It received’t be lengthy earlier than AI brokers will write code and rework legacy purposes to be used within the SAP cloud. Sonja Liénard, head of ABAP platform at SAP, talks about the way forward for SAP’s iconic ABAP programming language and ABAP platform.
Liénard is an data scientist and enterprise informatics skilled who joined SAP in 2012. As senior vp and head of ABAP platform at SAP, she is chargeable for ABAP and all issues associated to ABAP platform. On this function, she can be the pinnacle of ABAP AI and thus globally chargeable for the most recent developments and improvements on this area.
On this interview, she discusses ABAP, the function of AI in growth, how agentic AI will rework legacy purposes, and what’s subsequent.
Q: What’s ABAP, precisely? How would you clarify it to somebody who might need heard of it however doesn’t actually know what it’s? And why is ABAP so necessary for enterprise software program?
A: ABAP has a really lengthy historical past at SAP. It’s the firm’s first and solely proprietary programming language and turned 40 in 2023—an unusually future within the fast-changing world of software program.
What units ABAP other than different programming languages reminiscent of Java or C++ is that it was particularly designed for constructing and optimizing the enterprise purposes that giant enterprises depend on every single day. Amongst its many options is a excessive degree of abstraction, which makes it very straightforward for builders to jot down or prolong enterprise software program. It additionally reduces complexity as a result of safety ideas, authorization checks, and quality control are already embedded within the language. This permits builders to focus completely on the enterprise logic—that’s, on the duties they need this system to carry out.
Over time, ABAP has advanced to maintain tempo with how corporations deploy software program. The most recent model is ABAP Cloud, which has a restricted language scope and is designed to assist growth in what SAP calls a “clear core.” That is important for operating our cloud merchandise. Enterprises nonetheless working in a non-cloud atmosphere can use ABAP Cloud to organize the code of their on-premise programs or in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Personal Version in such a approach that it can be run within the cloud.
Past its function as a programming language, ABAP can be a platform. ABAP platform is the inspiration that underpins all of SAP’s core options, from older installations reminiscent of SAP ERP Central Part (SAP ECC) to on-premise options, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Personal Version, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Version.
Q: Will ABAP proceed to play a vital function for SAP clients?
A: Sure, each when it comes to the programming language and the platform ABAP remains to be extremely related. The programming language appears to be like very totally different to the best way it did 40 years in the past in fact—as a result of now we have repeatedly refined it over time—however it nonetheless varieties the spine of SAP’s core ERP options and extensions. There are roughly 5 million registered ABAP builders worldwide right this moment, with round two million actively growing.
By means of ABAP Cloud and our devoted ABAP AI crew, ABAP has advanced into a contemporary growth language for enterprise options. I don’t know of every other programming language that covers this scope. It’s used globally. Virtually all of the world’s 100 largest corporations are SAP S/4HANA clients, and beneath it all the time runs ABAP platform.
Q: How will AI form ABAP growth going ahead?
A: For me as head of ABAP platform, this is likely one of the questions that intrigues me most. AI has utterly disrupted the expertise market. This in fact additionally impacts the SAP developer portfolio and the way we customise and prolong our options. We have now due to this fact invested in AI-powered effectivity instruments, reminiscent of a chat assistant that explains code on the fly. One other is “ghost texting,” a function that generates code ideas whereas the developer sorts.
Within the coming years, AI brokers will be capable of generate code—together with on the scale demanded of huge enterprises—and even construct total options. We consider that the subsequent wave of AI is not going to simply help programmers however tackle most of the routine duties they carry out right this moment.
An important query for SAP is: how can we leverage AI to translate legacy code into fashionable code with out shedding the underlying enterprise logic that makes every system distinctive? A number of our clients are nonetheless working older options, together with these primarily based on SAP ECC. So, we have to present a transparent migration technique and the appropriate instruments to simplify and speed up their transfer to the cloud.
That’s why we’re presently growing a service that may work for everybody—no matter which system model they run. The goal is to bundle all of SAP’s ABAP AI capabilities right into a single providing that may increase developer effectivity and permit {custom} code to be migrated. Ideally, this service might be agent-driven—as “agentic AI.”
Q: What’s agentic AI?
A: Agentic AI works with so-called “brokers.” Brokers have specialised capabilities, can talk with one another, change outcomes, and thus clear up extremely advanced duties collectively. How they collaborate varies primarily based on the complexity of the use case.
Most approaches contain an “orchestrator,” a lead agent that manages different brokers to finish a selected job. The orchestrator doesn’t must name on the person brokers in a hard and fast order—relatively, its biggest power lies in intelligently combining the brokers in dynamic, adaptive networks.
So, it’s not nearly making human builders extra environment friendly. When brokers are highly effective sufficient, they will construct total purposes and thus tackle a part of the developer’s duties. In our case, agentic AI can assist the very advanced job of reworking code, accelerating it considerably and lowering complexity.
This method depends on totally different brokers that target totally different points of the duty: for example, one agent makes a speciality of explaining {custom} code; one other makes code adjustments; and a 3rd estimates the trouble of a change mission. When these brokers collaborate, that’s when the actual magic of agentic AI occurs.
AI will transform the function of builders. Regardless of persevering with to set the path, they’ll more and more give attention to enterprise logic relatively than on the coding itself. They’ll work with the code generated by AI programs, checking that it’s appropriate, safe, and aligned with the issue they’re attempting to unravel. Thought management, nonetheless, will stay firmly with individuals. Builders will proceed to determine what issues and talk their directions to AI by means of good prompts. The complete AI area is extraordinarily dynamic and evolving at astounding pace. Highly effective options are already obtainable right this moment, so this isn’t a distant imaginative and prescient—it’s already upon us.
Q: How do clients profit from agentic AI?
A: Agentic AI will ship important worth in reworking legacy purposes and {custom} extensions into cloud options from SAP, and thus the most recent ERP variations. In February 2026, we prolonged our current {custom} code administration app with AI options that assist builders perceive what the code is doing and what adjustments are wanted to future-proof it. And, in fact, AI additionally supplies suggestions on how the code will be prolonged. Sooner or later, we’ll complement all this with brokers. Nonetheless, this can take a while, as we refuse to compromise on high quality and safety.
We’re additionally investing within the developer expertise with ABAP platform to make it as straightforward to make use of as attainable. Right here, agentic AI will assist cut back the complexity that has constructed up over a long time of growth.
Q: Ought to we be nervous about safety?
A: No, we intentionally enable adequate time earlier than any launch to ensure that high quality and, above all, safety meet a excessive bar. Don’t fear: AI received’t take management and generate or combine options unilaterally or unchecked. People will stay in cost each step of the best way and can all the time have the final phrase in relation to making certain that code complies with our requirements.
Q: The place are we now and what’s subsequent?
A: ABAP AI instruments aimed toward boosting developer productiveness have been obtainable since February 2025, and we at the moment are constructing agentic AI within the ABAP context. Nonetheless, it’s early days and agentic AI nonetheless should show itself in observe. As I see it, although, it’ll rework the market.
As a part of our street map, we launched SAP-ABAP-1, a custom-trained, specialised AI mannequin, on the generative AI hub in early January 2026. This mannequin is particularly designed to elucidate ABAP program code.
Subsequent, we plan to make all ABAP AI instruments obtainable as an unbiased side-by-side service. In a subsequent part, we’ll transition the use instances embedded in these instruments to brokers.
As well as, we’re increasing our cloud-based ABAP growth into extra growth environments (IDEs), particularly ABAP growth instruments for Visible Studio Code. So, the crew may also faucet into the AI instruments obtainable there as a part of our push towards agent-driven growth.
This primary appeared on the German SAP Information Heart.