In today’s world of constant change, HR leaders are being asked to do more than ever before: anticipate skills shifts, personalize the employee experience, and navigate complex regulations—all while staying agile in the face of accelerating business transformation.

SAP SuccessFactors HCM gives organizations the tools to lead with confidence. Part of the SAP Business Suite, SAP SuccessFactors brings together global core HR, AI-driven insights, and a unified skills foundation to connect people and processes, close skills gaps, simplify compliance, and build a workforce ready for what’s next.

With the second half 2025 (2H 2025) product release, we’re excited to introduce hundreds of new features and enhancements in SAP SuccessFactors, many enabled by AI. Together, these innovations help HR teams, business leaders, and employees work smarter, move faster, and stay future-ready.

Drive better people and business decisions

Data about people, skills, performance, and business outcomes exists everywhere, but without a clear view, it’s difficult to act. People Intelligence in SAP Business Data Cloud, now generally available, is designed to help organizations make better workforce decisions by unifying SAP and third-party data. Through intuitive dashboards, AI-assisted insights powered by Joule, and hundreds of HR metrics, leaders can now move from insights to action with unprecedented speed.

With pre-built use cases spanning critical areas like skills, compensation, recruiting, learning, performance, and succession, People Intelligence makes it easier to uncover trends, identify opportunities, and take action. By bringing together clean, centralized HR data and powerful AI, it equips HR and business leaders with the intelligence they need to drive meaningful workforce transformation.

Build a future-ready workforce

To stay competitive, organizations must continuously evolve alongside their people. This release introduces new innovations that align skills, performance, and development with future business needs.

We are excited that the Performance and Goals Agent in SAP SuccessFactors is now available. This agent empowers managers to lead consistent, high-impact performance conversations by analyzing employee data, such as performance goals, activities and achievements, and continuous feedback, to create tailored conversation prompts for each employee. Using Joule, managers receive AI-guided insights like goal progress summaries, key accomplishments, growth focus areas, and development recommendations. Users can ask follow-up questions to dive deeper into any of these areas. 

Additionally, business rules integration in performance management support consistent and transparent performance reviews by automating feedback prompts and actions based on predefined conditions, such as dynamically exposing a comment field only when a rating condition is met.

Succession planning is also getting a boost with skills-based successor recommendations in SAP SuccessFactors Career and Talent Development, which analyzes skills, proficiency levels, and internal work experiences captured in employee growth portfolios to recommend potential successors who might have been overlooked using traditional metrics. And with the new person-based model for talent management, organizations can drive smarter talent decisions, faster reskilling, and greater workforce agility by unifying learning and talent data in a person-based view that follows employees across changing roles, teams, and assignments. 

Enable agile and compliant HR 

As regulations evolve and business needs shift, HR must stay both agile and compliant. This release introduces new capabilities to help teams adapt quickly while ensuring accuracy and trust.

The new SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Scheduling solution,available to early adopters in January 2026, supports optimized shift planning in manufacturing and other production industries by aligning workforce skills and staffing levels with operational demand. Geofencing in SAP SuccessFactors Time Tracking helps prevent fraud and ensure compliance by defining work site locations and ranges to govern where employees can clock in and out. SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central simplifies U.S. leave management by connecting with FMLA service providers to automate leave deductions and improve tracking accuracy.

Across the suite, our updated home page delivers a more intuitive and personalized experience for users with streamlined navigation, targeted communications, and real-time insights across desktop and mobile.

Extend applications to easily adapt

As workforce expectations and business priorities evolve, flexibility is key. This release delivers new capabilities to help seamlessly connect and optimize HR processes, maximizing investments while supporting the changing needs of people and the organization.

SAP SuccessFactors Work Zone is now enhanced by Joule and generative AI to deliver faster access to information, improved self-service, and more informed decision-making. Joule streamlines tasks with role-based self-service, workflow automation, and real-time insights, while generative AI simplifies feedback, coaching, and goal updates with context-aware insights. Employees can also quickly find company-specific knowledge through Joule for accurate, relevant information when they need it.

Lead the future of HR

With the 2H 2025 release, SAP SuccessFactors HCM helps HR leaders navigate complexity with ease. By uniting global HR, AI-driven insights, and a unified skills foundation, organizations can make smarter decisions, develop future-ready talent, and stay agile in a rapidly changing world.

To learn about our latest innovations and enhancements, check out the SAP SuccessFactors 2H 2025 release brochure or watch the video.  

Bianka Woelke is group vice president and head of Application Product Management for SAP SuccessFactors.

This week at SAP Connect, we introduced the next wave of business AI innovations to empower enterprises. We unveiled our newest Joule Agents, the concept of role-based AI assistants, and new embedded intelligence throughout SAP Business Suite.

New research shows how business AI delivers ROI

To better understand the opportunity to produce returns on investment from AI, SAP commissioned new global research that was shared at SAP 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—a 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 SAP Connect we announced powerful new capabilities for Joule, which makes business data and the entire SAP Business Suite immediately accessible through the power of a simple conversation. And because Joule is grounded in your company’s data, it understands context and delivers insights that are specific, actionable, and relevant to your business.

Deep research in Joule, announced at SAP 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 SAP data and external intelligence so people can ask complex questions and receive comprehensive research and recommendations—without 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’s 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 SAP Connect. They help people coordinate, decide, and execute tasks with greater precision. Joule Agents are embedded across core business processes in finance, HR, procurement, and supply chain, in a way that only SAP—with our deep expertise in these functions—can deliver.

For example, rather than navigating multiple systems or running countless manual checks to release an order, a production manager—a key role in the supply chain function—will 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 Joule Studio, 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 SAP technologies—including SAP Knowledge Graph for deep business context, SAP Business Data Cloud for comprehensive data access across SAP and non-SAP sources, and SAP’s central identity and authorization services to ensure responsible agent behavior. These capabilities empower every enterprise to extend, customize, and personalize SAP Business AI solutions.

New embedded intelligence across SAP 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 SAP 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 SAP Engagement Cloud, 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 SAP Supply Chain Orchestration 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 SAP 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.

SAP 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 SAP Signavio 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’s next for business AI

At SAP Connect, we also shared a view into what’s coming and how our innovations will continue to redefine enterprise productivity. For example, we’re 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’re also extending Joule Agents beyond software into the physical world—connecting 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. Reserve your place at SAP TechEd 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—up from 25 percent today.

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

For us, it’s all about what you hope to achieve. We’re proud to partner with you on your AI journey. If you’re 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 Discover Joule Webinar Series.
• In our Customer Success Collection, get inspired about what’s possible by exploring how leading companies are transforming with AI.
• Watch SAP Connect virtual sessions, now available on demand, to see our latest innovations in action.

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

Brenda Bown is chief marketing officer for SAP Business AI.

SAP Green Ledger as the central carbon accounting solution is built on SAP BTP as a true software as a service (SaaS) solution.

See how a mid-size bicycle manufacturer leverages SAP Business Technology Platform and AI to gain real-time supply chain visibility, automate risk detection, and optimize response to new tariffs.

Joule Agents analyze SAP Business Data Cloud and external data for early risk identification, suggest actionable mitigation strategies, and simulate financial impact. This helps teams make data-driven decisions and accelerate planning, even in volatile markets. This intelligent automation makes it easy to adapt, collaborate, and keep supply chains resilient and agile.

Learn more about Joule Agents:https://sap.to/6051fH6EP

0:00 – Integrated, Global Supply Chain Challenges
0:13 – New Tariffs and Immediate Risk
0:26 – AI-Driven Risk Alerts & Business Performance Review
0:48 – Automated Risk Analysis with SAP BTP & Data Cloud
1:10 – Mitigation Options and Planning Simulations
1:29 – Controller-Driven Adjustments & Final Decisions
1:43 – Collaboration with Supply Chain Team

Learn how to set up EDI interfaces in SAP S/4HANA to automate the exchange of procurement documents like purchase orders, invoices, and order confirmations between buyers and suppliers.

With the powerful virtual tethers we feel binding us to our smartphones and gadgets, we can easily forget that some technologies provide freedom to others, such as low-vision and blind people.

“We create devices that promote independence,” Alejandro Erick Franco, CIO and vice president of Information Technology at American Printing House for the Blind (APH), said in an interview at SAP Sapphire. This includes APH’s Monarch tablet-style braille reader, which also renders images via equally finger-friendly “tactile graphics.”

There’s also APH’s older navigation app that can help low-vision or blind users find restaurants and venue facilities, or pinpoint any of the booths at, say, a massive enterprise software conference spanning the entire Orange County Convention Center.