On February 13, 2025, SAP unveiled its new cloud-based Business Suite and SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) under the title "SAP Business Unleashed". These developments are part of SAP's long-term cloud strategy. The goal is to make business processes more efficient through deeper cloud integration and enhanced AI functionalities.
The New SAP Business Suite
The new Business Suite is based on the Business Technology Platform (BTP) and integrates various technology stacks and cloud services. Unlike previous SAP cloud offerings such as SAP Datasphere, this suite is intended to be an end-to-end cloud solution. SAP aims to offer user companies a fully integrated process platform.
SAP specifically addresses the long-standing concerns of many SAP customers regarding the complete migration of business-critical applications to the cloud.
SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC)
The SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) represents a central component of the new strategy. It aims to provide a harmonized data foundation for the use of Business AI across all enterprise data. SAP announces a series of data products that are positioned along various business processes, from finance to supply chain to human resources. These data products are based on preconfigured interfaces in the BDC and are designed to reduce complex data extraction and aggregation work.
Insights Apps and AI Integration
SAP plans to introduce so-called Insights Apps. These preconfigured analysis applications combine data products with AI models and will be available for various business areas. An example is the announced Working Capital Insights App.
Furthermore, SAP promises to integrate its AI copilot Joule into all applications. Joule is to be integrated into all SAP applications and enables companies to develop their own Joule agents. SAP plans a low-code/no-code environment for this, allowing users to create individual agents to optimize processes along the value chain.
Integration of Databricks
SAP announces deep integration of Databricks into the BDC. Customers can continue to use their existing Databricks workloads within the BDC architecture without having to migrate their data.
This strategy is intended to help customers protect their investments in existing data platforms while simultaneously leveraging SAP's new cloud and AI technologies.
DSAG Assessment
The German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) has a differentiated view of the announcements. It generally welcomes SAP's holistic ERP platform approach but points out that the Business Suite is initially a target vision and not an immediately available product. DSAG sees potential in the announced "managed integrations" and the new, more transparent discount model.
At the same time, DSAG cautions that the long-term implications and joint product development are still unclear. A critical point is the challenge of reconciling the strategic goal of a public cloud solution with the reality of many customers who still rely on on-premises or private cloud solutions.
Challenges for SAP User Companies
The introduction of SAP's new AI-powered solutions presents specific challenges for SAP users:
1. Integration of existing Data & AI solutions: Many enterprise customers have already developed their own Data & AI solutions in collaboration with hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Integrating these existing solutions with the new SAP offerings could be complex and costly.
2. Data migration and harmonization: Using the SAP Business Data Cloud may require extensive data migration and harmonization, especially if companies have previously used their own data lake solutions.
3. Adaptation of business processes: Implementing the new AI-powered Insights Apps could require adjusting existing business processes, which brings organizational challenges.
4. Competence building: Companies must ensure that their employees have the necessary skills to effectively use and manage the new AI solutions.
SAP's new AI solutions seem to primarily target customers who have not yet used other Data and AI possibilities with SAP. For these companies, the new offering provides a potentially easier entry into the world of AI-powered business processes, as they can rely on preconfigured solutions and integrated data products.
For companies that have already implemented advanced Data & AI solutions, the added value of the SAP offering might be less obvious. They need to carefully consider whether and how to integrate the new SAP solutions into their existing data and AI strategy.
How to Leverage Data & AI Today with the AWS Accelerator for SAP
Want to harness the power of Data and AI solutions with SAP today without waiting for SAP?
Discover how Artificial Intelligence, hyperscaler power, and a direct connection to your SAP systems can improve processes!
- Automated data processing and data integration in SAP
- Process optimization by eliminating human error sources
- Data-driven decision-making with data forecasts, visualization, and integration of generative AI models
The AWS Accelerator for SAP is designed for seamless integration of SAP data into the AWS environment. This solution allows companies to connect to various SAP modules, retrieve data, deploy it in AWS, and use it with Amazon Bedrock and other AWS services.
The goal is to leverage generative AI and a wealth of AWS services to solve complex real-world problems through natural language conversations and other advanced data processing techniques.
Outlook
With this announcement, SAP further emphasizes that it sees the future of enterprise software in the cloud. Through new pricing models and discount tiers, SAP is trying to create incentives for customers to use more SAP products and migrate to the cloud. Overall, the announcement represents a significant step in SAP's cloud strategy. It offers potential for efficiency gains and innovations but also brings considerable challenges for SAP users.
The coming months and years will show how well SAP succeeds in turning its vision of a fully integrated, AI-powered cloud platform into reality while addressing the diverse needs of its customer base. Success will depend not only on the technological implementation but also on how well SAP guides and supports its customers on this journey.