Mondelēz Selects Celonis as Process Intelligence Backbone for SAP S/4HANA Migration

In a significant move highlighting the growing importance of process intelligence in enterprise transformations, global snack giant Mondelēz has selected Celonis as its strategic process mining platform for its massive SAP S/4HANA migration. The decision to use vendor-neutral technology rather than SAP's own Signavio reflects a broader trend toward avoiding vendor lock-in during complex ERP modernizations.

Mondelēz, which generates approximately $38.5 billion in annual revenue and operates in around 80 countries with 91,000 employees, began its migration from SAP ECC to S/4HANA two years ago. The company's diverse business landscape, shaped by acquisitions including Cadbury, presented unique challenges in understanding and standardizing fragmented business processes.

"The move from ECC to S/4HANA is more than a technical migration; users end up on a completely different platform and usually adopt a more standardized set of business processes on the way," explained Rossana Rizzotto, Mondelēz CIO. "We have a strategic partnership with SAP. In the past, we have used pockets of Signavio. We want to be agnostic as much as we can [and use] the capability of Celonis to connect with our landscape, which is ERP SAP-based, but also goes beyond SAP."

Process Intelligence in Large-Scale Transformations

Process mining technology works by analyzing user interaction data across enterprise applications to reveal the actual nature of business processes, often uncovering significant gaps between designed processes and reality. For Mondelēz, this capability is crucial given its complex, decentralized operations resulting from years of organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

The company began exploring Celonis in late 2024, with the platform being elevated to strategic enterprise status in July 2025. They're implementing the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform, which combines data from multiple systems to create a "living digital twin" of operations.

"Celonis has this tremendous capability to connect the very composite landscape with standard APIs," Rizzotto noted. "At the beginning, our ambition is to create a digital twin of the enterprise, which enables us to mirror all of our processes and capabilities in a digital way."

Implementation Scope and Technical Approach

Mondelēz's implementation focuses on key end-to-end processes including offshore services, in-house operations, and outsourced services. The platform is being applied across critical business functions:

• Source-to-pay
• Order-to-cash
• Record-to-report
• Hire-to-retire

The company has already connected Celonis with its top 25 transactional systems of record, demonstrating the platform's ability to integrate with diverse application landscapes beyond just SAP. To enhance adoption, Mondelēz is also using a "process conformity platform" from WalkMe (an SAP company) to contextualize training and drive platform usage.

Strategic Implications: Beyond the Technical Migration

What makes Mondelēz's approach particularly noteworthy is how they're positioning this ERP migration as more than a technical necessity. The company views it as an opportunity to fundamentally improve business operations while preparing for emerging technologies.

"We are leveraging the embedded AI engine of Celonis to enable not just the mining activity, but also to rebuild in Celonis our business process knowledge," Rizzotto explained. "We're also looking at the technology landscape that best supports the agentic landscape that we want to either adopt ourselves or through strategic providers."

This forward-looking approach acknowledges the industry's evolving AI landscape, where vendors are competing to control agentic AI capabilities. While application vendors like SAP promote AI agents embedded within their platforms, hyperscalers like AWS offer cross-platform agentic AI solutions.

"The world is very much moving around hyperscalers," Rizzotto noted. "There is the opportunity for us to understand those capabilities, but we want to invest in a way that we do not tie ourselves with any of the big hyperscalers because this is also a rapidly evolving market."

Migration Timeline and Business Objectives

SAP plans to end mainstream support for ECC at the end of 2027, with extended support available until 2030 at a 2% premium. Mondelēz, however, is treating this timeline as secondary to their broader modernization goals.

"We started a program two years ago," Rizzotto stated. "This is a key overarching priority for us: the modernization of our landscape. But we want to make sure that these investments – which every company needs to do – generate value for the enterprise."

The company's migration schedule includes:

• North America and Latin America: H2 2026
• MEU (Middle East and Europe) and AMEA (Asia, Middle East, Australia): Starting September 2026

Balancing Standardization with Competitive Advantage

A key challenge in large-scale ERP transformations is determining the appropriate level of process standardization. While standardization can improve efficiency, it can also eliminate competitive advantages that may exist in tailored processes.

Mondelēz has taken a nuanced approach to this challenge.

"What we are looking for is not standardization for the sake of standardization, but we are looking to create the transparency that enables us to make the right choice on where we want to adopt, eventually adapt, or even assemble," Rizzotto explained. "A technology landscape can be modular, so you understand what capability you want to invest in terms of out-of-the-box. So [we are deciding whether to] adopt those capabilities or assemble capabilities that create a competitive advantage."

This approach allows the company to identify processes where standardization delivers efficiency gains while preserving customized processes that provide unique business value.

Industry Context and Broader Implications

Mondelēz's decision comes amid broader challenges in SAP migrations. Research indicates that most SAP migrations exceed budgets and project timelines, with Quebec's vehicle agency reportedly spending C$245 million over budget on an SAP implementation it wasn't even certain it needed.

Furthermore, an Airbus executive recently suggested that most CIOs in Europe will not complete their SAP ECC6 migration by 2030, highlighting the scale and complexity of these transformations.

The choice of Celonis over SAP's own Signavio also reflects a growing trend toward vendor neutrality in large enterprises. As companies navigate complex digital transformations, many are prioritizing flexibility and avoiding lock-in to specific technology providers, even when those providers are central to their core operations.

Conclusion: A Blueprint for Modern ERP Transformations

Mondelēz's approach to its SAP S/4HANA migration offers valuable insights for other organizations undertaking similar transformations. By:

1. Prioritizing process intelligence to understand actual vs. designed processes
2. Choosing vendor-neutral technology to maintain flexibility
3. Using the migration as an opportunity for broader business optimization
4. Positioning the transformation as a foundation for future technologies like agentic AI

The company is creating a blueprint for how large enterprises can approach ERP modernization as more than a technical exercise, but rather as a strategic business transformation.

As Rizzotto summarized, "The modernization is part of it, but what is important is that you take this as an opportunity to get ready for the future." This perspective may well define successful ERP transformations in the coming years.