SAP Joule: The new AI co-pilot revolutionizes your company with these 6 steps
Why SAP Joule is paving the way to an intelligent, proactive business platform
SAP Joule is the new standard for working with AI in SAP
Over the past two years, SAP has consistently implemented its vision: artificial intelligence should no longer be an add-on, but an integral part of daily work in SAP systems.
SAP Joule, the generative AI co-pilot, makes this a reality. Joule accompanies users directly in S/4HANA Cloud, SuccessFactors or Ariba: as an assistant, analyst and process companion.
As of October 2025, Joule is already in productive use in many companies and is developing rapidly towards an AI agent ecosystem.
What SAP Joule can do today
SAP Joule uses generative AI to simplify workflows and support decision-making.
Users communicate with Joule in natural language, ask questions or give instructions and receive answers based on their own SAP data.
Examples from practice:
- “Show me the five most important suppliers by purchasing volume in the last quarter.”
- “Create a vacation approval workflow for my team.”
- “What about our cash flow for October?”
Joule accesses structured data from SAP modules, takes roles and authorizations into account and, if configured, can also trigger processes directly, such as approvals or data entry.
Four types of interaction have now been established:
- Informational: Answering questions and creating reports
- Navigational: Guide users to relevant applications
- Transactional: Execute actions in the system
- Analytical: Analyze, compare and visualize data
These functions are currently active in many cloud modules (S/4HANA Cloud, SuccessFactors, Ariba), with further integrations following successively.
The next step: Joule becomes expandable
The real innovation boost will come in 2025 with the expandability of Joule through AI Agents and Joule Skills.
Joule Studio: Your construction kit for individual skills
With the new Joule Studio – part of the SAP Build Suite – companies can develop their own skills.
These skills are small, specialized automations that access APIs or perform recurring tasks, for example:
such as price validations, approvals or reconciliations between SAP and third-party applications.
The advantage:
They can be triggered directly via the Joule chat window in natural language – without users having to know which app or transaction is behind it.
This speeds up the process of using SAP and helps new users in particular to quickly familiarize themselves with the company’s processes.
AI agents: Intelligent helpers with initiative
Building on this, SAP has been introducing AI agents since 2025:
autonomous or semi-autonomous AI components that control complex tasks or entire workflows.
In contrast to SAP Skills, they are not necessarily called up via Joule Chat, but can be built in fluently into processes.
Examples that are already running in pilot projects:
- Cash Management Agent: monitors liquidity, suggests optimizations and can trigger actions.
- People Intelligence Agent: analyzes HR key figures and identifies anomalies in teams or departments.
- Procurement Agent: compares supplier performance and identifies risks in the supply chain.
These agents coordinate multiple skills, incorporate data from SAP and non-SAP systems and act within the company’s governance and authorization structures.
How companies successfully use and expand Joule
A step-by-step approach is recommended to ensure that the use of Joule and AI agents brings real added value:
- Ensure data quality: Only clean, consistent data delivers reliable results.
- Prioritize use cases: Start with clearly defined scenarios, e.g. reporting or approvals.
- Start pilot projects: Small, measurable pilots create acceptance and experience.
- Establish governance: Define rules for access, transparency and auditability.
- Change management: train teams, create trust and make successes visible.
- Expand iteratively: Gradually add new skills and agents where they provide real benefits.
Axians is providing support with its expertise in SAP BTP, data integration, process automation and AI governance – the key building blocks for making Joule a sustainable part of everyday business life.
Opportunities and challenges for the use of AI in day-to-day business
AI is not yet a jack of all trades in 2025. It is always important to keep in mind what these tools were made for and what they can do – and also in which areas they do not yet excel.
The opportunities
- Productivity boost through intelligent automation and user-friendly shortcuts
- Better decision-making thanks to cross-data insights and easy-to-find information
- Consistent user experience across SAP modules
- Future-proof platform: open to new skills and agents
The challenges
- Dependence on data quality and system integration
- Clearly defined processes for uniform governance and monitoring are essential
- Development of change management and user acceptance
- Limits for highly individualized processes and complexities
Outlook: Joule becomes an ecosystem
SAP’s roadmap clearly shows that Joule will become the central, role-based AI layer in the entire SAP cloud portfolio by 2026.
New agents, for example for finance, supply chain or HR, are delivered as standard, and Joule Studio can be used to develop your own company agents.
Companies that start preparing their data landscape and processes for AI-based automation today are laying the foundations for a real competitive advantage.
Conclusion
SAP Joule marks the transition from reactive systems to proactive, adaptive business assistants.
As of October 2025, Joule is much more than a chatbot, it is a strategic tool that helps to reduce complexity and increase efficiency.
With AI agents, Joule Skills and a clear governance strategy, companies have the opportunity to make their SAP landscape more intelligent, agile and user-friendly.
Deeper insights & advice
Axians supports companies on their way to intelligent SAP automation: from data strategy and BTP integration to the implementation of Joule Agents.
Contact us for a no-obligation consultation or find out more about our AI services for SAP solutions.