Wella: Consolidating SAP and Non-SAP Automation on a Single Platform

Wella is one of the world’s leading beauty companies, comprised of a family of iconic brands including Wella Professionals, O·P·I, ghd, Briogeo, Nioxin, Sebastian Professional, and Clairol. 

Wella was founded more than 140 years ago in Germany. The company was part of the Procter & Gamble brand family between 2003 to 2015, when it was sold to Coty. In 2020, American private equity firm KKR purchased a stake in Wella. 

Today, Wella is a multi-billion-dollar, stand-alone private entity. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Wella employs more than 6,000 people across 100 countries. 

Wella started its search for a new automation platform when the company changed ownership and due to the change, all of Wella’s data, processes, and IT operations — plus approximately 800 applications — needed to be carved out of Coty’s IT environment, then fully redeployed in a new, standalone setting. 

This immense lift-and-shift of technology had a silver lining: Wella’s IT Ops team had the opportunity to consolidate automation on a single service orchestration and automation platform (SOAP). 

“We spoke to a variety of IT automation providers, and it quickly became evident that no one could match what Stonebranch offered. Their ability to orchestrate in hybrid environments and capacity to convert existing jobs — not to mention overall affordability — are all unmatched in the market. We’ve never regretted our decision to consolidate Wella’s automation program on UAC.”

Head of Enterprise Architecture 
Wella

After reviewing their current and projected needs, Wella established two foundational requirements for their go-forward automation solution:

• Automate SAP and non-SAP workloads in a hybrid IT environment.
• Leverage a SaaS-based solution that could be installed within Microsoft Azure.

Wella found that their existing automation tools — BMC Control-M and Redwood Cronacle (SAP CSP/BPA) — couldn’t adequately meet those its needs, and turned to Stonebranch for a new solution.

After carefully considering six solutions from four providers, Wella ultimately selected the SaaS-based SOAP that best met their two foundational requirements and offered a smooth transition path: the Stonebranch Universal Automation Center (UAC). 

Deployed in Microsoft Azure, Wella’s event-based workload automation solution includes:

• Universal Controller
• Universal Agent
• Universal Integration Platform

In addition, Stonebranch’s SAP-certified Universal Connector for SAP improves Wella’s control and visibility of end-to-end SAP processes. This feature-rich integration works directly within UAC to provide more power and flexibility than standard SAP interfaces allow.

“The transition to Stonebranch was relatively seamless. They were able to take our existing jobs in BMC and Redwood, put them through the Xpress Conversion Tool, then automatically transfer them straight into UAC. It was a really good experience all around.”

Head of Enterprise Architecture
Wella

Today, Wella automates approximately 9,000 tasks a day across SAP and non-SAP systems. By centralizing their automation and orchestration to Stonebranch UAC, they: 

• Future-proof their orchestration program with the ability to integrate with new applications whenever needed. 
• Orchestrate both cloud and on-prem applications from a single solution. 
• Rest assured of Stonebranch’s commitment to infosec, with validated strategies for security information and event management (SIEM), incident and problem management, business continuity, and disaster recovery.
• Massively simplify workflow design, using an intuitive graphic interface that offers flexibility and ease when connecting SAP and non-SAP tasks.
• Enhance and extend workload automation and job scheduling capabilities between the UAC and SAP.