At the SAP China Summit 2026, SAP SE for the first time presented its strategic vision of the "Autonomous Enterprise" to the Chinese market. This vision outlines a new enterprise operating model that transitions from "human-driven processes" to "AI-driven business outcomes." The core of this vision is the deep integration of AI into enterprise processes, data, and governance systems, enabling AI to truly understand and participate in business operations logic, thereby shifting enterprise systems from "recording business" to "running business."

To support this vision, SAP SE has built a comprehensive business AI framework. At its heart is the SAP Business AI platform, which integrates the SAP Business Technology Platform, SAP Business Data Cloud, and business AI capabilities to provide a unified foundation covering development, operation, and governance. The SAP Business Data Cloud helps enterprises integrate heterogeneous data to form a unified semantic layer, making historical business data and business context continuously available, effectively creating an enterprise "data memory layer." The Knowledge Graph forms the enterprise's "business map," allowing AI to understand business processes and data relationships, and grasp how the entire enterprise operates, how processes connect, and how business occurs.

By combining the SAP Business AI platform with the SAP Autonomous Suite, AI agents are deeply embedded into business processes, data, and governance systems. This ensures they can deliver accurate, compliant, and secure results. Simultaneously, Joule Work is redefining human-computer interaction, allowing employees to simply describe business goals. The system can then automatically coordinate processes and AI agents to complete tasks, reducing system switching and operational complexity.

Enterprise AI's True Requirements

Enterprise-grade AI requires not just model capabilities, but also an understanding of complex processes, organizational logic, and data relationships, all operating within a secure and compliant framework. Leveraging over 50 years of experience in the ERP domain, SAP SE has already deployed 224 AI agents and 51 business assistants in core areas such as finance, supply chain, procurement, human resources, and customer experience. These cover end-to-end business processes, capable of proactively identifying anomalies, analyzing root causes, and triggering process handling, while also introducing human review and oversight at critical junctures to ensure system operation remains safe and controllable.

Initiative to Accelerate AI Adoption

At the summit, SAP SE launched the "SAP AI Singularity Launch Program." Both existing and new SAP SE customers can apply to participate. This program adopts a joint workshop approach, starting from real business challenges faced by enterprises to identify the AI implementation scenarios with the fastest potential for value creation. It aims to complete prototype validation within 2 to 4 weeks, allowing businesses to quickly witness the tangible value AI brings to their operations. Ultimately, the solutions are embedded into enterprise operational processes via RISE or GROW programs, paving the way for a future where people, systems, and intelligent agents coexist.

Leadership Perspective on AI Integration

Yuan Xin, President of SAP Greater China, stated, "The value AI can create for an enterprise does not depend on how powerful the models are, but on whether the weakest link in the enterprise can be connected. For most companies today, this 'weak link' is the disconnect between AI and core business systems." In her view, "In the AI era, an enterprise's competitive barrier is not defined by how many AI agents it has, but by whether its data, processes, and business knowledge are prepared for these agents. This is precisely the starting point for SAP's Autonomous Enterprise architecture, and it is the key for Chinese enterprises to seize the initiative in this organizational transformation."