SAP SE and IBM announced IBM Watson technology will be integrated into SAP solutions to deliver fresh AI-driven insights and automation to support innovation and improve user experiences throughout the SAP solution range.
The digital assistant in SAP Start, which serves as a single-entry point for SAP’s cloud solutions, will be powered by IBM Watson's capabilities, according to a May 2 news release. Users can search for, launch and interact with apps offered in cloud solutions from SAP and SAP S/4HANA Cloud using SAP Start.
“This milestone collaboration with IBM aims to provide SAP customers a better user experience, faster decision-making and greater insights to help transform their business processes,” SAP CEO Christian Klein said in the release. “Working together to incorporate additional AI, machine learning and other intelligent technologies into SAP solutions can lead to better business outcomes for our joint customers. Today’s news, along with the recent news of our expanded use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a prime example of how the rich, 50-year partnership between our companies continues to grow stronger and move the industry forward.”
To assist in addressing a variety of queries for managers and staff, new digital assistant capabilities in SAP Start will be expanded throughout SAP solutions, the release reported. The features are intended to help increase staff productivity by automating and expediting routine operations so they may concentrate on more strategic work.
With the capacity to leverage AI and machine learning to extract data from numerous data sources and respond to user inquiries across business lines, SAP Start will enable clients to take advantage of insight at the point of decision-making, according to the release. Almost 13 million users of the TripIt mobile app from SAP Concur can now easily access AI-derived weather insights to make more environmentally friendly travel decisions both before and during their trips, thanks to IBM technology.
“IBM and SAP are joining forces to give businesses new and exciting ways to harness the transformative power of AI and use it as a source of competitive advantage,” IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna said in the release. “With this announcement, we are infusing IBM Watson’s powerful, enterprise-grade AI capabilities into SAP’s leading ERP platform to help businesses reimagine customer experiences, boost productivity and fuel growth.”
