Spend management innovations
Recent innovations

Joule, SAP’s AI copilot in guided sourcing
Streamline daily tasks by easily navigating sourcing events, tracking event status, viewing supplier bids, sending reminders, processing approvals, and more—all while using natural language.
AI-driven intake management for procurement
Orchestrate purchase requests and tasks with a single, AI-guided front door that simplifies procurement intake, automates workflows, improves compliance, and enhances the user experience.
AI-enhanced skills matching
Amplify existing AI tools, such as resume analysis and job description creation, to easily match contractors with open positions—for a more cohesive, efficient, and streamlined hiring process.
Intuitive, AI-based assistance with Joule copilot
Joule, SAP’s generative AI copilot, is now integrated with guided buying. Submit your query about purchases and receive immediate insights. Ask Joule about requisition statuses, shipping details, line item details, and more.
Planned Innovations
SAP is unveiling next-gen SAP Ariba: an AI-native source-to-pay suite that’s simpler, smarter, seamlessly connected, and built on SAP Business Technology Platform.
Q4
2025
Intelligent contracting
Reduce review time and manual effort as Joule extracts key info, generates summaries, and scans past contracts for compliance issues to aid negotiations.
Q4
2025
Joule for simplified invoice creation
Accelerate invoice processing and supplier payments by enabling employees to easily submit invoices from SAP cloud ERP solutions.
Q1
2026
SAP Ariba launchpad
Unify navigation, to-dos, and insights with a central SAP Ariba launchpad feature that simplifies the user experience by providing a clear, intuitive workflow.
Q1
2026
Innovation in contract management
Boost value across the contract lifecycle through deeper integration with Icertis Contract Intelligence, native authoring tools, and AI-based functionality.
Q1
2026
Generative AI copilots across the suite
Work faster and smarter with Joule built into workflows—from AI-assisted contract analysis and sourcing events, to intelligent bid analysis and supplier summaries.
Q1
2026
Intelligent and automated sourcing
Revolutionize sourcing with an AI-assisted engine to aggregate demand, analyze bids, manage complex scenarios, and enable more competitive sourcing events.
Q1
2026
Holistic, AI-driven supplier management
Enhance supplier 360 profiles, performance evaluations, action plans, and AI-based risk analysis to build resilient and successful partnerships.
Q1
2026
AI supplier-response summary
Enable smarter category management, sourcing, and contracting as Joule, SAP’s AI copilot, reviews and summarizes supplier responses into clear insights.
Q2
2026
Spend Intelligence in SAP Business Data Cloud
Get deep visibility into your unified, enriched SAP and non-SAP spending data. Drive intelligent growth using AI-based insights, analytics, and cross-team collaboration.