Future-Ready Finance Starts Here:
Highlights from
SAP Connect 2025
See how AI, Data, and Applications are converging to reshape Finance & Shared Services across Quote-to-Cash (Q2C) and Record-to-Report (R2R).
Key Takeaways from SAP Connect 2025
Finance leaders left SAP Connect 2025 with one clear direction — turn data-rich operations into decision-ready insight. The event showed how connected applications and trusted data can turn volatility into velocity — with AI agents executing tasks once reserved for month-end war rooms. From autonomous closing to revenue intelligence and collections automation, SAP outlined a path where Finance & Shared Services operate as a connected network of insight and execution.
Key Signals
- AI native finance processes drive predictive accuracy and speed.
- Connected applications erase handoffs across Q2C and R2R.
- Business Data Cloud becomes the trust layer for enterprise AI.
- Role-based assistants extend finance capabilities without re-implementation.
- The future finance organization is autonomous, auditable, and adaptive.
Day 1 at SAP Connect: Q2C for Finance Leaders
At SAP Connect 2025, Quote-to-Cash took on a new dimension — driven by embedded AI, autonomous agents, and a harmonized data foundation. The demonstrations and announcements revealed how finance and revenue teams can accelerate monetization, tighten governance, and measure value faster than ever.
- What’s New: SAP Business Suite introduces multi-model monetization with usage, subscription, and partner-settlement flexibility — powered by Revenue Intelligence on Business Data Cloud.
- Why It Matters: Finance teams can now synchronize revenue operations across lines of business without data reconciliation overhead.
- Action Now: Map your current billing scenarios to standard BRIM or RI flows; identify top-leakage points where automation can enforce pricing and policy.
- What’s New: Policy-based worklists and promise-to-pay capture now embedded via Joule Agents and Signavio flows.
- Why It Matters: Collections teams can prioritize by risk, shorten DSO, and reduce manual dispute touchpoints.
- Action Now: Enable policy-driven dunning; consolidate dispute codes; benchmark current DSO to measure post-automation impact.
- What’s New: AI-enriched remittance matching and lockbox enhancements raise auto-match rates by up to 95 %.
- Why It Matters: Reduces unapplied cash and boosts forecasting accuracy for treasury and accounting.
- Action Now: Unify remittance sources; test revised lockbox rules on one month of postings; automate exception routing.
- What’s New: Telemetry-driven charge derivation integrates usage data directly into billing; agents coordinate provisioning and settlement.
- Why It Matters: Speeds quote-to-revenue realization and lowers order fallouts.
- Action Now: Pilot usage-based charging for one high-volume product; validate end-to-end mediation through Signavio Process Insights.
- What’s New: A new Finance Intelligence + Revenue Intelligence layer on Business Data Cloud delivers predictive forecast accuracy, real-time margin tracking, and insight into unbilled revenue.
- Why It Matters: Gives CFOs continuous visibility into P&L drivers — not just at close, but daily.
- Action Now: Adopt the Finance Intelligence App pilot; connect planning and analytics to operational billing data.
Day 2 at SAP Connect: Redefined R2R for Finance Teams
Record-to-Report emerged as one of SAP Connect 2025’s most practical showcases of autonomy, accuracy, and auditability. From autonomous financial close to embedded analytics, the new Business Suite capabilities demonstrated how finance can move from reporting on the past to steering the future in real time.
- What’s New: The Controlling Assistant (Joule Agent) analyzes data, references policies, reconciles transactions, and executes close tasks autonomously within SAP S/4HANA.
- Why It Matters: Eliminates spreadsheet-based tasks and reduces period-end effort by up to 15 %.
- Action Now: Pilot the assistant for one close cycle; monitor variance and adjust rules for trust and control.
- What’s New: Simplified event mapping, enhanced SSP handling, and usage-based bundle support within SAP Revenue Accounting and Reporting (RAR).
- Why It Matters: Improves disclosure accuracy and audit readiness for IFRS 15 / ASC 606.
- Action Now: Re-evaluate event types and link revenue postings to Business Data Cloud for real-time analytics.
- What’s New: Group Reporting and Business Data Cloud integrations enable seamless entity-level visibility and intercompany elimination.
- Why It Matters: Removes manual reconciliation steps and shortens close by several days.
- Action Now: Automate the top three reconciliation bottlenecks using Signavio Process Insights; benchmark against best-practice templates.
- What’s New: Embedded dashboards via SAC and role-aware insights in BDC deliver continuous audit and performance tracking.
- Why It Matters: Turns static reporting into living analytics for controllers and auditors.
- Action Now: Deploy pre-built R2R dashboards; align variance thresholds and alerts to policy KPIs.
- What’s New: Harmonized finance data products enable zero-copy sharing to Databricks and BigQuery.
- Why It Matters: Guarantees semantic consistency for AI and reporting without duplicate pipelines.
- Action Now: Integrate ledger and reporting data with BDC; establish governance roles for finance data products.
From Vision to Value: What’s New and What’s Next
SAP Connect 2025 made it clear that innovation in finance is no longer about isolated upgrades. It’s about an ecosystem of AI-native applications, autonomous agents, and trusted data services that keep finance continuously improving. Here’s what was announced, what’s live, and what’s coming.
| Innovation / Product Area | Status | Impact for Finance & Shared Services |
|---|---|---|
| Controlling Assistant (Joule) | Pilot 2025 → GA 2026 | Automates period-end close, reconciliations, and allocations with policy-based governance. |
| Finance Intelligence App (BDC) | Public Preview | Consolidates forecasting, planning, and scenario modeling on a single semantic layer. |
| Revenue Intelligence (BDC) | Live | Delivers real-time margin analysis, unbilled revenue visibility, and predictive accuracy up to 30 %. |
| Collections Worklist Automation | Near-Term Release | Reduces DSO by 5–8 days and increases collector productivity via risk-based prioritization. |
| RAR Bundle Enhancements | Live | Simplifies usage-based revenue recognition; audit findings ↓ 15 %. |
| Dispute Analytics Dashboards | Roadmap 2026 | Visualizes dispute cycle time & write-off patterns; enables root-cause prevention. |
| Agent Builder in Joule Studio | GA December 2025 | No/low-code canvas to define, deploy, and govern AI agents — finance teams can build role-based assistants. |
| Business Data Cloud Integrations | Expanding | Zero-copy sharing to Databricks & BigQuery; ensures trusted data across ecosystems. |
| SAP Engagement Cloud (beta) | November Beta → GA 2026 | Harmonizes engagement data across finance, CX, and procurement for real-time journeys and insight. |
Your 6 Finance Health Check-Ins After SAP Connect 2025
Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
Goal (30 Days): Reduce by 3–4 days Stretch (90 Days): 5–8 days
Measure With: Collections Analytics / SAP BRIM
Period-End Close Time
Goal (30 Days): Shorten by 10 % Stretch (90 Days): 15 % faster
Measure With: Joule Close Report / Central Finance
Auto-Match Rate (Cash Application)
Goal (30 Days): Increase by 10 % Stretch (90 Days): 20 % gain
Measure With: Lockbox Metrics Dashboard
Audit Findings (RAR)
Goal (30 Days): Reduce by 10 % Stretch (90 Days): 20 % fewer
Measure With: Revenue Accounting Analytics
Forecast Accuracy
Goal (30 Days): Improve by 15 % Stretch (90 Days): 30 % accuracy gain
Measure With: Finance Intelligence App / SAP Analytics Cloud
Manual Reconciliations
Goal (30 Days): Reduce by 25 % Stretch (90 Days): 40 % drop
Measure With: Signavio Process Insights
