What is SAP Business Suite?
SAP Business Suite marks a new era of enterprise management, integrating AI and real-time data into SAP’s comprehensive business applications.
Overview of SAP Business Suite
Modern business operations face a fundamental shift. Companies handle increasingly dense data, making system-wide visibility, efficiency, and integration challenging to achieve. They must also stay relevant and resilient as technology rapidly evolves through breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. In response, enterprise management needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. The next generation of business software must withstand these growing complexities while empowering new opportunities.
SAP offers fresh, future-driven solutions to these new challenges with SAP Business Suite. Focused on built-in innovation, AI agents and context-rich data are embedded into our core cloud ERP and line-of-business applications. This unified approach to enterprise management helps organisations scale and succeed more easily than ever before.
Change can become a catalyst for progress. Without structure, however, research shows that companies struggle with adapting to technological advancements. By combining AI, data, and applications, SAP Business Suite offers a clearer path toward digital transformation.
To understand how SAP Business Suite drives innovations forward, we break down the three new pillars of enterprise management: AI, data, and applications.
Embracing AI for business
Imagine AI technology adapted to companies’ unique needs, trained on internal data and tailored to their specific workflows. Practical AI for business is now a reality with SAP Business AI. Embedded across SAP Business Suite, SAP Business AI integrates AI tools throughout users’ software. The result accelerates productivity and creates data-driven insights to enrich the decision-making process. SAP Business AI seamlessly fits into customers’ existing workflow through this multilayered system of AI tools:
Joule AI orchestrator
AI orchestrator Joule transforms the user experience. Instead of juggling time-consuming logistical tasks and hunting down files, users accelerate every workflow through Joule’s natural language interface. Imagine Joule as a guide through different processes, answering questions, managing systems, and delivering insights—all through conversational experiences integrated into everyday tools. Joule becomes more in tune with users’ needs with every interaction.
Joule AI agents
Joule features a network of collaborative AI agents that automate complex workflows across every business function. AI agents are specialised applications that perform intricate business tasks with minimal human intervention. They can reason through information, plan courses of action, and resolve challenges. Unifying company data and processes, SAP’s AI agents coordinate operations across different departments, streamlining human collaboration. Joule provides an intuitive UI to manage and track AI agents. Joule AI agents are deployment-ready for roles in:
Finance management
Human resources management
Supply chain management
Spend management
Customer experience management
Customised AI
Companies can access custom AI-first applications with SAP’s pool of partners and resources. Tapping into SAP’s decades-deep knowledge of business processes, SAP Foundation Model offers a rich framework for developing generative AI applications proven for real-world needs. SAP Knowledge Graph finds data patterns, improving the relevancy and accuracy of AI-generated content. With these assets, users can fine-tune and deploy their own AI tools through SAP AI Core.
SAP also partners with an ecosystem of AI development leaders, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and NVIDIA, to develop new AI use cases. These partnerships help nurture more pragmatic solutions for companies.
Achieving clarity in the data cloud
As operations get more complex, information becomes an essential barometer for decision-making. However, valuable insights are lost when important data gets trapped behind department silos. SAP Business Data Cloud clears away these blockages by unifying data across SAP and non-SAP systems. This data integration creates an organised information landscape with real-time updates across SAP Business Suite. Here’s how cloud data management can transform operations:
Greater transparency
Get a 360-degree view of business operations throughout SAP and third-party applications and databases. With fewer barriers to information, teams gain greater efficiency and more opportunities to share and collaborate.
Deeper insights
Raw data only becomes valuable when organised in an interconnected way. Partnering with data intelligence platform Databricks, SAP Business Data Cloud uses AI to analyse datasets for hidden patterns and identify potential trends. This predictive analysis process enables teams to see the big picture and make informed decisions. The system also offers zero-copy data access. This allows companies to use data stored across SAP and non-SAP sources, without needing to copy or transfer data between platforms.
Enriched AI
The effectiveness of AI depends on the quality of its training data. With SAP Business Data Cloud, Joule AI agents gain access to dependable, contextualised data from company operations. This provides the fertile groundwork needed to create accurate AI-generated material and automate complex business processes.
SAP Business Suite webinar series
Join us October 21 to see how AI-enabled ERP with Business Suite helps consumer and retail industry CIOs empower their business with AI, data, and applications.
Employing practical business applications
The foundation of SAP Business Suite is built upon our robust applications like cloud ERP, backed by over 50 years of experience in core business operations across all industries. Linked as one centralised system, these cloud-based solutions expand this legacy, offering more opportunities for innovation and collaboration.
Comprehensive end-to-end software suite
SAP’s interconnected suite of solutions streamlines production and information across SAP Business Suite. Applications cover every facet of enterprise management, including:
Supply chain: Build a risk-resilient supply chain using a data-driven ecosystem to oversee planning, logistics, manufacturing, product life management, and asset management
Procurement: Simplify the process of buying, invoice management, and catalogue creation
Finance: Promote growth while minimising risks with solutions for account reporting, financial planning and analysis, and tax and treasury management
Human resources: Foster a thriving team with tools overseeing talent management, employee experience, payroll, HR analytics, and workforce planning
Customer experience: Gain insight through meaningful customer data and nurture customer loyalty with solutions in sales automation and customer service
IT: Design and adapt solutions to unique business needs with built-in application development, data analytics, enterprise integration, and AI capabilities
Tailored industry solutions
Alongside comprehensive core applications, SAP also designs preconfigured processes that target the unique challenges of diverse industries. From manufacturing to mining, and from transportation to telecommunications, these focused capabilities are deployment-ready to solve your industry-specific needs.
Supportive innovation
Integrate and extend business applications faster through SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). This system brings together tools for low-code application development, workflow automation, integration, data analytics, and AI into one central environment. With these essential resources, developers can accelerate system integration and application development—transforming rough ideas in active use cases. Instead of cookie-cutter restrictions, SAP BTP enables teams to create personalised experiences that best fit companies’ operational needs.
What makes SAP Business Suite different from SAP Business Suite 7?
SAP Business Suite represents the latest in enterprise management technology, upgrading software capabilities across the board as compared to SAP Business Suite 7. Here’s where SAP Business Suite elevates previous operations, ensuring companies remain competitive:
Cloud deployment
Instead of on-premises deployment, SAP Business Suite uses a software as a service (SaaS) cloud-based model to facilitate faster maintenance, upgrades, and AI integration.
SAP S/4HANA
SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) is replaced by SAP S/4HANA, the most advanced ERP software suite, which uses in-memory computing for faster processing and analytics.
Applications
SAP Business Suite offers integrated applications enhanced by AI tools and data cloud management.
Benefits of SAP Business Suite
Building on SAP’s cloud systems, SAP Business Suite offers greater flexibility and innovation compared to on-premises systems. From AI automation to data transparency, here’s how companies can benefit from SAP Business Suite transformation:
AI agility
AI technology is shifting how businesses work, boosting productivity and revealing new opportunities. Integrating the technology, however, poses fresh challenges. Companies must sort through a constantly evolving AI landscape to find tools that best fit their needs.
SAP Business Suite removes the guesswork behind AI. Supported by SAP Business AI, users receive the latest practical AI innovations in their everyday business applications. Clean core principles help ensure that updates follow the highest security and compliance standards.
Data empowerment
Cloud systems enable the fluid exchange of data across business operations. Processes and insights flow freely, enabling real-time collaboration and adaptability. However, data’s true value depends on clear organisation and analysis to reveal patterns and trends. Through SAP Business Data Cloud, users can access the most muscular business intelligence tools available.
Uniting data from both SAP and non-SAP systems, SAP Business Data Cloud creates a semantically rich data landscape to support the decision-making process. This data in turn enhances AI applications for the most accurate and customised performance.
Personalised applications
SAP’s applications still connect core business operations together. However, SAP Business Suite can achieve deeper levels of personalisation, tailoring automation and analysis tools to individual needs.
Data cloud management offers comprehensive insight into inner company workings. Instead of generic AI solutions, applications use AI agents adapted to companies’ internal data and workflow. With these customised tools, companies can anticipate market shifts, innovate faster, and capitalise on new opportunities.
Migrating to SAP Business Suite
SAP is committed to supporting customers through their intelligent enterprise transformation, so companies can remain competitive. SAP pledges to continue support and maintenance for on-premises SAP Business Suite 7 through 2027. Customers can also choose optional extended maintenance services until 2030. Whether using on-premises or cloud-based operations, SAP offers supportive pathways throughout the transition process.
On-premises customers
Designed for existing on-premises customers, RISE with SAP offers guidance throughout the cloud migration to SAP Business Suite. The program features comprehensive services and tools like SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, and WalkMe. Companies can customise their own cloud transition road map, reducing risks and minimising workday disruptions.
Users join a cloud ERP system built on the clean core approach, which follows strong security and compliance standards. Companies can streamline their enterprise management while accessing the latest AI-driven analytics and automation opportunities. Through this guided transformation, companies can modernise their existing legacy systems, keeping their competitive edge while preparing for the future.
Cloud customers
Cloud-based ERP customers can deploy their future-focused operations straight out the gate, empowered by SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. Because of its software as a service (SaaS) cloud-based model, SAP Business Suite users enjoy immediate access to the newest features and updates. Through SAP Business AI, companies also benefit from built-in AI functionality, featuring integrated networks of AI agents specialised for each business operation.
Companies can also adopt the cloud at their own pace. SAP’s two-tier ERP solutions offer extra flexibility, allowing enterprises to adopt both private and public cloud systems to fit their specific needs. Regardless of pace or format, an ecosystem of experts and community resources provide customers support every step of the way.
Discover SAP Business Suite
Dive into the future of enterprise management technology, fusing AI and cloud data with SAP’s robust business applications.