How Diageo Refocused Its ERP Transformation—and Defied the Odds

When Diageo, a global beverage leader with 200 brands sold in 180 countries, embarked on its ERP migration, it faced challenges familiar to many organizations on the same journey. Nearly 90% of ERP transformations fall short of their goals, and most companies overspend on them, putting pressure on the bottom line and customer experience. In Diageo’s case, the ERP go-live date had been moved out twice, followed by a program pause as the business faced a serious question: “Should we throw in the towel?”

Diageo enlisted Bain’s help with a critical reset: advising on how to build a cost-efficient MVP program to migrate to a digital core powered by SAP S/4HANA, mobilize the full organization behind it, and prepare the business for a single, seamless cutover. The transformation program, internally known as Project Voyager, had to do more than address the company’s immediate need for a technical upgrade; it was the foundation the company needed to drive business value and its AI ambition. After the reset, Diageo achieved a near-faultless global go-live, on track with the new plan and with no disruption to the business. At the same time, it reduced the program’s run-rate cost by nearly 50%. 

Resetting the agenda

Diageo had two key goals for the MVP: focus the program scope to deliver a seamless global modernization of the digital core, quickly and cost-effectively; and ensure that on the go-live date the company could sell, make and move product, collect cash, and close books without any disruption.

“The real challenge wasn’t just the scale of the technology change. It was aligning hundreds of processes, simplifying a complex landscape, delivering to nonnegotiable timelines, and restoring confidence,” says Amar Pradeep Swain, Diageo’s transformation director, who led Project Voyager through the reset to go-live and through hypercare. “Success meant a safe day-one go-live and a foundation that will support the business for the next decade.”

Charting a new course started with diagnosing the problem. The Bain-Diageo Voyager team evaluated the root causes of program inefficiencies while pressure-testing reset options. With that clarity, Diageo landed on a lower-risk MVP approach: a technical upgrade that would lay the foundation for AI and, ultimately, greater business value.

Diageo understood that Voyager would only be as successful as the people driving it. With Bain’s help, the program moved to a leaner setup that rebalanced capabilities in preparation for deployment and put a tight group of leaders in the driver’s seat. Their accountabilities were not just written on paper; they reflected a shared commitment to each other and to the program’s success.

Enlisting and mobilizing the business

A program of this scale could only be successful with the full force of the business behind it. Getting from the re-scoped MVP roadmap to go-live required a fundamental mindset shift: The Voyager team ensured that the operators and business leaders were as invested in the success of the ERP transformation as the program team. As Amar explained it, executing this transformation would “take a village.”

Business co-ownership was just the first step. The next shift was to move from an inward, technology focus to an outward, business-engagement focus, in preparation for the largest go-live Diageo had ever executed.

After a thorough analysis by Bain, the Voyager team defined the business support roles needed for rollout, clarifying responsibilities and resource requirements at each stage. Outside-in benchmarks helped size deployment needs, and the team mobilized a 600-strong support network of superusers and site-by-site, office-by-office deployment owners. Crucially, these were not simply roles in the program structure; they were leaders and operators in the business who made the success of the program a personal priority.

Planning for a big-bang go-live

Cutovers of this scale are high stakes. Ensuring business as usual was paramount, and relying solely on a technical plan wouldn’t cut it. The Voyager team worked to understand potential risks to the business—and then committed to mitigating them with fit-for-purpose business continuity plans to maintain critical activities during downtime. They also developed a ramp-up strategy to stabilize the new system, validate performance, and reduce post-go-live risk. In parallel, the team launched local cutover planning across 180 countries and 82 sites, mobilizing the new global network to adapt plans to local needs.

The results speak for themselves. Over 72 hours, Diageo teams around the world executed more than 10,000 cutover activities and migrated 103 billion data records. This monumental effort connected a complex business spanning approximately 11,000 users, 82 manufacturing sites, 472 warehouses, and over 900 logistics providers, 400 key customers, and 2,400 external interfaces. “Within four days, operations ramped up to cover approximately 95% of our markets by net sales value,” Amar says. “At this size and complexity, that is not a statistic—it is a statement.”

Celebrating the impact

ERP migrations are especially complex for CPG firms. They require rewiring a company’s nervous system—its orders, invoices, reporting, and more—while securing buy-in from the people who will make the transformation work.

With the reset, Diageo set a new industry standard: It nearly halved the run-rate cost of its first migration effort while hitting every milestone at speed. From there, the company moved confidently toward go-live, backed by ground-up support from its teams. Just as important, the new digital core built the foundation for Diageo to become more productive, agile, and competitive in the market.

“That foundation is concrete, not rhetorical: standardized global processes and trusted, harmonized data on a clean SAP S/4HANA core—the substrate on which Diageo can now scale analytics and, increasingly, agentic AI,” says Amar.

About Diageo

Diageo is a global leader in premium drinks, with a portfolio of more than 200 brands sold in nearly 180 countries. Its iconic brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, Baileys, Tanqueray, and Don Julio. Guided by its purpose, "Crafting iconic drinks chosen for life's moments," Diageo combines centuries of craftsmanship with innovation to create brands that are enjoyed by consumers around the world. With more than 110 manufacturing sites and a broad portfolio spanning spirits and beer, Diageo is driven to be the world's best brand builder and a trusted partner for customers, consumers and communities.