SAP expands Joule into an agentic work layer as Autonomous Enterprise goes live

SAP has unveiled its Autonomous Enterprise platform, now accessible to customers, alongside enhancements to Joule, its AI assistant. During SAP Connect 2026, the company detailed this move from autonomous AI within apps to agents working alongside them. Manoj Swaminathan, SAP's president and chief product officer of the Autonomous Suite, clarified that autonomy does not imply handing all tasks to agents; instead, it involves granting users control and oversight to oversee agent operations.

Joule Work and Joule Desktop, featuring autonomous assistants and agents, are now generally available. These tools enable AI to interact with both SAP and non-SAP applications, providing a unified interface for users to engage in workflows. Joule has been upgraded to a full-screen experience, offering capabilities in finance, supply chain, spend, workforce, and customer experience.

SAP's distinct advantage lies in its ability to structure enterprise data into a knowledge graph, which general-purpose models like OpenAI and Anthropic cannot replicate. This structured data empowers agents with industry-specific knowledge and business acumen. The transition to an autonomous enterprise model signifies a shift from simply adding copilots to applications to constructing an intelligent layer that operates above customer experiences.

Despite the autonomy, the human remains in control, with agents serving as intelligent conversational aids. SAP's commercial strategy for these capabilities revolves around consumption-based pricing, ensuring transparency in agent usage.