SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) announced that Nestlé S.A., one of the world’s leading food and beverage companies, has completed its first major upgrade to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. This wave covers 112 countries, with more countries in Europe and the Americas to follow soon.
The first of three upgrades, this one 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 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.
A long-time SAP customer, Nestlé since 2000 has used SAP software 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.
“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 that includes 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 it in making data-driven insights and improving processes to drive efficiency and effectiveness across the company’s business 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 & delivery. “As one of the world’s most recognisable and forward-thinking companies, Nestlé exemplifies how cutting-edge technology empowers global brands to anticipate consumer trends, optimise operations and deliver exceptional experiences at scale.”
The upgrade also provides a robust digital core ready for AI and automation at scale across the company’s value chain, enabling Nestlé to gain real-time data insights for smarter decision-making. By harnessing AI and the Joule copilot at scale across its operations, value chain and product portfolio, Nestlé can personalise consumer engagement and optimise operations with greater agility. This helps ensure it remains responsive to evolving consumer expectations and lays the foundation for a truly omni-channel experience.
