Celonis slaps SAP with lawsuit claiming it's gatekeeping customer data
Mar 17, 2025 - theregister.com
Celonis, a German software company specializing in process mining, is suing SAP in the Northern District of California, alleging anti-competitive practices and a lack of openness in SAP's systems. Celonis claims that SAP has made it more difficult and costly for third-party software companies to access customer data stored in SAP's business software. The complaint accuses SAP of using its market power to impose new charges, technical limitations, and restrictive policies to favor its own process mining company, Signavio, over competitors like Celonis. This move allegedly exploits SAP's large ERP customer base, effectively locking them into SAP's ecosystem and restricting their data access.
The lawsuit highlights broader concerns about software vendor openness, with companies like BMW expressing the need for more open software stacks to facilitate process mining. SAP has been accused of self-preferencing its solutions and excluding third-party providers, which Celonis argues harms both its business and SAP's ERP customers. The Register has reached out to SAP for comment, while the issue of vendor openness remains a significant concern for both SAP's and Celonis's customers.
Key takeaways:
Celonis is suing SAP for alleged anti-competitive conduct and lack of openness in its systems.
The complaint claims SAP is making it difficult and costly for third-party software companies to access customer data stored in SAP's business software.
SAP's acquisition of process mining company Signavio is seen as an attempt to gain an unfair advantage in the process mining market.
There is a call for software vendors to be more open, as highlighted by BMW's head of process mining and robotic process automation.
