How SAP S/4HANA Uses AI to Empower the Midmarket

Redefining ERP with AI-Driven Solutions

For decades, ERP systems have been the backbone of business operations, managing processes, consolidating information, and ensuring transparency. With Cloud, SAP Business AI, and the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP S/4HANA has evolved: from a system that merely processes data to one that learns from it.

The foundation for this shift lies in the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC), which unites existing solutions such as SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP BW/4HANA into a single architecture. This business data fabric harmonizes information across system boundaries, creating a consistent foundation for AI-driven scenarios from automated reporting to intelligent AI agents.

Through integration with Databricks, machine learning models can be trained directly on live SAP data, enabling a true “single source of truth.” With SAP Business AI and the digital assistant Joule, this intelligence becomes directly accessible within SAP S/4HANA: users can retrieve reports, generate forecasts, or execute processes in natural language.

As a result, a proven ERP system becomes an intelligent decision platform that helps midmarket companies reduce workload by automating routine tasks, identifying patterns, and supporting proactive decision-making.

For mid-sized businesses, this marks a significant step forward. ERP systems have always played a central role in steering operations — now, with AI, they are becoming more predictive, adaptive, and self-learning. Automated workflows, intelligent analytics, and predictive insights provide greater

At a glance – what AI means for working with ERP

• Routine processes run automatically in the background
• IT teams and many other departments gain time and focus
• Risks become visible before they materialize
• Decisions can be made faster and with greater confidence

From Data to Action: How AI Simplifies Everyday Work

1. Automated Invoice Processing

With Inbound Invoice Automation (IIA) from consolut, incoming invoice processing becomes faster and more reliable. The system automatically captures invoice data, matches it to purchase orders, and suggests approvals. What once took days now happens in minutes.

Whether implemented as a consolut custom AI solution in SAP S/4HANA on-premises or as an integrated SAP Business AI feature in the cloud, machine learning can automate many of the manual steps involved in invoice processing. The result: greater efficiency, fewer errors, and more time for value-adding financial work.

2. Predictive Control of Production and Supply Chain

With SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP), companies can create precise forecasts for sales, production, and logistics. IBP uses AI to identify patterns, detect potential bottlenecks early, and recommend alternatives — a clear competitive advantage for midmarket manufacturers.

3. Forward-Looking Financial Planning

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) leverages AI-powered forecasting functions to simulate scenarios and make potential risks visible early on, seamlessly integrated with SAP S/4HANA. This enables solid, data-driven forecasts that help businesses act faster and with greater confidence.

These examples show how AI turns abstract data into practical guidance. Especially in the midmarket, where specialized analytics teams are rare and decisions often need to be made directly in day-to-day operations, this makes a tangible difference. Complex information becomes clear, actionable insights that simplify work, accelerate processes, and help organizations make better, safer decisions.

Navigating the Challenges on the Road to an AI-Enabled SAP S/4HANA Platform

Data Quality

AI is only as good as the data it works with. In many midmarket companies, IT landscapes have evolved over years, resulting in parallel systems, manual workarounds, and inconsistent master data. When figures from procurement, production, and finance fail to align, analytical insights quickly lose their value.

Approach: Platforms such as the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) provide the foundation for overcoming this challenge. They harmonize data across systems, ensure data integrity, and enable unified AI-based analysis — a crucial step, particularly for heterogeneous IT environments.

Change Management

New technologies don’t just transform systems; they also reshape the way people work. Introducing AI means delegating routine tasks and placing greater trust in automated results — a change that can feel unfamiliar for many employees. Without proper support, skepticism and resistance can arise.

Approach: With the digital assistant Joule, working with AI functions becomes more intuitive. Through simple voice commands or text prompts, employees can launch complex analyses or automate repetitive tasks without technical expertise. This lowers entry barriers and helps build acceptance across the organization.

Investment Security

Smaller midmarket companies, in particular, are cautious when it comes to long-term IT commitments. There’s often concern about locking into a system that could become too costly or inflexible over time, especially as technology continues to evolve rapidly.

Approach: Flexible cloud models built on BTP offer a solution by allowing companies to start small and scale as they grow. This keeps investments predictable and enables organizations to gain experience step by step before expanding further.

Conclusion

For many years, ERP systems have been the backbone of midmarket companies — reliable, stable, and indispensable. With SAP S/4HANA and the capabilities of SAP Business AI, Joule, and the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), they are now evolving from pure process support into intelligent, self-learning platforms that actively optimize and enable forward-looking management. In doing so, they become engines for informed decision-making, automation, and business growth.

For midmarket companies, this means less effort in daily operations, greater transparency and control, and above all, new freedom to innovate. Yet even as SAP’s capabilities continue to expand, it remains essential to evaluate the potential of AI in each specific context. Not every feature delivers the same value for every organization. Consolut works closely with companies to identify the right approaches and tailor AI solutions that create tangible, everyday value.