AstraZeneca Selects RISE with SAP and Business AI to Modernize Its Global ERP Landscape

SAP has announced an expanded collaboration with AstraZeneca, under which the global biopharmaceutical company will migrate its extensive SAP environment to SAP Cloud ERP Private through the RISE with SAP journey. Announced on November 10, 2026, the initiative builds on a relationship spanning more than 20 years and represents a major step in AstraZeneca’s enterprise technology transformation.

Axial Programme Drives Enterprise-Wide ERP Modernization

Through its Axial Business Transformation Programme, AstraZeneca is moving from legacy SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) environments to SAP Cloud ERP Private.

The full-estate migration is designed to simplify and standardize the company’s technology landscape, harmonize business data and connect processes across the enterprise. The transformation aims to establish a more agile and resilient digital foundation, helping AstraZeneca improve operational efficiency, accelerate decision-making and respond more effectively to changing business requirements.

For a global life sciences organization operating across complex research, development and commercial operations, standardized processes and consistent enterprise data are important foundations for managing business complexity.

SAP Business AI to Support Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing

Alongside ERP modernization, AstraZeneca is exploring SAP’s Business AI capabilities, including its Industry AI portfolio, Joule and agentic AI use cases.

The planned areas of exploration include:

• Finance: AI-assisted processes to improve productivity and support faster financial decisions.
• Supply Chain: Intelligent capabilities to improve operational visibility and decision-making.
• Manufacturing: AI-driven opportunities to enhance productivity and operational processes.
• Data Quality and Governance: Greater consistency and reliability of enterprise information.

These capabilities are expected to help AstraZeneca make better use of business insights and establish a foundation for wider AI adoption.

SAP Business Data Cloud and Green Ledger Extend the Transformation

AstraZeneca is also looking at SAP Business Data Cloud to create a clean and trusted data foundation by bringing together information from different enterprise sources.

A harmonized data environment can help reduce fragmentation and provide reliable information for analytics, business intelligence and future AI applications.

Additionally, SAP Green Ledger offers the opportunity to connect sustainability information with business and financial data across the value chain. This can help embed sustainability considerations into operational processes and enterprise decision-making.

Building a Digital Foundation for Life Sciences Innovation

The collaboration reflects a broader shift in the life sciences industry toward cloud ERP, connected data and AI-enabled operations.

For AstraZeneca, the transformation is not limited to replacing legacy technology. It is intended to simplify how the organization operates and create the digital foundation needed to turn insights into action more quickly.

As pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies face increasing operational complexity, integrated ERP platforms and trusted enterprise data are becoming important enablers of productivity, innovation and business agility.

Key Takeaways

• Major ERP transformation: AstraZeneca is migrating its SAP landscape to SAP Cloud ERP Private through RISE with SAP.
• 20-year partnership: The announcement expands the longstanding collaboration between SAP and AstraZeneca.
• Axial Programme: The initiative focuses on standardizing processes, harmonizing data and simplifying enterprise technology.
• Business AI adoption: AstraZeneca is exploring Joule, Industry AI and agentic AI use cases across finance, supply chain and manufacturing.
• Connected data: SAP Business Data Cloud will support the development of a trusted data foundation for analytics and AI.
• Sustainability integration: SAP Green Ledger can connect sustainability and business data across the value chain.
• Strategic objective: The transformation aims to improve agility, accelerate decision-making and support AstraZeneca’s long-term innovation goals.

Source :https://news.sap.com/2026/11/sap-expands-collaboration-astrazeneca-rise-with-sap-business-ai/