Many companies struggle to integrate intelligence into their business processes, and SAP wants to work more closely with its AppliedAI initiative to change that.

SAP is increasing its efforts to develop AI and applications in its products to better serve its customers in their daily business. Unfortunately, according to a recent study, while SAP’s core business, ERP, is the only business-killer application for AI, many companies are struggling to access AI to complete their business operations.

Gartner analysts recently predicted that by the end of 2025, at least 30% of AI projects will be abandoned after proof of concept (PoC).

To ensure that these Cassandra calls don’t happen, SAP has partnered with the AppliedAI initiative. The companies said in a statement that they will jointly investigate intelligence events and identify potential use cases for SAP customers. The goal of this collaboration is “to find effective solutions that can be used in business applications and to promote the use of artificial intelligence.”

AI Transformation Partner

Claiming to be Europe’s largest initiative for the implementation of reliable AI technology, AppliedAI was founded in 2017 by Andreas Liebl as a division of UnternehmerTUM in Munich. In 2022, it evolved into a collaboration with the Heilbronn Artificial Intelligence Innovation Park (IPAI).

The AppliedAI program aims to provide broad support for the AI transformation of companies such as BMW and Siemens, as well as medium-sized companies, in line with its mission. Knowledge exchange and integration, accelerated programs, solutions, and services are designed to help achieve this goal.

This is where SAP can play. Many participants in the AppliedAI program use SAP software to run their businesses. The new collaboration between SAP and AppliedAI offers AppliedAI partners the opportunity to “use AI to improve business processes and make better use of data, particularly in finance, human resources, and the supply chain.”

Andreas Liebl, CEO and co-founder of AppliedAI, commented on the partnership with SAP, calling it “the perfect partner for our mission to support and expand European competitiveness.”

Philipp Herzig, chief intelligence officer at SAP SE, described the collaboration as an important step in assessing and increasing business intelligence.

“This partnership allows us and our customers to better exploit the potential of this technology and to create AI intelligence in companies through the collaboration of AI partners,” he said.

According to Herzig, more than 27,000 customers are currently using SAP Business AI. The German software group has been working on connecting AI to business applications for about a year and a half. Its main building modules are the productive AI assistant Joule and the productive AI centre in SAP AI Core. These are provided by SAP’s business technology platform (BTP), where customers and partners have access to various AI models.

SAP expands AI capabilities

In a blog post in mid-August, Herzig introduced new AI capabilities over SAP data. For example, compliance and IT professionals can use Joule to assess regulatory changes in the context of their companies and SAP solutions. This will allow users to answer questions about how regulatory changes affect SAP products and business processes more quickly.

Herzig said SAP Automation Pilot supports development teams in creating DevOps automation processes. Based on simple instructions, you can use the functions faster without having to have deep knowledge of various SAP tools and functions. New intelligence support in the SAP integration suite is also designed to help developers more quickly detect anomalies, such as increases or decreases in API calls. Herziger promises users that the technology will help detect and resolve problems before they spread.

Users want easy access to AI, even at home

The main task for SAP will be to communicate the additional benefits of the new AI capabilities, as many customers are sceptical about the use of AI. What strikes many SAP customers is that AI innovation is only available to those with RISE contracts and who are committed to cloud use.

A survey conducted by the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) earlier this year showed that almost half of the customers refused to comment on the eight skills of the owner of the Walldorf-based company. Only one in 10 described it as good, while 21% said it was at least “satisfactory.” According to the comments of the user representatives for spring 2024, what is particularly needed is the implementation of activities that are still carried out locally and open integration.

Our members think intelligence and cloud integration are important,” said DSAG President Jens Hungershausen, adding, “They want artificial intelligence to be more accessible and more transparent about current and future possibilities.”

Hungershausen talked about the high energy in knowledge work and the development of related businesses, which leads many companies to work cautiously. Here at DSAG we are asked, together with SAP, to provide more precise details, provide answers, and identify key points for guidance.