"Users can ask questions and start work through Joule without having to move across multiple systems. Autonomous corporations can be realized only when core business applications, industry-specific AI, and consolidated data are consolidated."
Jan Bungert, chief revenue officer (CRO) for the SAP Business AI Platform institutional sector, said this at the SAP Now AI Tour Korea 2026 held on Jul. 14 at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
On the day, SAP unveiled its "Autonomous Enterprise" strategy, under which AI agents do more than analyze corporations' data, judging work situations and carrying out necessary actions.
If conventional enterprise AI has remained a helper tool that summarizes documents or answers questions, in an autonomous corporation AI takes part directly in core business processes such as finance, procurement, supply chain, and HR. When a problem arises, it not only finds the cause and suggests responses, but also executes follow-up tasks under predefined authorities and rules. SAP's idea is that people break away from repetitive processing to manage exceptions and focus on strategic decision-making. Bungert, the CRO, said it is difficult to automate corporate work with the performance of general-purpose AI models alone, stressing that it is important to consolidate corporations' internal data, industry knowledge, and business procedures with AI.
◇ "From AI that answers to corporations that execute"
SAP's autonomous corporations strategy centers on consolidating the AI assistant "Joule" with enterprise applications, industry-specific AI, and the data platform. Joule is an integrated window where users can ask questions in natural language or request tasks without moving among multiple work systems. For example, if asked to "find products expected to be in short supply and create an alternative supply plan," AI queries related data, analyzes the supply chain, and carries out follow-up tasks. Bungert, the CRO, said, "Users can ask questions and start work through Joule without having to move across multiple systems," adding, "Autonomous corporations can be realized only when core business applications, industry-specific AI, and consolidated data are consolidated."
Core functions such as finance, procurement, supply chain, HR, and customer management are consolidated through the "SAP Autonomous Suite." "SAP Industry AI" supports judgment by reflecting industry-specific regulations and business procedures in manufacturing, distribution, finance, and more. The underlying SAP Business AI Platform integrates corporations' internal data and business context, AI models, access rights, and governance. SAP organized Joule, the autonomous suite, and the Business AI Platform into three layers responsible for the user interface, task execution, and the data/AI foundation, respectively. Bungert, the CRO, explained, "If supply disruptions are expected, AI analyzes shortages of materials and the affected production plans, and proposes alternative suppliers and procurement options," adding, "Within predefined authorities and approval systems, purchase requests or production plan changes can also proceed automatically."
Bungert, the CRO, said, "For AI to create real value, corporations' business processes and industry knowledge, meaningful business data, and enterprise-grade governance are necessary," adding, "Corporations will be able to transition step by step to an agent-centric work system without stopping their current operations."
◇ "Corporations' data and business context determine AI competitiveness"
Bungert, the CRO, emphasized that the competitiveness of enterprise AI depends less on general-purpose AI model performance than on how precisely corporations' internal data and business context are consolidated. Corporate work involves complex conditions—not only customer, transaction, inventory, and expense information, but also industry-specific regulations, approval procedures, and employee-specific authorities—so if AI does not understand these, it is hard to entrust it with real tasks even if it gives plausible answers.
He said, "In particular, for AI to act directly within corporate systems, enterprise-grade governance that manages data access rights, approval structures, and execution logs is needed," adding, "SAP has proposed a structure in which AI agents perform tasks only within allowed scopes, and people control key decisions and exceptions." He added, "Autonomous corporations can be realized only when core business applications, industry-specific AI, and consolidated data are consolidated," and "Instead of changing all existing work at once, corporations can maintain current systems while gradually expanding where AI agents apply."
◇ Samsung Electro-Mechanics cuts ERP switchover downtime from 144 hours to 34
The event also unveiled transition cases from domestic corporations that adopted SAP systems. Park Jun-ho, head of the MIS group at Samsung Electro-Mechanics, presented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) transition case based on SAP S/4HANA.
Park said, "Samsung Electro-Mechanics applied SAP's downtime optimization method to reduce the expected idle time during the system transition from 144 hours to 34 hours, a 76% decrease," adding, "An ERP transition is like a heart transplant. Although we went through various trials and errors with no prior domestic case, we completed the transition without stopping manufacturing lines." An ERP at a large manufacturing corporation is consolidated with key functions such as production, procurement, logistics, and finance. If the system transition is delayed, it can affect production line operations, so minimizing idle time is considered a key task.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to pursue "closed loop" automation that consolidates supply chain management (SCM) planning with ERP execution, AI analysis, and simulation. When AI detects demand changes or supply disruptions, it feeds the results back into production and procurement plans after analysis and simulation. Park said, "Based on an integrated platform with SAP S/4HANA, we are building a foundation for full automation to prepare for the AI era."
Bungert, the CRO, said, "Such integration of ERP and supply chain systems is the foundation for realizing autonomous corporations," emphasizing, "Only when corporations' core business data and execution systems are consolidated into a single platform can AI agents reflect analysis results in actual production, procurement, and finance operations."