SAP Looks to Save €500 Mn With AI
At the recent earnings call, SAP revealed that AI has already saved the company €300 million ($324M) in 2024, with expectations to cross €500 million ($540 Mn) soon. From cutting contract processing times by 75% to automating sales and operations, AI is no longer just a buzzword—it’s SAP’s biggest efficiency driver. “Overall, we expect the one-way efficiency effect of our existing AI implementations of roughly €300 million already this year. And for the very near future, we expect to cross the €0.5 billion mark,” said SAP chief Christian Klein, highlighting how AI is driving massive cost savings. But SAP isn’t just saving money with AI—it’s making money too. 50% of all cloud deals in Q4 2024 included AI-powered solutions, proving that AI is now a core revenue driver for the company. “The most exciting thing about half of our cloud order entry in Q4 were deals that included AI use cases,” said Klein, explaining how AI solutions are fuelling SAP’s cloud growth. SAP India had an outstanding performance in cloud revenue alongside other major regions like Germany, Spain, China, and Japan. “Germany, Spain, China, India and Japan all had outstanding performances in cloud revenue, while Brazil, Canada and Saudi Arabia were particularly strong,” said SAP’s CFO Dominik Asam. SAP vs the World While most tech giants are betting big on large language models (LLMs) and general-purpose AI, SAP is building AI that deeply integrates with business processes. Instead of relying on generic AI models, SAP is using business-context-aware AI that understands real-world operations and directly executes decisions. “Thanks to our ecosystem approach on the China AI hub, we are flexible when it comes to AI infrastructure and large language modules. We benefit from cost reductions and progress in the LLM space,” said Klein, sharing how SAP stays flexible while focusing on deep AI integration. What’s Next for SAP? SAP is going all-in on AI in 2025, with 30,000 developers focused on AI, new AI-powered automation tools, and Joule—its Agentic AI system—set to take center stage. Unlike basic AI copilots, Joule doesn’t just suggest actions—it takes action autonomously. “Joule will become the super orchestrator of these agents, carrying out complete tasks autonomously and end-to-end, taking over significant workload from humans,” claimed Klein, sharing Joule’s role in reducing manual work and boosting efficiency. SAP is also breaking data silos by integrating structured and unstructured data across SAP and non-SAP systems—a game-changing move that could unlock entirely new AI-driven business models. “We will harmonise structured and unstructured data, SAP and non-SAP data, always with the relevant semantics. And by that, we will make AI agents much more powerful,” said Klein, explaining how SAP’s AI will work across different software platforms. If SAP’s strategy plays out as planned, AI won’t just optimise SAP’s operations—it could become SAP’s next billion-dollar business. With AI already driving half of its cloud deals and a €63 billion ($68 Bn) cloud backlog, SAP isn’t just following the AI trend—it’s defining the future of AI in enterprise software.
SAP is doubling down on AI in 2025 with 30,000 developers, new automation tools, and its Agentic AI system, Joule.
SAP is doubling down on AI in 2025 with 30,000 developers, new automation tools, and its Agentic AI system, Joule.
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I hold a degree in political science, and am interested in how AI and online culture intersect. I am at aditi.suresh@analyticsindiamag.com &amp; x.com/aditisuresh12