AstraZeneca Moves to SAP Cloud ERP Private in Expanded SAP Partnership
AstraZeneca is migrating to SAP Cloud ERP Private through the RISE with SAP journey, expanding its more than 20-year relationship with SAP. The move is part of the company’s Axial Business Transformation Programme and will support standardized processes, harmonized data and potential business AI use cases.
- AstraZeneca is migrating to SAP Cloud ERP Private through RISE with SAP.
- The move expands a relationship between AstraZeneca and SAP that has lasted more than 20 years.
- AstraZeneca is exploring SAP AI capabilities across finance, supply chain and manufacturing.
- SAP Business Data Cloud is intended to support a clean data core for future AI adoption.
- SAP Green Ledger can connect sustainability and business data across AstraZeneca’s value chain.
A full-estate move to SAP Cloud ERP Private
SAP said on November 10, 2026, that AstraZeneca is moving from legacy environments based on SAP ERP Central Component to SAP Cloud ERP Private. The migration covers AstraZeneca’s technology landscape and extends what SAP described as one of the largest SAP footprints in the life sciences industry.
Through the RISE with SAP journey, AstraZeneca aims to simplify and standardize its technology environment. According to SAP, this will help create a more agile and resilient digital foundation, allowing the company to move faster, make better-informed decisions and deliver value for its stakeholders.
AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines in oncology, rare disease and biopharmaceuticals, including cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, and respiratory and immunology.
Axial programme lays the groundwork for AI
The Axial Business Transformation Programme is designed to support more standardized ways of working, harmonized data and connected processes across AstraZeneca. The company is also exploring SAP’s Industry AI portfolio, the Joule solution and agentic use cases in finance, supply chain and manufacturing.
SAP said these capabilities have the potential to enhance productivity, strengthen data quality and governance, and enable faster decision-making. The company did not announce specific deployments or results from these AI initiatives.
The SAP Business Data Cloud solution could support AstraZeneca in creating a clean data core by bringing together disparate data sets. SAP said this would provide a trusted foundation for future AI adoption.
AstraZeneca is also considering SAP Green Ledger, which can connect sustainability and business data across its value chain. The company said this can help embed sustainability considerations into core business processes and decision-making.
What the expanded collaboration means
The announcement links AstraZeneca’s cloud migration with its plans for data and AI. Rather than describing AI as a separate technology project, SAP presents the ERP transformation, data consolidation and connected processes as foundations for using business AI across the enterprise.
“This next chapter of our partnership is about much more than modernizing technology,” Chris Taylor, Chief Information Officer at AstraZeneca, said in the SAP announcement. He said Axial is simplifying how AstraZeneca operates and creating foundations to move faster and unlock greater value from AI.
Thomas Saueressig, Chief Customer Officer and Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, said AstraZeneca’s programme shows how cloud, data and AI can create “a stronger foundation for innovation at scale.” SAP’s statements about the AI capabilities are prospective, and the announcement does not provide performance figures or a completion date for the migration.
