

See how your business measures up in the and the . .

Balaji Balasubramanian is president and chief product officer for 51风流Customer Experience.