New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ Of SAP Joule

Accelerated End-To-End High-Volume Business Process Execution

Evidence and data. Interviewees consistently identified high-volume, structured business processes as one of the most significant areas where SAP Joule created business value. While many said their organizations had already digitized core processes inside SAP applications, they noted that employees still spent considerable time navigating applications, entering data, routing requests, managing approvals, switching between systems, and coordinating process handoffs. Interviewees said these processes require a combination of active employee handling time and elapsed waiting time for approvals, system actions, and process handoffs. Several noted that the value of Joule extended beyond conversational assistance and became substantially greater when combined with Joule skills, custom agents, workflow orchestration, and process automation capabilities.

Interviewees explained that their organizations realized this benefit by reducing the effort, cycle time, and administrative burden required to execute recurring business processes across HR, procurement, finance, and operational functions. As Joule became embedded into business workflows, users could initiate transactions, complete approvals, execute actions, and retrieve process information directly through natural-language interactions, while underlying SAP workflows, authorizations, and business rules continue to operate in the background. Interviewees noted the following benefits:

• Reduced manual effort across structured business processes through AI agents. Several interviewees described AI agents and Joule skills as a critical evolution beyond basic search and navigation functionality. They said that rather than simply helping employees locate information, Joule allowed agents to execute business-process steps on behalf of users while remaining connected to SAP workflows and business logic. The head of SAP Europe practice at the IT organization described a procurement process involving requirement creation, purchase requisitions, approvals, purchase orders, vendor confirmations, goods receipt, and final fulfillment activities. Instead of treating each activity as an independent transaction, the organization was evaluating how agents could orchestrate multiple activities across an end-to-end process. The interviewee explained: “A person [would spend] 15 minutes creating a purchase requisition by entering all the fields. Now, within 30 seconds, they can just give a prompt.” Interviewees from organizations with large transaction volumes said this acceleration was particularly valuable because small reductions in processing time created substantial cumulative savings across thousands of process executions.

• Faster approvals and process handoffs. Interviewees said approval bottlenecks often created significant delays in enterprise workflows, and they explained that Joule agents accelerated approvals by reducing the effort required for users to locate, review, and act on pending requests. The head of SAP Europe practice at the IT organization described scenarios where approval actions could occur without requiring users to navigate multiple SAP interfaces: “They just need to go to their AI prompt and say, ‘Open the purchase requisition.’ ... Once they have looked into the purchase requisition, then they will say, ‘I’m okay to approve that.’”

• Process orchestration supporting broader business-process automation. Interviewees suggested that the largest future value of Joule could come from orchestrating complete business processes rather than optimizing isolated tasks. The group chief operations officer, HR, at the financial services organization described transactional and navigational use cases as an initial step, while expecting future value from expanding Joule into broader process-support and analytical capabilities. Interviewees said Joule’s value increased from isolated interactions toward orchestration of complete business workflows spanning multiple business functions and SAP applications.

Modeling and assumptions. For this benefit, Forrester quantifies only reductions in active employee handling time as labor productivity. Improvements in total process cycle times are treated as operational outcomes unless they result in a separate benefit. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has 1,000 high-volume business processes. The average execution frequency is 120 per process per year.

• Depending on the Joule deployment and the SAP business application internally, the percentage of business process tasks automated with Joule ranges from 10% (low) to 15% (high) in Year 1.

• Before Joule, the average time to complete a high-volume business process was 8 hours.

• With Joule Agent, the composite reduces this by between 40% (low) and 80% (high), depending on the types of business processes, stakeholders, and approval gates involved.

• The composite has a productivity recapture rate of 30% for this benefit.

Risks. The impact of this benefit may vary by organization depending on the following:

• The organization’s AI strategy.

• The organization’s Joule maturity.

• User feedback.

Results. This yields a three-year projected PV (discounted at 10%) ranging from $770,000 (low) to $3.4 million (high).

Avoided Incremental Hiring During Business Growth

Evidence and data. Interviewees consistently stated that increasing the amount of work that employees can perform without requiring proportional increases in staffing levels is the greatest long-term value of SAP Joule. They described using Joule to automate routine service requests, reduce administrative effort, replace portions of repetitive support work, expand the capabilities of existing employees, and reduce dependency on outsourced labor. According to interviewees, these improvements allowed their organizations to redeploy resources to higher-value activities, delay future hiring, and increase operational scale without increasing their workforces.

• Reduced employee-service workloads and lower support staffing requirements. Several interviewees reported that their HR organizations historically relied on support personnel to handle common employee requests such as leave inquiries, payroll questions, timesheet corrections, policy questions, and administrative requests. They described these activities as recurring labor costs that provided little strategic value.
  The head of enterprise technology strategy in the healthcare technology industry explained that before Joule implementation, their organization handled employee requests through a traditional support model. They said, “We used to have a lot of people taking those calls. … Many people used to take the phone call. Now, Joule can answer for that. Once we got a feeling that it [provides] a more stable environment, we redeployed about 10 to 15 people.” The CTO at the telecommunications organization shared: “HR teams [at my organization] have always been small. ... They don’t want to only administrate stuff. With Joule, [they have] more time for the more creative stuff expected from an HR team nowadays. I would [estimate] it saved 20% of the work.”

• Expanded employee capacity without proportional workforce growth. Several interviewees emphasized that Joule helped employees perform work more effectively, enabling their organizations to absorb growth, complexity, and additional workloads without proportional increases in labor. The director of SAP delivery at the professional services organization said Joule helped less-experienced personnel perform work that previously required senior specialists: “A person [with three years experience] can act like 10 [to] 15 [people] with the knowledge.” Interviewees noted these capabilities reduced the need to add staff as business activity increased because employees completed work more efficiently and independently. They said that when SAP SuccessFactors was deployed within their HR departments, HR team members engaged with Joule more than end users, and that when SAP Concur was deployed, finance teams interacted with Joule more.

• Organizational scaling without proportional headcount growth. Many interviewees said their organizations were seeking to absorb future growth, rising service demand, and additional process complexity without increasing support, administrative, or specialist teams. They said Joule provided AI-enabled automation and self-service capabilities that helped increase organizational capacity rather than simply reducing the effort required.

Modeling and assumptions. For this benefit, Forrester does not include capacity already monetized in the business-process execution, information-gathering, and SAP project-planning benefits. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite has 8,000 Joule license holders.

• Of those users, 10% are power users.

• The amount of annual growth for the in-scope workload handled by its power users increases 15% annually.

• The composite avoids a portion of the incremental hiring that would otherwise be required to support this workload growth.

• The average fully loaded salary for a US office worker is $66,560.¹

Results. This yields a three-year projected PV (discounted at 10%) ranging from $2.4 million (low) to $4.8 million (high).

Improved Workforce Productivity Through AI-Assisted Information Gathering

Evidence and data. Interviewees consistently reported that a significant portion of employee time was previously spent locating information, searching documentation, identifying the correct transaction, finding answers to SAP questions, and requesting information from support teams or internal experts. These activities occurred across HR, IT, SAP operations, management, and business-user populations.

Interviewees said Joule reduced the effort required to access information embedded within SAP systems, leading to productivity improvements. They explained that employees use natural-language prompts to retrieve information, generate summaries, and obtain contextual answers directly within the flow of work instead of navigating multiple screens, reports, knowledge repositories, support forums, or documentation libraries. They also said Joule retrieves, summarizes, or explains information; it does not execute the underlying business transaction.

• Faster access to SAP information and business data. Interviewees said Joule provided a conversational interface that simplified access to employee data, transaction details, process information, and reports that already exist within SAP but require significant effort to find. The HR manager at the manufacturing organization indicated that Joule was particularly valuable when retrieving contextual information that would otherwise require manual navigation of SAP: “Most of the time, if you need to find someone’s specific information, it’s easier or faster or more efficient to go through Joule.”

• Reduced effort required to search documentation and support resources. Interviewees reported that Joule reduced the effort required to answer SAP-related questions by providing immediate responses through conversational queries. The director of SAP delivery at the professional services organization noted that users avoided spending time searching across SAP forums, design documents, and support materials: “Time spent on any searches or documents or even SAP forums and some design-guiding documents on all those things could be eliminated.”

• Faster access to reporting and operational insight. Several interviewees said Joule enables users to retrieve information through natural-language requests, reducing delays associated with traditional reporting processes. The head of enterprise technology strategy at the healthcare technology organization explained: “[Previously,] I had to ask somebody to develop the report for me. [With Joule,] the format may not be very good, but I get the data that I want. I can simply [ask] my architecture team [to] … give me the status report. Joule can get the report for me.” The interviewee said this self-service access reduced waiting times for information and improved responsiveness across its business operations.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite has 8,000 Joule licenses deployed across multiple business functions and SAP applications.

• The composite’s percentage of active users increases over time.

• On average, each active user makes 60 Joule information inquiries per year, equivalent to five inquiries per month.

• The average fully loaded hourly rate for a US office worker is $32.²

• The composite has a 50% productivity recapture rate for this benefit.

Risks. The impact of this benefit may vary by organization depending on the following:

• The number of active users.

• The SAP solutions deployed across business lines.

• The organization’s AI strategy.

Results. This yields a three-year projected PV (discounted at 10%) ranging from $358,000 (low) to $1.7 million (high).

Reduced SAP Planning And Design Effort Through AI-Assisted Knowledge Access

Evidence and data. Each interviewee identified project planning, process design, blueprinting, documentation, fit-to-standard analysis, and knowledge discovery as some of the most labor-intensive phases of SAP programs. They said large SAP transformation initiatives frequently involved workshops, design decisions, documentation requirements, and repeated analysis of SAP capabilities that often consumed significant amounts of specialist consulting time before any business value is realized.

Interviewees said that using SAP Joule as an SAP-specific knowledge layer allowed their organizations to retrieve product knowledge, evaluate design options, identify standard functionality, generate implementation artifacts, and accelerate planning activities throughout the lifecycle of SAP programs. They emphasized that the greatest value related to project delivery stemmed from gaining direct access to SAP-specific knowledge, product capabilities, implementation content, and SAP process context, which helped project teams perform these activities more efficiently.

• Reduced project research effort through SAP-specific knowledge retrieval. One of the most frequently cited challenges during SAP programs was the amount of time project teams spend researching SAP functionality, identifying product capabilities, locating design guidance, and determining whether requirements can be addressed through standard SAP functionality. The director of SAP delivery at the professional services organization said: “[For] any complex SAP functional or technical questions, this become like instantaneous input and output for them. … [Project teams frequently spend time searching through] SAP forums, some design-guiding documents, and all those things.” Interviewees said this research activity occurs throughout design and implementation phases for consultants, business analysts, and process architects.
  But interviewees noted that by making SAP-specific knowledge available through natural-language interactions, Joule reduced the effort required to locate information and validate design decisions. They said this was especially relevant during blueprinting, process workshops, design reviews, and requirements-gathering exercises, where teams quickly determined whether functionality existed within SAP, whether a future capability was planned, or whether custom development would be required.

• Reduced customization through faster fit-to-standard analysis. A recurring theme across interviews was the effort put into evaluating whether business requirements should be addressed through standard SAP functionality or custom development. They explained that, traditionally, this process has involved multiple meetings between business stakeholders, functional consultants, architects, and technical teams and includes evaluating requirements, researching SAP capabilities, and developing implementation options over days or weeks.
  The director of SAP advisory in the professional services industry described how Joule changed this process for their organization: “If a business comes and asks for a new invoice process today, the IT team [previously had] to evaluate the possibilities. It might [have taken] one week or even two weeks. Now they can do it within 1 hour or even less.”
  Interviewees said the value came not only from reducing analysis effort, but also from preventing unnecessary customization, reducing rework, and helping project teams make better architectural decisions earlier in the project lifecycle.

• Improved consultant productivity through automated generation of implementation artifacts. Interviewees described creating and maintaining implementation documentation as another major source of project effort, and they said their organizations had large volumes of functional specifications, technical specifications, workshop outputs, process maps, design documents, test scripts, and implementation artifacts. The head of SAP Europe practice in the IT industry identified documentation creation as one of their organization’s largest opportunities to accelerate AI-assisted delivery. Interviewees noted these activities typically consume thousands of consultant hours across large programs, and they said Joule helped directly reduce this effort by lowering project labor requirements and accelerating delivery timelines.

• Reduced dependence on scarce SAP expertise through shorter SAP timelines. Several interviewees described a shortage of highly experienced SAP consultants and architects at their organizations and said large SAP transformation programs often require deep expertise, which created cost and staffing challenges. They noted that Joule increased productivity of junior resources, which saved time for senior specialists who answer repetitive questions, while reducing the number of high-cost experts required to support planning activities and scale SAP programs without growing resources proportionally. The head of SAP Europe practice at the IT organization said, “If you have the right 10 or 15 very specialized AI consultants, they can do the job of a hundred people.”

• Reduced labor costs and accelerated business value through shorter SAP program timelines. Interviewees repeatedly linked SAP Joule to broader reductions to implementation effort and overall program durations. They said their organizations reduced program planning-and-design efforts by approximately 10% to 40%, depending on the deployment maturity, implementation complexity, and the extent to which Joule was integrated into project delivery workflows.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization undertakes four SAP projects or initiatives per year, including SAP new solutions deployments and expansions of existing solutions.  

• On average, the planning-and-design phase of the projects requires three months and involves both internal and external resources.

• The composite works with external professional services firms and SAP specialist consultants to take the projects.

• The average hourly rate for an external SAP consultant is $150, equivalent to $312,000 per year.

Risks. The impact of this benefit may vary by organization depending on the following:

• The organization’s deployment maturity.

• The organization’s implementation complexity.

• The extent to which Joule is integrated into project delivery workflows.

Results. This yields a three-year projected PV (discounted at 10%) ranging from $297,000 (low) to $1.8 million (high).

Improved Process Quality And Governance Through Agentic Execution

Evidence and data. Interviewees consistently indicated that the next phase of enterprise AI value extends beyond productivity improvements into process quality, governance, and execution consistency. They said that while conversational AI helps users find information faster, their organizations realized greater operational value when AI agents executed business processes according to predefined workflows, approval policies, and governance controls. Interviewees said that with Joule Agent, business processes are automated with governance built in. In these scenarios, they explained that Joule generated value by increasing the speed of execution with fewer process errors, reducing rework, improving compliance, and generating more consistent process outcomes.

Interviewees noted that SAP Joule AI agents delivered the benefit through executing workflow steps, validating business rules, enforcing approval requirements, and guiding users through structured processes. By reducing reliance on manual intervention, institutional knowledge, and user interpretation of process requirements, interviewees’ organizations were able to execute processes more consistently across large-scale operations.

• Reduced process errors through embedded business rules. Interviewees repeatedly noted that many process errors are not caused by technology limitations but by users misunderstanding procedures, selecting incorrect process steps, entering incorrect data, or bypassing existing governance controls. They said traditional SAP workflows rely heavily on users knowing how processes should be executed and where approvals are required.
  The head of SAP Europe practice in the IT industry explained that their organization designed custom Joule skills specifically to enforce approval chains, purchasing policies, and delegation-of-authority requirements. As an example, interviewees said an agent may draft or initiate a purchase requisition using available transaction data and configured policies, while a person approves the transaction before SAP executes it.
  They also said that rather than relying on users to remember or manually follow governance procedures, the workflow embeds business controls within the execution process, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized approvals, incorrect process execution, and policy violations that can lead to downstream remediation effort.

• Reduced rework through agentic process execution. Interviewees stressed that business processes are often executed differently by different users and that experienced users may know the preferred process path, while infrequent users rely on documentation, training materials, or trial and error, creating rework, delays, and process exceptions.
  Interviewees described Joule agents as mechanisms for standardizing process execution across employees, departments, and geographies. They explained that instead of requiring each user to understand SAP transaction structures and workflow requirements, the AI agent guides execution according to predefined process logic, leading to lower rework costs and more consistent execution outcomes across business processes.

• Improved process quality at scale through AI agents. Several interviewees described AI agents as particularly valuable in environments where transaction volumes, process complexity, and organizational scale make manual oversight difficult. The group chief operations officer of HR at the financial services organization said, “We've already identified 49 [operational processes that could be automated], and we’re going to build a solution around 10.”
  This reflects a broader trend: Interviewees said their organizations increasingly target repetitive, high-volume processes because improvements in quality, consistency, and governance can generate benefits across thousands of transactions per year. They reported that Joule improved process-execution accuracy in operational workflows by approximately 35%, significantly reducing exception handling effort, and material reductions in ticket volume associated with process breakdowns and administrative requests.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite has 1,000 high-volume business processes with an average of 120 executions per process per year.

• Before Joule, 10% of the composite’s processes executions contained errors and that required rework. 

• On average, the rework requires 16 hours of effort.

• Joule Agent reduces the composite’s percentage of errors and rework between 20% (low) and 50% (high).

• Forrester applied an attribution factor representing Joule’s contribution to the total improvement.

• Forrester applied an attribution factor to reflect Joule’s contribution to process-quality improvements.

Results. This yields a three-year projected PV (discounted at 10%) ranging from $4.6 million (low) to $15.3 million (high).

Supply Chain Optimization Through Autonomous Operations

Evidence and data. While many interviewees said their organizations have digitized procurement, inventory, logistics, and supply-planning processes through SAP applications, they noted that supply-chain teams still spend considerable effort searching for operational information, investigating disruptions, validating inventory positions, coordinating across multiple stakeholders. Interviewees consistently said SAP Joule, AI agents, and autonomous workflows reduced human effort associated with supply-chain decision-making and process execution. They said AI could help supply-chain professionals identify issues faster, automate routine operational decisions, execute repetitive procurement activities, and improve responsiveness across increasingly complex supply networks, resulting in improved inventory visibility and utilization, reduced supply-chain exceptions, and faster operational decision-making.

• Improved fulfillment performance through faster operational execution. Interviewees reported measurable operational improvements from embedding Joule AI agents directly into shipping and fulfillment workflows. The global director of IT at the wholesale organization described a shipping-coordination process that previously required employees to manually evaluate shipment requirements and transportation methods: “We’ve increased [the number of requests that a human can handle in an hour] from 10 to 18 just with agentic AI.” This represents an approximately 80% increase in the organization’s throughput for the process.
  The same interviewee said the operational benefits also extended beyond internal productivity: “For a same-day shipment, we’ve improved the process by 43%.”

• Reduced delays and manual intervention through autonomous exception handling. Interviewees explained that supply-chain processes frequently require manual intervention when there are exceptions (e.g., invalid address, transportation restrictions, customs requirements, shipment exceptions, documentation issues). The global director of IT at the wholesale organization identified exception handling as one of the areas where Joule AI agents delivered measurable value: “Instead of it taking an hour, [it] now it takes about 20 minutes for that to be processed …. because it has to be reviewed by a human.” The CTO advisor in the pharmaceutical industry mentioned that their organization reduced the number of expedited shipments by roughly 10% to 15%. They explained that this reduced shipment delays, lowered administrative effort, and enabled employees to focus on complex operational issues rather than routine investigations.

• Reduced operational costs through inventory and supply-chain optimization. Interviewees consistently described improved operational visibility and autonomous execution as mechanisms for reducing broader supply-chain costs. The CTO advisor at the pharmaceutical organization reported: “We’ve seen a modest improvement in inventory turnover roughly in the range of 5% to 10% in areas where AI-driven visibility and exception management are actively used. That’s mainly because planners can react faster to shortages and reduce buffer buildups.” Interviewees said AI-driven visibility and exception management helped planners identify issues sooner, react more quickly to supply-chain disruptions, and reduce excess inventory levels, which lowered inventory carrying costs. They noted that improving inventory turnover can reduce inventory carrying costs, which typically include capital costs, storage space costs, service costs, and risk costs. The global director of IT at the wholesale organization reported that improved automation helped their organization avoid additional staffing when handling greater transaction volumes: “I’m saving $1.2 million on expected labor that I don't need to hire now.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite’s annual average inventory value is $100,000,000.

• The average inventory carrying cost is 10% of the inventory value.

• Joule improves the composite’s inventory carrying costs between 2% (low) and 8% (high), depending on the level of deployment.

• The composite spends $1 million per year on expedited shipment.

• Joule reduces these shipping costs between 5% (low) and 15% (high).

Results. This yields a three-year projected PV (discounted at 10%) ranging from $622,000 (low) to $2.4 million (high).

Unquantified Benefits

Benefits that provide value for the composite organization but are not quantified for this study include:

• Improved decision-making and business insight. Interviewees emphasized that one of the most important benefits of Joule is improving the quality and speed of business decisions with AI. They said employees frequently struggle to locate information across applications, reports, and documentation repositories, which delays action and increases dependence on analysts and subject matter experts. Overall, interviewees said Joule empowers managers and frontline users to make more informed decisions while reducing delays associated with reporting, analysis, and information gathering. The HR manager in the manufacturing industry said: “[Joule helps] us make decisions better [and] faster.”

• Enhanced employee experience and self-service. Several interviewees described employee experience as one of the earliest and most visible benefits of their organization’s Joule adoption. They said that previously, employees often relied on support centers, HR representatives, documentation, or training to complete routine tasks. The group chief operations officer of HR at the financial services organization said, “[Joule enabled employees to] perform transactions and navigate processes more conveniently.”
  Interviewees also said Joule reduced process friction while making enterprise applications more accessible to users who are not SAP experts. The global director of IT at the wholesale organization described a broader impact on employee experience and workload balance. They said, “[Joule is] better for their environment as a whole.” Interviewees consistently linked easier system interactions, self-service capabilities, and reduced administrative burden to improved employee satisfaction and stronger adoption of enterprise technologies.

• Greater organizational agility and workforce transformation. Several interviewees said using Joule and adopting AI are parts of a broader transformation. Several described AI as a mechanism for increasing workforce flexibility rather than driving direct workforce reductions. The global director of IT at the wholesale organization said it allows employees to reduce their focus on manual processes: “Now we have people who are able to focus on more important tasks.” The CTO in the telecommunications industry said they believe AI can help their organization’s HR department move away from transactional administration and toward more strategic activities: “They want to be partnering with the business, and they don’t want to be only administrating stuff.”

• Accelerated AI adoption and innovation at scale. Many interviewees described AI adoption as an important strategic outcome of using Joule. They said they don’t view AI as a standalone technology deployment, and their organizations plan to embed AI across functions, develop employee skills, and create a foundation for future innovation. The HR manager at the manufacturing organization shared a shift in their own user behavior: “Rather than going and asking another human being, I'm going to start with AI. That’s now my default solutioning tool.”
  The group chief operations officer of HR in the financial services industry said their organization established a dedicated AI office and appointed a chief AI officer to coordinate enterprisewide AI initiatives. They noted that the objective was to empower employees, support new business models, and create value at both the individual and organizational level. The CTO at the telecommunications organization described collaborating with SAP through AI hackathons, workshops, and lighthouse initiatives designed to help employees understand how to embed AI into business processes. They said: “SAP really worked with us on these hackathons. ... Hopefully, we can better understand their platforms and where they are going.”
  Interviewees consistently said they view AI maturity as an important strategic advantage and that broader AI adoption can help create a foundation for future innovation, accelerate identification of new use cases, and help their organizations build the skills and operating models they need to scale AI over time.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement SAP Joule and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Enterprise wide automation through agent ecosystems and custom AI skills. Interviewees consistently indicated that their organizations are in the initial stages of Joule adoption. They said they envision environments where numerous business-specific agents operate within SAP processes and apply organizational knowledge, business rules, and workflow logic to routine work. The head of SAP Europe practice in the IT industry described an approach where their procurement processes are separated into individual workflow components and supported through custom Joule skills: “We are dividing the entire process into different segments and then developing the Joule skills and custom Joule skills.”
  Most interviewees said their deployments largely remain limited to selected departments or pilot use cases while the organizations identify use cases, establish governance models, and determine where agent autonomy is appropriate. They said that as their organizations gain confidence in Joule’s reliability and governance controls, they expect to create broader libraries of reusable agents tailored to procurement, finance, HR, supply chain, and industry-specific processes.

• Improved cross-functional enterprise orchestration. Many interviewees acknowledged that despite years of enterprise application investments, their organizations’ business processes continue to span multiple functions and systems. Users frequently move between applications, reports, approvals, and teams to complete work. Interviewees said Joule allows users to operate within the context of SAP processes and data that already connect these functions.
  They said they see potential for Joule to support broader cross-functional orchestration as their deployments mature, but they noted that this would require additional investments in process redesign, integration, custom skills or agents, controls, monitoring, and organizational change. Several interviewees said they expect Joule to evolve into a coordination layer that helps their organizations orchestrate activities across finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and operational functions to create more connected and responsive business processes.
  The CTO in the telecommunications industry noted that SAP already serves as the operational backbone across their organization’s finance, procurement, HR, and supply chain that connects activities that remain fragmented across process boundaries. They said they believe this benefit remains largely unrealized because most deployments are still focused on individual use cases or departmental adoption. But they expect that as their organization expands its Joule usage, it will increase process coordination, decrease the number of manual handoffs, improve operational transparency, and provide more efficient end-to-end execution of business activities. The interviewee said the potential outcome would improve their organization’s orchestration of enterprisewide business processes.

• New business capabilities enabled by Joule. Interviewees said their organizations are currently focused on operational use cases of Joule. However, several suggested that it can help enable new ways to manage work, deliver services, and interact with business processes. They described Joule as a foundation for developing new business capabilities and operating models and noted that while their current deployments are focused primarily on efficiency and process execution, they increasingly believe Joule’s integration with enterprise data, workflows, and agents will create opportunities that do not exist today.
  The group chief operations officer of HR in the financial services industry said their organization's AI strategy is aimed at “empowering individuals, driving new business models, and creating value at both individual and organizational levels.” Other interviewees said Joule’s ability to operate directly within enterprise processes and data may also create future opportunities that extend beyond automation. They noted that their organizations could use Joule to introduce new service models, redesign operational workflows, improve responsiveness to business change, and create new sources of competitive differentiation.

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).