SAP expands AI-native platform – Artificial intelligence

SAP is intensifying its AI-driven approach to enterprise technology, embedding generative AI and expanding its BTP ecosystem with a focus on India’s burgeoning AI investments and ROI prospects.

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape enterprise technology, SAP is intensifying its focus on its Business Technology Platform (BTP) as a core enabler of innovation for organisations worldwide. Michael Ameling, President of SAP BTP and Member of the Extended Board, outlined the company’s AI-native strategy centred on providing a comprehensive technology stack that empowers businesses to extend and integrate their applications with AI capabilities embedded throughout.

At the heart of SAP’s approach is the extension portfolio, notably SAP Build, which facilitates custom application development both for SAP’s own solutions and enterprise clients. These applications leverage a fully AI-native stack, making them adaptable and continuously improvable. Additionally, SAP Integration Suite addresses a crucial enterprise challenge: integration. According to Ameling, 90% of developers grapple with integration issues, stemming from complex, siloed data across heterogeneous landscapes. SAP’s Integration Suite, an enterprise-wide integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), offers extensive open connectors, enabling seamless process-data amalgamation and boosting developer efficiency as highlighted by a Forrester Research study that credits the suite with a 345% ROI over three years and a 30% increase in integration developer productivity.

Data harmonisation is further advanced through SAP Business Data Cloud, launched earlier this year, which consolidates disparate data sources, including third-party systems, without the costly and error-prone practice of copying data between silos. SAP’s AI strategy also embraces collaboration with specialised AI model providers rather than developing proprietary models, tailoring solutions to specific domains such as finance or human capital management while taking into account performance, cost, and regulatory compliance through partnerships like that with NotDiamond, a prompt optimisation vendor.

Enhancing user experience through conversational interfaces is a marked feature of SAP’s vision. Joule, the company’s conversational AI co-pilot, orchestrates interactions across various SAP agents, routing requests like revenue predictions to the relevant system autonomously. This multi-agent approach is designed to evolve organically, increasing the automation scope across finance, ERP, and HR systems.

While SAP BTP caters extensively to large enterprises, it also supports mid-sized firms seeking rapid AI innovation, benefiting from global data centre availability and enterprise-grade security and compliance features. Additionally, SAP’s partner ecosystem develops comprehensive solutions atop BTP, filling market gaps with tight integration to core SAP systems. Currently, over 30,000 customers use BTP across various configurations, with its integration now embedded in offerings such as SAP’s cloud-based RISE service, signalling the platform’s growing ubiquity across SAP’s cloud customer base.

India features prominently in SAP’s global AI and BTP strategy, leveraging its abundant talent pool and burgeoning customer ecosystem to drive both innovation and delivery. SAP’s internal survey reveals that an overwhelming 93% of Indian businesses expect positive returns on AI investments within three years, a figure markedly higher than the global average. Indian companies also lead in AI expenditure, investing approximately $31 million annually, surpassing the global average of $27 million. These businesses anticipate an AI-driven ROI starting at 15% in 2025 and expect it to double within two years, underscoring strong regional commitment and optimism.

The apparent industry-wide debate on AI’s return on investment is acknowledged by Ameling, who explains that measurable outcomes depend heavily on organisational readiness. Factors influencing success include data quality and process optimisation, with SAP assisting customers, especially those undergoing transformation, through its RISE methodology to standardise and optimise operations. Early adopters such as JP and ABB reportedly already realise tangible benefits. The shift to cloud infrastructure is seen as a critical enabler, freeing IT resources to focus on innovation rather than maintenance, thereby accelerating the pathway to ROI.

SAP’s broader AI strategy is built on embedding generative AI capabilities across its portfolio. Partnerships such as with NVIDIA, which integrates generative AI into SAP’s cloud solutions through NVIDIA’s AI Foundry services, illustrate SAP’s commitment to offering scalable, business-specific AI functionalities. Tools like SAP Business AI for IT and developers, including Joule Studio, SAP HANA Cloud vector engine, and the Generative AI hub, enhance productivity by enabling custom AI agent creation and AI-integrated development workflows.

In sum, SAP positions BTP as a future-ready, trusted platform that blends extensibility, integration, and AI to meet evolving enterprise demands. By empowering organisations from large enterprises to agile mid-sized companies, and by leveraging strong ecosystems and partnerships, SAP aims to advance AI adoption with clear indications of ROI, particularly in markets like India where enthusiasm and investment in AI are robust and accelerating.

📌 Reference Map:

• ^[1] The Hindu Business Line – Paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
• ^[2] SAP News (India) – Paragraph 6
• ^[3] SAP News – Paragraph 2
• ^[4] SAP.com – Paragraph 2
• ^[5] SAP News – Paragraph 3, 7
• ^[6] SAP.com – Paragraph 3, 7
• ^[7] SAP News (India) – Paragraph 3

Source: Fuse Wire