At the first SAP Connect event, SAP SE showcased how the integration of AI, data, and applications creates unparalleled business value.
I’m attending the SAP Connect 2025 conference in Las Vegas as a guest of SAP, the world leader in enterprise applications and business AI. Although the main keynote and conference haven’t started yet, SAP has issued a media release explaining what the conference was about and what’s to come. Please read it. More coverage is expected in the coming days.
Okay, so let’s start from the beginning. Breakthroughs from SAP, including Joule’s new network of role-based assistants that work with humans to improve performance, a growing data ecosystem that drives deeper insights, and supply chain software that anticipates disruption, are once again revolutionizing the way we do business.
“For companies to grow when volatility is the new normal, they need more than a disparate patchwork of best-of-breed applications,” said Muhammad Alam, SAP SE, SAP Product & Engineering Board Member. “Today’s announcement demonstrates the power of SAP Business Suite, where AI, data, and applications are integrated into experiences to drive smarter decisions, faster execution, and scalable transformation.”
SAP’s deep research AI and role-based assistants, combined with innovations in SAP Business Suite, take efficiency to new heights. To learn more, read our detailed innovation guide here.
Click here for the full text of Day 1’s keynote speech. The article continues below, so please read it.
AI that is close to people
SAP announces the next phase of Joule as the AI force at the heart of value creation for SAP Business Suite. Leveraging applications and data from across the SAP Business Suite, SAP is introducing a new generation of role-aware assistants in Joule. Each assistant is designed to work with humans in a specific business role. Joule’s assistant configures, adjusts, and manages agents with the right agent for the job, so you can focus on unlocking new levels of insight and productivity.
Joule’s assistant is supported by a growing library of specialized Joule agents designed to help execute complex workflows within specific functions. For example, People Manager Assistant helps managers improve performance by coordinating teams of specialized agents, including the new People Intelligence Agent, which helps find and resolve issues such as compensation anomalies.
The new Financial Planning Assistant helps financial professionals become more efficient, backed by a group of specialized agents, including a new Cash Management Agent that optimizes cash flow and improves interest rates. This new roster of role-aware AI assistants will not only partner with people to improve performance in their areas of work, but also collaborate across business functions to solve complex problems across the enterprise.
Data across boundaries
Data drives the transformative power of AI, but data is often siled into disparate systems. SAP Connect removes these barriers using SAP Business Data Cloud Connect. SAP BDC Connect securely links SAP BDC with partner platforms, enabling bidirectional flow of business-ready data products across organizational and technology boundaries.
With zero-copy sharing, data is stored securely within the SAP system while remaining instantly accessible within the customer’s existing data platform, preserving business context without costly copies. The result is fewer silos, simpler pipelines, no duplication, and only trusted data products when and where you need them.
SAP also announced that Databricks and Google Cloud are the first partners to support SAP BDC Connect, with more partners to follow. As announced in February 2025, SAP Databricks remains a data service within SAP Business Data Cloud, and SAP BDC Connect extends its benefits across the open data ecosystem. These partnerships give customers faster access to data products for analytics and AI, enabling teams to move from raw data to real-time business outcomes more quickly and easily.
Applications that turn data into action
At the heart of SAP’s unique value proposition are enterprise applications where data is created and AI-driven insights are generated. SAP Supply Chain Orchestration is a new AI-native solution that combines the power of Joule with a live knowledge graph to discover deep, real-time risks across multiple suppliers and orchestrate a coordinated response to help customers reduce costs and keep supply chains running.
SAP Engagement Cloud, a new customer experience solution, uses business-critical context to personalize interactions between customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Additionally, our next-generation SAP Ariba procurement suite stands out as an AI-native solution, bringing intelligence to every step of spend management, from sourcing to supplier engagement.
Collectively, these SAP Business Suite innovations mark the beginning of a new era of self-enhancing AI, data, and applications that drive intelligence, speed, and resiliency.
The SAP News Center has more information, and you can also get more SAP news through LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Alex Zaharov-Reutt traveled to SAP Connect 2025 in Las Vegas as a guest of SAP Australia.
