At SAP Sapphire 2025, SAP announced a new people analytics solution called SAP People Intelligence, described as the logical successor to SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics (WFA).
The announcement positions People Intelligence as a key part of SAP’s broader investment in the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) — a platform designed to unify data across SAP and non-SAP systems, enabling more integrated, governed, and AI-powered insights across the enterprise.
While SAP partners and customers have had limited opportunities to use the technology hands-on, this article outlines what has been shared publicly, how SAP has positioned the tool, and what it may mean for SAP SuccessFactors customers. As long-standing analytics specialists in the SAP ecosystem, 3n Strategy is monitoring these developments closely and will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.
Based on SAP’s Sapphire 2025 communications, SAP People Intelligence is a new analytics solution for HR and workforce data, built on SAP Business Data Cloud. It is designed to provide deeper, more contextual insights into workforce composition, performance, diversity, skills, and planning.
According to SAP leaders including Dan Beck (President, SAP SuccessFactors) and Muhammad Alam (SAP Executive Board), the solution aims to help organisations:
Analyse and simulate workforce composition, attrition, diversity, and skill coverage
Use simulators to plan workforce and financial scenarios
Interact with data using SAP Joule, SAP’s AI co-pilot
Integrate workforce insights with finance, supply chain, and spend data through the BDC framework
SAP has stated that an Early Adopter Programme will begin in July 2025.
During his keynote, Dan Beck referred to People Intelligence as the “logical successor to Workforce Analytics.” The implication is that SAP intends People Intelligence to be the strategic path forward for SuccessFactors customers. However, no end-of-life announcements have been made for WFA, and customers can continue to use and purchase it.
SAP materials suggest that People Intelligence will offer a more modern experience than its predecessor:
Data Products replace rigid, staged data models
SAP Analytics Cloud powers cutting-edge dashboards
Data is integrated across SAP Business Suite domains — HR, Finance, Supply Chain — and connects with non-SAP tools
Scenario simulators allow for proactive decision-making
AI agent support is delivered through SAP Joule and the SAP Knowledge Graph
This represents a shift away from traditional KPI reporting, toward a more fluid, interactive model of analytics.
SAP has indicated that People Intelligence will run natively on SAP Business Data Cloud, a platform that governs and harmonises SAP and non-SAP data. Key architecture elements described by SAP include:
Data Products: Governed, semantically aligned data units such as headcount, compensation, or attrition
SAP Knowledge Graph: Connects data across business domains and retains business context
SAP Joule Integration: Enables users to ask natural-language questions and interact with agents to trigger actions
At Sapphire, SAP demonstrated use cases such as:
Simulating the effect of compensation changes on attrition
Visualising organisational structure and demographics
Comparing workforce costs across geographies or departments
3n Strategy notes that we have not yet independently validated these features in customer environments.
SAP appears to be responding to a well-established concern in the SuccessFactors customer base — namely, the perceived limitations of Workforce Analytics in comparison to third-party tools.
For many years, organisations have turned to tools such as Power BI or Excel due to challenges with usability, performance, and extensibility in WFA. In many cases, customers built their own analytics stacks to overcome these limitations.
If People Intelligence delivers on the capabilities SAP presented at Sapphire — particularly the integration with Finance, Spend, and AI — it could resolve many of these long-standing issues and re-centre analytics within the SAP ecosystem.
According to SAP, the Early Adopter Programme begins in July 2025.
No formal guidance has yet been issued regarding migration pathways from SAP Workforce Analytics and SAP has not confirmed how or when some of the more bespoke capabilities of WFA will be addressed within People Intelligence. While the new platform is promising, some specialised use cases may continue to rely on existing tools in the near term.
Customers are encouraged to engage with SAP directly, follow official updates, or speak with experienced partners to understand how to prepare.
At 3n Strategy, we have been helping SAP SuccessFactors customers build meaningful people analytics strategies for over a decade. Our expertise spans the full lifecycle of SAP analytics tools — including Workforce Analytics, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP Business Data Cloud.
As the People Intelligence story unfolds, we are actively supporting our clients with analysis, planning, and readiness.
We invite you to take the following steps:
Sign up to our newsletter to receive curated updates on People Intelligence, Business Data Cloud, and related SAP analytics innovations. Subscribe to Newsletter here.
Speak to 3n Strategy to explore what we know so far, and to review demonstrations based on SAP’s public presentations and roadmap. Request a Call Now.
Engage with 3n Strategy for a People Intelligence Readiness Assessment, tailored to evaluate your data landscape, analytics use cases, and internal readiness. Book a Readiness Call.
SAP People Intelligence appears to be a significant evolution in SAP’s people analytics vision. If the announced capabilities are fully realised, it could address many of the challenges that customers have faced when working across fragmented analytics platforms.
However, we are still in the early stages. Until the solution becomes more widely available, SuccessFactors customers are encouraged to stay informed, evaluate their current position, and begin planning for what’s next.
3n Strategy will continue to provide independent, customer-focused guidance as this new solution matures.
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