As SAP establishes its main focus points for 2024, a large priority for the ERP company is Generative AI. SAP recognizes the benefits that the emerging technology has not only for its own systems, but also the ERP and technology industries as a whole. To further understand how generative AI will benefit businesses that use an ERP system, we will explore SAP’s fundamental approach:

SAP’s Goals and Approach

A brief interview with Rahul Vig (Senior Director at SAP Concur) contextualizes SAP’s recent advancements in generative AI. As Vig states in his discussion with Kent, generative AI is essentially a new advancement on AI and machine learning, as it “generates” new content (text, images, sounds, etc.) (2:47).¹

Vig goes on to explain why SAP has taken such a strong focus on generative AI recently:

“Within SAP, AI is one of the biggest areas of investment because SAP firmly believes that by having an opportunity with AI, we can have the most desired outcomes for our clients.” (4:05)

At the end of the day, he states that SAP’s approach to generative AI is to provide a solution that is “relevant, reliable, and responsible.”(4:19)

To achieve relevance, SAP is working to constantly integrate generative AI into practical solutions and methods, which will be described in a future post. As for reliability, Vig states that the SAP Concur team recognizes that to have generative AI work effectively, which relies on data to generate from, the data itself must be reliable. (4:43) He goes on to explain that SAP’s systems serve as a strong foundation for that data. Finally, Vig states that responsibility requires an approach that puts the customer first through ethically done work and secure/compliant systems. (5:00) For more information, take a look at the last section of this article (“The Need for Trustworthy AI”).

Cloud and Generative AI Integration

As SAP takes on a strong focus towards generative AI, they are prioritizing integrating the technology with the cloud.² The company believes that the accessibility of the cloud and automation of generative AI can provide innovative results. A large benefit that SAP sees is that generative AI deals with many of the mechanical tasks and allows the team to focus on more strategy-based tasks. Additionally, generative AI can even benefit the strategic side with its algorithms, which can produce valuable analytics. Combined with an established ERP system such as SAP, generative AI promises to help deliver the company’s goal of “responsible, reliable, and relevant.”

The Need for “Trustworthy AI”

Along with prioritizing strategic, applicable uses of generative AI, SAP is prioritizing “Trustworthy AI.” For instance, the company is working to ensure that the technology does not violate copyrights or expose sensitive data – both common risks associated with improperly implemented generative AI. To avoid these risks, SAP recognizes the need for clear structure and expectations among the responsible team.

At the end of the day, generative AI is an emerging technology that allows businesses to work more efficiently and use fewer resources. Additionally, generative AI offers an opportunity for organizations to have improved sustainability, supply chain operations, productivity, and workforce coordination. However, all of this is only possible with responsibly implemented, high-quality generative AI that genuinely prioritizes the success of the business.

With the fundamentals of SAP’s approach to generative AI in mind, we will explore SAP’s specific strategies in our next post.

1 Leveraging Generative AI for Revolutionising Travel and Expense Management: The SAP Concur Approach. https://youtu.be/c-scjZW7mEY 

² “How to Get the Most out of This Transformative Moment for Business Technology.” https://news.sap.com/2024/01/ai-transformative-moment-business-technology/ 

³ “Trustworthy AI Can Reinvent Companies and Help Resolve Global Challenges.” https://news.sap.com/2024/01/trustworthy-ai-can-reinvent-companies-and-help-resolve-global-challenges/