In today’s episode, Bob Evans talks with Tony Harris, SVP and Head of Marketing & Solutions at SAP Business Network. They discuss issues such as supply chain orchestration and agentic AI, along with supplier visibility and resilience in an era of global disruption. Harris also introduces SAP Business Network Promote, a new subscription offering designed to help suppliers scale, stand out, and connect with global buyers more effectively.
Inside SAP Business Network
The Big Themes:
- New Organizational Structure: SAP reorganized its internal teams by combining Business Network and Digital Supply Chain into a new unit: Supply Chain Management. While this may sound like internal restructuring, Tony Harris explained that for customers, it signals a major innovation push. A major focus in 2025 will be on supply chain orchestration and supply chain risk — two areas that demand real-time responsiveness and cross-functional collaboration.
- SAP Business Network as a Response to Tariffs and Disruption: With the rise of geopolitical tensions, trade wars, and tariffs, companies need to rapidly adjust their supplier bases. SAP Business Network helps companies respond to such disruptions. If tariffs threaten certain international suppliers, businesses can use SAP Business Network to quickly identify alternative suppliers in unaffected regions or within domestic markets.
- Introducing SAP Business Network Promote Subscription: On the very day of the interview, SAP launched a new subscription service called SAP Business Network Promote, designed specifically for suppliers. This offering helps vendors raise their visibility and connect with global buyers on SAP Business Network. Features include enhanced and verified company profiles, uploading of full product catalogs, and access to AI-powered tools for responding to requests for information (RFIs), improving content, and correcting invoice errors. Suppliers also receive robust data insights.
The Big Quote: “To be effective, agentic AI needs the data, sometimes lots of data, to be able to make the most appropriate decision . . . and this is where SAP is so well placed to be the leader in agentic AI because we have the data, and we have the context our Business Suite of cloud applications are being used by thousands of companies . . . this generates a ton of data.”
More from SAP Business Network:
Learn about SAP Business Network here.
