1. Solution Value
Today’s enterprises struggle to deliver business-critical applications amid scarce senior developer resources and mounting technical debt. Traditional development approaches require extensive coordination between business units and development teams, creating bottlenecks that delay digital transformation initiatives and slow market responsiveness.
SAP Build transforms this landscape by combining the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP) with AI-powered development tools. In benchmark testing, the platform demonstrated extraordinary efficiency gains: 3x greater development velocity and a 59% reduction in overall workload compared to traditional approaches.
By providing pre-built components, standardized patterns, and automated testing tools, SAP Build enables organizations to accelerate development while maintaining enterprise-grade quality. The platform’s integration with SAP systems and AI-assisted development (including for mobile) has shown particular strength in reducing time on task, with time spent on specific actions cut by 30%. Most significantly, these gains are achieved while reducing dependency on senior developers—allowing organizations to scale their development capacity without compromising standards or accumulating technical debt.
2. Urgency and Risk
Scarcity of experienced developers, particularly senior-level talent where salaries have risen over 25% since 2021, and mounting technical debt force organizations to make critical decisions about their application development strategies. The growing compensation requirements for senior developers, now averaging $150,000-$175,000 annually in major markets, combined with fierce competition for their skills, intensifies the need for solutions that can effectively leverage junior and mid-level talent. Delays in modernizing development practices directly impact market competitiveness and operational costs.
Urgency
SAP Build effectively addresses escalating development resource constraints through its AI-assisted development environment and Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP). The benchmark study validates this approach, demonstrating that SAP Build requires 59% less development effort than traditional methods and improves development velocity by 3x.
For enterprises, these efficiency gains translate to immediate business impact:
- Industries with customer-facing requirements like financial services, retail, utilities, and telecommunications can deploy new features in days instead of weeks.
- Industries dependent on supply chain efficiency like manufacturing, consumer goods, natural resources, and logistics can adapt rapidly to market changes without waiting for senior developer availability.
- Organizations across all sectors reduce technical debt through standardized development patterns, automated quality controls and declarative programming models.
Organizations that delay adoption face quantifiable costs. GigaOm’s analysis shows that traditional approaches consume 3x more weighted development effort while delivering slower results. This resource drain grows more acute as senior developer availability decreases and technical debt compounds.
Risk
While SAP Build’s comprehensive platform accelerates development, organizations must manage specific implementation risks. These risks, identified as part of GigaOm’s benchmark analysis, impact both development and technical integration and must be carefully planned for using SAP’s extensive support resources, including:
- SAP Learning Hub for structured training paths
- Technical documentation and implementation guides
- Developer tutorials and how-to videos
- SAP community support forums
- Direct access to SAP experts through standard support channels and partners
- Implementation best practices and reference architectures
Organizations can leverage these resources to mitigate common risks around developer onboarding, system integration, and deployment planning.
Development Impacts
- Initial velocity slightly decreases during the 4-6 week platform onboarding period, after which velocity increases.
- Teams require structured training on CAP development patterns and SAP ecosystem concepts. Because CAP is built on Java and JavaScript, developers can leverage their existing Java/JavaScript expertise.
- Junior developers need guidance transitioning from traditional frameworks to SAP Build’s development model.
Technical Integration Challenges
- Organizations running diverse technology stacks should plan their API and data integration points, though the SAP BTP integration suite makes this effort much easier.
- Existing custom frameworks may require refactoring to align with CAP architectural patterns.
- Applications with complex third-party integrations need additional testing and validation. Again, SAP BTP can be applied to manage this challenge.
Risk Mitigation Activities
- Commit to a phased deployment starting with smaller applications.
- Establish dedicated training programs aligned with team size and expertise.
- Adopt parallel development approaches during the transition period.
- Define clear governance for maintaining compliance and security standards.
- SAP offers support working with its clients developing a center of excellence in SAP Build.
3. Benefits
SAP Build combines AI-assisted development with the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP) to revolutionize enterprise application delivery. The benchmark study demonstrates concrete improvements in speed, quality, and resource utilization that translate directly to business value:
- Development velocity: Teams achieve a dramatic 3x improvement in overall development velocity compared to custom approaches. This dramatic gain impacts delivery time and enables organizations to respond more quickly to market opportunities and business demands.
- Resource optimization: The platform delivers a 59% reduction in total development effort through automated processes and AI assistance. This efficiency gain allows organizations to complete projects with fewer senior developer resources while maintaining quality standards.
- AI-powered efficiency: The integrated Joule copilot AI assistant can automate tasks and and improve both speed and consistency of development while reducing the burden on development teams.
- Lifecycle impact: The advantages of faster application development and reduced development effort extend beyond deployment. By leveraging CAP, applications require significantly less code compared to custom approaches, easing development and reducing the burden of maintenance throughout the application’s lifecycle. This streamlined codebase not only minimizes technical debt, it enhances long-term efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
4. Best Practices
To fully leverage SAP Build, organizations should adopt a structured implementation approach that prioritizes proper environment setup and team enablement. The benchmark study revealed that teams achieved optimal results when following a methodical adoption path that balanced quick wins with sustainable development practices. Consider these proven implementation guidelines:
- Environment setup and training: Invest in comprehensive training on both SAP Build and the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), as understanding these foundations significantly impacts team productivity.
- Phased implementation strategy: Begin with smaller, non-critical applications to build team confidence and expertise. The study showed that teams who started with complex projects faced steeper learning curves and longer time-to-value.
- AI implementation governance: Establish clear processes for reviewing and validating AI-generated code. While the Joule AI assistant can accelerate key development tasks (such as code generation, unit test creation, and synthetic test data creation) by up to 30%, teams need structured validation procedures to maintain code quality and security standards.
- Integration planning: Develop a clear strategy for connecting with existing systems and data sources. Teams in the benchmark study who planned their integration approach early avoided significant deployment delays and security concerns.
- Quality assurance process: Implement regular code reviews and testing protocols. The benchmark revealed that teams using SAP Build’s built-in testing tools achieved more consistent quality outcomes with fewer senior developer resources.
5. Organizational Impact
SAP Build adoption affects workflows across development, operations, and business teams. The benchmark study indicates successful implementations follow a structured approach over three distinct phases of learn, develop, and iterate.
Learn: The initial transition (weeks 1-6) focuses on core platform skills and process alignment. Development teams learn the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP) methodology while operations teams adapt deployment procedures. Business units revise their requirements and feedback processes to match the platform’s accelerated development cycle.
Develop: As teams gain proficiency, the 3x increase in development velocity drives operational changes. Project managers adjust estimation models, security teams implement standardized compliance checks, and business units compress feedback cycles. These changes enable faster feature delivery while maintaining consistent quality and security controls.
Iterate: Teams experience compounding efficiency gains as they master the capabilities of SAP Build. Development teams leverage advanced CAP features and reusable components while operations teams streamline deployment pipelines. Business analysts accelerate validation through direct prototyping, while Joule AI, trained specifically on SAP data and processes, helps all teams optimize their development workflows. SAP BTP services create opportunities to integrate with lines of business to amplify impact over time.
People Impact
The platform reshapes traditional development roles. Junior developers take on more complex tasks through guided frameworks, while senior developers shift focus to architecture and innovation. The benchmark showed a 59% reduction in development effort, allowing teams to complete more projects without additional staffing. Training costs peak during the first quarter but decrease significantly as teams master the platform.
Investment Outlook
SAP Build follows a dual licensing model through the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP): user-based licensing and runtime-based licensing. This hybrid approach provides cost optimization flexibility—organizations pay for developer access during development while production costs scale with actual application usage. A typical enterprise implementation starts with licensing for core development teams (10-15 users), while production costs are optimized based on actual usage.
Implementation costs include:
- Initial platform licensing
- Training program development
- System integration services across platforms and ecosystems
- Infrastructure adjustments
- Ongoing support and maintenance
The benchmark study indicates that organizations should budget for 4-6 weeks of reduced team velocity during initial implementation. However, the documented 3x advantage in development efficiency typically offsets these costs within the first year of operation.
6. Solution Timeline
Implementing SAP Build can vary depending on the complexity of the projects, the size of the development team, and the organization’s familiarity with the SAP ecosystem. Organizations that take on the initial setup and onboarding process themselves can expect the work to take a few weeks to a few months. This includes setting up the development environment, training developers on the platform and CAP, and integrating with existing systems. Note that SAP offers services that can significantly reduce this time expectation. Ongoing optimization and further integration may require additional time and resources as the organization gains more experience with the platform. Factors such as the complexity of the application being developed and the level of customization required can also impact the timeline.
Future Considerations
Over the next three years, organizations can anticipate SAP Build to further mature and evolve, with enhancements in AI capabilities, expanded language support, and deeper integration with the SAP ecosystem. SAP’s roadmap likely includes advancements in areas such as intelligent code completion, automated testing, and improved developer collaboration tools. As the low-code/no-code and pro-code markets grow, SAP Build is well-positioned to be a vital tool for organizations seeking to accelerate application development and drive digital transformation.
7. Analyst’s Take
Enterprise application development platforms are evolving to address the fundamental challenges of developer scarcity and accelerating business demands. SAP Build stands out in this market through its combination of AI-assisted development and the Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP). The benchmark study validates this approach, showing 3x greater development velocity and a 59% reduction in overall development effort.
The platform is particularly effective for organizations that prioritize standardized development practices and maintain significant SAP investments. Its comprehensive approach to enterprise application development provides clear advantages for teams seeking to reduce technical debt while accelerating delivery.
Two factors require attention during adoption: integration planning for organizations with diverse technology stacks and structured training programs to ensure team readiness. Organizations that address these elements systematically typically see positive returns within the first quarter of implementation.
8. About GigaOm
GigaOm provides technical, operational, and business advice for IT’s strategic digital enterprise and business initiatives. Enterprise business leaders, CIOs, and technology organizations partner with GigaOm for practical, actionable, strategic, and visionary advice for modernizing and transforming their business. GigaOm’s advice empowers enterprises to successfully compete in an increasingly complicated business atmosphere that requires a solid understanding of constantly changing customer demands.
GigaOm works directly with enterprises both inside and outside of the IT organization to apply proven research and methodologies designed to avoid pitfalls and roadblocks while balancing risk and innovation. Research methodologies include but are not limited to adoption and benchmarking surveys, use cases, interviews, ROI/TCO, market landscapes, strategic trends, and technical benchmarks. Our analysts possess 20+ years of experience advising a spectrum of clients from early adopters to mainstream enterprises.
GigaOm’s perspective is that of the unbiased enterprise practitioner. Through this perspective, GigaOm connects with engaged and loyal subscribers on a deep and meaningful level.
9. Copyright
© Knowingly, Inc. 2025 "CxO Decision Brief: SAP Build" is a trademark of Knowingly, Inc. For permission to reproduce this report, please contact sales@gigaom.com.