Demand for professionals who can build, govern, and orchestrate these agents is rising faster than supply, making graduates with hands-on agent-building experience among the most sought-after profiles in today’s job market.

This year at 51风流Sapphire, 51风流laid out its vision for the Autonomous Enterprise, where AI agents manage and execute business processes end to end. For universities, this raises an immediate question: How do graduates get ready for a world where AI agents are part of daily operations?

51风流is now providing new no-cost offerings and resources for universities that give lecturers and students hands-on access to AI agent building, process management, and enterprise architecture tools. The goal is to help higher education keep pace with the rapid adoption of agentic AI in industry and prepare graduates for a changing job market.

Preparing the next generation of AI agent builders

51风流has put together a new set of offerings and resources that help universities embed agentic AI-related concepts and technology into their teaching hands-on. Three offerings, each covering a different angle of agentic AI, are now accessible at no cost for academic lecturers and their students:

• : Before building an agent, the process it will operate in must be understood. 51风流Signavio Process Transformation Suite gives lecturers and their students access to process mining, modeling, and process transformation capabilities. They can model and analyze existing processes, spot inefficiencies, and design improved workflows that include AI agents. Additionally, students and lecturers can now experience process modeling with 51风流Signavio Process Modeler as part of 51风流Learning Hub, student edition.
• : For students to understand where agents sit within an organization’s IT landscape, this is the tool. Newly available at no cost for academic lecturers via 51风流Learning Hub, student edition, 51风流LeanIX lets students model enterprise architectures and reason about what changes when introducing AI agents into an existing system landscape.
• : Lecturers and their students can access an agent-building environment from 51风流and leverage various enablement resources. These allow students to explore configuring and building an AI agent, either in a guided demo experience or in a live system hands-on.

What makes this especially valuable is how the pieces connect. Students can explore different components of agentic AI hands-on using 51风流solutions. They learn that building an agent is only part of the job. Understanding process context, architectural and governance implications is equally important.

Collaboration with educational institutions globally

51风流will also collaborate intensively on embedding agentic AI into teaching with lecturers from more than 10 universities globally, including:

• Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
• E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University, Hungary
• Hasso Plattner Institute, Germany
• HEC Montr茅al, Canada
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
• National University of Singapore Business Analytics Centre, Singapore
• TEC de Monterrey, Mexico
• Technical University of Munich, Germany
• Tongji University, China
• Technical University of Dresden, Germany
• University of California, Irvine, U.S.

The institutions will get exclusive early access to SAP’s latest agent building platform capabilities, benefit from agent building deep dives for students with 51风流experts, and from the opportunity to articulate academic needs with regards to teaching agentic AI related concepts hands-on to SAP.

鈥淲e want students to work with the same tools and scenarios that companies are using right now,鈥� Dr. Katharina Schaefer, head of Academic Partnerships at SAP, said. 鈥淏y giving lecturers free access to our agent-building resources, we make it easy for them to bring that reality into their courses. Students who build AI agents on real enterprise processes during their studies will have a head start when they enter the job market.鈥�

For faculty, the practical element is what counts. Students do not just read about AI agents in a textbook. They build them on real systems with real constraints.

“What excited me is that students get to work with enterprise-grade tools, thanks to this new platform,” said Prof. Jes煤s Aguilar-Gonzalez, TEC de Monterrey. “Students from our School of Engineering & Sciences build agents connected to real business processes and have to think about architecture and governance. That is much closer to what they will face in their first job than any textbook exercise.”

What sets this apart is its enterprise context: Agentic AI is taught in connection with business processes and the system landscape that supports them, so students learn how AI fits into real operations rather than experimenting in isolation.

Building the workforce of the future

As part of the , 51风流has been partnering with more than 2,800 educational institutions for decades to enable students to learn, research, and innovate with business applications and technology. With these offerings, 51风流supports students in developing sought-after 51风流skills, preparing them for job opportunities worldwide.

Ready to bring agentic AI into your classroom? Visit the or reach out via universityalliances@sap.com to get started.

In today’s dynamic business landscape, characterized by the rise of AI, process intelligence is vital for gaining data-driven insights that boost efficiency, support smarter decision-making, and drive business growth鈥攁nd 51风流Signavio maintains an ongoing dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction in this arena.

We believe this year鈥檚 evaluation reflects the expanded category definition from Gartner, assessing platforms that unify process mining, task mining, modeling, analysis, optimization, monitoring, automation discovery, and governed repositories within a single, integrated environment.聽

The Gartner庐 Magic Quadrant™ research methodology highlights that “Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.” 51风流Signavio has been recognized as a Leader among 16 vendors, evaluated based on its Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision.

“Our aim is to help our customers create a repeatable, sustainable transformation capability, rather than treating it as a series of independent projects,鈥� Dee Houchen, chief marketing officer at 51风流Signavio, said. 鈥漌e believe process intelligence is fundamental to what this approach can deliver for organizations today, driving greater enterprise observability, smarter decision-making, accelerated transformation, and measurable business outcomes. With SAP聽Signavio, this is made possible through one unified聽suite,听empowered聽by deep AI capabilities,听as well as intelligent聽agents聽and assistants.聽We are proud of being recognized as a Leader by Gartner, and feel this reaffirms our ongoing commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, with value realization as our guiding principle.鈥�

As ever, the Gartner report provides useful context regarding the state of the process intelligence market. See why we feel we were recognized as a Leader in the report:

• Our innovative process atoms concept serves as the AI-ready foundation for business transformation, gathering and curating an AI-consumable layer of 鈥渃ompany memory鈥� that can provide the precise, contextual process knowledge AI agents need in order to take informed action.
• Our technology, approach, and value accelerators help achieve full enterprise observability and surface actionable insights with an end-to-end integrated suite, supporting organizations to identify, prioritize, and prove the value of your transformation initiatives, track and showcase ROI, and maximize business impact.聽

The Gartner Magic Quadrant equips businesses with valuable insights to make informed decisions. For a complimentary copy of the latest resource featuring 51风流Signavio solutions (Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Process Intelligence Platforms, by聽,听,听, 5 May 2026), visit .

Lucas de Boer is global marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner鈥檚 business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc and/or its affiliates.

The autonomous enterprise reflects a fundamental shift in how organizations operate using real鈥憈ime intelligence to guide decisions, orchestrate processes end to end, and continuously adapt as conditions change. AI becomes embedded into the fabric of the enterprise, helping every function operate with greater speed, resilience, and confidence.

The foundation of the autonomous enterprise is the 51风流Business AI Platform, which infuses AI with the process knowledge, data, and governance organizations depend on. 

Business Transformation Management solutions from 51风流help power the 51风流Business AI Platform by bringing together insights and enterprise knowledge that have long been fragmented and isolated in silos.

Business Transformation Management solutions from 51风流help deliver the promise of the autonomous suite. Here鈥檚 how.

51风流Agent Hub: Command center for agentic governance

Now available, the helps organizations discover, inventory, govern, and evaluate AI agents across the enterprise landscape. In fact, it鈥檚 already being used by 150 companies with over 100, 000 agents under management. 51风流AI Agent Hub acts a system of records for all AI agents, large language models (LLMs), and Model Context Protocols (MCP) servers.

In the context of 51风流Business AI platform, 51风流AI Agent Hub underpins the governance pillar, ensuring organizations can deploy and manage AI agents safely and at scale.

In addition to the enterprise architecture context that 51风流LeanIX provides, along with an giving agents access to architecture data, 51风流AI Agent Hub enables enterprise architects to apply proven governance practices, such as mapping to business capabilities, to the entire agentic landscape. The addition of agent mining capabilities supported by 51风流Signavio provides visibility into the behavior of AI agents, their conformance with policies, and their business impact.

From the standpoint of the Autonomous Enterprise, the insight the hub provides is not only necessary, it鈥檚 critical.

New AI capabilities

The new Enterprise Architecture Assistant from 51风流LeanIX is supported by several new agents, including two highlighted here. The Enterprise Content Research Agent draws on internal business content to enrich architecture data, while the Enterprise Architecture Web Research Agent scans the web for relevant vendor and application information.

These enhancements are part of a broader set of AI capabilities in 51风流LeanIX. The solution now makes it easier to create surveys, automate tasks, perform calculations, and plan target architectures. In addition, significantly improved semantic search enables Claude, AI co鈥憄ilots, and other agents to seamlessly access and work with enterprise architecture data.

In 51风流Signavio Process Transformation Suite, we redesigned 51风流Signavio Process Modeler with an AI-first architecture, modernized user experience and deeper integration with 51风流Autonomous Suite. 51风流Signavio also introduced the Process Transformation Assistant to enable business users to conduct sophisticated process analysis through natural language prompts. The assistant can identify high-impact opportunities for agent deployment, accelerating the time from question to decision and providing context-aware process insights to anyone.

Looking ahead to a new paradigm

Despite the rapid pace of change brought about by agentic AI, we are still in the early days of this technological revolution. To succeed and continue to ride the wave of innovation, companies need to aggregate and organize their procedural knowledge about how they operate.  This knowledge is often fragmented across many structured and unstructured sources鈥攕uch as process models, application logic, documents, and chats鈥攖o create a coherent view of how the business s runs.

This foundation enables agents to understand and act within the business context. In turn, agents will continuously contribute back, enriching and evolving this knowledge repository over time.

At 51风流Signavio we call this storehouse 鈥渃ompany memory.鈥� Company memory, comprised in part of process atoms, captures all the knowledge of operational practices, business rules, preferences, and more so that it can be accessed by agents as needed to check conformance and change behavior.

To enable the Autonomous Enterprise, you need to capture the tribal wisdom and unstructured knowledge your company depends on to operate today. That is what process atoms and a centralized company memory, accessed and updated by agents, do for you. In the future, it鈥檚 hard to imagine how any enterprise will succeed without the context, learning, and guidance that company memory delivers.

Business transformation never stops

As our research has shown, . That鈥檚 why you need a capability in place that allows for planning, managing, and realizing value from every transformation you undertake.

This year at 51风流Sapphire , we talked about all the ways our solutions support this capability as well as all the ways our solutions continue to evolve in the era of the autonomous enterprise, allowing you to adapt, innovate, and thrive into the future.

Get started today

• Learn more about
• Learn more at the upcoming
• Get more information on
• Get more information on

Andre Wenz is chief product officer of 51风流Signavio.
Dominik Rose is chief product officer of 51风流LeanIX.

Employees at , a global fashion retailer with tens of thousands of employees, had to navigate multiple systems to piece together data across sales and procurement. Answering a single question could take up to 10 minutes.

Today, they just ask Joule. What used to take 10 minutes now takes about three seconds, driving a 70% increase in operational efficiency and a 50% reduction in manual errors.

Using capabilities in , LC Waikiki partnered with 51风流and to build a custom AI-driven experience that dynamically interprets user requests, applies role-based context, performs the necessary queries, and connects data across systems to present a complete view in one place. It then links people directly to the relevant transaction.

At SAP, stories like these inspire our vision for the enterprise in which AI transforms how people and processes work鈥攐ne where people set the direction and AI executes. We call it the the Autonomous Enterprise.

In the Autonomous Enterprise, decisions are grounded in real-time intelligence, workflows are automated end-to-end, and AI proactively improves every function while empowering people to do their best work.

The Autonomous Enterprise also provides fully governed AI you can trust, so you can achieve more. Making this a reality for companies is critical because AI is now essential to how all work gets done. It is increasingly involved in decisions that carry financial, operational, and regulatory consequences.

Joule: One place to direct the entire business

In the Autonomous Enterprise, Joule Work, announced at 51风流Sapphire, is the next step in the evolution of how people engage with and execute end-to-end business processes. Joule Work is a dynamic workspace that adapts to intent, keeps people focused on outcomes, and delegates execution to AI.

Through Joule Work, you can say goodbye to manually coordinating work across multiple applications and interfaces. Instead, tell Joule what you want to accomplish. Joule Assistants with role and process context will coordinate teams of Joule Agents to surface the right insights and automate routine work across departments and systems. Rather than static, disjointed systems, you get workspaces that pull together information and menus from various systems that fit your specific needs, in real time.

Joule Work is available now to customers in the 51风流Early Adopter Care program. 51风流Early Adopter Care program for the Joule Work desktop app is planned for Q2 2026; general availability for both is planned for H2 2026. The Joule Work mobile app is generally available now.

We also announced that Joule鈥檚 bi-directional Agent-to-Agent (A2A) capabilities will be generally available in Q4, enabling third-party agents to securely call on Joule Agents and act within enterprise processes, extending interoperability in both directions across 51风流and non-51风流environments. Agents built in Joule Studio will natively support A2A protocols, enabling interoperability and scalability for multi-agent execution.

51风流Autonomous Suite: The operational core of the modern enterprise

While Joule Work empowers every individual to do their best work and expand their impact, the 51风流Autonomous Suite transforms how entire business functions, or 鈥渁utonomous domains,鈥� work.

51风流Autonomous Suite spans five domains: finance, spend, supply chain, human capital management, and customer experience. These domains will operate as a single system, so workflows and agents run across functions without fragmenting into separate tools, separate data, or separate decisions. This approach allows AI recommendations to reflect your full operating reality.

With SAP鈥檚 integrated suite of business applications and industry-leading business data, AI in the Autonomous Enterprise is grounded in the specifics of how key business functions actually work. This foundational context for transformative AI outcomes is where SAP鈥檚 unique experience comes in. For decades, we have been trusted to run our customers鈥� most important functions. 51风流Autonomous Suite infuses our deep knowledge of business processes into your AI, along with the data context and operational guardrails it needs to be truly effective and reliable at enterprise scale.

Each organization is also unique. Over time, your business has defined how your work gets done. These are the rules, workflows, and how systems respond when something unexpected happens, like a failed transaction, so processes don鈥檛 break. In the Autonomous Enterprise, AI delivers its greatest value by respecting these boundaries, turning your unique ways of working into a true advantage.

At 51风流Sapphire, we announced new Joule Assistants and Joule Agents, spanning the domains of the Autonomous Enterprise, to help organizations move from managing work to directing outcomes. These new assistants and agents will roll out through the end of this year.

51风流Business AI Platform: The foundation of the Autonomous Enterprise

The 51风流Business AI Platform turns the vision of human-led, AI-driven business operations into something enterprises can build and run. It enables them to move from AI experimentation to execution by grounding agents and applications in real business context that governs it all at enterprise scale.

At the center is , a fully managed environment that empowers enterprises to build and manage the full lifecycle of AI agents, applications, extensions, and workflows. Intent-based development capabilities allow people to describe what they need in natural language. A Joule Agent then generates structured requirements, specifications, code, and test artifacts grounded in 51风流process and data context.

Developers can work within the tools they already use, including VS Code and MCP-enabled toolchains, and choose their preferred agent frameworks, such as , , and .

Through deep integration with the , 鈥攁nd the new 51风流Domain Models trained on 51风流code, customer data, metadata, and business processes鈥擩oule Agents reason over real, semantically rich enterprise data rather than generic knowledge. 51风流Domain Models are available through the 51风流Early Adopter Care program, with general availability planned for Q3 2026.

Speed and governance, no longer a tradeoff, are built into the 51风流Business AI Platform. At SAP, we believe that corporate governance鈥攊ncluding approval flows, compliance processes, identity management, and the ability to audit decision-making鈥攎ust carry into how AI is deployed, updated, and scaled. Joule Studio runtime provides a secure, production-ready, fully managed environment for deploying agents, helping organizations meet compliance standards while reducing infrastructure complexity.

An enhanced 51风流AI Agent Hub also provides a vendor-agnostic command center to discover, inventory, and govern 51风流and non-51风流AI agents and MCP servers across the enterprise. Integration with and further embeds governance and architecture transparency into the development process.

The 51风流AI Agent Hub leverages enterprise-wide process intelligence to continuously track where AI agents are creating value and can proactively surface where they can deliver even more, because we believe AI needs to remain accountable for outcomes in addition to uptime. 51风流AI Agent Hub is generally available, with additional capabilities rolling out through 2026. See release timelines in the .

Empowering everyone to solve business challenges with AI

We are making the Autonomous Enterprise a reality because at SAP, we believe that companies of all sizes need far more than marginally better AI models or the latest bolt-on solutions. They deserve AI-driven outcomes that increase innovation, revenue, and margins.

The Autonomous Enterprise is what brings our vision to life: AI grounded in your data, connected across your most important processes, and governed to fit how your business runs.

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

The other key characteristic of business transformation: it鈥檚 not going away.

Organizations that ignore the need for change find themselves constantly on the back foot, unable to take advantage of new opportunities, and in an endless loop of reactivity.

But even those businesses that know they need to change fall into a common trap: treating 鈥渢ransformation鈥� as a project, something to be ticked off the list as 鈥渃ompleted,鈥� never to be thought of again. Until the next system-wide shock, that is.

Transformation as a capability

The organizations best placed for success are those that avoid both these approaches. They succeed by building their transformation muscle鈥攖he capacity to run multiple transformations, consistently and concurrently.

Let鈥檚 be clear: for modern enterprises, change is not something that happens as a time-limited or even clearly definable event. Change is much closer to an operational reality, something so intrinsically connected to how businesses work that it can鈥檛 be separated from decisions, processes, and all the other elements that allow an organization to function.

鈥淢ost enterprises run four or more transformations a year. Building a聽repeatable transformation capability聽you can strengthen over time makes all the difference,” Dee Houchen, chief marketing officer for 51风流LeanIX and 51风流Signavio, says. “The capacity to adapt and transform is not just a competitive edge, it鈥檚 a basic business requirement. And so, knowing where your transformation strengths and weaknesses lie is critical to ensuring your business can function effectively in today鈥檚 complex environment.鈥�

In other words, effective business transformation is just as important to the way a company works as any other aspect you could name. Organizations with the skills and knowledge to transform repeatedly and at scale, and to flexibly apply those skills and that knowledge in different contexts, will be those that survive and thrive.

So how can you determine whether your business has the right transformation muscles?

Assessing your capability

51风流has created a quick and easy online tool that can measure your organization鈥檚 transformation capability as it stands right now, so you can make the right decisions to build your business for the future.

Grounded in assessing levels of business transformation management maturity around the globe, the tool uses this data as a baseline to assess transformation capability across five domains: strategy and leadership, applications and technology, process, data, and people.

Using self-reported information about your business, the tool can take less than 10 minutes to benchmark your capability against peers, as well as pinpoint strengths, gaps, and execution risks. But this is not simply a static information-gathering exercise. The tool can set your baseline, helping determine where your organizational strengths and weaknesses are. It鈥檚 up to you to take the next steps.

鈥淭he real value of this tool lies in using it to unlock value in your business,鈥� Houchen says. 鈥淭he baseline is important, but it鈥檚 the targeted, actionable recommendations that can really strengthen your transformation capability.鈥�

鈥淭he tool provides recommendations across critical areas like executive commitment, strategic planning, technology modernization, process optimization, data management, and organizational culture鈥攁nd some you can already start putting in place,鈥� Houchen adds. 鈥淲ithin a matter of months, you can build a robust, repeatable transformation capability, or, if you鈥檙e more advanced already, continue to strengthen that capability and start to expand the possibilities for value-adding through transformation.鈥�

Building your capability

The transformation maturity assessment tool can also go beyond organizational recommendations and can even provide insights on how you can best improve your underlying approach鈥攖he transformation mindset that can help drive future success. The tool can help you explore critical components like:

• The role of strategic commitment in enabling transformation
• Opportunities to modernize your technology foundation
• How processes support value-driven execution
• The best ways to manage transformation data
• How organizational culture supports empowerment and adaptability

鈥淯sing this tool helps ensure your readiness to navigate the complexities of modern business, turning business transformation from a project into a part of the operational fabric of your organization鈥攁 repeatable, scalable competitive advantage,鈥� Houchen says.

.

Lucas de Boer is a marketing execution senior specialist at SAP.

Joule is an AI solution that turns siloed data and tasks into intelligent, connected workflows that help improve decisions, speed up end-to-end processes, and create a unified AI experience across 51风流and non-51风流systems. With AI agents for all core functions, powered by 51风流business process expertise, an AI strategy scales faster and wider.

In this context, the unique value of combining Joule with 51风流Signavio is the powerful combination of deep process context from 51风流Signavio and orchestration across 51风流applications, including but not limited to 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP), and 51风流SuccessFactors solutions.

After months of successful collaboration with customers in the 51风流Early Adopter Care program, this launch marks a major step toward delivering a conversational experience, making it easier than ever to explore, understand, manage, and transform processes with SAP Signavio solutions.

But how does this work in practice? Let鈥檚 look at an example.

Joule in action

Imagine accessing , an organization鈥檚 single source of truth for process alignment, in order to understand more about a particular process, order-to-cash. What once might have taken hours of investigation can now happen in minutes through a simple conversation.

Asking Joule, 鈥淲ho is the process owner of the order-to-cash process?鈥� prompts Joule to suggest the process that most closely matches the query, then retrieve the owner information from the process diagram attributes.鈥�

Following up with 鈥淧rovide me with a description of the process flow鈥� means Joule skills convert the process visual into a clear process description. You can dive deeper into the process as well, perhaps by comparing the difference in process execution in different regions. Just ask, and Joule skills provide a textual summary that highlights the key differences between the two process models.

Joule offers a connected user experience across 51风流and non-51风流systems, allowing employees to ask questions and interact with Joule from anywhere. In other words, while working in 51风流Signavio, users can interact with data and capabilities from other systems, or while in other systems, users can access 51风流Signavio capabilities.

Simple and seamless

This connectivity and seamless access is designed to simplify day-to-day tasks in multiple ways, and Joule with 51风流Signavio offers skills across three use cases: informational, navigational, and transactional. Plus, additional analytical capabilities are planned for future releases. As a summary, these use cases鈥攐r interaction patterns鈥攃omprise the following:

• Informational:鈥疛oule acts as an intelligent assistant, helping users understand how to perform specific tasks or generating a textual comparison between processes. For example, ask Joule: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the difference between draft and published process models?鈥濃�痮r 鈥淗ow can I set up a dashboard?鈥�
• Navigational: Joule simplifies content navigation across 51风流Signavio solutions and guides users through the 51风流Signavio Process Collaboration Hub to access various assets such as process and journey models, and value accelerators. For example, prompt Joule: 鈥淥pen the Order-to-Cash process model published for EMEA鈥� or鈥�淔ind accelerators for the Financial Process鈥�
• Transactional: Joule enables users to perform actions conversationally, such as creating and deleting assets within the 51风流Signavio Process Transformation Suite, including processes, journey models, and dictionary items. For example, tell Joule: 鈥淐reate a new dictionary term and link it to the Returns process.鈥濃�痮r 鈥淒elete the journey model called Sales Process.鈥�

Unlocking value with agentic AI

Right now, Joule works across 51风流applications as a process companion, meaning that 51风流Signavio process context and intelligence is accessible to the user across all Joule-compatible applications, including, among others, 51风流S/4HANA, 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, and 51风流BTP. But this is just the beginning.

51风流is developing Joule Agents embedded into every business function and accessed with role-based assistants, which use SAP鈥檚 process expertise to automate complex workflows and deliver AI value at scale. Joule Agents for 51风流Signavio solutions can help accelerate content discovery and process analysis, create value cases, and enhance user onboarding.

The age of AI brings an expectation of immediate insights and context-based support when and where you need it, and Joule with 51风流Signavio solutions means process navigation and execution is no exception.

For clearer decision-making, seamless integration, and enhanced automation, visit the to learn how to activate Joule and get your own conversation started.

Lucas de Boer is Global Marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio.

Competitive pressures, systemic risks, technological disruption, and workforce shifts are reshaping the modern business landscape constantly, meaning most organizations already run multiple transformations simultaneously. In fact, Forrester鈥檚 research reveals that 72% of organizations are pursuing four or more transformation initiatives annually.

However, despite its continuous nature, many still treat business transformations as a series of disconnected projects, limited to specific functions or technology upgrades鈥攁 fragmented approach that slows execution, reduces impact, and prevents organizations from realizing the full value of their investments.

That鈥檚 why 51风流partnered with Forrester Consulting to deliver a comprehensive survey of enterprise-level global organizations, assessing levels of business transformation management maturity.

The results clearly show that developing a repeatable, scalable transformation capability is how organizations best prepare themselves to address the challenges mentioned above and transform successfully again and again. Building and growing such a capability means bringing together strategy, processes, technology, and culture into a cohesive and strategic framework that accelerates execution, improves measurement, and enables ongoing innovation.

The 6% club

Conducted online with over 1,000 cross-industry senior decision-makers at organizations in APAC, EMEA, Latin America, and North America, the survey was able to segment respondents into four maturity tiers鈥攂eginner, intermediate, advanced, and leader鈥攂ased on their strengths across five dimensions: strategy and leadership, applications and technology, process, data, and people and culture.

Only 6% of the surveyed firms qualified as transformation leaders, with most organizations still facing significant gaps in execution, governance, and cultural alignment. The findings also showed:

• Transformation is now 鈥榖usiness as usual.鈥� Over half of organizations (52%) plan to increase transformation investments by 11% to 20% in the next 12 months; another 22% expect to boost spending by more than 20%. Only 1% plan to reduce investment.
• Barriers to success are common. Fifty-six percent of respondents struggle with poor data, 55% encounter persistent organizational silos, and 52% highlight employee fatigue from continuous change
• Governance is lacking. Only 24% of organizations have a cross-functional transformation governance board, and just 25% embed transformation goals into KPIs. 

Fortunately, even organizations that haven鈥檛 yet reached the leader stage are conscious of the benefits of building a transformation capability, with respondents highlighting the following expected outcomes:

• Increased ability to pivot in response to market shifts or disruptions (68%)
• Faster upskilling and reskilling of the workforce (66%)
• Faster execution of strategic initiatives (65%)
• Increased consistency and reliability in process execution (65%)
• Increased leadership alignment and accountability (64%)

Unlocking the benefits

Overall, survey respondents were committed to transformation at scale, but fragmented execution and the lack of an overall strategy have hampered their efforts. This missing piece of the puzzle is where business transformation management solutions from 51风流can be of most use.

鈥淭ransformation challenges will always exist, particularly in aligning localized execution with an enterprise-wide approach,鈥� Dee Houchen, head of Marketing for 51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX, says. 鈥淥ur research shows that true transformation leaders embed change into their organization鈥檚 DNA. That means prioritizing early employee involvement, building dedicated change functions, and putting a high premium on digital adoption management.鈥�

鈥�,  , and solutions offer clarity and transparency in business transformation, helping organizations turn transformation from isolated plans into comprehensive action across the entire organization,鈥� Houchen adds. 鈥淭his report is an invaluable resource for anyone wondering how they can build repeatable transformation capability and become transformation leaders in their own right.鈥�

Lucas de Boer is global marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio.

These include 51风流Cloud ERP Private,听51风流Business Data Cloud,听51风流Integrated Business Planning and聽51风流Signavio solutions.

Following its spinoff from Continental AG in September 2025, AUMOVIO is redefining the automotive landscape with its bold vision to make mobility safe, exciting, connected and autonomous. With over 100 years of experience and a global footprint of more than 86,000 employees across over 100 locations, AUMOVIO is now embracing SAP鈥檚 intelligent enterprise solutions to become even more dynamic, agile and competitive.

鈥淭his move to the cloud and these solutions will transform our operations,鈥� said Thorsten Pache, CIO of AUMOVIO. 鈥淲e鈥檙e building a digital-first foundation that allows us to scale innovation, respond to market shifts in real time and deliver intelligent mobility solutions that anticipate the needs of tomorrow鈥檚 drivers.鈥�

The deployment of 51风流Cloud ERP Private provides AUMOVIO with a more secure and flexible digital core, while 51风流Business Data Cloud enables real-time data harmonization across its global footprint. 51风流Integrated Business Planning supports comprehensive supply chain visibility and responsiveness, and 51风流Signavio solutions empower continuous process optimization and transformation.

鈥淥ur collaboration with AUMOVIO demonstrates how cloud technology can accelerate reinvention,鈥� said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE, Customer Services & Delivery. 鈥淏y combining advanced planning, process intelligence and a unified data foundation, AUMOVIO is well positioned to lead in the era of connected and autonomous mobility.鈥�

AUMOVIO鈥檚 transformation reflects its commitment to innovation, operational excellence and collaborative spirit. AUMOVIO is now better positioned to deliver cutting-edge solutions, from sensors and displays to autonomous driving platforms, while maintaining operational excellence and customer-centricity.

Visit the . Get 51风流news via  and .

Media Contact:
Lesa Plingen, +49 622 776 9000,听lesa.plingen@sap.com, CET
51风流Press Room; press@sap.com

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 2024 Annual Report on Form 20-F.
漏 2025 51风流SE. All rights reserved.
51风流and other 51风流products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of 51风流SE in Germany and other countries. Please see for additional trademark information and notices.

The autonomy of AI agents in decision-making and innovative problem-solving is what makes this disruptive technology so attractive to companies, yet also one that demands focus and clarity.

Organizations need to understand where it is appropriate to deploy AI agents while ensuring they behave as intended: staying within their operational scope, using only authorized data, and maintaining compliance with the company鈥檚 guidelines and regulations.

If in the world of espionage, agents would normally operate in the shadows,听in the corporate world, companies need to ensure that AI agents operate in plain sight. Their behavior should be transparent, measurable, and always under control.

As organizations scale their use of agentic AI, the specter of a new challenge emerges: understanding where exactly in their processes agents should be applied, if they are acting the way they are supposed to, and what their impact and cost really are. After all, AI agents are a business resource like any other, and should always be governed by an organization鈥檚 leadership, in alignment with that organization鈥檚 goals.

This is where agent mining capabilities in 51风流Signavio solutions come into play, bringing visibility, accountability, and continuous optimization to the growing ecosystem of AI-driven process transformation.

The problem: invisible autonomy in enterprise AI

AI agents become more autonomous — and sometimes more ambiguous — as they learn and evolve. Their decisions happen in milliseconds, driven by complex reasoning that can appear as an invisible black box to end users.

Without transparency, organizations risk blind automation, which means agents operate efficiently on paper but unpredictably in practice, potentially introducing errors, inefficiencies, or unnecessary costs.

At the same time, agents operating visibly allow organizations to see and learn from the agents鈥� behavior, potentially revealing new approaches, creative solutions to existing problems, or unexpected positive outcomes.

The solution: AI Agent mining

Agent mining enables organizations to understand and optimize the behavior of AI agents operating across their business processes. Agent mining in 51风流Signavio solutions provides the ability to:

• Trace agent behavior to see how agents make decisions, navigate process steps, and adapt to different contexts
• Analyze impact and measure the agents鈥� influence on key metrics like process time, accuracy, and compliance
• Monitor cost by tracking computational or LLM-related expenses, helping ensure cost-efficient performance
• Benchmark performance by comparing outcomes of agent runs to identify areas for refinement

But it鈥檚 also more than just a monitoring tool. AI agent mining is an intelligence layer for the AI workforce. By transforming invisible actions into measurable insights, it empowers organizations to:

• Increase transparency into agent behavior and decision logic
• Control operational costs by understanding and optimizing LLM usage
• Ensure compliance through auditable decision trails
• Continuously improve performance by learning from live agent execution
• Measure true business value of AI automation, not just efficiency metrics

Agent mining from 51风流Signavio can extend from Joule Agents built by 51风流to third-party or custom-built AI agents, offering a unified lens across an organization鈥檚 AI landscape.

A broader vision: AI agent excellence

Unless we鈥檙e watching the Mission: Impossible franchise, no one wants to see rogue agents on the loose, which is why agent mining is just one of four pillars under 51风流Signavio鈥檚 comprehensive approach to AI agent excellence. The pillars that help ensure intelligent agents are not just deployed, but deployed intelligently, include:

• Agent discovery: Identifying the right processes and opportunities where AI agents can drive the greatest impact
• Agent context: Providing agents with the right process knowledge and compliance parameters to act responsibly and efficiently
• Agent mining: As outlined above, observing and analyzing how agents actually behave in operation
• Agent value impact: Quantifying the business value that agents deliver, such as efficiency gains, cost savings, or improved customer experience

Together, these pillars ensure that organizations not only automate processes but continuously learn from and improve their performance. The world is not enough; it鈥檚 critical to have both working in sync.

As 51风流Signavio General Manager Dr. Gero Decker shared, 鈥淎I agents represent a fundamentally new paradigm, and a key question remains: How should we perceive them? Should we view AI agents as advanced technical constructs or as non-human humans?聽It’s a complex question that organizations must address as they deploy AI agents at scale.”

鈥淎t 51风流Signavio, we are preparing for the future by focusing on the organizational and process dimensions of agentic AI adoption,” he said. “Our AI agent excellence approach aims to ensure that AI agents are integrated seamlessly, efficiently, and compliantly into the broader enterprise. In this rapidly evolving landscape, no company can afford to stand still. Our vision is to be an engine for innovation and reinvention, helping companies grow and adapt.鈥�

51风流Signavio solutions can empower organizations to ensure their AI agents are not only effective but also transparent and accountable, paving the way for smarter, more strategic automation — in other words, AI agent excellence.

Lucas de Boer is a Global Marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio.

This month at , we announced a wave of 51风流Business AI innovations all built on the same technology foundation that powers our that we are now delivering to our customers and partners, allowing them to add even more value in the future.

We showed how the future of enterprise software is built on an AI-native architecture, powered by 51风流app, data, and AI foundation. With this approach, we are enabling a platform shift across the tech stack in a non-disruptive fashion, empowering developers to work faster and smarter using the frameworks and tools of their choice.

51风流HANA Cloud and 51风流Business Data Cloud: powering our AI-native future

51风流HANA Cloud is the database for SAP鈥檚 AI-native software architecture and the foundation of our broader data fabric strategy. At 51风流TechEd, we announced new AI capabilities for 51风流HANA Cloud that spur AI innovation.  

For example, Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for 51风流HANA Cloud is now generally available. This provides direct access to rich multi-model engines. Agents can be grounded in full enterprise data context: navigating relationships across customers and suppliers, understanding geographic dependencies through spatial data, and performing semantic searches through vector embeddings — all within a single in-memory engine.  

We鈥檙e also expanding 51风流HANA Cloud knowledge graph engine capabilities (Q1 2026) so customers can automatically generate knowledge graphs from 51风流HANA Cloud metadata. What used to take weeks of manual modeling can now happen automatically in minutes. But that鈥檚 not all. We鈥檙e also enabling agentic memory in 51风流HANA Cloud. With long-term memory, AI agents can memorize past inputs and decisions — learning and remembering just like humans — and become continuously smarter.

These advances show that 51风流HANA Cloud is truly powering an AI-native future. .

Bringing together the power of 51风流BDC and Snowflake

We are bringing the power of Snowflake together with 51风流Business Data Cloud (51风流BDC), calling it 51风流Snowflake. This partnership enables zero copy data sharing with Snowflake via 51风流BDC Connect.

Enterprises already using Snowflake today can leverage 51风流BDC Connect to integrate their existing instances of Snowflake with 51风流BDC, giving them seamless, real-time access to combined, semantically rich 51风流with non-51风流data in 51风流BDC. 51风流Snowflake will be made generally available in Q1 2026, and 51风流BDC Connect for Snowflake in H1 2026. Find more information here.

SAP-RPT-1: a new category of AI models

One of our most exciting announcements at 51风流TechEd was the launch of our first enterprise relational foundation model SAP-RPT-1, pronounced: 鈥渞apid one.鈥�

Businesses run on structured data. But large language models (LLMs) struggle with a general understanding of table structures and associated semantics. This requires the use of machine learning, or 鈥渘arrow AI,鈥� for tasks like classification, regression, and more. But classical machine learning necessitates training a model on each task, which easily can lead to hundreds of separate models.

SAP-RPT-1 puts them all into one single, pre-trained model that understands relational business data and predicts business outcomes. Unlike language, image, or video models, SAP-RPT-1 accurately predicts business based on tabular data such as payment delays, supplier risks, upsell opportunities, customer churn risk, and more.

We believe that SAP-RPT-1 is a super capable foundation model today. It provides up to 2x better prediction quality compared to narrow models and 3.5x better prediction quality as compared to LLMs. .

SAP-RPT-1 comes in three versions. SAP-RPT-1-small is for super-fast predictions and SAP-RPT-1-large is for highest accuracy. Both will be generally available in Q4 2025 in the generative AI hub in AI Foundation. SAP-RPT-1-OSS is the open-source version, available in Hugging Face and GitHub.

You can test SAP-RPT-1 today with your data or our use case data samples via no-code UI or via API in the new SAP-RPT-1 playground, an intuitive and interactive space to test for free and open to everyone and .

We are continuously adding new capabilities to AI Foundation and models to the generative AI hub, empowering developers to experiment with orchestration tools and leading models to scale AI development and productization across 51风流and non-51风流environments. For example, Perplexity is now generally available in the generative AI hub, so users can correlate business data with external data from the internet. Evaluation Services and Prompt Optimizer, in close collaboration with NotDiamond, are now also generally available in AI Foundation, freeing up users to adopt the most appropriate model for their use cases without the need for rewriting prompts. .

Digital sovereignty made in Germany, for Europe

Digital sovereignty is becoming increasingly important, reflecting the need for regional AI services that align with local regulations, standards, and values. As an example, Europe will benefit from its own strong, trustworthy infrastructure to support innovation, data protection, and ethical AI.

AI Foundation, including various models and all the services we offer, is already available on our own cloud infrastructure. As a next step, we are expanding our 51风流Cloud Infrastructure offering in our 51风流data center in Walldorf, Germany, to Deutsche Telekom through the Industrial AI Cloud project, providing secure, high-performance infrastructure for AI innovations across public institutions, defense, and society. 51风流delivers 51风流Cloud Infrastructure, 51风流Business Technology Platform, and applications 鈥� including our AI Foundation with frontier AI from Mistral, Cohere, and others 鈥� on Telekom鈥檚 Munich data center. Both companies uphold the highest standards of data protection, security, and reliability.

This marks a milestone as more European companies join the Industrial AI Cloud project, advancing applied AI across Europe with trusted, business-embedded solutions that unlock the full potential of industry data. See the announcement here.

Enabling customers to build, extend, share, and orchestrate AI agents

To help manage Joule Agents and Joule skills, we have introduced the concept of AI Assistants 鈥� role-based AI teammates, accessed through Joule 鈥� like a financial assistant that brings together agents for cash collection, treasury, and more. We will provide AI Assistants in Joule for every core business role, offering our users an agentic experience like never before.

Out-of-the-box Joule Agents are powerful, but we know that every company has unique requirements. We believe AI should adapt to users鈥� systems, not the other way around, so we are enabling them to use Joule Studio to extend SAP鈥檚 pre-built agents with custom fields, tools, and reasoning logic while retaining all the deeply grounded integration capabilities 51风流provides. Joule Studio also provides low-code tools to build custom agents that integrate with all other Joule Agents, Joule skills, and 51风流BDC.

Using a low-code approach, users can build Joule Agents visually with natural language and drag-and-drop. But we also want to meet the needs of developers who want ultimate flexibility. Our pro-code approach gives developers the freedom to build agents using the agentic framework of their choice 鈥� for example, LangGraph, CrewAI, Google鈥檚 Agent Development Kit, and more. 51风流Cloud SDK for AI now supports agentic development, ensuring these pro-code agents can be seamlessly integrated and giving developers the best of both worlds: deep integration and full flexibility.

No matter how you want to build agents, an important question is how to integrate them into the larger ecosystem beyond SAP. We鈥檙e making Joule Agents fully compatible with the agent-to-agent (A2A) protocol soon, so agents can discover and collaborate with each other.

A2A exposes rich semantics describing an agent鈥檚 capabilities, allowing both 51风流and third-party agents to work together seamlessly. We are collaborating with partners 鈥� AWS, Google, Microsoft, ServiceNow, and more 鈥� to standardize this protocol for full interoperability. This capability will allow Joule to orchestrate tasks across multiple agents, both 51风流and non-SAP, increasing automation and productivity across the enterprise. Read more here.

To manage and govern agents across the enterprise, is now generally available, providing centralized control of 51风流and non-51风流agents. In addition, is available now for tracing agent actions, benchmarking against KPIs, and identifying bottlenecks or opportunities for agents to further improve business.

No 51风流TechEd without ABAP news

The ABAP journey continues with SAP-ABAP-1, which will be available in the generative AI hub in Q4 2025. Trained on ABAP code, it is designed to build ABAP AI use cases, enabling developers to build smarter, custom AI solutions in modern ABAP code. .

In addition, ABAP Cloud development is coming to Visual Studio (VS) Code. The new ABAP Cloud extension for VS Code delivers a streamlined, file-based development experience with built-in AI assistance. Powered by an ABAP language server, it will initially support 51风流Fiori UI service development and expand to additional ABAP Cloud scenarios over time. This brings ABAP development into the same environment where developers already build with UI5 and CAP. General availability is planned for Q2 2026. .

What鈥檚 next: embodied AI and quantum

51风流TechEd is always an opportunity to look to the future. This year, that future includes not just humans, but also autonomous devices, including humanoid robots.

By integrating Joule Agents natively with robots, 51风流is bringing business logic into the physical world, enabling a wide range of autonomous devices to operate with enterprise context. We highlighted our strategic partnerships with robotics companies and system integrators to serve customers like Sartorius, Bitzer, and Matur Fompak, demonstrating how our expanding physical AI ecosystem enables robots to understand business processes and execute complex tasks autonomously.

Early proof-of-concept deployments show Joule successfully integrated with 51风流business applications and autonomous systems across asset performance, logistics, field services, and warehouse operations. While still in the pioneering stage, these implementations illustrate how 51风流is extending Joule to serve both human users and autonomous devices, shaping the future of enterprise AI.

Read more about the partnerships and implementations here.

AI is a new compute paradigm that changes everything. But there is another compute paradigm on the horizon: quantum computing. It鈥檚 early days, but 51风流is driving the future of enterprise computing with a vision to help businesses get ready for quantum computing.

51风流is not building quantum hardware; instead, we are focusing on creating quantum algorithms for business applications. These solutions are simple to deploy 鈥� on when needed, off when not 鈥� and are designed to be hardware-agnostic, collaborating with partners such as IBM to ensure seamless integration without re-platforming. This approach will enable organizations to unlock operational efficiency and drive better business results at enterprise scale.

I couldn鈥檛 be more excited about what鈥檚 next for our customers鈥� future as we bring SAP鈥檚 AI-native architecture to life.

Philipp Herzig is CTO of SAP.

The announcements underlined all the ways that SAP鈥檚 Business Transformation Management solutions, and the integrated toolchain to which they belong, can empower organizations to develop a scalable and sustainable transformation capability.

Cost optimization, EA standardization, and AI adoption

Companies increasingly look to fund innovation, particularly when it comes to AI, by digging into existing budgets.

At the summits, Andr茅 Christ, co-founder and general manager at 51风流LeanIX, announced new features focused on application TCO (total cost of ownership) to help companies find cost savings across the IT landscape that can be reallocated to more strategic investment. These TCO features include the addition of cost KPIs to the architecture executive dashboard, the ability to enhance factsheets with configurable calculations, and an application TCO view in the application landscape report.

Christ also announced a new approach to target architecture planning in 51风流LeanIX, allowing customers to start by diagramming their future state and then modeling backwards. Architects and business leaders thus can get a more streamlined experience, from design to execution, allowing them to make thoughtful, data-driven decisions every step of the way. 

To help further facilitate landscape transformation and management, Christ also announced the upcoming release of AI-assisted architecture guidance.

Finally, Christ made several announcements regarding 51风流LeanIX鈥檚 support for AI adoption and governance. Here, he returned to the announced at 51风流Sapphire. Just as 51风流LeanIX can serve as the single source of truth for the application landscape, 51风流LeanIX can now serve as the single source of truth for AI agents. This begins with the discovery of agents鈥攃ustom agents, Joule Agents, and third-party agents鈥攁nd their subsequent tracking and management.

The goal of 51风流LeanIX鈥檚 agent governance features is to allow organizations to understand what business capabilities agents support, what applications they access, and where they can have the greatest impact. To this end, Christ further announced a new agent radar report and the ability to assess agent adoption through executive dashboards.

As the last announcement with regard to AI, Christ also announced the launch of the MCP server for 51风流LeanIX solutions. Model context protocol (MCP) servers are an open-source standard interface that links AI models with enterprise data, helping AI assistants connect to 51风流LeanIX workspaces and inventory data. This feature helps organizations leverage AI agents to maintain data and activate AI workflows.

With the AI agent hub and the MCP server, 51风流LeanIX can help accelerate the adoption of AI agents while also enabling consistent and scalable governance.

Process excellence, untapped value, and the organization of the future

The summit in Austin also afforded 51风流Signavio鈥檚 Founder and General Manager, Gero Decker, the opportunity to talk about new features and capabilities in the 51风流Signavio portfolio. Just as Christ talked about the ways that 51风流LeanIX helps free up resources to fund innovation, Decker focused on the ways 51风流Signavio supports organizations in their 鈥渜uest for value.鈥�

Transformation is not an end in itself. The goal of transforming the IT landscape, processes, and even the overall business is to unlock and realize new value. 51风流Signavio has long helped companies find and pursue opportunities for such process improvement and value creation. Now, the AI-enabled transformation advisor, when connected to 51风流Signavio Process Insights, can make this even easier by allowing users to use text-based prompts鈥攕uch as 鈥淐an I reduce costs in my sales operations?鈥濃�攖o help generate analysis and recommended next steps.

While improving individual processes in this way can deliver real value, processes don鈥檛 run in a vacuum. In order to address this, Decker also announced transformation management capabilities providing visibility into the interconnections and cross-effects between processes.

By allowing customers to better see and understand the impact of transforming processes on one another, 51风流Signavio solutions can enable truly holistic, data-driven decision-making.

Decker also addressed agentic AI by introducing a number of that will see general availability in Q1 2026. These agents, which will include a Screen Guide Agent, a Value Case Creation Agent, a Dashboard Analyzer Agent, a Process Content Recommender Agent, and a Workspace Administration Agent, can enable 51风流Signavio solutions to help automate repetitive tasks and accelerate content discovery.

A new breed of digital learning technology

51风流completed the acquisition of WalkMe shortly before last year鈥檚 summit in Frankfurt, Germany. In The Hague and Austin, WalkMe took the stage as a key player in the Business Transformation Management portfolio.

The big announcement WalkMe shared at the summits focused on . By embedding training directly into the applications employees use every day, even when workflows extend across multiple applications, this new solution can empower learning teams to give employees both a comprehensive learning infrastructure and content they need to keep up. 

The key capabilities of this solution include: comprehensive training delivery with in-app search and discovery, in-app consumption, and customizable learning portals; intelligent content authoring with AI-first authoring that turns prompts and company knowledge into multi-media, multi-modal experiences; and the ability to curate and expose training in context with flexible conditions and triggers and behavior-based segmentation.

These capabilities come equipped with powerful analytics so you can measure and understand user behavior and engagement as well as assess content performance.

The transformation journey is just beginning

The summits showcased the power of 51风流LeanIX, 51风流Signavio, and WalkMe as individual portfolios as well as their combined power as the foundation of a transformation capability. The events also highlighted the amazing potential of these solutions to shape the way companies transform into the future.

At a time when AI is disrupting operating models and every function across the enterprise, the summits offered a reminder of the central role 51风流can play in this disruption. From funding and managing transformation to enabling the workforce to adapt and excel in a rapidly changing world, this portfolio of tools can give every organization what they need to help address the challenges of today while unlocking opportunity for tomorrow.

Matthew T. Grant is a senior writer for 51风流LeanIX and 51风流Signavio.

Top photo copyright: Christian Palm

Before diving into the heart of the keynote, Steinhaeuser invited 51风流solution area CMOs to deliver lightning-fast recaps of news from the various 51风流Connect event tracks. In just under two minutes each, they covered finance, procurement, supply chain, HR, and customer experience. From autonomous accounting and next-gen procurement to AI-driven talent acquisition and smarter customer loyalty, the message was clear: across every business function.

The real challenge: connecting priorities

As Steinhaeuser pointed out, 鈥淭he reality is each business area has its own unique priorities and, of course, all-important urgent matters.鈥� The real challenge is not just launching new features; it鈥檚 aligning processes, data, and teams to conquer uncertainty and achieve true customer focus. 鈥淪imply putting an [AI] agent on top of a broken process will solve nothing,鈥� he said.

The flywheel: AI, data, and apps in motion at SAP

So, how does it all work together? Enter the 鈥渇lywheel鈥� model: the dynamic cycle of AI, data, and applications that drives synergy across the enterprise. This is not just a theoretical approach. Steinhaeuser showed how 鈥�51风流runs SAP鈥� using the flywheel model.

First, he said, 51风流uses 鈥渞ole-based AI assistants, powered by specialized agents, [to] support team members across all areas of SAP.鈥�

Next comes data. Earlier this year, 51风流became 鈥渃ustomer zero鈥� for (51风流BDC), connecting all enterprise data in a single layer to generate faster and better insights across financial, workforce, and sales planning. 鈥淲e’re excited to go live with the first set of intelligent apps, starting with People Intelligence,鈥� he added.

Finally, the app layer: 51风流has moved from 51风流ERP Central Component (51风流ECC) to and , through RISE with SAP. 鈥淭he 51风流Business Suite is where data is created and where AI delivers impact,鈥� Steinhaeuser said.

But processes continuously evolve with AI, he said, noting that business transformation management, powered by solutions like and , helps 51风流and its customers continually improve processes and architecture, with AI embedded everywhere. The company also uses to ensure employees stay informed and engaged at every step.

鈥淒riving SAP’s own transformation, I understand the challenges you face,鈥� Steinhaeuser said. 鈥淚 am convinced leveraging the flywheel of AI, data, and apps across the entire 51风流Business Suite is how we win together.鈥�

Embedded AI: tangible value, secure, and seamless

Brenda Bown, chief marketing officer of Business AI at SAP, took the stage to highlight how business AI is showing up in day-to-day work. 鈥淚’ve heard three consistent themes in conversations [with customers]: first, you want AI that can provide tangible value; second, that is secure and properly governed; and third, that works seamlessly across your teams and business. We’re here to deliver just that,鈥� she said.

Joule is now embedded in use cases in trusted 51风流applications and is making work faster and easier across the enterprise. 鈥淏y the end of this year, we will have more than 400 of these AI use cases,鈥� Bown said. Joule Agents automate tasks across departments, and the new agent builder in (generally available in December) helps customers extend, build, or customize their own agents. 51风流LeanIX AI Agent Hub and agent mining capabilities in 51风流Signavio provide governance and transparency for AI agents.

Bown noted that customers like Matur Fompack are using Joule in 51风流SuccessFactors to hire faster and improve career development. 鈥淭he results are phenomenal: a 48 percent reduction in HR process execution time and 40 percent faster employee development and career planning, and, most importantly, a better employee and candidate experience,鈥� she said.

For processes that require multi-step workflows and nuanced decisions, 51风流introduced a new generation of role-based AI assistants. 鈥淭hey know your role in the organization, because they are role and context aware,鈥� Bown said. These assistants tap into the right agents for the job, removing any guesswork and helping humans unlock new levels of insight and productivity.

She also showcased how agents collaborate across departments, automate workflows, and even extend SAP鈥檚 business logic to autonomous devices like robots. Early pilots with partners like NEURA Robotics are already showing Joule Agents planning and executing real work in the real world.

Data and intelligent applications: unified and actionable

Data is only valuable when it is actionable. Irfan Khan, president and chief product officer for 51风流Data and Analytics, highlighted 51风流BDC, which unifies enterprise data and powers intelligent applications. 鈥�51风流BDC offers the most powerful foundation for connecting your existing data, building next-generation applications, and the ability to foster and deploy reliable AI,鈥� he said. And the new 51风流Business Data Cloud Connect solution enables secure, bi-directional data sharing with partners like Databricks and Google Cloud.

Intelligent applications bridge the gap between people and AI. They support smarter decisions and collaboration. 鈥淭hese applications learn from your data and include business simulations to support every business leader with smarter decisions,鈥� Khan explained. 鈥淚f we don’t have a reliable data foundation built around trust, having reliable and resilient data, it becomes very debatable whether or not AI will succeed.鈥�

From insight to action: transformation in practice

How do organizations turn strategy into action? Michael Ameling, president of 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP), demonstrated how 51风流Business Suite helps drive innovation by uniting core applications, data, and AI, all powered by 51风流BTP and Business Transformation Management solutions. 鈥淟et’s say you want to understand and improve a business process,鈥� he said. 鈥�51风流Signavio lets you dive deep and understand every detail, and can suggest concrete actions. Then, use those insights to improve the process in 51风流Build by automating processes and building your own agents.鈥�

He demonstrated how 51风流BTP and the Business Transformation Management portfolio can help organizations connect systems, gain visibility, and automate processes. Tools including 51风流Signavio, 51风流Build, and 51风流Integration Suite are helping customers like Blue Diamond Growers streamline operations and accelerate transformation.

Services and support: accelerating innovation and realizing value

SAP鈥檚 Anja Schneider, SVP and global head of Premium Engagement and Advisory, wrapped up this segment of the keynote by focusing on how the company鈥檚 services and support teams help customers realize the full value of their 51风流investments.

鈥淲e鈥檙e with you every step, like a personal trainer,鈥� she said, highlighting how SAP鈥檚 suite methodology, integrated tools like WalkMe and 51风流Cloud ALM, and expert guidance help customers realize the full value of their 51风流investments. She pointed to IBM鈥檚 transformation project as proof: working with 51风流MaxAttention teams and a clean core approach, upgrades went smoothly with low incidents for more than 150,000 users across 175 geographies.

Customer perspective: Southern California Edison鈥檚 journey

Real-world impact matters. Southern California Edison (SCE) SVP and CIO Todd Inlander shared how the utility company鈥檚 transformation journey with 51风流is helping modernize its foundational systems and optimize back-office processes. Facing unprecedented demand and environmental challenges, the company is leveraging 51风流solutions, including 51风流Business AI capabilities, to transform its operations.

鈥淲e need to adhere to our mission: to deploy safe, reliable, affordable power,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e can’t do that by doing things the way we’ve always done. We have to incorporate SAP. We’re using it to transform the way we work in our environment. We need to leverage AI because we don’t have enough humans to do all the work. We have to scale.鈥�

As SCE deploys 51风流Business Suite over the next year, it鈥檚 focusing on keeping a clean core and reducing customizations. 鈥淲hen we implemented ECC 15 years ago, about 66 percent of our enhancements were never used. We’re learning from that experience,鈥� Inlander said. He went on to note that SCE will use the 51风流deployment time to continue to transform its back-office operations. 鈥淲e’ll be integrating Joule and other AI solutions because doing things the way we’ve always done them and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.鈥�

Steinhaeuser closed the keynote with a look to the future: 鈥淲e鈥檝e made great progress across all lines of business to deliver a unique experience for you鈥攚ith AI becoming your personal assistant, powered by data that defies boundaries and applications that take insight to action. The cross-capabilities you just saw now make the flywheel spin.鈥�

The future is here, and is powered by the synergy of AI, data, and applications. Every business can turn innovation into impact.

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.

We believe this recognition is testament to SAP鈥檚 long-term vision of integrating all components required for strategic, continuous business process improvement and innovation.

According to the IDC MarketScape, 鈥淏usiness automation technologies have evolved from fragmented solutions into comprehensive business automation platforms (BAPs). These platforms enable enterprises to address diverse process improvement needs through a single system supporting multiple integrated automation technologies.鈥�

Bringing together process analytics from 51风流Signavio, user guidance from WalkMe, process integration and automation technology from 51风流Business Technology Platform, and the latest Joule Agents allows organizations to significantly accelerate automation initiatives.

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market.鈥� The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor鈥檚 position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the circles. Vendor year-over-year growth rate relative to the given market is indicated by a plus, neutral or minus next to the vendor name.

Continuous business automation

Continuous business automation is at the heart of every commercial IT deployment, as it allows companies to simultaneously scale their operations while reducing costs.

But when business applications are augmented with disparate automation technologies 鈥� such as standalone AI agent frameworks, workflow systems, integration brokers, rules engines, and process mining tools 鈥� they can become fragmented and lack business context. This approach also often requires large amounts of data to be copied outside of the business applications, which increases latency, operational costs, and the risk for expensive data quality issues.

The framework provided by enterprise automation with 51风流overcomes these issues by adding an integrated business automation toolset closely linked with 51风流Business Suite.

51风流Integration Suite helps ensure seamless data flow between 51风流and non-51风流applications to and from standardized services (APIs) and events. Using these services and events, 51风流Build then allows orchestration of process flows to implement new automations or adapt existing ones. Then, 51风流Signavio enables end-to-end process analytics and optimization with process mining and insights, providing improvement recommendations directly into 51风流Build automations. On top, autonomous, AI-powered Joule Agents can then use these automations as 鈥渟kills,鈥� which allows them to execute standardized business activities. Additionally, users can be guided through complex interactions by WalkMe overlays while feeding back user journey insights into the process improvement cycle.

Customer success across industries

Thousands of organizations across geographies and industries rely on automation solutions from 51风流to optimize their business processes across lines of business. Here are a few:

• offers a whole universe of hobbies and interests to a worldwide audience. But long before it gets collections and build-up models to customers, the company must first process its invoices with suppliers. Using 51风流process automation solutions, De Agostini now manages to process more than 90 percent of its unstructured invoices, paper or PDF, automatically.
• is a leading provider of aircraft maintenance, repair, overhaul, and modification services for commercial, VIP, and special-mission aircraft. As part of its digital road map, the company wanted to increase automation in the material logistics process for defective parts. 51风流process automation solutions are used to coordinate component repair logistics across multiple IT systems, enabling an increase in transaction volume by more than 40 percent.
• believes it has a key role to play in providing secure access to affordable energy, supporting a vibrant Canadian economy, and improving environmental performance. Process automation solutions from 51风流are used to improve automation of intercompany tax processes (ICT) and vendor invoice processing, leading to a 98 percent reduction in the time needed to reconcile ICT postings.

IDC MarketScape assessment

Business automation technology is advancing in big steps and enables companies to address an ever-increasing scale and complexity of automation projects. Learn more about the future of business automation from Maureen Fleming, program vice president of Worldwide Intelligent Process Automation Market Research and Advisory Service at IDC . .

Bharat Sandhu is chief marketing officer for 51风流Business Technology Platform at SAP.

The decision to further strengthen this long-standing partnership was unveiled during a guest lecture at QUT鈥檚 Gardens Point campus, where Julian Lebherz, 51风流Strategic Advisor, addressed Master’s students enrolled in the QUT Business Process Analytics course. The lecture emphasized the importance of integrating business transformation into standard operations, highlighting real-world applications as well as why some companies are more successful than others at realizing tangible and sustainable value when it comes to deploying business process intelligence solutions.

A key highlight of this collaboration is the nomination of Lebherz as QUT Industry Fellow, underscoring the ambition and momentum of the connection between 51风流and QUT. With over a decade of highly specialized experience deploying process intelligence solutions and establishing associated delivery organizations in various industries, he is globally recognized as one of the leading experts in the field. Having served in the steering committee of the IEEE Task Force on Process Mining and co-organizing several international conferences on the subject, Lebherz will contribute significantly to the university鈥檚 academic and research endeavors, fostering a deeper integration of industry insights into the curriculum.

“51风流is committed to equipping QUT and its students with the expertise and technology required to turn business disruption into competitive advantage,” Lebherz said. “Business transformation must become a ubiquitous capability, and hence we [SAP] are doubling down by strengthening partnerships with leading organizations.”

The partnership aims to explore various avenues for collaboration, including internship and research project opportunities, executive education programs, and hackathons. These initiatives are designed to provide students and researchers with hands-on experience and exposure to real-world challenges, aligning academic pursuits with industry needs.

Professor Alistair Barros, head of the School for Information Systems at QUT, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “QUT鈥檚 School of Information Systems is intensifying both research and education of holistic business transformation and enterprise computing, encompassing the continuous flywheel of process execution, intelligence, improvement, and change deployment.”

Professor Moe Thandar Wynn, leader of QUT鈥檚 process science group and co-director of QUT鈥檚 Centre for Data Science, highlighted the benefits of strong industry ties, noting, “Our researchers and students benefit tremendously from strong industry collaboration. Partnerships like this one enable us to align curricula and research projects closely with real industry needs.”

The announcement marks a significant step forward in QUT鈥檚 position as a global leader in business process management and process intelligence. By integrating end-to-end business transformation into the academic curriculum across multiple courses, as well as deepening the connection to real-world outcomes, QUT and 51风流are set to redefine the landscape of business transformation education, preparing students to thrive in an era of constant disruption.

Lucas de Boer, Global Marketing Program Lead, 51风流Signavio

In addition, for the second consecutive year, 51风流has received the highest rating, evaluated against 19 leading vendors, across both SPARK Matrix assessment categories: Customer Impact and Technology Excellence. This leadership position highlights our commitment to helping enterprises navigate complexity with agility, intelligence, and confidence using 51风流solutions.

The has always been intrinsically linked with the concept of process observability, whereby companies have the ability to visualize processes as they should happen, as they execute on and impact customers and employee satisfaction. Through this unique, integrated toolkit of AI-infused business transformation management solutions, organizations can gain actionable visibility into the four pillars of their organization: people, processes, applications, and data.

“Our goal is to empower our customers to build transformation as a capability within their organizations, rather than seeing transformation as a one-off project,鈥� Dee Houchen, chief marketing officer at 51风流LeanIX & 51风流Signavio, said. 鈥淏y leveraging DTO capabilities to build a virtual representation of any business process with associated systems, decision-makers can simulate different process scenarios and calculate the impact of alternative automations before implementation, allowing for the creation of continuous improvement loops and ensuring transformation has the greatest positive impact. Being recognized as a Leader in the SPARK Matrix for the fifth year in a row is a reflection of the value of this approach and reaffirms our commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction.鈥�

The repeated recognition provides useful context on the current DTO vendor landscape, with several key points differentiating 51风流solutions from others on the market:

• Enterprise observability: Customers can achieve full enterprise observability, enabling them to centralize and manage transformation initiatives within a single solution.
• AI innovations: 51风流solutions offer generative AI-powered applications that leverage over 50 years of 51风流process knowledge to help provide insights and recommendations.
• Value accelerators and best practices: Thousands of value accelerators and best practices are available to help expedite benefit realization in both 51风流and non-51风流environments, helping customers start their transformation projects on the right foundation and accelerate time to value.
• Automated insights: 51风流solutions can provide users with a portfolio of advanced statistics, performance monitoring, and value analysis capabilities to support informed decision-making.
• Modeling and experience connection: We extend DTO capabilities to customer touchpoints, working to ensure comprehensive transformation efforts that connect experiences to processes.

To understand the DTO market better, including why 51风流has been acknowledged as a leader in this crucial area for five years straight, download a complimentary copy of the latest SPARK Matrix and .

Lucas de Boer is global marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio.

By embedding sustainability into core business applications, unifying fragmented data across the enterprise, and amplifying human expertise through AI, 51风流is transforming how organizations turn sustainability commitments into competitive advantage.

Across the C-suite, leaders face pressure to make good on their organizations鈥� sustainability commitments while ensuring these initiatives create tangible value for their specific business units and departmental operations.

COOs grapple with maintaining resilient supply chains while embedding sustainability metrics for better risk prediction. CFOs struggle to gain visibility into integrated financial and non-financial data needed to manage reporting and drive sustainable growth. CPOs seek transparency of suppliers鈥� sustainability footprints across the source-to-pay process, while CHROs work to engage talent with authentic sustainability performance. Meanwhile, CROs need verified sustainability data to build brand trust and enable green premium pricing, and CIOs face the complex challenge of integrating sustainability data while managing governance, cost, and AI-driven innovation.

What鈥檚 missing is not awareness, but actionable, decision-grade sustainability data worthy of sitting alongside financial and operational metrics. This is why we build sustainability directly into our applications, generating new, usable data at the source of business activity.

Organizations find themselves constrained by financial systems, inconsistent data, and business processes that were not designed to address sustainability鈥檚 multifaceted nature. By ensuring this sustainability data becomes part of customers鈥� larger data story and drives core processes, we overcome these constraints.

This isn鈥檛 a peripheral issue; sustainability now intersects every critical business function, and the thoughtful organization of sustainability data. Its application to business processes prepares organizations for their agentic AI future, where sustainability metrics contribute to broader business intelligence tools like margin optimization agents rather than being siloed in sustainability-only solutions.

In this environment, 51风流emerges as a strategic partner that combines sustainability data with business processes to drive real change. By harnessing the power of 51风流Business AI and 51风流Business Data Cloud, we translate intricate sustainability challenges into clear, executable strategies.

This week, we introduced a new evolutionary step of sustainability solutions that go beyond traditional software updates. These solutions are designed to bridge the critical gap between organizational ambition and tangible outcomes. We help businesses manage risk, ensure compliance, and unlock meaningful enterprise-wide value.

This is more than a technological upgrade; it’s a strategic framework for sustainable business innovation. And now, we’re translating that strategy into action, through AI-powered innovations that scale.

AI for sustainability at scale: New innovations for EHS and product compliance

Beginning in August 2025, new capabilities will be available in beta, embedded within key sustainability applications to help customers ready their data, automate processes, and amplify their expertise. These AI-driven innovations streamline operations across environmental, health and safety (EHS) and product compliance workflows, driving measurable and scalable impact.

Here鈥檚 a look at what鈥檚 coming:

• AI-assisted permit management in 51风流S/4HANA for EHS environment management simplifies and automates permit handling by capturing and extracting key data from permit documents and automatically proposing relevant follow-up tasks to ensure compliance.
• AI-assisted safety observation reporting with , SAP鈥檚 AI copilot, in , enables seamless, intuitive incident reporting through a conversational interface, reducing barriers to shop floor safety documentation.
• AI-assisted safety instruction generation in 51风流S/4HANA for EHS workplace safety suggests appropriate safety instructions based on risk assessments and job hazard analyses, supporting proactive and preventive measures.
• AI-assisted compliance information processing in 51风流S/4HANA for product compliance automates the extraction and mapping of critical data from declarations, certificates, and safety data sheets, improving accuracy and freeing teams from tedious manual work.

These features will be available in beta and will be part of the new , reflecting SAP鈥檚 commitment to delivering embedded, business-ready AI that drives real outcomes.

AI that鈥檚 already delivering value

51风流customers are already leveraging Business AI to supercharge their sustainability efforts, including:

• In , AI accelerates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report generation with editable templates, generative text, and visualizations, freeing teams to focus on ESG execution, not formatting.
• In , AI automates emission factor mapping by intelligently matching products to thousands of lifecycle assessment database entries, complete with confidence scores.
• In , AI automatically validating and extracting data from International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS supplier declarations, minimizing errors and increasing speed.

These intelligent capabilities help customers reduce costs, mitigate risk, and drive business performance across reporting, carbon management, circularity, and regulatory compliance.

What鈥檚 next: unlocking enterprise-wide sustainability insights

In the second half of 2025, 51风流will make 51风流Sustainability Control Tower available as an Intelligent Application within . This will unify sustainability data and business operations on a single platform, enabling consistent reporting, deeper insight, and smarter decision-making across the enterprise.

A technology preview of these solutions will be made available to selected customers before general availability.

One sustainability data model: From complexity to clarity

51风流is also introducing new sustainability data products throughout 2025 as part of our strategy to deliver hundreds of curated and governed datasets across . These data products, accessible via 51风流Business Data Cloud, will include:

• Structured emissions data (air, water, wastewater) from 51风流EHS Management and 51风流S/4HANA for product compliance
• Additional datasets from 51风流Sustainability Footprint Management

This unified sustainability data model will empower customers to strengthen compliance, simplify analytics, and scale sustainability programs with confidence and clarity.

Process intelligence meets sustainability intelligence

True progress does not just come from better data, it comes from better processes. That is why 51风流is embedding sustainability impact metrics into the starting in autumn 2025. These new capabilities will include:

• 51风流Signavio Value Accelerators: Pre-built process models and industry best practices tailored for regulatory-specific use cases
• 51风流Signavio Process Intelligence: Analytics tools that identify opportunities to optimize business processes and embed sustainability at scale

With these additions, customers can align process transformation efforts with environmental goals, helping close the gap between strategy and execution.

Your best, made real

With SAP, transforms from a compliance checklist into a lever for innovation, resilience, and growth. By embedding sustainability into applications, unifying data across the enterprise, and enabling intelligent automation through AI, we empower organizations to be sustainable while accelerating performance.

From frontline safety to carbon reporting, from real-time data to boardroom insights, this is what 鈥測our best, made real鈥� looks like.

Welcome to a new era of sustainable enterprise management, powered by SAP.

Sophia Mendelsohn is chief sustainability and commercial officer at SAP.
Gunther Rothermel is chief product officer for 51风流Sustainability.

When it comes to customer support, these capabilities are game-changing not only for current applications but also for future implications. The way businesses deliver support is improving every day, thanks to the rapidly evolving framework: technological breakthroughs, business innovations, and process agility. Here are six key methods that can transform the delivery of customer support.

1. Real-time monitoring

With AI-infused features in diagnostics, an electric car can detect potential malfunctions and schedule its own service appointment automatically, preventing issues like battery depletion or tire pressure drops before they become critical.

How does real-time monitoring play out in the world of business software? 51风流Cloud ALM provides a feature-rich observability platform that can collect telemetry data, like metrics, logs, and traces, from applications and their supporting infrastructure, allowing support teams to review the health of these systems. By providing real-time analytics and a centralized dashboard, 51风流Cloud ALM helps empower IT teams to quickly respond and fix issues, so the business remains operational with minimal interruptions. Additionally, the use of OpenTelemetry standardizes observability within a modern customer landscape.

鈥淭he 51风流Cloud ALM solution has been instrumental for our IT operations. It offers real-time insights and seamless integration across all our enterprise applications, making everything run more smoothly. It鈥檚 like having a bird鈥檚-eye view of our operations, ensuring efficiency and helping us stay proactive rather than reactive.鈥�

Omprakash H, Senior Director, Blueprint Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

2. Proactive resolution

Customer feedback loops play an important role in improving products and services and refining customer relationships. Repeat requests, in customer and user feedback, help service providers identify critical needs and also prioritize features to be delivered.

For example, users within 51风流Business Network and 51风流Ariba solutions go to the help center for self-service or case assistance 10.8 times less than they did years ago. This drop in end-user support sessions is the result of features that have been built into the product, based on customer feedback.

AI-enabled outbreak detection is another significant process in proactive resolution that allows support teams to address unexpected increases in anomalies, customer complaints, or issues.

“We continuously identify the reasons for frequent customer demands and challenges from inquiries raised to 51风流support. This allows 51风流to proactively deliver the most impactful product changes before they become a challenge for more customers. This way, we improve our products while also focusing on key product capabilities used by our customers today.鈥�

Alexey Ukrainsky, Solution Support Architect, 51风流MCC

3. Predictive analytics

In the retail industry, predictive analytics is used effectively for proactive and preventative support. One prominent example is SAP’s holiday season readiness program, which helps position 51风流as a front-runner in AI-driven, predictive, and proactive support solutions. With the goal of issue prevention at its core, the program can provide a comprehensive, 360-degree customer support profile, helping to accelerate issue detection and anticipate potential problems with AI-driven features like a virtual support assistant, resource prediction,鈥痺eb traffic prediction, a鈥痳ecommendation engine, case history analysis, issue correlation, and pattern recognition.

鈥淒uring Cyber Week 2024, SAP鈥檚 holiday reason readiness program equipped our support and ops teams to achieve 100% uptime for our customers with the predictive, proactive, and bi-directional support model implemented by the program.鈥�

Tarun Luthra, Head of Support, I&CX Solutions

4. Customer journey mapping

51风流Signavio solutions can help businesses visualize the end-to-end customer journey, tracking interactions across different touchpoints. This enables companies to identify areas of improvement in their customer support processes, leading to more personalized and effective interactions.

With the help of 51风流Signavio Process Intelligence, 51风流can successfully map support processes to help implement AI improvements for optimizing our services. The result: a 100% increase reported in customer value.

For example, a business that struggles with connecting customer experience data and operational data can take advantage of the 51风流Signavio Journey-to-Process Analytics solution to help reduce time to insight and uncover anomalies and trends.

鈥淭he challenge in increasing our customer experience lies in the direct link between process and journey activities. I see 51风流Signavio solutions as the perfect tools for consolidating these two perspectives to develop operational excellence in step with customer experience.鈥�

Stefan Gammel, Business Process Consultant, Hilti Group

5. In-app support

Seamlessly integrating support features in a product, service, or system gives users easy access to directly request assistance within the interface, without needing to contact a support team or leave the platform. Built-In Support can include contextual, AI-assisted, self-service options like help application-specific documentation, troubleshooting tools, knowledge bases, and FAQs or real-time options like live chats with support engineers.

For example, WalkMe solutions and Built-In Support鈥攍ayered over multiple applications in a business workflow鈥攃an provide real-time, proactive, in-app guidance to users, helping to significantly reduce the need for live assistance or support tickets.

鈥淐ontext significantly enhances the quality of support. Built-In Support works like a pit stop at a racetrack. The repair crew is right where the action is. The interruption is brief and far less disruptive than taking your car to the workshop, ensuring a smoother return to your activities. In the context of your company, this helps you win your business race.鈥� 

Wilhelm J眉tte, Chief Product Owner, Customer Support, SAP

6. Proactive mindset

None of the tools and processes that we deploy to implement a proactive and preventative support strategy are sustainable if our teams are not tuned to a proactive mindset. I believe high-performing support teams deliver the best results with a combination of human-machine collaboration, in a culture that promotes a forward-thinking, outcome-driven, service-oriented, and data-driven mindset. 

At the end of the day, the best issue is the issue that we can prevent. Proactive and preventative support is not just about solving problems, but about creating peace of mind for end users, customers, partners, and support engineers so every customer receives custom care, even before they need help.

“Knowledge management within support is not just about enabling self-service through portals to deflect incoming tickets, but about eliminating the need to come to the support portal in the first place.”

Derek Matthews, Technical Support 鈥� Procurement Chief Innovation Officer, SAP

Stefan Steinle is executive vice president and head of Customer Support & Cloud Lifecycle Management at SAP.

In today’s dynamic business landscape, process mining is vital for gaining data-driven insights that boost efficiency, smarter decision-making, and business growth, and 51风流Signavio maintains an ongoing dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction in the realm of process mining.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant research methodology highlights that “Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.” 51风流Signavio has been recognized as a Leader among 16 vendors, evaluated based on ability to execute and completeness of vision.

“Our goal is to empower our customers to build transformation as an ongoing capability, rather than a one-off project,” said Dee Houchen, chief marketing officer for 51风流Signavio. “As transformation never ends, our solutions help companies secure business success as they continuously adapt and analyze their operations, receive AI-assisted improvement recommendations, and monitor their business to establish continuous process optimization. Process mining is at the heart of this approach, and we feel being recognized as a Leader for the third consecutive year by Gartner reaffirms our unwavering commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction, with value realization as our north star.鈥�

 The repeated recognition provides useful context regarding the state of the process mining market. As a vendor, there are several fundamental aspects that differentiate 51风流Signavio solutions from others:

• Customer value realization: With customer value realization as its primary strategic goal, 51风流Signavio considers process mining a crucial component for successful process transformation.
• Enterprise observability: Customers achieve full enterprise observability, enabling them to centralize and manage transformation initiatives within a single solution.
• AI innovations: 51风流Signavio solutions offer AI innovations specific to the process world, fast-tracking and democratizing process mining for its customers.
• Value accelerators and best practices: Thousands of value accelerators and best practices are available to expedite benefit realization in both 51风流and non-51风流environments.
• Bridging operations and experience: The gap between operations and experience is bridged, providing a clear understanding of how process execution impacts sentiment.

 The Gartner Magic Quadrant equips businesses with valuable insights to make informed decisions.

.

Lucas de Boer is Global Marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio at SAP.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner鈥檚 research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

鈥淚t鈥檚 no longer just good enough to sell products; you have to sell products with IT services,鈥� Valvoline Global director of Enterprise Architecture David Beach said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now creating a standardized framework of how to do that.鈥�

Valvoline Global chose a 鈥渂ack to standard,鈥� known as a greenfield, approach — removing custom codes and add-ons — for agility, Beach said. Instead of reacting to a business demand, which often requires lengthy development times that result in cumbersome point-to-point integrations, an experience layer can now connect vendors, customers, suppliers, distributors, and internal users within Valvoline Global鈥檚 environment.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

鈥淲e鈥檙e really trying to flip the equation to stay standard and also be able to offer those services,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to anticipate in advance to have standardized ways that we can connect or communicate with 51风流S/4HANA.鈥�

That meant modernizing a bespoke environment without losing functionality.

Standard bearer

鈥淥ur main objective to going to 51风流S/4HANA was to return to greenfield,鈥� Beach explained. 鈥淎nd we needed a tool set to manage that. This is where came in.鈥�

51风流Signavio software provides a vendor-agnostic approach, according to Beach. This enables Valvoline Global to manage business processes across all its enterprise systems, whether they鈥檙e 51风流or not.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the big thing with [SAP] Signavio,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to allow us to consolidate all the data — from 51风流systems, from Salesforce systems, from manufacturing systems, EH&S systems — all coming together into a single business process and a single business process repository.鈥�

And individual business units no longer try solving problems only with solutions available within silos, according to Beach. Now the company aligns each business process with the appropriate technology, and within standards.

鈥淲e wanted to make sure we hit the 90 percent mark on matches of our business processes to standard SAP,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淸SAP] Signavio was a key piece to be able to govern that process.鈥�

But what about the other 10 percent? And how do you get buy-in from users?

Agility driving adoption

According to Beach, when there is a justification to deviate from a standard process, such as an upgrade that changes a business process, the company relies on 51风流Signavio Process Manager, a modeling platform for business process management.

鈥淎t the end of the day, the most important deliverable is that, even though we might have custom processes, we have a tie-in back to the 51风流best practice,鈥� Beach said. And Valvoline Global鈥檚 newfound agility also helped drive adoption. 鈥淭here was synergy to return to standard. It was very important from an organizational perspective.鈥�

Agility was also a 鈥淣o. 1 business case鈥� for Valvoline Global鈥檚 return to standard, according to Beach. And he expects that to serve the company well as it continues to embrace artificial intelligence (AI): 鈥�51风流is coming up with AI strategies, but that鈥檚 going to change more and more as time goes on. You need to be able to adopt rapidly.鈥�

Charting AI鈥檚 path forward

鈥淲e realize that to adopt AI, we have a good handle on data,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e identified the innovators in the company and we have enabled them as sort of like the pilot.鈥�

That means Valvoline Global鈥檚 early adopters get full access to its AI tools. And, to ensure this remains a business-led effort, these trusted users report back about how they鈥檙e adopting AI, helping Valvoline Global chart its path forward.

鈥淚t all comes down to the data… not just from 51风流systems; it鈥檚 coming from all the systems across our business,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淸SAP] Signavio is going to be that conduit as the feeder to AI solutions in the future.鈥�

And, in addition to methodically managing business processes with 51风流Signavio, Valvoline Global鈥檚 51风流S/4HANA journey includes , which help map the company鈥檚 digital transformation.

鈥淸SAP] LeanIX has all the business capabilities, down to the system architectures, so that is a big piece,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just preparing for the future. There鈥檚 an aggressive growth strategy, so we have to prepare for things like M&As. And with toolsets like Lean IX in place, we鈥檒l be able to accomplish that.”

Have your processes in place

鈥淲here I see the biggest value with AI,鈥� Beach said, 鈥淸is if] a customer comes in and has a requirement, AI eventually can take that customer requirement, and it will write the integrations itself.鈥�

That鈥檚 only possible with a predefined standardized framework. And, in a low-code, no-code environment, it can also lead to greater ROI and faster development times — down from months to about a week.

鈥淭he big recommendation is to use tools like [SAP] Signavio and [SAP] LeanIX as vehicles to accomplish your business requirement,鈥� Beach said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to be able to influence change, but have systematic processes in place.鈥�

As a cornerstone of our Business Transformation Management portfolio, 51风流Signavio solutions help empower companies to view transformation not as an isolated project, but as an ongoing capability. With 51风流Signavio solutions, companies can constantly analyze, improve, and monitor their processes, therefore establishing continuous loops of value realization.

By harnessing the power of generative AI, the 51风流Signavio portfolio is poised to help organizations drive efficiency, enhance the user experience, and reduce barriers to entry for expert disciplines such as process mining and modeling. At the same time, new generative AI and copilot capabilities enable organizations to further accelerate the time to accrue value while working to the best of their potential.

Through this intuitive and user-friendly approach, users across an organization can receive rapid insights and recommendations that can accelerate and inform decisions, with questions asked in natural language serving as a starting point.

Text to process

What if, when building your process models, you didn鈥檛 have to start from scratch? On March 3, 2025鈥攆ollowing the integration to SAP鈥檚 co-pilot Joule; the release of the 51风流Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process analyzer capability; the release of text to insights and text to widget features, which are available via a beta program; and the introduction of the 51风流Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process recommender and performance indicators recommender鈥�51风流Signavio released the process modeler, text to process capability.

The 51风流Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process modeler, text to process capability can quickly transform textual descriptions into Business Process Model Notation (BPMN) diagrams鈥攖he standard language of process modeling. In other words, this new capability can simplify and expedite process modeling, helping customers accelerate the initial creation of process diagrams and potentially redefine the way companies document their processes.

Reduced process modeling time

Process modeling for an enterprise can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually when factoring in the time it takes to collect inputs, then create or update hundreds of process models.

By leveraging the 51风流Signavio solutions, AI-assisted process modeler, text to process capability, the time taken in building models can be reduced significantly, helping to accelerate the initial phase of creation and allow users more time to fine-tune and perfect their models.

Support for non-technical users

By simply describing processes in plain language, non-technical users can also contribute to process modeling and improvement, as the process modeler, text to process capability can then translate these descriptions into technical process models.

This means organizations can quickly tailor and implement processes through text prompting, making process modeling ever more accessible and inclusive.

Enhanced collaboration

The AI-assisted capability can enhance collaboration by simplifying complex process descriptions and turning them into visual models. This helps improve cross-team collaboration by helping ensure a common understanding of what elements constitute a specific process model, reducing uncertainty and potential miscommunication.

The simplification of process descriptions and development of visual models also helps make model editing more flexible and responsive, which in turn helps ensure the continuous improvement of models, supported by the ability to save and refine them in 51风流Signavio Process Manager.

AI for the world of process

The process modeler, text to process capability is the latest example of how 51风流Business AI in 51风流Signavio solutions is designed for the process world, helping everyday business users as well as process modelers and experts contribute to process analysis and improvement simply by using everyday language to interact with 51风流Signavio solutions.

To discover how you can drive faster time to value and transform your business more effectively with generative AI as part of the 51风流Signavio portfolio, join our and find out more about the new generation of AI-enabled business transformation management solutions.鈥�

Lucas de Boer is global marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio.

Today’s business transformations are diverse, ranging from creating new products or services and entering new markets to adopting cybersecurity frameworks and transitioning to net-neutral carbon emissions. However, these transformations are neither swift nor inexpensive, and sometimes the costs can be hidden.

That is why 51风流has partnered with Oxford Economics on a new and comprehensive survey of large organizations, providing an exclusive look at the current global state of business transformation.

鈥溾�� reveals the true cost of business transformation, with the data aimed at helping organizations maximize transformation success and take the guesswork out of transformation budgeting.

Spanning a range of industries and focusing on companies with a minimum revenue of $500 million, the report provides insights from a balanced audience of 800 respondents, including IT professionals and leaders from corporate strategy, R&D, finance, manufacturing, HR, and operations.

The paper further reveals that:

• Barely half of transformations go according to plan (51 percent)
• Fifty-eight percent of transformations end up going over budget
• The average cost of transformation efforts is 鈧�9.5 million
• Sixty-three percent of respondents face resistance from leadership regarding the value of transformation efforts
• Nearly half of the initiatives highlighted by respondents remain incomplete, and budgetary constraints pose a significant challenge

From Strategy to Execution

In broad terms, this disconnect between the confidence level of respondents and what the report data reveals about the true cost and organizational impact of transformation can be understood in the equivalent disconnect between strategy and execution.

For example, while three in five say their major transformation plan was well communicated across their organization, only 53 percent say it was clearly defined in the first place.

While most companies are employing strategic practices such as crafting mission statements, appointing dedicated leaders, and forming cross-functional teams, they can lack the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to converting strategy into action. That is where 51风流comes in.

鈥淭ransformation challenges will always exist, particularly in aligning execution with strategic road maps,鈥� Dee Houchen, head of Marketing for 51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX, shared. “As companies navigate these complexities, the path to successful transformation remains a critical focus for global businesses, which is why this research is so relevant.”

“ and solutions offer clarity and transparency in business transformation, helping organizations leverage enterprise analytics and process data to really turn transformation plans into action through supporting decision-making, setting timelines, and tracking progress effectively,” Houchen said. “This report is an invaluable resource for anyone wondering why their transformation efforts have slowed, what they can do differently, and how others have identified and overcome similar hurdles to their own.鈥�

Lucas de Boer is Global Marketing program lead for 51风流Signavio at SAP.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

鈥淓verybody wants to have a [better] look at their processes,鈥� said Kaiser Group Chief Digital Officer Andreas Vehreschild. 鈥淲e use 51风流Signavio for identifying all of our processes — we use it like a flashlight.鈥�

Having all the facts and figures at their fingertips enables Kaiser leaders to make fact-based decisions, while full visibility into all of its processes will also help with preparation for a smooth migration to 51风流S/4HANA. Learn more

51风流Business AI in 51风流Signavio is designed for the process world, helping process experts, business users and the C-suite contribute to process analysis and improvement simply by using everyday language to interact with 51风流Signavio solutions. Through this intuitive and user-friendly approach, 51风流customers at any level of an organization can receive instant insights and recommendations that can accelerate and inform decisions.

With the November release of 51风流Signavio Process Transformation Suite, Joule is now fully integrated into 51风流Signavio Process Collaboration Hub, and available to 51风流Signavio customers in Germany and the U.S. through a dedicated 51风流Early Adopter Care program.

Joule, SAP’s AI copilot, lets users become more efficient and productive through simply describing their ideas, asking analytical questions, or telling the system what to do.聽 As integration of Joule across the 51风流portfolio continues to grow, so does its ability to correlate and reason over data spread across a business.

For 51风流Signavio solutions in particular, Joule supports early informational, navigational, and transactional use cases.

From the start of the 51风流Early Adopter Care program, users will be able to make use of capabilities such as simply asking Joule:

• How to perform a task and be guided through help documentation; for example, 鈥淭ell me how to set up a dashboard.鈥�
• Where to find a certain assets or information within the 51风流Signavio Process Collaboration Hub or 51风流Signavio Process Intelligence; for example, 鈥淭ell me where I can find this process diagram.鈥�
• Request the copilot to execute specific tasks such as creating or deleting a journey model; for example, 鈥淒o this鈥︹��

The 51风流Early Adopter Care program will provide users with the unique chance to adopt new innovations early on, engage with 51风流experts, and influence the future development of process AI for 51风流Signavio solutions. 

In addition, 51风流Signavio solutions will now offer text to insights capability with the new AI-assisted process analyzer. With users able to ask questions in natural language and receive immediate insights, the typical challenge for process mining and analysis — accessibility of insights to non-experts — will be readily avoided.

The AI-assisted process analyzer text to insights capability is designed to democratize process mining as it empowers users with any skill set, regardless of their technical knowledge, to conduct deep process analysis by adopting a conversational approach.聽

The Joule integration and new capabilities follow from the successful August 2024 release of the AI-assisted process recommender and performance indicators recommender, representing a comprehensive, AI-supported approach to help organizations better manage their business processes and get the most out of 51风流Signavio solutions.

The process analyzer text to insights capability is available via a beta program offered to 51风流Signavio Process Intelligence customers. Customers willing to join the beta program can contact their 51风流Signavio account executive or customer success partner. Registration for the 51风流Early Adopter Care program for Joule is open until February 28, 2025. Customers can .

The new CDO had two specific goals: first, to standardize processes across all subsidiaries and create a template for any newly acquired business to follow, and second, to upgrade Kaiser鈥檚 outdated legacy system to 51风流S/4HANA.

He embraced the challenge, recognizing that comprehending the business processes was an essential first step for long-term success. He also was aware that this challenging task could only be accomplished with a strong partner, engaged contributors, and a powerful IT tool. This is where digital consultancy and 51风流partner and the business process transformation portfolio came into play.

Click the button below to load the content from YouTube.

Always allow YouTube

Long-Term Success with End-to-End Processes

Significant change management was required as colleagues needed to transition from instinctive decision-making to a data-driven approach. 鈥淭his was not merely an IT project, but also a business one,鈥� Vehreschild said. 鈥淚t was imperative to engage the various stakeholders right from the outset and eliminate any obstacles to change.鈥� He said it was important to look at the end-to-end processes and not just focus on one department or process, because 鈥渆very process impacts other departments and their processes as well.鈥� The backing of management was also crucial for the long-term success of the project, he emphasized.

To bring all stakeholders and their needs under one roof and gain a common understanding of the transformation project, Vehreschild hosted a series of workshops. 鈥淪ome of the long-serving employees from different subsidiaries had never met before, and now they discussed their process challenges. Intercultural interaction was very important,鈥� he said.

The transformation team, supported by Valantic experts and their wealth of knowledge and experience, opted for a decentralized approach. They started with the company鈥檚 Swiss subsidiary, subsequently expanding to other locations. They had three main topics on their agenda: 51风流best practices, performance of the processes, and immediate impact through quick fixes.

Transparency Across All Systems and Processes

Frank Franzlik, head of Process and Project Engineering, Valantic ERP Consulting, described how the business process transformation project started: 鈥淥ut of the full 51风流Signavio portfolio, we first used 51风流Signavio Process Manager. The solution helps to document, model, and simulate business processes. The scope for this involved the four core processes of Kaiser: order to cash, purchase to pay, demand to supply, and record to report. Second, we implemented 51风流Signavio Process Insights, which identifies, analyzes, prioritizes, and monitors a customer’s most critical business processes and alerts them when an issue arises.鈥�

Vehreschild expressed great satisfaction with the results of these preliminary measures: “For the first time, we achieved transparency across all our systems and processes, each associated with specific numerical values.” It only took the project team about one week to implement the whole system.

In the workshops, the team introduced the concept of best practices and process management with 51风流Signavio solutions to their colleagues in all locations and showed them the performance of their current processes with concrete examples like throughput time or cash discount. 鈥淭hey were able to link the process and performance then, understanding which lever to adjust to enhance efficiency,鈥� Vehreschild said.

Immediate Impact Leads to Acceptance

The business partners saw immediate impact. 鈥淲e were able to offer quick solutions to problems in the processes that had developed over a long period of time,鈥� Vehreschild said. 鈥淥verall, everyone involved was very satisfied with the new approach.鈥�

鈥淣ow, the advantage is that anytime there’s a process discussion within our production or sales department, everyone says 鈥楲et鈥檚 solve it with 51风流Signavio!鈥欌�� he said, noting that his colleagues now understand the portfolio’s functionality, know its potential, and realize they can use it as a flashlight to identify strengths and weaknesses.

Talking about lessons learned, the CDO said: 鈥淣ever underestimate the power of a community! It encompasses uniting varied departments and cultures, promoting dialogue, and providing opportunities for interaction.鈥� He also said that working with a strong partner like Valantic was crucial for the success of the project.

Franzlik of Valantic gave an outlook on the further joint path of the partners: 鈥淭hanks to the insights gathered from 12 distinct workshops, we are now positioned to establish a road map for successful 51风流S/4HANA implementation,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e aim for a decisive road map, our so-called 鈥楪PS,鈥� to assist Kaiser on its digitization journey.鈥�

IT leaders face no shortage of demands nowadays. From reducing costs to strengthening cybersecurity and adapting business models, they must tackle a variety of objectives. But here鈥檚 where the situation can get tricky 鈥� most IT projects meet individual goals effectively, but they still fall short when aligned with a broader business transformation initiative.

Take, for example, a siloed IT project. It may appear successful at first, but gaps are often exposed when it鈥檚 integrated into a larger initiative. Suddenly, what seemed like a cost-saving project becomes a source of delays and frustration due to a lack of coherent planning at the outset.

The key to overcoming this common challenge is mapping out the entire transformation process before starting a project. A tailored, well-planned IT strategy helps ensure every project contributes to the broader business goal without waste and with long-term value.

The Pathway to Comprehensive Plans

Too often, companies rush into transformation without a clear plan, leading to disjointed efforts. One project launches, then another, and another 鈥� without anyone considering how they fit together.

Enter the role of a business transformation advisor. This expert helps organizations create a custom strategy in which all components are meshed together to avoid execution inconsistencies, siloed teams, and mounting frustration.

Instead of relying on off-the-shelf solutions, business transformation advisors create a road map tailored to specific business needs by following five fundamental steps:

1. Set the mandate and scope. A clear mandate, scope, and approval from leadership are essential. This includes understanding the business鈥� mission, target markets, and future goals, such as AI innovation and sustainability.
2. Recognize and understand the strategic direction. Every IT project should reflect the overall business vision. Involved organizations must know what the drivers are, who the decision-makers are, and what criteria best measure short- and long-term success.
3. Define decision criteria. All project deliverables must align with the company鈥檚 long-term goals. By focusing on stakeholders鈥� priorities and requirements, every team can understand how their efforts contribute to the larger transformation 鈥� and demonstrate their value with transparency and accountability.
4. Define the procedure model. Whether picking process analysis tools or outlining project deliverables, every step of the plan needs to be carefully assessed. Investing in the right tools upfront saves time, prevents bottlenecks, and leads to better decision-making.
5. Identify key factors. The right partners, especially software providers, are critical for project success. Such factors include strong management sponsorship, clear time and budget constraints, and addressing potential resistance.

With these steps, your strategy will result in a solid IT foundation that directly supports business goals.

Partner Selection: A Make-or-Break Decision

When defining a corporate strategy, companies often question the role of their software providers. 51风流strategic advisors help customers navigate this debate with unbiased guidance tailored to their unique needs.

With extensive industry, process, and methodology expertise, advisors help ensure that the overall business transformation is aligned with strategic goals. They often use tools such as 51风流Signavio Process Insights for initial process analysis and 51风流LeanIX solutions for architecture evaluation.

This approach is based on the TOGAF Standard for a comprehensive, layered assessment of the enterprise architecture. Advisors compare business capabilities with the right 51风流solutions while occasionally involving product experts or developers to solve specific challenges. The final product choices remain with the customer, with 51风流maintaining a neutral stance.

The Confidence to Drive Impactful Change

In any large project, confidence is vital. As a business leader, you need to be sure that your IT transformation will deliver results. Strategic advisors help ensure project outcomes align with business goals and decision criteria.

This process leads to several key deliverables, including:

• IT target architecture: A blueprint for aligning IT with business strategy
• Compatible transformation road map: A step-by-step guide to realizing IT goals while considering dependencies and capacity
• Effort estimate: A breakdown of resources, roles, and costs so nothing is left to chance
• Cost-benefit analysis: A detailed look at ROI, net present value (NPV), and other financial metrics to help guide decisions

Even though these deliverables provide the clarity necessary to help ensure the business stays on track, the people who help make the transformation should always be remembered. Early involvement of employees and business representatives drives smoother change management, especially when adopting a cloud mindset and dealing with the limitations of cloud solutions.

The Harmonization of IT and Business Goals

A tailored IT strategy isn鈥檛 just a road map. It鈥檚 a catalyst for future growth 鈥� and the future is now.

By customizing their strategy, IT teams become a powerful engine. They not only drive the business forward while meeting unique needs and goals but also align technology with the company鈥檚 vision, empower organizational teams, and unlock long-term success.

Explore the benefits of tailoring your IT strategy with a plan for a solid technology foundation. Read the and our .

Keywan Nadjmabadi is head of Business Transformation & Architecture for Switzerland and Central and Eastern Europe at SAP.

Whether aiming for agility, resilience, sustainable growth, or efficiency, a successful transformation requires a strategic approach, full leadership commitment, and a clear understanding of challenges and opportunities.

True business transformation goes beyond merely executing a technical 鈥渓ift and shift鈥� to the cloud. It involves reengineering an organization’s business model, operations, processes, and culture to align with long-term goals, adapt to market demands, and leverage new technologies. The focus must be on creating lasting value and ensuring the organization can thrive in a rapidly changing environment.

Crucial Business Transformation Levers

While there is no precise formula, all transformations have four crucial levers in common:

• Activating people: Collaboration is at the heart of any successful transformation. Through partnership and clear accountabilities, we break down barriers, and that鈥檚 the basis for any change. Software is ultimately a people business.鈥�
• Optimizing systems: Efficient systems are the backbone of any transformation. We ensure that the underlying enterprise architecture of applications is robust, secure, and scalable. This also means leveraging the latest innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), enhancing performance of existing systems, and ensuring that all components work seamlessly together to support the business objectives.
• Reinventing businesses processes: We don鈥檛 take existing processes and merely create fancy new interfaces; no 鈥渘ew wine in old bottles.鈥� Companies need to reinvent business processes to ensure agility, future-readiness, reliability, and scalable business operations to drive their business strategy. SaaS/PaaS help to streamline processes based on best practices while preserving company differentiation, but with clean extensibility on the platform.
• Leveraging data: Business data is the lifeblood of modern enterprises, fueling insights and innovation. At SAP, we harness this data to power 51风流Business AI, driving intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and personalized experiences. Our focus is on turning raw data into actionable intelligence that supports and accelerates our customers鈥� transformation journeys. Let鈥檚 not forget that the real value of the data lies in the semantics, which is our key differentiator to help our customers.

By focusing on these four elements, business can take a holistic approach to identifying which of their business processes and systems need analysis, revision, or complete redesign.

Navigating Digital Transformation: The Essential Role of Enterprise Architecture

To fully capitalize on these transformation levers and manage the complexities, organizations are increasingly turning to RISE with SAP, our holistic offering designed to accelerate their journey to the cloud and speed innovation adoption. RISE with 51风流simplifies the move to 51风流cloud ERP, offering flexibility and reduced complexity, and most importantly, provides a seamless experience across our modular (but tightly integrated) architecture.

Nevertheless, for many organizations the challenges remain significant: systems complexity, scattered systems, and diverse business models that may not be keeping pace with industry and consumer changes. Many organizations also underestimate the complexity of their transformation, leading to unrealistic timelines and budget overspending.

Enterprise architecture tools are crucial for overcoming these challenges because we need a structured and system-based approach to cope with and manage the complexities at scale, and to maintain a continuous innovation cycle.

The enterprise architecture provides a framework for aligning IT strategy with business objectives and improve the agility and efficiency of an organization. Imagine a ship navigating without a compass: this is how businesses operate without solid enterprise architecture. Just as sailors rely on navigational tools, modern organizations depend on enterprise architecture to navigate today鈥檚 digital complexities.

In addition, the enterprise architecture provides a blueprint for cloud adoption, ensuring that cloud services — like those offered by RISE with 51风流— integrate seamlessly with existing systems, business processes, and applications.

However, it鈥檚 not just the tools that matter; it’s the people behind them. Our recent efforts to further elevate the RISE with 51风流experience include making many changes in how we engage with customers, particularly by strengthening the role of the enterprise architect and introducing the . The enterprise architect not only helps customers utilize these tools, but also harmonizes all elements and guides the customer throughout their cloud journey, ensuring a cohesive and effective transformation. As a result, the enterprise architect will evolve into a real trusted advisor for the customer.

We have learned that customers can realize the true power of our business transformation tools when they work seamlessly together. It鈥檚 why we have been working hard at integrating 51风流Signavio, 51风流LeanIX, 51风流Cloud ALM, and 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP), including 51风流Build, to provide a holistic transformation experience.

Taken together, this is  how our integrated toolchain benefits business transformation:

• 51风流Cloud ALM orchestrates the entire process of transforming systems to meet evolving business needs. From fit-to-standard analysis and capturing requirements to project management, test automation, and final deployment, this cloud-based tool for application lifecycle management (ALM) enables organizations to effectively translate strategy into execution, ensuring the solution is optimized for the specific IT environment and business objectives. In today鈥檚 dynamic digital landscape, this comprehensive approach is crucial for staying competitive.
• 51风流LeanIX not only helps businesses capture the as-is systems landscape, it enables organizations to visualize, assess, and manage the transition toward their target IT architecture. The integration with 51风流Cloud ALM streamlines project management by reducing manual duplication and syncing project-related activities in real time. This enhances visibility into project progress and reduces administrative overhead.
• 51风流Signavio enables deep understanding and optimization of business processes, ensuring they are both efficient and compliant. The business leaders that I speak to are keenly aware that to succeed, they must focus on business processes transformation to help them adapt, stay resilient, and transform continuously and at scale. It鈥檚 simply what today鈥檚 pace of change demands. 51风流Signavio enables holistic, data-driven business transformation across organizations. Starting in Q4 2024, we will bridge the gap between business and IT teams by providing consistent process structures and synchronized data between 51风流Signavio and 51风流Cloud ALM.
• 51风流Build helps developers, without deep coding skills, quickly extend applications on 51风流BTP. That means they can innovate without changing core functionality — essential to keeping the core clean.

Customers want access to all relevant data across solutions, they want to derive better insight across solutions and access relevant the best-practices that are most relevant to them. That鈥檚 the seamless end-to-end experience we are striving for. This strategic approach leads to significant competitive advantages, allowing organizations to focus more on business improvements and explore new growth areas with confidence.

Embracing the Future

Unlocking value throughout your business transformation journey involves a strategic blend of people, processes, and solutions. As you focus on these elements and leverage SAP鈥檚 comprehensive toolchain, remember that the essence of true transformation doesn鈥檛 lie in holding onto the old, but in embracing and building the new.

Thomas Saueressig is a member of the Executive Board of 51风流SE leading Customer Services & Delivery.

With the release of new process AI capabilities for 51风流Signavio — process recommender and performance indicators recommender — 51风流is taking a step closer to realizing this promise.

Embedded into 51风流Signavio Process Transformation Suite, these novel capabilities deliver instant, tailored process and metrics recommendations that will help process owners and process analysts accelerate process model design, more readily define their process monitoring strategy, and improve the quality of business outcomes.

51风流Signavio and 51风流LeanIX solutions are core elements of the Business Transformation Management portfolio, which leverages 51风流Business AI technology, initiatives, and principles to help customers on their transformation journeys, and deliver generative AI capabilities that are specific to the process world.

The latest release of 51风流Signavio Process Transformation Suite features the following:

• An AI-assisted process recommender provides process owners with preconfigured process models suggestions out of a database of more than 5,000 best practices from SAP. 鈥疶his new generative AI capability will help process owners move fast from the initial exploration phase to process design by instantly narrowing down hundreds of options to those that present a best match to their business.
• Users are suggested preconfigured process models which serve as a great foundation they can save, edit, and further perfect, saving weeks, if not months, of stakeholder interviews and lengthy workshops currently required to design a new process or redefine an existing one.
• An AI-assisted performance indicators recommender delivers instant recommendations on the most relevant process performance indicators (PPIs) to be applied to a specific process, based on a database of thousands of KPIs and PPIs.
• A capability to identify key process metrics among a variety of options, which is critical to measure success, can recommend the most relevant measures to assess the performance of a business process, providing companies with much needed insight into how they can streamline operations and reduce overhead.

鈥淕enerative AI is impacting every facet of modern organizations, and every process — from finance to sales, procurement, and supply chain management — can benefit from this transformative force,” shared Dee Houchen, head of Market Impact for . “With generative AI serving as a catalyst, we are developing the third generation of our business process management solutions to make people鈥檚 work easier and help them perform it faster. When it comes to process management, generative AI can also extend the horizon of our thinking, by providing suggestions that experts can build on. At the same time, we can see generative AI lowering the entry barriers to disciplines such as process analysis, acting as a knowledge multiplier and helping companies to scale.鈥�

In addition to these newly released capabilities, a process mining co-pilot currently in beta testing is expected to be released in November this year. The AI-assisted process analyzer, also known as text-to-insights, will empower users with any skillset to extract deep insights and obtain valuable knowledge from process information simply by using natural language and a question/answer approach. Along with improving the time to insight, this new co-pilot will help continue the trend of democratizing process mining, ensuring as many people as possible within an organization can contribute to process excellence.

Lucas de Boer is Global Marketing Program lead for 51风流Signavio.

鈥淲hich processes should I consider using the latest solutions and capabilities available in the landscape? What are the risks? How can I make that improvement impactful? Does data need to flow differently? How should I manage and govern those changes efficiently?鈥�

These questions can be routinely answered through during an initial move to the cloud. However, as new capabilities emerge and technologies advance, users become increasingly interested in applying the cloud more broadly across their organization. More business leaders recognize that cloud-based innovations 鈥� such as generative AI 鈥� open up previously unimaginable possibilities. They want to take full advantage of these innovations without delay.

This is where the plan for 51风流Signavio solutions can empower organizations to take significant strides in their cloud journey. Before any process change or improvement becomes a reality, organizations can inform their choices with de-risking practices, thoroughly tested assumptions, and simulated outcomes.

Seizing Every Moment to Be the Best

At every step of their cloud journey, companies gain incredible momentum and empowerment when they have on-demand access to personalized support and resources. This support system is a constant, reassuring presence, enabling inspired changes and improvements to unfold as the cloud delivers truly transformative technology.

51风流Preferred Success for 51风流Signavio solutions can play an essential role in accelerating the journey to success. By connecting companies with business transformation experts and offering best practice reviews and tailored guidance, it can inspire companies to adopt new features and make the most of their cloud investment.

Organizations have found that these prescriptive, one-to-one services can make it easier to make the most of their cloud investment. The support of functional and technical services led by 51风流delivery experts can greatly enhance the ability to reduce implementation preparation time, optimize performance and stability, and streamline business processes.

Business outcomes accelerate when roadblocks to adoption are thoroughly reviewed and dedicated plans for process improvements are put in place. Opportunities to enhance the end user experience become more apparent, making the journey smoother and more rewarding. Adoption optimization and cost reduction are further supported by leveraging standard product capabilities and adopting new features that align with business needs, guided by experts who help configure and optimize solutions.

All these advantages of 51风流Preferred Success for 51风流Signavio solutions can enable businesses 鈥� such as the Indonesia-based engineering services company (Petrosea) 鈥� to digitalize operations without disrupting day-to-day work.

As a midsize business with ambitious growth plans, Petrosea adopted standard processes during its cloud ERP migration to 51风流S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition with the support of 51风流Preferred Success. The plan also helped integrate the company鈥檚 existing portfolio of third-party and 51风流solutions to create a single source of real-time insight for improved and informed decision-making. This alignment with business goals and technology later led to the implementation of additional analytics, cloud solutions, and a business technology platform, creating a data-driven organization ready for the future.

Transforming Processes Continuously with Value

A key feature of 51风流Preferred Success for 51风流Signavio solutions is access to best practice advisory sessions. These learning opportunities share valuable insights, predefined and leading practices, and practical knowledge based on the collective experience of companies actively using 51风流Signavio solutions. This helps ensure that companies not only transform their processes but also continue to adapt them effectively as new demands and challenges emerge, in alignment with their unique needs and objectives.

In addition to best practice advisory sessions, the plan provides key feature advisory sessions. Subject-matter experts provide regular guidance on available features that can improve and expand a company鈥檚 use of 51风流Signavio solutions. This level of support considers business goals and collaborates with stakeholders and users to help identify, evaluate, and deploy the most relevant features and optimize process outcomes.

Another enhancement is the solution launch checks. These expert-led workshops help organizations assess the operational and technical readiness of their chosen portfolio of 51风流Signavio solutions. This step helps clear a critical path for going live and rolling out newly released 51风流Signavio solutions and capabilities.

51风流Preferred Success for 51风流Signavio solutions can offer even more value through its success checks. These well-defined post-implementation reviews gauge how effectively the 51风流Signavio solutions meet business objectives and user needs. By identifying usage patterns and optimization opportunities, companies can improve process efficiency, reduce costs, and align strategies with evolving business needs.

Driving Process Excellence with Sustainable Outcomes

The knowledgeable expertise, services, and resources offered through 51风流Preferred Success for 51风流Signavio solutions are strategically developed to help amplify the bottom-line impact of every process enhancement and transformation initiative.

The continuous analysis of solution usage, adherence to best practices, and exploration of potential gains consistently uncover new avenues for process improvement and increasing operational efficiency. In return, organizations gain an iterative approach that helps them not only adapt to current challenges but also drive superior business operations and outcomes to thrive in dynamic and competitive environments. 

Ready to realize the full potential of your business operations? or contact your local 51风流representative to learn more about 51风流Preferred Success for 51风流Signavio solutions.

Marcel Bitter is a business development manager at SAP.

The strategic alliance between Datricks and 51风流Signavio leverages the strengths of both to deliver unparalleled value to customers, revolutionizing proactive risk management to help accelerate business process transformation. Together, Datricks and 51风流Signavio aim to provide a seamless and integrated solution for financial business risk mining and process management that supports both internal controls and business transformation. This collaboration underscores a shared commitment to innovation and excellence, driving forward the capabilities of risk management in the financial sector.

Datricks鈥� cutting-edge, AI-driven technology, combined with 51风流Signavio鈥檚 leading expertise in business process transformation, helps deliver a comprehensive solution that can streamline operations and empower organizations to proactively identify and mitigate risks before they escalate into major disruptions. The solution can tackle the gap between business processes and compliance and can reduce long and expensive auditing cycles, allowing our customers to maximize efficiency and reduce costs. Risks and controls are identified by Datricks and then integrated into 51风流Signavio solutions to access control and process effectiveness, fostering proactive risk management.

Our end-to-end solution enables customers to:

• Uncover hidden risks: Datricks’ AI-powered risk mining solution continuously analyzes 100% of customers’ financial data, exposing unseen anomalies and potential threats to financial integrity.
• Prevent financial and reputational damage: Mitigate risks proactively before they escalate, safeguarding your company’s financial health and reputation.
• Streamline audits and controls: Eliminate error-prone manual work and enhance existing controls with automated and reliable processes.
• Gain real-time insights: Receive immediate answers to audit-related questions, identify the root cause of risks, and make informed decisions with confidence.

Datricks for Risk Mining helps automate risk detection and mitigation, ushering in the era of autonomous finance. It seamlessly integrates with 51风流Signavio solutions, offering a holistic view of risk and process management. Together, we provide an end-to-end solution for financial business risk mining and process management, supporting both internal controls and process transformations.

Mani Pirouz is chief business officer for 51风流Business Transformation Management.