IBM and SAP have a shared approach to generative AI, built on an open ecosystem, prioritizing trust, transparency and the use of purpose-built models to help optimize business efficiency. 

Today we’re excited to announce that SAP users can now harness the power of IBM watsonx and IBM Granite, beginning with Granite.13b.chat large language model, now available through the generative AI hub on SAP AI core on the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). The timing couldn’t be better, as 56% of surveyed business executives say they plan to divert spending from other budget areas to SAP-specific generative AI, according to new research from the IBM Institute for Business Value.* 

Granite 13b.chat is optimized for Retrieval Augmented Generation for Q&A and is commonly used to create assistants and chatbots. Tapping the rich data in SAP systems is the ideal starting point for getting value from generative AI. The combination of Granite conversational AI capabilities with SAP’s domain-specific finance, human capital management, supply chain and CRM data sets, will allow enterprises to scale AI in an ethical and responsible way. 

Granite models are lightweight, cost-effective, open and customizable models underpinned by stringent data transparency and training principles. Here’s how these models stand out:

• Transparent: Granite models are among the most transparent models available today, according to Stanford University’s Foundation Model Transparency Index 2024. IBM offers indemnification for usage of the Granite models and transparency into the datasets used to train them. 
• Performant: Trained on curated datasets relevant to enterprise use cases, Granite allows users to tune and guide models to meet business needs. 
• Efficient: Smaller models require less computing and inferencing capacity. Granite models can help organizations experiment and scale generative AI applications.

Bringing transparent, performant and efficient Granite models to SAP AI Core on SAP BTP infrastructure helps turn ideas into real-world applications. We’re most excited about the initial use cases Granite 13b.chat can enable, bringing Q&A, generative tasks, insight extraction, summarization and classification, especially to ERP processes. And because a considerable portion of Granite model training data is from the finance domain, they are optimized to excel in finance-specific tasks.

For example, assistants and decision support solutions can be built to quickly answer questions related to documents, cases and solutions, products, KPIs and sales metrics, or provide classification of customer problems or user feedback. For supply chain management, summarization of inventory or supplies can be immediately accessed through a chat interface to increase transparency and visibility. Classification can help spot challenges and cross-selling potentials.

This news builds on IBM’s collaboration with SAP around embedding IBM Watson AI technology into SAP solutions. As part of our Value Generation Partnership initiative announced with SAP in May, IBM Consulting has been building out an extensive portfolio that will include 100 AI solutions across industry, line-of-business and product delivery, with 25 delivered to date. Many of these are expected to be offered on Granite, such as IBM Intelligent Invoice Match and Verification for SAP Solutions, IBM Intelligent Asset Maintenance for SAP Industrial Manufacturing, IBM Intelligent Warranty Processing for SAP Automotive and IBM Intelligent Direct Distribution to Stores for SAP CPG & Retail. In addition, IBM Consulting plans to build extensions to Granite 13b.chat for select customers.

This is only the beginning, and we’re excited to help clients on their journey with one of the industry’s most efficient and trusted LLMs, backed by IBM’s deep technology and consulting expertise in working with SAP. 

For more information on IBM Granite models, please visit: https://www.ibm.com/granite.

For more information about SAP Business AI, please visit: https://www.sap.com/products/artificial-intelligence.html.
 

*Based on a global survey of 1,200 SAP users conducted by the IBM Institute for Business value. The full study is expected to be published in Q4 2024.

Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.