Sapphire 2023: Artificial intelligence opens up new perspectives for companies

From May 18 to 20, SAP held its Sapphire-Event 2023 SAP: one of the world’s largest conferences for enterprise software and digital innovation.

This year, Sapphire 2023 was all about Artificial Intelligence, highlighting how companies can benefit from advances in this field.

News on SAP and AI

In his keynote address at SAP Sapphire 2023, Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, also announced that SAP is stepping up its AI strategy. Artificial intelligence (AI) has a tremendous impact on our personal and business lives and offers significant value to businesses, Klein said.

Already today, AI is an integral part of many SAP applications used by more than 20,000 customers, he said. In finance in particular, AI helps forecast and ensure a company’s financial performance, he said. By analyzing various success factors, SAP software can analyze pipelines, workforce and other data to make informed predictions, he said.

SAP has already developed numerous AI use cases that improve business process automation and increase productivity by up to 15 percent, he said. As generative AI evolves, the software will change the way people work with SAP software, he said. For example, he said, the software will be able to answer business-related questions and recommend actions to improve business performance.

To achieve these goals, SAP has increased its investment in research and development of AI use cases and formed technology partnerships, he said. One of the most recent partnerships, he said, is a collaboration with Microsoft in the area of generative AI.

A live demo demonstrated how integrating generative AI with SAP SuccessFactors can improve recruitment, training opportunities, and retraining and professional development offerings for employees. In addition, Julia White, vice president of customer experience technology at Unilever, led a conversation with Aaron Rajan, global VP of customer experience technology at Unilever, about the collaboration between SAP and Unilever, particularly in the area of sustainable production of vanilla ice cream.

SAP is thus increasing its use of AI to help companies optimize their business processes and improve their performance. The integration of AI into SAP software promises new opportunities and innovations for companies across different industries. SAP Sapphire 2023 showed that the future of AI is promising and full of potential. You can get another glimpse of this year’s Sapphire in SAP’s YouTube video:

Source: SAP – Future-Proofing Businesses in the Age of AI | SAP Sapphire 2023 (YouTube)

SAP also addressed four other major topics this year:

1. AI and the world of work: SAP’s pioneering solutions

One focus of the event was on the impact of AI on the world of work. SAP presented groundbreaking solutions that intelligently combine human workers and AI technologies. From automating repetitive tasks to supporting decision-making processes based on big data analytics, the world of work is undergoing an impressive transformation.

2. Ethics and transparency: SAP’s commitment to responsible AI

Another important topic was ethical responsibility in the development and application of AI. SAP showed a strong commitment to transparent and ethically responsible AI systems. Discussions on privacy, fairness, and human control over AI algorithms led to intense exchanges and new perspectives in this area.

3. AI in the healthcare industry: revolutionary applications

The use of AI in the healthcare industry was particularly noteworthy. Participants learned about projects that can improve the accuracy of diagnoses, enable personalized medicine, and even revolutionize the treatment of diseases. AI is becoming an indispensable tool for physicians and caregivers to promote human health and well-being.

4. AI for sustainable development: a more sustainable future

SAP also presented inspiring examples of how AI can be used to promote sustainable development. From optimizing supply chains to reduce CO2 emissions to smart energy management in cities, AI is opening up new opportunities to address the challenges of climate change and build a more sustainable future.