SAP is expanding enterprise AI from a task assistance level to a foundation for executing core processes. At its annual conference, SAP Sapphire 2026, SAP unveiled its "Autonomous Enterprise" strategy, in which AI agents operate within enterprise data, workflows, and governance.

SAP announced a new AI strategy centered on the SAP Business AI Platform and SAP Autonomous Suite at an event held in Orlando, Florida, on the 13th. SAP CEO Christian Klein emphasized the accuracy and safety of AI, stating that "nearly accurate" results are not sufficient for mission-critical tasks.

The SAP Business AI Platform is the foundation that integrates SAP BTP, SAP Business Data Cloud, and SAP Business AI. The SAP Knowledge Graph structures business entities, processes, and relationships within an enterprise to help AI agents understand business context. Jool Studio supports enterprises in developing agents, applications, and agent-based workflows.

SAP Autonomous Suite supports business automation by applying AI agents to existing SAP business applications. SAP deploys more than 50 Joule assistants in the areas of finance, supply chain, procurement, human capital management, and customer experience, and coordinates more than 200 specialized agents to perform detailed tasks.

An autonomous closing assistant was presented as a representative example. This feature aims to automate financial closing procedures, such as journal entry, account reconciliation, and error resolution, thereby reducing tasks that previously took weeks to just a few days.

Applications across industries are also expanding. Through Industry AI, SAP provides autonomous solutions that reflect industry-specific process logic, data models, and regulatory requirements. At the event, an asset management scenario designed to reduce offshore wind turbine downtime was introduced through collaboration with the European energy company RWE.

SAP also unveiled Joule Work from a user experience perspective. It operates by having users describe the desired business results, after which Joule connects the necessary data, workflows, and agents to execute them. This demonstrates that the way enterprise software is utilized is shifting from a screen-centric approach to intent-based task execution.

SAP has established a €100 million fund to promote the spread of autonomous enterprises and has expanded cooperation with Antropic, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Nvidia, Palantir, and others. As enterprise AI enters a phase where it is required to demonstrate actual operational efficiency and regulatory compliance, SAP's strategy is expected to accelerate the competition in ERP-based AI.