Machine learning and artificial intelligence are twin features that have made their way into SAP/4HANA. Since they’ve enhanced every single industry that they’ve entered, it will be interesting to see what they can bring here.

AI for SAP has been introduced in over 40 countries and 22 languages for SAP. Hence, the benefits will be largely global. These can include gaining insights from huge volumes of data, predicting system behavior, and even preventing hacks. Here is a look at the new AI-powered features in SAP/4HANA.

Leonardo: The SAP AI

Leonardo is the name given to the AI developed by SAP. It employs machine learning to analyze commercial deals. It does this while the deals are playing out. It can even determine the likelihood of the deal going through and the value it will produce. It can even predict the close date. In a much simpler scenario, the AI could be used to track orders and examine the status of certain factors. Here are a few characteristics of how Leonardo works:

• Human Observation: Machine learning continues to employ data collection techniques through the observation of humans. These can include workers and executives alike. It does this within the boundaries of privacy and security.
• Programmatic Logic: Programmatically applying machine logic to every task will allow for best practices to be infused within any process. This will lead to better outcomes and ultimately more data for even more specific use cases.
• Anomalies: The smartest machines can get caught in some more complicated scenarios. Hence, SAP has engineered machine learning so that it can hand off the most complicated processes to humans. This provides a bigger tier of advancement. It will allow machine programs to learn. Hence, it will allow the machines to learn from their mistakes and learn how to pick up skills per use case.

What Is SAP Conversational AI?

Conversational AI is the future for most AI-based functions. The technology allows personal and digital assistants to carry out your tasks efficiently. Conversational UI can help carry out multiple steps in a single command. For example, you can buy a product just by talking to your device. This will feed your credit card number into the website or portal and buy the product. Doing this through the traditional method would take several clicks and swipes.

The 1805 release for SAP Conversational AI gives a conversational user interface. This is integrated with the SAP CoPilot digital assistant.

What Problems Can AI Solve?

Artificial Intelligence in the ERP engine allows for more predictive analysis to be undertaken. Hence, in some areas, decision making can be automated away from the human manager. In this regard, most of the mundane tasks handled by humans can be swept aside. This will leave more time and effort open to be used for more important tasks.

This will allow business logic and standard operating procedures to be built on more hard evidence. It will sift through the nonsense and the conventional wisdom that plagues so many industries. SAP’s integration of Artificial Intelligence allows for the building of business practices on the true best practices of an organization.

This will save a ton of resources since the need to pay data scientists for this analysis will evaporate. In the backdrop, only customers will be needed to supply the data.

Some of the advantages that AI will allow SAP are:

• Accruals management. Closing books can be faster in any order. Since the automated conversion of the purchase order into posted accruals will free up time.
• Defect Code Proposal. Quality checks and error analyses will be done faster. This will increase the quality of the data collected and hence the insights extracted from it. Also, the automated categorization of the code will allow for better analysis of data.
• Automated Financial Journal Entries. The collection, extraction, and validation of financial data from emails can be automated. This will save hundreds of man-hours throughout the year that are spent slaving over a screen. Instead of looking for needles in a haystack, workers can be hired for more productive tasks.
• Development of Newer Business Models. Better data collection and greater volumes of data will allow SAP to simulate better commercial offers. These will be based on usage pricing and subscription prices. It will also be based on relative usage. This will help roll out better business practices up to 40% faster according to SAP itself.
• Product and Service Personalization: Due to better data collection and analysis, the time needed to produce a product will effectively be shortened. The feedback and insights generated through AI will allow for companies to shift up delivery dates by 10-20%. Greater data collection will also mean better personalization of products, with one region being served differently than others. These changes can come in the form of package redesigning or product redesigning many times during the same life cycle.

The Future of AI and SAP

SAP has further invested €200 M into artificial intelligence and Blockchain. This is specifically to invest in a technology development center in Berlin. The goal is to tap into the startup economy of the city. However, the endgame is to produce new and innovative technologies that will boost the capability of SAP.

SAP runs an innovation center in the Potsdam suburb of Berlin already.

SAP’s integration with AI is allowing it to move forward in ways previously thought impossible. Through a framework of learning complexities in tech and business, Leonardo is being groomed for improvement. Hence the integration of SAP with AI will bear consistent fruits.