CASE STUDY

The first of three upgrades, this rollout involved more than 50,000 employees and was completed in under 20 hours. Supported by a standardised technology landscape that enabled minimal downtime, this smooth transition to SAP S / 4HANA Cloud Private Edition sets a new benchmark for Digital Transformation in the fastmoving consumer goods( FMCG) industry.

A long-time SAP customer, Nestlé has used SAP software since 2000 as its single unified system to manage its global operations and moved to the cloud in 2022. The upgrade to SAP S / 4HANA Cloud Private Edition is a strategic leap in its transformation journey to future-proof the company as consumer expectations evolve and new technologies reshape the marketplace. consumer trends, optimise operations and deliver exceptional experiences at scale.”

The upgrade provides a robust digital core ready for AI and automation at scale across the company’ s value chain. It enables Nestlé to gain real-time data insights for smarter decision-making.

By harnessing AI and the Joule copilot across its operations, value chain and product portfolio, Nestlé can personalise consumer engagement and optimise operations with greater agility. This helps the company remain responsive to evolving consumer expectations and lays the foundation for a truly omnichannel experience.

Ralf Huebenthal, Global Head of IT platforms, Nestlé, took our questions on the upgrade.

What impact has the rollout of the SAP solution had on Nestlé so far?

“ We are building a future-ready enterprise – one that works smarter and faster,” said Chris Wright, Nestlé’ s head of IT and CIO.

“ Having a common ERP system as our backbone is already a tremendous advantage for Nestlé. It provides a unified platform and data foundation that allows us to execute end to end across the value chain and have visibility across the entire company and beyond. With the upgrade, we gain new capabilities and insights that will help scale new products faster globally to meet the needs of our customers and consumers, and with AI and automation at scale, we’ ll drive efficiency and effectiveness across our value chain.”

With a portfolio including global icons such as Nescafé, Kit Kat and Maggi, Nestlé chose to upgrade to SAP S / 4HANA Cloud Private Edition to accelerate the rollout of new products and innovations across the group.

The upgrade also supports the company in using datadriven insights and improving processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness across its operations to better serve consumers worldwide who rely on its products every day.

“ Nestlé’ s successful go-live of SAP S / 4HANA Cloud Private Edition showcases how scale can be a strategic advantage for innovation,’ said Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, Customer Services and Delivery.

“ As one of the world’ s most recognisable and forwardthinking companies, Nestlé exemplifies how cuttingedge technology empowers global brands to anticipate

In August 2025, Nestlé achieved a historic milestone by completing the world’ s largest and fastest SAP S / 4HANA Cloud Private Edition upgrade for its Asia, Oceania and Africa( AOA) region.

The project involved migrating 50,000 users across 114 countries and 102 factories in the AOA region with the rest of the Nestlé group to follow within the next two years.

This first upgrade was executed using a‘ brownfield’ approach, meaning the existing SAP environment was converted in place rather than rebuilt from scratch. The conversion to SAP S / 4HANA was delivered in 19 hours and 35 minutes, setting a new industry benchmark for scale and speed.

Business continuity was maintained throughout the cutover and a blended training approach ensured users experienced no disruption to daily operations from day one.

The upgrade is more than a technical feat. It is a leap forward in Digital Transformation enabling real-time insights, automation and AIdriven decision-making across procurement, supply chain, finance and

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