Celonis and SAP have reached an agreement. SAP has agreed to no longer interfere with the use of Celonis’ data extractor. Earlier this year, Celonis filed a lawsuit against SAP, alleging that the latter was making it difficult to obtain data.
The preliminary settlement means that SAP will not impose any additional licenses or costs on customers who use the Celonis extractor to access their own data. In exchange, Celonis has withdrawn its request for a preliminary injunction.
In March of this year, Celonis filed a lawsuit against SAP in a federal court in San Francisco. The process mining company accuses SAP of anti-competitive behavior. Celonis claims that SAP is abusing its dominant position in the ERP market to exclude competitors systematically.
Customer freedom is key
The agreement focuses specifically on the use of Celonis’ data extractor. This tool enables customers to extract data from SAP systems for process analysis. SAP can no longer interfere with this use until the dispute has been finally resolved. There are also no additional license fees associated with this functionality.
“No system should hold customers back from transforming their processes. Processes should be designed to work best for the company, not the systems the company operates on,” said Carsten Thoma, President and Board Director at Celonis.
Under the agreement, companies can choose their technology partners without interference, misinformation, or unfair restrictions. This will remain in effect until the legal proceedings in California lead to a final ruling.
Tensions between the two German companies escalated after SAP acquired process mining specialist Signavio in 2021. Celonis claims that SAP has since used its ERP dominance to hinder external suppliers. The company cites higher costs, technical restrictions, and policy changes that have disadvantaged competitors.
SAP commented on the newest developments: “SAP rejects Celonis’s claims and continues to seek dismissal of the case. In the meantime, SAP has agreed to maintain the status quo with Celonis and avoid confusion for the benefit of SAP’s customers. SAP will continue to evaluate its IP rights and take action as appropriate.”