SAP TechEd 2024: 5 Key Announcements on SAP AI
At SAP TechEd 2024, SAP made several major announcements regarding its advancements in Generative AI. With a focus on simplifying business processes, enhancing customization capabilities, and bringing AI-driven insights to the forefront, SAP is paving the way for intelligent enterprise solutions powered by AI. Here’s a roundup of the key announcements that will reshape how businesses interact with SAP’s ecosystem.
1. SAP Build’s Generative AI Toolkit for SAP HANA Cloud
SAP has introduced a powerful Generative AI toolkit for SAP HANA Cloud, embedded within SAP Build. This new toolkit allows users to perform common data analysis tasks and handle even the most complex machine learning operations—no deep technical expertise required.
With the AI Toolkit for HANA Cloud, you can now leverage natural language prompts to execute sophisticated tasks. For example, if you need to create a time-series forecast model, you can simply ask Joule—SAP’s AI assistant—using plain language, and it will handle the rest. This reduces the need for understanding the intricacies of machine learning, making it easier for business users to incorporate AI-driven insights into their processes.
The integration of Joule and SAP Build Code simplifies the user experience, ensuring that even those with little to no coding experience can harness the power of AI in SAP HANA Cloud.
2. AI-Generated Recommendations in SAP Integration Suite
Another exciting update is the introduction of AI-generated recommendations in the SAP Integration Suite. When working on custom scripts, users can now open the script editor and generate optimization proposals with the help of Generative AI.
This new capability makes it possible to enhance and optimize custom integration scripts, ensuring that processes run more efficiently. By leveraging AI, users can save time and avoid common pitfalls, allowing them to focus on higher-level business logic instead of getting bogged down with technical details.
3. Joule Studio: Creating Custom Skills with Low-Code AI
Joule Studio, now part of SAP Build, is designed to unlock the power of Joule in building custom skills that integrate seamlessly with your business landscape. Joule Studio is a low-code environment that enables developers and business users to design and deploy AI-driven skills without needing to write complex code.
For example, if you want to pull service tickets from ServiceNow into Joule, you can use Joule Studio to create a custom skill with ease. By configuring the necessary parameters in ServiceNow APIs, you can deploy the skill and instantly access the data from within Joule. Similarly, you can integrate SAP SuccessFactors data and other business-critical information.
This capability empowers business users to create tailored applications that enhance decision-making and streamline operations. Joule Studio will be available in beta later this year and will become generally available (GA) soon after.
4. Generative AI Hub: New Models and Enhanced Capabilities
SAP’s Generative AI Hub is receiving significant upgrades, offering a broad array of state-of-the-art closed and open-source models, out of the box, integrated with SAP’s applications. This will give developers access to the best of both worlds: SAP’s real-time business data combined with foundational AI models from Mistral and Meta.
The Generative AI Hub will also introduce:
– Orchestration services for managing multiple AI workflows.
– Data masking and content filtering to ensure privacy and security.
– Prompt templates and prompt management capabilities, making it easier to deploy AI-driven applications across different use cases.
Furthermore, the hub will come with SDKs for Java, JavaScript, and ABAP, ensuring that developers across different technologies can leverage SAP’s AI tools effectively.
5. SAP Knowledge Graph with SAP HANA Cloud Knowledge Graph Engine
The SAP Knowledge Graph is one of the most transformative tools in SAP’s AI offering. This new engine enables developers to ground Large Language Models (LLMs) in the entire semantic model of SAP, unlocking new potential for building intelligent business applications.
The SAP Knowledge Graph encompasses:
– Over 450,000 ABAP tables.
– More than 80,000 CDS views.
– Over 7 million properties and fields.
This vast repository of structured metadata is essentially the bridge between natural language processing (NLP) and SAP’s highly structured data model. It allows developers to create more flexible use cases, such as advanced information retrieval, AI-based predictions, and analytics—all grounded in SAP’s data model.
By leveraging the SAP HANA Cloud Knowledge Graph Engine, developers can build business applications like never before, with real-time access to SAP’s rich data environment.
The SAP Knowledge Graph and its engine will be generally available in Q1 2025, offering unprecedented capabilities for AI-driven innovation within SAP landscapes.
Looking Ahead
SAP’s announcements at TechEd 2024 signal a major leap forward in how Generative AI will drive digital transformation. By combining cutting-edge AI models with SAP’s real-time business data, these new capabilities make it easier than ever for businesses to create smarter, more efficient processes.
From enabling non-technical users to generate machine learning models in SAP HANA Cloud to providing developers with advanced tools to create custom skills and integrate AI-driven insights, SAP is truly unlocking the power of AI across its ecosystem.
Stay tuned for more updates as these capabilities become available, and get ready to take your SAP solutions to the next level with Generative AI.
