SAP promises developer 'fusion teams' in cloud low-code environment
But projects must be completed in old desktop IDE
TechEd Enterprise software giant SAP is set to introduce a slew of features for developers on its platform, promising AI agents, knowledge graph, and cloud-based integration features in SAP’s low code-development environment Build.
However, commentators point out that it is too early to tell if the AI agents will prove effective for business and that the developer environment still relies on desktop tools.
Europe's largest software company used its annual TechEd developer conference to announce new features for its LLM agent, Joule, that it claims "speaks the language of business." New use cases include dispute management, where autonomous AI agents are set to analyze and resolve arguments over incorrect and missing invoices, for example.
Holger Mueller, principal analyst at Constellation Research, said Joule is ambitious because it is designed to be a universal assistant for all of SAP. But it was too early to tell if it would be effective.
SAP also promises enhanced data analysis capabilities with its SAP Knowledge Graph solution, which will be accessible through its SAP Datasphere environment and Joule in the first quarter of 2025.
The vendor promises it will seamlessly map relationships and context across SAP's vast data landscape, "empowering organizations to make better decisions with their data" using "SAP-specific business semantics" to reduce inaccurate or irrelevant results. Just don't confuse it with graph databases, which are also used for modeling semantic relationships. SAP Knowledge Graph is built on its SAP HANA Cloud platform, built on a relational database.
The last set of announcements from TechEd addresses developers. SAP has promised code explanation and documentation search in SAP Build, part of SAP cloud-based Business Technology Platform. The company claims the low-code tool will cut development time for Java and JavaScript developers. Developers can use wizard features to build extensions directly into SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. SAP Build also promises a way of creating cross-functional "fusion teams" including development using the vendor's own ABAP language to achieve a "seamless access to ABAP Cloud development tools from SAP Build."
In the TechEd keynote, Cecilia Huergo, SAP BTP product manager, said developers could create and manage their ABAP Cloud projects from the SAP Build lobby. When they needed to write code, SAP Build "automatically launches the ABAP development tools and Eclipse, where you can see the package" they have created.
However, Tobias Hofmann, an expert consultant working for Germany’s DB Systel, pointed out Eclipse is the same desktop tool ABAP developers already use.
Speaking to The Register, he said: "Eclipse is not integrated in this whole technology aspect. It's still a desktop application, and sometimes, this means people need to log on to Citrix to be able to develop the stuff. It's not so easy. But maybe that's the hope: this new term of fusion teams means SAP understands that it is not the task of one person any longer to do all this kind of development; it's a team effort. But then it raises the question, where are the tools to keep everybody on the same page?"
He said despite the functionality promised in SAP Build, development teams would still be challenged with coordinating front-end developers, back-end developers, functional consultants, and test data. SAP needs to show these people can coordinate themselves to deliver the final application, he said.
- SAP offers different way to move SQL Server-based software to the cloud
- Mega supermarket spots stock discrepancy of tens of millions amid ERP system migration
- SAP support auto-renewal gotcha: Do nothing now, pay for another year
- Snowflake's Unistore still on ice years after announcement
Jelena Perfiljeva, developer expert at SAP specialist Mindset Consulting, said the idea of "fusion teams" was not new, as people in IT have always worked across functions. "SAP didn't revolutionize anything. But even marketing fluff aside, I think all of this is just a big nothing burger for vast majority of SAP developers right now. Everything SAP does these days is just to push customers to cloud subscriptions and ultimately to Public Cloud," she commented.
"ABAP development will still happen in Eclipse. SAP bet on a wrong horse years ago and now it's too late to untangle the mess: they should've gone with Visual Studio Code for everything and be done with it. That would've been real fusion," Perfiljeva claimed.
Constellation Research's Mueller said developers liked their SAP desktop IDE, which they tended to avoid changing at all costs. "The verdict on cloud IDEs is still out. It will swing when AI can show substantially higher productivity," he said.
SAP was offered the opportunity to respond to these points and declined a request to offer an expert interviewee. ®