IBM and SAP are entering a new phase of their enduring partnership, announcing plans to incorporate IBM Watson’s artificial intelligence (AI) into SAP’s broad suite of solutions. This strategic move is intended to drive digital innovation and enhance productivity across SAP’s portfolio, further solidifying its commitment to transforming businesses into intelligent, sustainable enterprises.
In a major event held in Riyadh, industry giants IBM and SAP unveiled their groundbreaking plan to infuse IBM Watson AI into SAP’s comprehensive suite of software solutions. The announcement reflects a significant evolution in the half-century-old partnership between the two tech titans, with an overarching aim to speed up digital transformation and align with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 digital transformation goals.
SAP, a global leader in enterprise application software, has been instrumental in aiding businesses of all sizes and industries to excel. By integrating IBM Watson’s AI capabilities, SAP aims to further enhance its strategic vision of transforming every business into an intelligent, sustainable enterprise.
The German tech giant’s mission has always been to provide organizations with profound business insights and foster collaboration, thereby enabling them to stay ahead of the competition. On the other hand, IBM, a world leader in hybrid cloud, AI, and business services, has been pivotal in enabling its clients to leverage insights from data, streamline business processes, and carve a competitive edge in their respective industries.
With this latest collaboration, SAP is looking to further simplify the use of its software for businesses, ensuring they can use it as they wish – without any disruption.
A Historic Partnership Between IBM and SAP for Future Innovation
Under the new collaboration, SAP plans to harness IBM Watson’s AI prowess to empower its digital assistant, SAP Start, a unified entry point for SAP’s cloud solutions. The integration of IBM Watson will introduce new AI capabilities into SAP Start, designed to boost user productivity through natural language processing and predictive insights. This move is aimed at providing a more seamless user experience, speeding up decision-making processes, and driving business transformation for SAP’s clientele.
As outlined by Christian Klein, Executive Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of SAP SE, the partnership with IBM marks a significant milestone that will provide additional AI, machine learning, and intelligent technologies into SAP’s solutions, leading to enhanced business outcomes for their shared customers. He noted that the announcement, along with the recent news of the company’s expanded use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a testament of how the “rich, 50-year partnership” between the companies continues to “grow stronger and move the industry forward.”
Revolutionizing Industry Solutions with Artificial Intelligence
IBM’s Watson, boasting robust AI capabilities, is currently utilized by more than 100 million users across 20 industries. Building upon this extensive user base, SAP and IBM Consulting are supporting customers with 25 jointly developed intelligent industry solutions that utilize IBM Watson capabilities, underpinned by the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP).
These industry-specific solutions are designed to help customers across various sectors such as retail, manufacturing, and utilities expedite their business transformations and make data-driven decisions. As Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM, highlighted, this collaboration with SAP will give businesses innovative ways to harness AI and leverage it as a competitive advantage. He further said:
“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.”
Aside from embedding IBM Watson AI natively into SAP’s solutions, the two tech powerhouses are also working on generative AI and large language models. The aim is to deliver consistent learning and automation capabilities, reflecting SAP’s dedication to ongoing innovation in its application suite. This announcement signifies a significant leap in the long-standing relationship between IBM and SAP, setting new precedents in the AI integration landscape in business solutions.
