SAP kicked off the week by announcing Joule, a natural-language, generative AI copilot. UKG then introduced generative AI-powered conversational experiences for the UKG Pro and UKG Ready HCM suites. Workday announced a series of new AI and ML capabilities and partnership ecosystem updates to help businesses drive productivity. Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Airkit.ai, a creator of AI-powered customer service applications. Aptean announced its acquisition of Apparel Business Systems, LLC. ECI announced new Spanish-language enhancements on its native mobile app for Bolt, its trade contractor scheduling and job management software.
Hi and welcome to episode 107 of The ERP Minute. I am your host, Rebekah McCabe.
AI continues to transform the ERP space, with a number of vendors making major plays toward
increasing their functionality with new AI solutions.
SAP kicked off the week by announcing Joule, a natural-language, generative AI copilot. Joule will be embedded throughout SAP’s cloud enterprise portfolio, delivering proactive and contextualized insights from across the breadth and depth of SAP solutions and third-party solutions.
UKG then introduced generative AI-powered conversational experiences for the UKG Pro and UKG Ready HCM suites. These conversational experiences will empower people with the ability to skip point-and-click software navigation in favor of open-ended questions and text- and voice-based requests, which are then answered based on user intent, creating an intuitive and personalized experience.
At Workday Rising, the company’s annual customer conference, Workday rounded out this week’s AI news, announcing a series of new AI and ML capabilities and partnership ecosystem updates to help businesses drive productivity, streamline business processes, empower their people, and make better decisions. These enhancements include new generative AI capabilities across applications, the Workday AI Marketplace making AI & ML apps available within the Workday ecosystem, and Workday AI Gateway within Workday Extend for developers.
Enhancements like these from across the ERP market are transforming the way business is conducted. We are experiencing technological advancement like we have never seen before, and it will make all the difference for the businesses embracing the change.
In related news, Salesforce and Aptean took steps to deliver more value to clients through recent
acquisitions.
Following the AI trend, Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Airkit.ai, a creator of AI-powered customer service applications and experiences. Airkit.ai enables Fortune 500 and fast-growing businesses to build flexible, omni-channel customer engagement applications, and AI-based customer service agents. This acquisition will enhance Salesforce’s Service Cloud and will continue to build on Salesforce’s AI strategy alongside Einstein.
Then, Aptean announced its acquisition of Apparel Business Systems, LLC, a provider of ERP to fashion and apparel manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. Its platform offers functionality to support all business-critical functions, including production, processes, inventory levels, sales, customer service, cost tracking, and supply chain management. This acquisition plays well into Aptean’s acquisition strategy, further expanding its portfolio of solutions to clients.
While many businesses continue to provide enhancements through major acquisitions this week, others provided functionality updates for deeper value to customers.
ECI announced new Spanish-language enhancements on its native mobile app for Bolt, its trade contractor scheduling and job management software. The enhancement improves communication between both English- and Spanish-speaking professionals, providing more inclusive and effective services for small- to medium-sized contractors working with builders in the new residential construction industry. This is a major advancement for ECI users as ERP continues to become more inclusive in its functionality, meaning even more people can utilize this technology's value, without excluding a significant portion of the workforce.
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