The transformative power of generative AI has already begun to change productivity. From generating detailed reports to automating customer service tasks, AI helps streamline everyday activities.
However, the promise of AI-driven transformation has not yet been fully realized. This is largely because true business transformation does not depend solely on improving individual productivity; It’s about unleashing the power of collaboration capabilities that enable cross-functional teams to solve evolving business challenges. This shift sets the stage for a new era of automation, which will drive the next industrial revolution.
This year, at SAP TechEd, we have expanded our enterprise AI strategy with a greater focus on transforming how organizations operate through autonomous and collaborative AI agents. Perfectly integrated into our AI co-pilot Joulethese agents span all business processes, breaking down silos and improving cross-functional collaboration.
At SAP, we believe the next frontier of AI goes beyond siled efficiencies and is to seamlessly unify people, data, and processes to create business value and amplify the impact of results.
Beyond increased productivity
What differentiates Joule It’s their collaborative nature. Unlike other AI agents focused on single domains, Joule agents work together, crossing the boundaries of various business functions such as supply chain, finance, human resources, and so on. This approach allows our customers to solve multi-dimensional challenges in a way that siled productivity tools simply can’t match.
“SAP AI co-pilot Joule is uniquely positioned to provide significant value with AI agents“, he stated Ritu Jyoti, GM and GVP of IA and Data, Market Research and Advisory, IDC. “With access to extensive contextual data and deep expertise in business functions such as ERP, CRM and HR, SAP will enable AI solutions with agents that integrate seamlessly across the enterprise to transform the future of work.”.
These AI agents are designed to reason, plan and execute, not only individually, but collectively, across multiple applications.
Imagine you ask Joule to help you resolve a payment discrepancy. This involves monitoring and evaluating accounts, issuing warnings, analyzing data, proposing recommendations and generating comprehensive reports. In this scenario, a collections agent would plan a strategy by breaking down the larger task into easy-to-manage steps. These steps are then seamlessly executed by expert collaboration agents, such as an email agent, invoice agent, and support case agent, who automate the entire workflow, freeing up employees to that can focus on more strategic activities aimed at generating value.
Joule does not limit itself to automating isolated phases, but brings together agents to deliver connected and multifunctional results. The ability to break down organizational and data silos is what sets Joule apart. It is a trusted co-pilot that leverages AI to solve complex challenges that require collaboration between teams and systems.
Drive business transformation
Joule design principles are based on SAP’s unparalleled expertise in business processes and access to business data. This gives Joule a unique ability to deliver transformative results across the business. By placing agents at the intersection of high autonomy and deep collaboration, Joule pushes the boundaries of what is possible today.
Soon, Joule AI agents will evolve further with the help of SAP Knowledge Grapha solution that will harness the full value of data by connecting it to the rich business context collected in SAP applications. For example, a collections agent tasked with investigating a payment discrepancy will use SAP Knowledge Graph to collect all relevant orders, invoices, and payments from SAP applications, allowing other agents to complete their tasks more efficiently.
Our vision for Joule is in stark contrast to many AI agents on the market, which can struggle to connect across multiple applications. Most are designed to address specific single-use cases, such as sales, customer service, or finance, based on pre-built language models with rapid engineering. These agents operate in limited contexts and, although they improve personal productivity, they do not substantially transform business processes.
With collaborative agents that influence entire workflows and deliver new business value, Joule is at the forefront of the next evolution of AI-driven business transformation.
In June we first presented our vision for collaborative AI agents, marking the beginning of a journey that has advanced significantly. With developments announced this week at SAP TechEd, the first set of Joule agents will be available in the fourth quarter of 2024including extensibility capabilities. More out-of-the-box agents will be launched in 2025, as well as the ability for customers to create their own agents with Joule studio.
With SAP, businesses can look forward to a future where AI is a catalyst for truly unified and intelligent business operations.
Signed by: Philip Herzig, Chief AI Officer at SAP
