Nestlé has completed the first phase of a global digital upgrade, implementing what it says is the world’s largest-ever migration to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
The move marks a key milestone in the company’s digital transformation, aimed at improving operational efficiency and agility while freeing up resources to invest in its brands.
The upgrade comes shortly after the company announced it would be slashing 16,000 jobs over a two-year period, as part of a major restructuring aimed at cutting costs and accelerating growth.
The new system enables the use of artificial intelligence at scale to deliver insights, automate processes, and support faster decision-making across supply chain, procurement, order fulfilment, and investment planning.
Anna Manz, Chief Financial Officer at Nestlé, said driving growth through innovation is a top priority.
“We are transforming our business to invest more boldly in the best opportunities. We need to combine great consumer insights and innovation with flexibility and scale, to provide great quality products to consumers around the world when, where and how they want them.
“This upgrade will help us build multi-year innovation pipelines, more agile production and digital-first marketing and sales platforms for areas like cold coffee, therapeutic pet food and modern cooking aids.”
The first stage of the rollout now supports 50,000 users across 112 countries in Nestlé’s Asia, Oceania and Africa region. The company expects to complete the upgrade across the rest of its global operations within two years.
Nestlé’s SAP Enterprise Resource Planning software connects functions such as manufacturing, sales, finance and human resources in a single system to enable streamlined operations and data-driven decision-making.
Chris Wright, Head of Nestlé IT and CIO, said they are building a future-ready enterprise – one that works smarter and faster.
“Having a common ERP system as our backbone is already a tremendous advantage for Nestlé.
“With the upgrade, we gain more flexibility, capabilities and insights that will help us roll out new products globally faster to meet the needs of our customers and consumers. And with the use of AI and automation at scale, we’ll drive efficiency and effectiveness throughout our value chain.
The upgrade will also enhance order fulfilment for retailers, standardise procurement processes, and support real-time data-driven decision-making across Nestlé’s global operations.
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