Starting your GenAI journey with SAP

It seems like GenAI is a hot topic right now but it’s more than just talk. Companies are now expecting to see this applied across supplied services and business solutions.

According to SAP CEO Christian Klein, no technology is better placed to embed AI in client operating systems than SAP. GenAI has indeed made a rapid jump from being a TechEd discussion a few years ago to something that is expected to be part of technical delivery and business capabilities.

This blog outlines how companies can begin leveraging GenAI in relation to SAP solutions and explore its use across the following three areas:

• Digital assistants
• Supplied software and services
• Business and technical solutions

In the following sections, we will introduce each of these topics and recommend steps to help you kickstart your GenAI journey.

GenAI within digital assistants

Why was SAP announcing its new co-pilot, Joule, considered a significant step change in its digital assistant offerings? Co-pilots and digital assistants, after all, are not new to SAP clients. They have been available for quite some time and have gone through various iterations and rebranding. There are also many other virtual aids, bots, automated chat services or digital assistants from leading vendors (with increasing AI and GenAI capabilities), which are now a part of digital solutions. Indeed, HCLTech has had its own digital assistant, Lucy, and a GenAI solution of IOANA for support

Well, when it comes to SAP solutions, Joule is different and stands out as a GenAI-enabled assistant that can ease navigation through the software, providing wider intelligent insights to facilitate and improve faster input and processing of business processes.

Joule (or any other future variation) will be part of SAP’s future offering. Expect to see solutions like these included into core business processing to complete many of the business tasks or processing within the application.

So, how do you get started with Joule? The most obvious first step is to use the free and readily available SAP information on Joule. SAP provides a wealth of information from events like Sapphire and TechEd, including many presentations, blogs and product information. However, a very effective way of finding out more is to start the SAP learning journey (under “Exploring the SAP Business AI Portfolio” and in the “Getting to Know Joule, SAP's Next-Generation AI Copilot”). With SAP's transition from open SAP courses to main learning journey areas, this approach is an effective first step to building awareness and information.

HCLTech can also support companies in understanding GenAI on projects (or in support engagements via quarterly business reviews) via our own facilitated workshops. We offer initial first use cases on deployment and upgrade projects to ease adoption and help companies take the first steps towards newer innovation areas.

Additionally, if your company already uses SuccessFactors, note that Joule's initial use cases and development were in this functional area. Therefore, this is the most obvious point for a company to assess its capabilities and identify initial use cases to deploy.

Supplied software and services

Many SAP and associated software and services already have AI and/or GenAI. From a project delivery perspective, this statement may be surprising, but if you come from an application support background then you are already dealing with this every day. Most outsourced support partners use AI and GenAI for incident and problem management, as well as for self-service assistance and bots. Additionally, these intelligent and generative capabilities provide contextualized assistance and responses to business users in SAP's software and solutions.

HCLTech offers a range of services and solutions that provide frameworks or tools for SAP deployment, support or innovation. Given the high demand for HANA upgrades and digital transformations, as well as ongoing support and service improvements, many of our services and offerings have integrated GenAI to meet market demand and expectations. We've leveraged AI and GenAI solutions to apply the correct knowledge to resolve tickets, recommend remediation for older code or improve business queries or processing.

To receive quality service and solution delivery amid increased market demand, companies should assess where and how AI and GenAI is being used in their solutions and services. This assessment can also help ensure this capability is available, used and actively applied to deliver effective business solutions. Just being aware of when it's available and how it's being utilized (in software and services) is the very first step companies can take in this area. Once companies understand how these technologies are used, they can refine their requirements and drive broader adoption and application.

Business and technical solutions

GenAI can have a wide range of business applications, and typical use cases include managing, understanding and responding to queries. This involves support problems/incidents to client sales or support requests. As mentioned earlier, SuccessFactors has a range of business use cases of queries, actions or processes that fit well with a GenAI application. However, the range of applications can be (and is) much wider. GenAI is increasingly used to provide richer reporting or analytical insights and generate code (or Low-Code/No-Code) solutions.

The ability to assist, propose or complete the provision of information, creation of content/code or fully complete tasks will enable companies that effectively apply GenAI to achieve significant gains in time, insight, speed and quality. These benefits can be difficult to define or quantify precisely (which is why SAP may well link this back to an ‘intelligent’ solution), yet failing to miss out could leave companies at a significant commercial disadvantage.

SAP will undoubtedly share its vision of where GenAI can be applied across its business processes and technical solutions. Hence, the first step is to familiarize yourself with SAP's positioning. SAP's product roadmaps highlight how integral GenAI will become within its solutions.

From a technical perspective, the SAP Discovery Center offers a free trial of SAP BTP, allowing users to start what are termed ‘missions’ to understand and get familiar with new concepts and capabilities. GenAI (via the SAP Build code using Joule) is an option that can be completed. If required, HCLTech also has a physical and virtual lab (called ideaX) where we can assist companies in early adoption, ideally linked to a company's proposed use case(s).

In conclusion

This is an area of SAP that is developing — and changing — rapidly.

If you are interested in new innovations around SAP delivery, such as GenAI, please check out my other blogs, specifically a related blog, “The Automated Developer: Ten Ways AI is Changing SAP Delivery.” For any questions, contact us at sap@hcltech.com.