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2025 was a big year for SAP Business AI with new capabilities designed to turn business data into real impact.
In this highlights recap, we look back at key moments across SAP events: Joule expanding for developers, consultants, and business users; the Joule action bar bringing help across SAP’s portfolio and beyond; and Joule agents that help turn insights into action wherever work happens. We also spotlight new assistants across finance, procurement, supply chain, HR, and customer experience, including 40+ new agents in 2025, plus progress on agent orchestration and Agent2Agent compatibility.
You’ll also hear about the foundation behind it all: an AI operating system to build and run at scale, with multi-model support (any model to any model), plus tools like prompt optimization. And we close with the momentum: 2,400 Joule skills, 300+ use cases, 34,000 SAP Business AI customers, and reported value potential of €441M p.a. for a €10B-revenue company.
Thank you to our customers, and here’s to an even brighter 2026!
Get a peek at upcoming generative AI innovations: https://sap.to/6052hEBLm
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The Intelligent Age is marked by rapid technological progress, societal shifts and complex paradoxes. We’re more connected yet more isolated; flooded with information but uncertain of truth; empowered and threatened by technology.
As companies and governments face challenges around sovereignty, security and competitiveness, they need to embrace approaches that initially appear contradictory: investing boldly despite limited resources, sharing data while protecting it and competing while collaborating. These are not contradictions – this is the new operating model.
Against this backdrop, it becomes clear that organizations must adopt a three-pillar approach to navigate this new normal of paradoxes.
First, they must ground themselves in flexible digital foundations; second, embed AI deeply and responsibly into their operations; and third, view collaboration as a strategic advantage rather than a compromise.
These principles form the backbone of a sustainable way of working in the Intelligent Age, where progress depends on navigating paradoxes with agility and shared purpose.
Progress is moving at breakneck speed. Technologies that seemed futuristic yesterday are mainstream today and by tomorrow, they could even be obsolete. To keep pace, organizations need a foundation that is rigid but adaptable – a platform that can evolve as quickly as the world around it.
That foundation is the cloud. A cloud migration is more than an IT project: it is the digital foundation for a thorough modernization of the entire enterprise, for moving from “good “to “great.”
Modern cloud infrastructure enables data, applications and AI to interoperate seamlessly, creating an environment where innovation can flourish. It accelerates the deployment of software updates and new applications, reduces complexity and provides the scalability needed to respond to shifting demands.
True flexibility, however, goes beyond technology. Organizations must foster a mindset that embraces change, encourages experimentation and prioritizes resilience over perfection. This means empowering teams to adapt quickly, learn continuously and view change as an opportunity rather than a threat.
As AI rapidly reshapes how we live, study and work, no organization can afford to ignore it, yet many still have questions about how to apply it.
In the business-to-business realm, AI cannot be treated as a standalone technology. To unleash its full potential, AI must be deeply embedded in business processes. This requires three pillars:
Companies that move from legacy on-premises software to integrated cloud applications unlock AI’s ability to access, understand and facilitate transactions across the enterprise. This enables AI agents to function as digital coworkers, capable of executing complex workflows spanning the business.
The power AI offers is undeniable and in today’s volatile world, this often leads to questions around digital sovereignty. True digital sovereignty is about maintaining control over critical data and assets while leveraging the best technologies available in line with national interests.
Data protection and compliance are non-negotiable. Companies and governments must ensure that sensitive information remains under appropriate jurisdictional control.
Internationally aligned sovereignty standards – such as ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) – would enable secure, compliant scaling across borders, unlocking the full potential of AI without compromising trust.
Not all data requires the same level of protection. Information essential to national security or public safety requires the highest levels of control. At the same time, less sensitive data can be managed in trusted cloud environments that comply with recognized cybersecurity standards.
This nuanced approach allows organizations to balance innovation with responsibility.
The paradox of competition and collaboration is perhaps the most striking of all. In a hyperconnected world, no company or government can tackle today’s challenges alone. Cybersecurity threats, climate change and economic inequality are global issues that demand collective solutions.
The competitive advantage now lies in partnerships – across industries, sectors and borders. Public-private collaboration is essential to co-create AI use cases, build open ecosystems and invest in digital education. Such partnerships are strategic imperatives that strengthen our society and our economy for long-term growth.
Collaboration also extends to governance. Establishing shared frameworks for ethical AI, data privacy and sustainability will require dialogue among stakeholders with competing interests. Yet, this dialogue is the cornerstone of progress.
While the opportunities AI provides are immense, they are by no means guaranteed. The determining factor will be our ability to engage in meaningful dialogue – as companies and governments, technology experts and policy-makers, innovators and citizens.
In the Intelligent Age, the question is not whether we will face paradoxes, but how we face them. Dialogue must be our operating principle – the means through which we reconcile paradoxes, build trust and chart a course toward shared prosperity. The future will belong to those who embrace complexity, act with courage and collaborate across divides.
Christian Klein is CEO and member of the Executive Board of SAP SE.
This piece originally appeared on the World Economic Forum website.
Just two years ago at NRF, SAP introduced SAP Order Management Services, a cloud-native, composable, and modular order management solution designed to help unify data and processes for orders, inventory, POS transactions, and fulfillment management across all channels.
Since the launch, SAP Order Management Services has empowered organizations to streamline operations for increased efficiency, reduced manual workloads, and untangled multi-channel complexity. With this approach, businesses can deliver on customer promises with seamless customer experience. This momentum has also been recognized in the market, as SAP Order Management Services was named a Leader in the Order Management Market 2025 report by IHL Group for its robust capabilities and enterprise readiness.
Hornbach, a leading German home improvement retailer, is already seeing the benefits. With SAP Order Management Services, Hornbach connects digital and physical stores with full visibility into day-to-day transactions, providing omnichannel retail experience at scale to its customers.
However, the retail landscape is evolving continuously. While profitable growth is critical to businesses, earning and sustaining customer loyalty now is becoming more important. Ahead of the curve, SAP has heavily invested in expanding capabilities in the SAP Order Management Services bundle to help retailers deliver on customer promises with intelligence, scalability, and adaptability, leading to boosts in customer loyalty.
At NRF 2026, SAP is unveiling new and enhanced capabilities that power retailers to not only operate more efficiently but also achieve loyalty-led growth through every order.
Joule in SAP Order Management Services: SAP’s AI copilot, Joule, is now available in SAP Order Management Services. Access order-related data, analysis, and insights through conversations in natural language and visual display.
Order Reliability Agent: Accelerate operational efficiency with the Order Reliability Agent in SAP Order Management Services. Proactively mitigate and resolve any potential issues and gaps, such as stock discrepancies or process bottlenecks, to help ensure every order is fulfilled seamlessly and to boost customer loyalty.
AI-assisted copy generation and translations: Create promotional copy in seconds and translate it into any language with AI assistance, helping to reduce manual workload and accelerate time-to-market.
Workflow-optimized UI: The enhanced and unified UI in SAP Order Management Services can deliver a consistent user experience across order, inventory, and fulfillment operations. Teams can now work faster, reduce training time, and maintain full visibility across every step of the order lifecycle.
Watch the SAP Order Management Services retail demo video to get a closer look at the AI capabilities in action. Visit the SAP booth at NRF 2026, January 11 – 13, to learn more about SAP Order Management Services and catch an in-person demo.
Emilie Fournelle is head of Product Management for SAP Order Management Services at SAP.
Business AI isn’t “just AI.” It’s AI grounded in trusted business data and real processes.
SAP AI Specialist Shonali Kellogg breaks down what makes Business AI practical (and why it matters).
Learn more about SAP Business AI: https://sap.to/6051Cr6WT
🎧 More episodes of the Trending Chats podcast:
Watch on YouTube: https://sap.to/6052Cr6Wp
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It’s no question. Joule is the copilot that understands your job and your business. https://sap.to/6058CW2Z6
Turn AI into action with skills: structured, repeatable operations that Joule can execute. In Joule Studio, you can add your own processes and integrate non-SAP systems, so Joule supports end-to-end workflows across your landscape.
🎧 Full episode: https://youtu.be/7-DWT6qd15I
💎 Joule Studio: https://sap.to/6050CME76
LESER GmbH & Co. KG is a leading German company specializing in designing and manufacturing safety valves. Founded in 1818 and headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, LESER is recognized as the largest manufacturer of safety valves in Europe and one of the global leaders in the industry.
The manufacturer was heavily reliant on manual documentation, which caused delays in accessing and updating critical data and documents, resulting in data quality and compliance issues.
To address these challenges and optimize asset management, LESER sought to establish seamless data integration through a unified single source of truth. After thorough research and careful comparison of options, the valve manufacturer successfully chose to implement digital twin technology with SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration to help optimize collaboration with customers.
Relying on a manual documentation process was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors and delays. This was causing significant challenges in accessing and updating critical data and documents, leading to poor data quality and inefficiencies across the ecosystem. Recognizing the need for a modern solution on the operator side, LESER identified the importance of supporting customers with a centralized asset management system. LESER decided to digitize its asset management system by implementing a centralized, cloud-based platform. This platform enables LESER to seamlessly share the digital twin with customers, enhancing transparency and data sharing while continuing to manage internal processes separately.
By implementing the digital twin technology integrated with SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration, LESER created a one-to-one virtual replica of each piece of physical equipment and product, consolidating all relevant data and documentation into a single, accessible platform.
“The digital twin acts as a precise digital mirror of the physical safety valve, enabling our customers to receive complete, error-free, and up-to-date data about the safety valves,” Pierre Draheim, manager of Product Data Management at LESER, explains.
LESER provides digital twins both for new (greenfield) and existing (brownfield) safety valves, centralizing all relevant data and documents. Each valve is labeled with the globally-standardized ID link, or QR code, IEC 61406 that allows LESER’s customers to directly access and sync product-specific information with their asset management systems, enabling seamless data transfer, documentation compliance, and cost reductions of up to 95% for initial recording.
“By embracing digital innovation, we have empowered our customers to boost their operational efficiency,” Draheim says. He emphasizes that this not only helps LESER achieve substantial time-savings but also enables the company to focus on core activities and drive greater business growth: “It’s a win-win. Not only us, but also our customers achieve significant improvements in overall productivity.”
Automating valve data sharing within SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration has made it much easier for LESER operators and service providers to coordinate maintenance, eliminating the need for manual data reconciliation. This automation cuts down on administrative work, helps avoid unnecessary downtime, and optimizes spare parts inventory, all of which contributes to a substantial decrease in operational costs.
By standardizing and digitizing data with a globally-standardized ID link, multiple service providers get instant access to accurate, up-to-date information.
“With the introduction of the digital twin and SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration, we can now automate valve management, making the entire process faster and more reliable,” Draheim says.
Making sure safety valves meet international standards at every step requires a high level of automation in managing product data. This is especially important for LESER. “Compliance is not just about meeting regulations, but about the ‘rules of the game’ in the industry, which enable an automated exchange of information across different IT systems and stakeholders,” Draheim says.
With such a significant market presence, LESER holds its suppliers and materials to very high standards, ensuring every part complies not only with global regulations but also local rules. This level of care is particularly essential for operators working in industries with strict safety and regulatory conditions.
Beyond setting these standards, LESER keeps detailed records to maintain full transparency and traceability across the supply chain. This integrated approach helps the ambitious company reduce the need for additional level approvals and supports safe, reliable plant operations all over the world. In return, its customers experience improved reliability and confidence in the products and services they receive, creating a positive impact throughout the entire value chain.
Learn more about LESER’s transformation.
Oyku Ilgar is part of SAP Supply Chain Thought Leadership & Awareness.
In our second SAP Connect keynote, we explore how AI, data, and innovation accelerate enterprise transformation, helping every business move faster.
After redefining enterprise AI in the opening keynote, SAP Connect 2025’s second keynote focuses on turning vision into execution. As industries evolve at unprecedented speed, SAP leaders share how organizations can seize tomorrow’s opportunities before competitors even see them coming—powered by a unified foundation that connects every process, every dataset, and every person.
00:00 – Welcome and Recap – From Vision to Execution
05:15 – Anja Schneider: From Potential to Performance
13:40 – Todd Inlander: A Customer Perspective on Transformation
23:50 – SAP Leadership Panel – Turning Ideas into Action
36:25 – Irfan Khan and Michael Ameling: AI and Data Without Boundaries
47:10 – Brenda Bown and Etosha Thurman: Elevating Experiences with Business AI
55:00 – Hagen Heubach and Jessica Keehn: The Future of Connected Innovation
1:00:15 – Closing – Seizing the Opportunities of Tomorrow
Anja Schneider, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Premium Engagement and Advisory, opens the session by emphasizing partnership and execution, showing how SAP helps customers translate strategy into measurable value. She’s joined by Todd Inlander, CIO of Southern California Edison, who shares a customer’s view of transformation in action: using data and AI to deliver reliability, efficiency, and sustainability in one of the world’s most complex industries.
From there, Sebastian Steinhaeuser, Irfan Khan, Michael Ameling, and Brenda Bown showcase the SAP Business Suite innovations that are redefining what’s possible across every line of business. They explore how SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP Data & Analytics, and Business AI work together to extend, integrate, automate, and innovate—enabling organizations to respond faster, adapt continuously, and scale with confidence.
Etosha Thurman, Hagen Heubach, and Jessica Keehn highlight how SAP’s AI-native applications empower teams to elevate customer experience and drive engagement with intelligent insights built directly into the flow of work. Across each moment, the keynote demonstrates how businesses can harness SAP’s connected ecosystem to deliver immediate outcomes while laying the groundwork for long-term transformation.
Closing the session, SAP leaders reaffirm our commitment to helping every customer achieve clarity in complexity—running confidently on a suite that brings together data, AI, and applications to drive innovation across every function.
Whether you’re an enterprise leader focused on transformation or a practitioner driving innovation on the ground, this keynote reveals how SAP is helping organizations transform bold ideas into tangible results—today.
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About SAP:
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WALLDORF and SAN FRANCISCO — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) and OpenAI today announced the launch of OpenAI for Germany, a partnership to bring SAP’s enterprise applications expertise and OpenAI’s leading AI technology to Germany’s public sector.
To ensure sovereignty, OpenAI for Germany will be supported by SAP’s subsidiary Delos Cloud, running on Microsoft Azure technology. The collaboration will enable millions of public sector employees to use AI safely and responsibly while meeting strict data sovereignty, security, and legal standards.
Christian Klein, CEO of SAP SE, said, “Applied AI is what truly creates value. As a Business AI company with decades of experience serving public sector organizations, we believe OpenAI for Germany represents a huge step forward. We’re bringing together SAP Sovereign Cloud expertise with OpenAI’s leading AI technology to pave the way for AI solutions that are built in Germany, for Germany.”
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said, “Germany has long been a pioneer in engineering and technology, so it’s no surprise that millions of Germans already use ChatGPT to make their lives easier, drive scientific breakthroughs, and build new businesses. With OpenAI for Germany, we’ll work with local partners to extend this potential to the public sector—helping to improve services and ensuring that the benefits of AI are shared across the country, and doing so in line with German values of trust and safety.”
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, said, “With this partnership we are looking forward to bringing more AI capabilities to Germany’s public sector. Azure as the platform for Delos Cloud will power this, helping to ensure AI is deployed with the highest standards of sovereignty, data privacy, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience—empowering public institutions to adopt AI confidently and responsibly.”
Through this collaboration, planned for launch in 2026, OpenAI, SAP and Microsoft will focus on helping employees in German governments, administrations and research institutions accelerate their daily work and spend more time on people, not paperwork. OpenAI for Germany also serves as a cornerstone for developing customized public sector applications and integrating AI agents directly into existing workflows to automate and improve processes such as records management and administrative data analysis.
In support of this approach, SAP plans to expand the existing infrastructure of Delos Cloud in Germany to 4000 GPUs for AI workloads. Subject to future demand, SAP plans to further invest in applied AI capabilities in Germany, scaling through existing SAP-owned infrastructure as well as through new collaborations with co-location providers and other partners. These efforts aim to extend the sovereign offering to additional industries and markets across Europe.
OpenAI for Germany directly supports Germany’s national AI ambitions. The German Federal Government’s High-Tech Agenda targets AI-driven value creation of up to 10% of GDP by 2030, signaling a major push to adopt AI across the economy and public sector. Meanwhile, the “Made for Germany” initiative, which is now backed by 61 leading companies and global investors, including SAP—has pledged more than €631 billion in investments to accelerate growth and modernization. SAP also recently announced an investment of more than €20 billion to strengthen Germany’s digital sovereignty.
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As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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