Clariant: Moving to cloud ERP to take advantage of next-generation technologies
Deploying a future-ready IT landscape
In a competitive, margin-sensitive sector, operational efficiency is key for Clariant AG. To support process excellence, the specialty chemicals manufacturer began its RISE with SAP journey by migrating SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) to a private cloud before a planned deployment of an SAP Cloud ERP Private solution.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Chemicals | Muttenz, Switzerland | 10,465 employees |
reduction in shelfware.
on-premises SAP solutions moved to the cloud to prepare for migration to SAP Cloud ERP Private.
users across multiple European sites.
Head of Global IT Application Development, Clariant AG
Supporting complex processes across a constantly evolving business
Producing innovative, customized solutions for customers across multiple industries, Clariant is one of the world’s leading specialty chemical companies. With three business units producing care chemicals, absorbents and additives, and catalysts, the company operates across 71 sites on five continents.
As part of a company-wide, cloud-first strategy, Clariant wanted to modernize its ERP by moving to an SAP Cloud ERP Private solution. This would enable the company to take advantage of advanced AI-embedded innovations to help it improve process quality and decision-making agility across its operations.
However, before embarking on an implementation of SAP Cloud ERP Private, the company first needed to move its existing instance of SAP ECC to an SAP-managed private cloud as part of the RISE with SAP journey. What’s more, this needed to happen without causing disruption to users or day-to-day business operations.
Collaborating with SAP experts to achieve a smooth transition
The migration to the SAP-managed private cloud took 12 months and was completed on time and on budget. Clariant worked closely with experts from the SAP Enterprise Cloud Services organization and used SAP Services and Support to enable a smooth transition to the new cloud-based infrastructure. Key to the success of the project was the tight collaboration between the Clariant and SAP teams, with SAP experts acting quickly to address and resolve any issues that arose.
The project involved 60 migration runs across a range of components of SAP ECC and software including the SAP Business Warehouse application and SAP Solution Manager. Detailed go-live planning and a phased approach involving four separate migration waves helped reduce the risk of operational disruption, while go-lives during weekends helped ensure that users were not affected by—or aware of—the changes taking place.
Preparing for next-level, AI-enabled business operations
The move to the SAP-managed private cloud as part of the RISE with SAP journey has already delivered valuable benefits for Clariant. The subscription-based licensing model enables the company to flexibly scale its investment up or down based on the needs of the business. This has already helped cut shelfware by 25%, representing significant savings.
Clariant is now well positioned for its upcoming implementation of SAP Cloud ERP Private. Using this next-generation, cloud-based ERP, the company will be able to increase standardization and automation of processes, streamlining areas such as the order-to-cash journey, intercompany billing, and margin analysis. In addition, regular, automatic updates to the future-ready, cloud-based solution will enable Clariant to take advantage of the latest AI-enabled innovations. This will help it drive operational efficiency, boost productivity, and provide employees with rapid access to the information they need to make informed business decisions.
Clariant is also exploring a clean core approach by looking into how it can reduce its custom code to make it easier to enable upgrades in the future. The company is currently using the SAP Signavio Process Modeler solution to identify areas where there is potential to cut complexity and optimize processes while adopting more standardized processes.