SAP TechEd 2025 - Personal Recap
SAP TechEd 2025 is over, and most attendees should be back home by now. Here's a brief recap of my highlights and key takeaways. Of course, there are also a few points about ABAP.
Table of contents
This short personal blog is about my impressions, experiences, and of course, current information about upcoming events.
Introduction
For me, this was the first in-person TechEd that wasn't just broadcast virtually, so I can only draw comparisons to DSAG events, which, however, are quite similar to the annual congress in terms of the number of participants. In terms of content, TechEd is more comparable to the Technology Days, where the focus is on technology and development.
Keynote
There were a total of four keynotes: one to open the event, one to close it, the main keynote with the latest announcements, and the Developer Keynote by the Developer Advocates.
Keynote
The main keynote, which lasted 90 minutes, offered the most to see and hear. It presented the latest innovations, such as the Business Large Language Model (LLM) RPT-1 (Rapid One). The aim is to make it easier and more cost-effective to integrate AI into business processes. The internally trained SAP model for ABAP, ABAP, was presented for BTP. Two customer examples were also used, and further partnerships were announced. Unfortunately, everything seemed a bit too synchronized, and when it was finally noticed that all the demos were only pre-recorded, some of the magic was lost.
Developer Keynote
The Developer Keynote was about the search for the perfect team. The various technologies combine to form the team, and this was what needed to be demonstrated. The presentation covered various technologies from HANA Cloud, AI, integration with events, Joule Skills for Process Automation, and finally, AI integration in ABAP.
What I found particularly appealing about the keynote was the mistakes that were made and which also appeared in some of the demos. This is essentially what makes us developers who we are and shows that not everything always works perfectly.
Recording
If you'd like to watch the various keynotes yourself, you can find them on the SAP YouTube channel. Here are the links to the different formats and episodes:
Opinion
In general, I think both keynotes were successful and they offer a glimpse into the future. Unfortunately, such visions and ideas can quickly change again next year. For investors, this is certainly a good vision; however, customers are usually still preoccupied with other topics such as Clean Core or the transformation itself. A dedicated keynote address would be quite useful here to present the innovations for the transformation and the existing processes that address customers' current problems and offer support.
At the moment, most customers simply aren't ready to embrace the vision, utilize the current technology, or invest in the software. Therefore, these challenges should also be visualized in a different way, as there are many good initiatives in the background addressing these issues.
ABAP
What innovations are there for ABAP? One of the most important areas for me, other customers, and you as a developer.
VS Code for ABAP
The community's demands for VS Code support are finally becoming a reality. With the switch of the Eclipse architecture to a language server, almost any IDE can now be connected with extensive code reuse. ABAP Cloud support is expected to be available by Q2 2026, allowing developers to gain experience with RAP and Fiori development via an IDE. Initially, support will only be available for ABAP Cloud and a limited number of objects, but additional objects may be added in the future. From an architectural standpoint, support up to version 7.31 is also possible.
If you would like to delve deeper into the new topics and understand the background, you can find further information on this topic from Thomas Alexander Ritter here.
I personally welcome the move to an IDE for developing full-stack applications in the ABAP Cloud environment. Even though, until now, the ABAP Development Tools (ADT) have been used in approximately 95% of cases, and the Business Application Studio (BAS) was only needed for a small portion. This should further simplify working with the tools in the future and increase developer acceptance.
However, I also see a strong use case for ABAP in the Business Application Studio, as the rollout and maintenance of ADT already pose a challenge for many companies. An IDE that is accessible in the browser, where update management happens automatically, and which has a small footprint within the company will be welcomed by many businesses. However, work also needs to be done on availability and stability so that BAS doesn't become an additional challenge for the developer.
And for those who want to panic: Eclipse and ADT will remain the primary development environments for now, as long as you're still working in the Classic area. VS Code's focus is initially on ABAP Cloud. However, Agentic AI will only be available for VS Code and could therefore make choosing the right IDE more difficult.
ABAP-1
"Joule for ABAP Developers" is based on a custom-trained LLM developed by SAP, which was trained on objects and data from an S/4HANA system. This should allow it to answer questions about ABAP somewhat better than the general-purpose models trained so far. You will also find this model in AI Core on the Business Technology Platform. However, you should also keep in mind that an LLM is only as good as the sound context it provides. If you provide insufficient context to the model, the response can be quite unspecified, just like with any other model.
Location
In general, the venue in Berlin is well located and easily accessible by public transport. Unfortunately, there were numerous problems with the deep dive sessions, which were simply overrun by the sheer number of people. The rooms were simply too small, the queues too long, and for security reasons, only a limited number of people were allowed in. With three sessions on my list, I didn't get into any, but I still had fun in the community area.
If the rooms aren't going to be any bigger next year, perhaps the concept of hands-on sessions should be implemented, allowing people to register for a specific number of sessions. I don't think anyone wants to stand in line for 45 minutes before the session even starts, just to get into the room. Also because you then miss out on other content.
Community
Networking with people offers several advantages, such as quickly accessing solutions and information, but also discussing current challenges and problems. Some good solutions have already emerged from these conversations.
Area
The community has its own area, where the Developer Garage can also be found. There you can play through many demos and tutorials from the current area. On the one hand, this keeps you in contact with current developments, and on the other hand, the Developer Advocates help you with execution and if there are any problems. Basically, you can also ask general questions to the colleagues, who will certainly help you.
The area also housed the Community Theater, where community sessions were shown every day. A very good place to connect with people from the SAP community. Unfortunately, the area was rather small and there wasn't enough seating for all participants, so many people almost always had to stand. Next year, I would like the area to be bigger, as the demand for community content was very high.
There was also a comfortable area where you could sit and relax. A photographer was available for new business photos, and the community colleagues were there for the various programs, local event groups, and other topics. It's definitely worth checking out the area, spending some time there, and connecting with others.
Basically, the Community area was where I spent the most time, seeking interaction and watching the sessions.
Mentors and Champions
Perhaps you've also noticed the various SAP Mentors and SAP Champions? They usually wear clothing that identifies them as community members. These are two SAP Community Programs run by SAP, home to diverse community members from around the globe. Here you'll find an overview of current community members:
SAP Mentors are experts in one or more areas and maintain close contact with SAP to provide feedback and suggestions. SAP Champions are very active in the community, organize events, write blogs, and are active externally. This makes it quite easy to distinguish between the two programs. Basically, you can approach both groups at the events, and they will certainly be happy to help you if you have questions or are looking for guidance.
Presentation
In my short community presentation, I talked about open source and where it still makes sense to develop your own solutions or simply extend the standard for greater convenience. With ABAP Cloud, there are some limitations regarding the use of APIs and the possibilities, at least compared to Classic ABAP. However, there are also some freedoms if you are familiar with all the relevant topics, such as shared APIs, external APIs, and all the available web interfaces. At the end, I showed a few practical examples from current open-source projects, which focused primarily on testing processes and testability.
The documents and the example from my presentation can be found in this GitHub repository. I've also linked the presentation as a PDF in the repository.
People
At SAP TechEd you will definitely also meet the "Who's Who" of the community, who also contribute a lot to the community and ABAP development, such as Paul Modderman (Boring Enterprise Nerds), Lars Hvam Petersen (abapGit, abapLint), Marian Zeis (Spreadsheet Importer, MCP), Marcello Urbani (VS Code Plugin), Sandra Solis (Mundo ABAPer) and of course many more.
AI
I think everyone won at Bingo this time (thanks, Jelena). There was plenty of information about AI and Joule from many different perspectives. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way; this comment also came up frequently in the community: The topic of Joule and AI is slowly becoming overwhelming. I'm starting to feel a certain fatigue with the subject. Many sessions revolve around this topic, but when you look at the current processes in companies, it usually plays a subordinate role. Summarizing an email here, creating an image for a blog there – but that's still a long way from a real business use case.
I would appreciate more sessions next year that focus on the development topics that still concern many developers. Learning, entering this new world, and keeping up with the current state of technology. I think we will still be investing a lot of money and time in this area in the coming years.
Conclusion
Despite a few minor issues, the event was very valuable for me personally. Besides the direct contact with SAP and the community, I also learned about many new developments in the SAP world and challenges from within the community. I hope we'll see each other again next year and that there will be more cool solutions for our everyday ABAP work.
