There’s a burning question around SAP’s next move in automation. The short answer is that it will be highly automated.

As the trend toward software automation takes shape in SAP’s development road map, SAP will likely embrace the opportunities that automation gives us to connect users across different applications without the burden of APIs and other “connective tissue” forms of software engineering. Automation technologies today exist to learn from user (and machine) behavior, which means they can form new logical connections without the need for complex scripting and APIs.

As described in “SAP Explains its Foray into Robotic Process Automation (RPA),” the bulk of technologies in this space gravitate toward classifying, recording, and monitoring data as it travels through workflows inside applications and database operations that form business processes. Once recorded and monitored, business process automation can occur. A classic RPA model runs on a record, build, run, and monitor cycle. But where does it go from there? And where will SAP take it? 

Making Automation Smarter