As I reflect on this year’s SAP Sapphire event, I’m filled with excitement about the future of supply chain management.
The innovations we unveiled represent a fundamental shift in how businesses can approach their operations in an increasingly complex global landscape. The positive energy from our customers and partners reinforces my belief that we’re on the right path with our AI-first, suite-first, network-centric strategy.
Unifying the supply chain ecosystem
The cornerstone of SAP’s latest offerings is the significant enhancement to the SAP Supply Chain Management and SAP Cloud ERP solutions. These improvements create a more unified and intelligent ecosystem for supply chain management, addressing the multifaceted challenges businesses face today.
Key innovations strengthen end-to-end business processes in SAP Business Suite. The simple handover of complex product data — such as bill of materials, recipes, or material price estimations — streamline the transition from product development to production with SAP Integrated Product Development. Additionally, the integration of service orders into SAP Digital Manufacturing enables advanced manufacturing processes for service and repair processes. Changes in production orders are seamlessly synchronized with the shop-floor execution for highly adaptive processes.
Launched in February, SAP Business Suite is a comprehensive set of integrated solutions, combining cloud ERP, business applications, SAP Business Data Cloud, and SAP Business AI – powered by the SAP Business Technology Platform. At Sapphire, SAP introduced cloud suite packages designed to align with specific line-of-business needs. The SAP Business Suite package for SAP Supply Chain Management offers a comprehensive, AI-driven, and network-enabled solution to help customers integrate data, operational processes, and supply chain functions, delivering greater flexibility, transparency, and responsiveness while supporting sustainability initiatives and metrics.
The introduction of smart guided execution in SAP Digital Manufacturing supports compliant manufacturing in life sciences, chemicals, and regulated fast-moving consumer goods businesses, through intelligent process guidance and a new electronic batch record system. This helps ensure traceability and compliance while reducing errors and improving overall production quality.
Customers in asset-intensive industries, such as utilities, travel and transportation, and energy and/or natural resources, benefit from advanced asset health monitoring capabilities in SAP Asset Performance Management. An enhanced management of time series data and Internet of Things (IoT) device integration is enabled based on SAP’s partnership with Cumulocity. This allows businesses to leverage real-time data for predictive maintenance and asset optimization, potentially reducing downtime and maintenance costs.
By introducing connected supply chain processes that bridge various SAP applications and cloud ERP, SAP is offering improved data flow, AI-driven insights, and end-to-end process optimization across supply chain and core business functions. This integration is not just about connecting the dots, but creating a seamless flow of information and actions that can transform business operations.
How Joule and agentic AI are revolutionizing supply chain management
Our commitment to AI-driven solutions was evident in several key innovations. SAP’s AI copilot, Joule, is poised to transform supply chain operations. By the end of the year, Joule will enable supply chain planners — for example, demand or supply planners — to quickly and easily interpret supply planning results through intelligent analysis of demand, inventory, and supply planning in SAP Integrated Business Planning. This capability will significantly enhance decision-making processes in supply chain planning.
Simultaneously, SAP’s expansion of agentic AI across SAP Business Suite marks a significant leap toward autonomous supply chain operations.
Key agents announced include:
- Maintenance Planner Agent: Streamlines maintenance planning and coordination
- Shopfloor Supervisor Agent: Proactively manages shop-floor disruptions, such as machine failures, and performs necessary rescheduling to maintain productivity
- Field Service Dispatcher Agent: Autonomously schedules and optimizes service orders in SAP Field Service Management
These agents, set for general availability in the fourth quarter of 2025, promise to transform planning into a proactive, continuous process by monitoring various data sources, surfacing relevant context, and recommending actions.
Enhanced SAP Business Network capabilities for supply chain orchestration and sustainability
SAP announced significant enhancements to SAP Business Network, the world’s largest B2B platform facilitating over US$6.3 trillion in annual commerce across 190 countries. These new capabilities are designed to revolutionize supply chain orchestration by providing unprecedented visibility, efficiency, and compliance in supply chain processes.
New improvements include more streamlined compliance and quality control for mass upload of certificate documents for suppliers and buyer-controlled document mandates for specific certifications.
To enhance supply chain efficiency and sustainability, new advanced logistics collaboration features offer enhanced greenhouse gas emissions tracking with actual transportation data integration and extended ocean freight support with new tendering and dispute handling functionalities.
Another key improvement focuses on enhanced asset management, with cloud-based ERP integration for better synchronization control, bi-directional integration of materials and models, and automated equipment creation through AAS file uploads and integration of quality inspection checklists.
All enhancements are scheduled to be available by the end of 2025, offering businesses across industries the opportunity to simplify tracking of critical certifications, improve compliance, reduce delays, and support regulatory adherence and sustainability goals across the supply chain.
By integrating actual transportation emissions data, businesses gain more accurate carbon footprint analysis, empowering them to better balance operational efficiency with environmental responsibility.
SAP Business Network Commerce Automation, with data federation, is planned to be available in Europe and KSA by the end of the third quarter of 2025. Additionally, SAP Business Network Supply Chain Collaboration, with data federation, is scheduled to be available in Europe and KSA by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.
The road ahead
As we continue to roll out these new capabilities throughout 2025, I’m more convinced than ever of SAP’s commitment to ongoing innovation to drive value for our customers. In a world where global uncertainties, risks, and disruptions require a delicate balancing act between adaptability and productivity, SAP Business Suite for supply chain management stands out. It leverages intelligence and all relevant internal and external data to provide the insights needed to make the right decisions, enabling business to adapt and thrive.
Our vision is clear: a future where supply chains are not just reactive systems but proactive, intelligent networks that can anticipate disruptions, optimize operations, and drive business growth.
I’m excited about the journey ahead and look forward to seeing how these innovations will transform businesses across industries.
For those who couldn’t join us at SAP Sapphire, I encourage you to join us at SAP SCM Connect in October, where we’ll dive deeper into these innovations and showcase even more exciting developments in our innovation road map.
Dominik Metzger is president and chief product officer of SAP Supply Chain Management.
