See how Novartis is piloting SAP’s Joule Sourcing Assistant to help procurement teams work faster, improve consistency, and make better-informed sourcing decisions.
At SAP Connect 2026, Christoph from Novartis shares how procurement teams in highly regulated industries can use AI agents to reduce manual effort while maintaining control, traceability, and auditability. With hundreds of categories and a large supplier base, procurement teams need to create RFPs, analyze bids, and prepare for negotiations quickly and confidently.
Novartis is co-developing and piloting SAP’s Joule Sourcing Assistant on SAP Business AI Platform, with a focus on bid analysis and negotiation support. The vision is for autonomous sourcing agents to handle the analytical heavy lifting, from comparing offers to identifying negotiation levers, while sourcing professionals stay focused on strategy, supplier relationships, and final decisions.
The discussion also highlights the outcomes Novartis is working toward, including faster cycle times, stronger analytical foundations, improved compliance, and a better experience for procurement teams. Christoph closes with practical advice for organizations starting with autonomous agents: get your data in order, begin with a recoverable process, involve the people doing the work, and plan for change management from the start.
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Chapters:
00:00 – Procurement challenges in a regulated industry
00:18 – Manual work across RFPs, bids, and negotiations
00:51 – Why context, controls, and traceability matter
01:13 – Piloting SAP’s Joule Sourcing Assistant
01:24 – Bid analysis and negotiation support
01:36 – Agents handling the analytical heavy lifting
01:57 – Expected cycle time and productivity improvements
02:18 – Measuring sourcing success
02:41 – Advice for starting with autonomous agents
03:01 – Getting data ready first
03:15 – Starting with recoverable processes
03:24 – Involving users and managing change
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