{"id":22722,"date":"2026-07-13T10:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/?p=22722"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:45:08","slug":"making-ai-real-with-sap-business-ai-platform-promocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/making-ai-real-with-sap-business-ai-platform-promocean.html","title":{"rendered":"Making AI Real With SAP Business AI Platform: Promocean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When it comes to AI, there are so many possibilities that it can be hard to know where to start. And that\u2019s why real-world examples of AI in production are so valuable. Here\u2019s a great one from the 2026 SAP Innovation Awards: Promocean&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vuipkfIN5go?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine you\u2019re a world-class brand like Heineken, Lindt chocolates, Bacardi, or Lacoste, and you\u2019re organizing a promotional event.&nbsp;You want the event to feel special, different, creative, but still 100% aligned with your brand image \u2014 and of course for the right price, delivered on time.&nbsp;That\u2019s when you might turn to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.promocean.com\">Promocean<\/a>, the winner of the Technology Pathfinder category of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sap.com\/discover\/sap-innovation-awards\/index.html#entries\">2026 SAP Innovation Awards<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dutch company is trusted by some of the top brands in the world to create award-winning point of sale marketing materials and packaging.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Procurement is crucial for Promocean because they need to efficiently source very customized materials and services from around the world, while meeting strict cost, quality, and delivery requirements.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surveys show that communication between vendors and buyers is a major source of frustration in almost every industry. Promocean had an overloaded team spending up to 19 hours a day on purchase order follow-ups, using manual processes based on email and excel that just didn\u2019t scale.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, supply chain delays weren\u2019t as visible as they should be, there was no easy way to track the reliability of different vendors. and when issues did come up, it was hard to collaborate across different internal teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/promocean-winning-team.jpeg?resize=800%2C438&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/promocean-winning-team.jpeg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/promocean-winning-team.jpeg?resize=608%2C333&amp;ssl=1 608w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/promocean-winning-team.jpeg?resize=768%2C420&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At a business AI hackathon organized late last year by SAP Netherlands and the Dutch SAP user group, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vnsg.nl\">VNSG<\/a>, Promocean saw an opportunity to use AI to reduce these risks and inefficiencies.&nbsp;Working with their long-term strategic consulting partner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soapeople.com\">SOA PEOPLE<\/a> and an SAP expert coach, they designed and implemented an AI-driven procurement solution powered by SAP Business AI Platform.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/architecture.jpeg?resize=1024%2C540&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22723\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/architecture.jpeg?resize=1024%2C540&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/architecture.jpeg?resize=608%2C320&amp;ssl=1 608w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/architecture.jpeg?resize=768%2C405&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/architecture.jpeg?w=1412&amp;ssl=1 1412w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The way it works is interesting. First, there\u2019s the design phase using AI. Promocean had a big advantage \u2014 they had already thoroughly documented what the process should look like. Then using the SAP AI platform, they fed that into a GPT model using a now-standard RAG approach, retrieval augmented generation, and used it to create a very sophisticated and complex rules-based engine for handling different types of enquiries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there\u2019s the operational phase: an unattended bot using SAP Build Process Automation gets emails from Outlook every 30 minutes.&nbsp;Those are then interpreted using large language models from Mistral and Anthropic on SAP\u2019s GenAI Hub and enriched with back-end data from an on-premise SAP ECC system \u2014 for example looking up the current status of an order or invoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/hackathon-demo-smaller.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Demonstration of the solution in action<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The email summary is then passed onto the rules engine to determine the best next step, and generate intelligent action proposals.&nbsp;Users can then review and manage these proposals in real-time, using the very latest information available, using a custom Purchase Order Control Center built with Fiori and the SAP Cloud Application Programming Model in SAP Build Work Zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final choice is always with the end-user. If they accept the action, the next steps can be carried out automatically by the system.&nbsp;If they disagree with the proposed solution, that feedback is fed back into the system to improve it over time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution went live on January 19th 2026 after less than 20 weeks of development, resulting in more automated, timely, and consistent follow-up of purchase orders \u2014 reducing manual effort by 63% and with fewer errors. The team estimates that by leveraging AI techniques they were able to reduce development effort by 90%! There\u2019s faster and more consistent vendor follow-up as the team is able to move from repetitive operational work to focus on what\u2019s important.&nbsp; And the system is scalable and future-proof, a platform for other AI projects, providing value today while being ready for Promocean\u2019s move to S\/4 HANA at some point in the future.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lessons learned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Look for opportunities to participate in hackathons and design workshops with your strategic vendors and partners, to find the best. most feasible AI projects for your organization, and make sure you involve the employees concerned, to tap into their knowledge and excitement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Real-world AI works best when it\u2019s built on top of a robust foundation, like SAP Business AI platform, that helps you move from prototype to production, and prepare for the AI future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can get more details about the solution in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sap.com\/documents\/2026\/02\/0ab8b553-417f-0010-bca6-c68f7e60039b.html\">Promocean&#8217;s SAP Innovation Award entry<\/a> and inin this video from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tbroek\/\">Twan van den Broek<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8GionnIzPTw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to AI, there are so many possibilities that it can be hard to know where to start. And that\u2019s why real-world examples of AI in production are so valuable. Here\u2019s a great one from the 2026 SAP Innovation Awards: Promocean&nbsp; Imagine you\u2019re a world-class brand like Heineken, Lindt chocolates, Bacardi, or Lacoste, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/thumbnail-making-AI-real-promocean.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3X9RF-5Uu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22730,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22722\/revisions\/22730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}