70% of 500 top-tier IT leaders indicated that they plan to prioritize generative AI for their businesses in the next year according to generative AI stats. 80% of big tech firms have already invested in generative AI. SAP, as one of the big tech firms, is developing SAP BTP generative AI capabilities.
In this article, we will cover SAP BTP generative AI hub, the tools in this hub and their functionalities, the tools outside of the hub, and use cases and benefits of leveraging generative AI in SAP solutions.
What is SAP BTP Generative AI hub?
The SAP Generative AI hub facilitates the development of AI-powered extensions and applications on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). This hub grants access to various large language models (LLMs) from multiple providers. Its integration involves several steps:
- Creating an SAP AI Core service instance
- Configuring an LLM referencing a provider-specific executable
- Deploying the configuration via the SAP AI Launchpad UI or the SAP AI Core APIs.
Once deployed, SAP AI Core generates a unique URL for accessing the LLM, enabling the infusion of generative AI capabilities into applications.
SAP BTP also helps integrating these LLMs into other SAP-certified tools and apps (e.g Redwood and SAP), such as:
- SAP job schedulers
- SAP process orchestration tools
- SAP utility solutions
- SAP meter-to-cash process technologies.
Here is a video explaining this Hub in SAP AI:
8 SAP BTP GenAI hub components
2 GenAI hub components to manage AI deployments
As it can be seen in Figure 2 below, the hub consists of two main components:
- SAP AI Launchpad is a platform within the AI Hub in SAP that facilitates deployment and management of AI models. It allows users to configure and instantiate AI deployments across SAP business applications.
- SAP AI Core infrastructure refers to embedded generative AI solutions and services. SAP AI core integrates to Kubernetes infrastructure, proxies and AI workloads to manage AI model lifecycles and improve global SAP solution implementations.
3 Tools & services in the GenAI hub
SAP BTP generative AI hub offers some features and services, which are listed as:
3. Document Information Extraction
SAP BTP improves its Document Information Extraction service with generative AI capabilities. The new premium version’s features include:
- Automated extraction of unstructured data by specifying required fields or providing document files to the Document API
- Automatic upgrading of the documents by matching the document with extra information via enrichment data API
- Multilingual support for over 40 languages
- Elimination of manual annotation and resource-intensive machine learning training.
Here is a brief video explaining the capability:
4. Joule Copilot
Joule is SAP’s AI copilot that enhances productivity with contextual insights and handles isolated tasks like retrieving data, extracting insights, and answering queries independently.
Joule leverages collaborative SAP AI agents and extends its capabilities to execute end-to-end processes across SAP ecosystem. These AI agents specialize in specific business functions such as finance, supply chain, and service management, enabling expertise-driven automation and collaboration.
- In Q4 2024, Joule Studio released a low-code/no-code platform for creating and managing custom AI skills.
- By Q1 2025, Joule will expand NLP capabilities and enable developers to extend AI agents for specific business needs.
5. SAP Build Code
SAP Build Code is a comprehensive code development solution powered by generative AI, designed to streamline application lifecycle management and foster collaboration between technical users, citizen developers, and business analysts. It supports low-code, Java, JavaScript, and ABAP development environments, catering to both technical developers and citizen developers.
SAP Build Code’s key features can be listed as:
- Code Development:
- Generates code and application logic for SAP-centric programming models.
- Designs data models with the help of Joule Copilot’s assistance.
- Automates QA with unit test generation.
- Integration and Services:
- Leverages prebuilt integrations, APIs, and business services via the SAP Service Center.
- Integrates with SAP BTP to ensure authentication, authorization, and data protection compliance.
- Fusion Development:
- Encourages collaboration by sharing application components like user interfaces and business logic across teams.
- AI-Enhanced Capabilities:
- Incorporates SAP’s Joule Studio to create and manage custom AI skills, with further expansions planned for autonomous processes.
With the integration of Joule Studio, SAP Build Code is expected to expand its capabilities for creating and managing custom AI skills and extend its functionality for autonomous processes.
Here is a video introducing the tool:
3 Tools & services outside of the hub
6. Cloud Vector Engine
The SAP Hana Cloud vector engine integrates vector embeddings with business data, empowering intelligent data applications. By running SAP Hana cloud vector engine, the users can:
- Achieve high-performance application development
- Implement semantic and similarity search techniques for documents like contracts
- Deliver personalized recommendations
- Enrich LLM outputs with contextual data for enhanced effectiveness.
7. SAP Analytics Cloud
SAP Analytics Cloud is a comprehensive analytics and planning solution designed to maximize the value of investments in critical business applications and data sources. It integrates with SAP BTP to establish a centralized data warehouse, enabling reporting and planning. Features include:
- Trusted AI integration with generative AI like Joule Copilot for automating reporting and uncovering insights
- Mission-critical analytics with industry-specific content
- Enterprise planning transformation for collaborative financial, supply chain, and operational planning.
8. SAP Cloud ALM Solution
SAP Cloud ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) can manage the complete lifecycle of SAP applications in the cloud. SAP Cloud ALM supports the entire application lifecycle from planning through to deployment and ongoing operations, managing requirements, testing, change management, deployment, and operations of SAP systems.
4 use cases to implement SAP generative AI tools in business
Some of the ways SAP BTP generative AI hub tools can be deployed in businesses include:
Social Media Citizen Reporting
Explore the Generative AI Hub, a central tool on SAP BTP, for securely developing generative AI applications. It provides access to various large language models and supports the creation, monitoring, and orchestration of AI scenarios. Tools include prompt engineering, experimentation through a playground, and access to code libraries and SDKs.
SAP BTP Services that can be used:
- Generative AI Hub: Central management for AI scenario creation and monitoring.
- SAP AI Core: Provides AI capabilities for development and deployment.
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP HANA Cloud: Integrated for data and application management.
- CAP (Cloud Application Programming Model): Simplifies application development.
- SAP Build Apps: Supports application lifecycle management.
Embedding Business Context with SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine
Discover the SAP HANA Cloud Vector Engine, which grounds models for relevant outcomes by aligning responses with business context. It helps eliminate inaccuracies and improves the relevance of data outputs.
SAP BTP Services that can be used:
- Generative AI Hub: Manages and orchestrates AI models.
- SAP HANA Cloud: Provides the Vector Engine for processing and managing vector embeddings.
- SAP AI Core: Integrates AI capabilities for enhanced data processing.
Generative AI-based code development with Joule in SAP Build Code
Explore “capGPT” in SAP Build Code for enhancing development productivity through automatic code generation based on the CAP model. It simplifies the coding process and improves efficiency in application development.
SAP BTP Services that can be used:
- SAP Build Code: Provides tools for application development and lifecycle management.
- Joule: Generative AI tool for code generation and automation.
- CAP (Cloud Application Programming Model): Simplifies application development and integration.
Bringing Open-Source LLMs into SAP AI Core
Integrate popular open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) into SAP AI Core to enhance data privacy and foster innovation within the LLM community. This approach provides flexibility and scalability tailored to specific business needs.
SAP BTP Services that can be used:
- SAP AI Core: Integrates open-source LLMs for enhanced AI capabilities.
- SAP Generative AI Hub: Manages and orchestrates AI models.
- Open-Source LLMs (Phi 3, LLaMa 3, Mistral, etc.): Provides alternative AI models for specific business use cases.
Top 4 Benefits of using GenAI in SAP
Some of the benefits SAP BTP Generative AI hub offers include:
- Model selection: SAP with genAI capabilities systematically selects models based on accuracy, latency, and operational needs. It utilizes offerings from AI partners like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and AWS, along with open-source platforms.
- Compliance and Integration: GenAI can help with compliance, trust, and integration into business applications by standardizing and delivering common programming models to expedite innovation.
- Context integration: These features can integrate business context into LLMs to enhance efficacy, leveraging extensive data assets in SAP.
- Accessibility: LLMs are useful for both developers and non-developers which increases accessibility to systems.
Recent developments in SAP Generative AI hub
SAP has introduced improvements to its generative AI hub, enhancing efficiency, customization, and scalability. Key updates include:
- Enhanced development capabilities:
- Customization of pre-trained AI models for specific business needs using a guided process.
- Simplified integration to accelerate innovation and deliver effective AI-driven solutions.
- Integration tools:
- New SDK support for ABAP, Java, and JavaScript for easier embedding of AI features in web applications.
- ABAP AI SDK integration to incorporate AI capabilities into SAP S/4HANA Cloud custom applications.
- Model advancements:
- Enhanced document grounding capabilities and vector database integration.
- Availability of new models by end-2024:
- Aleph Alpha Pharia-1
- Amazon Titan Image Generator
- IBM Granite
- Mistral Large 2
- OpenAI Dall-E 3
FAQs
What is SAP BTP?
SAP BTP stands for SAP Business Technology Platform, a comprehensive environment merging data and analytics, artificial intelligence, application development, automation, and integration. It’s designed as an optimal platform for SAP applications operating in the cloud. SAP BTP enables businesses to integrate and expand their SAP solutions, refining their operational workflows while preserving the integrity of their core systems.
What is generative AI?
Generative AI models leverage existing text, audio, or images to produce fresh content by discerning underlying patterns. Unlike conventional AI, which tackles problems with singular answers, generative AI aims at creativity and diversity in outputs. Key techniques include:
Transformers: Models like GPT-3, LaMDA, Wu-Dao, and ChatGPT employ cognitive attention and differential significance measurement to comprehend and generate language or images from vast datasets.
Generative adversarial networks (GANs): GANs compete to produce data resembling the source while discerning between real and generated data.
Variational auto-encoders: Encoding inputs into compressed representations, these models decode to reproduce the original data, offering a compact representation of input data distribution when trained effectively.
Further reading
Learn more about other tools that can be implemented together with SAP BTP through our data-driven benchmarks:
- Top 7+ Workload Automation Tools: Vendor Benchmark
- Compare 18 Orchestration Tools: 5,000+ Reviews & Features
- Top 12+ IT Automation Software: Vendor Benchmarking
If you still have questions, you can always contact us:
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