From deploying intelligent agents to automating complex business processes and making real-time decisions across a global operation, every AI capability rests on a reliable, secure data foundation — and this starts with clean, consistent, connected data.
Over the last decade, Levi Strauss & Co. has been doing exactly that work: modernizing the technology infrastructure — specifically upgrading our global enterprise resource planning (ERP) — to ensure our AI ambitions are not just possible, but scalable.
The company’s ERP modernization program began with a clear strategic purpose: replace a fragmented landscape of nine legacy systems — each built and customized for a wholesale-first business model and customized by regions — with a modernized, single global platform designed for LS&Co.’s future operational state. This meant integrating our systems into SAP S/4 Fashion, a cloud-based ERP system with core SAP functionality that supports wholesale, e-commerce and retail models.
The results to date reflect the scale of the effort:
- More than 90 legacy systems have been retired
- More than 80% of the company’s business processes have been standardized globally
- More than 2,600 employees across live markets now work from a single platform, with a common set of processes and data
Built for an AI Future
One of the most consequential aspects of how LS&Co. approached this transformation is what it makes possible going forward. By adopting SAP’s standard capabilities rather than building heavily customized workarounds, the company has created a “clean core” — a platform that can absorb new capabilities, including AI, as fast as they become available.
We’re already taking advantage of this. AI agents are now processing sales orders, capturing invoices and managing vendor compliance tasks that previously required significant manual effort. The platform architecture also allows LS&Co. to deploy these capabilities continuously, without the lengthy upgrade cycles that constrain more heavily customized systems. In fact, we co-developed an upgrade process with SAP that completes in around 20 minutes — significantly less than the industry norm of 48 hours — allowing the business to stay current without disruption.
“We didn’t build this platform to solve today’s problems. We built it to move at the speed the market demands and to take advantage of AI and automation capabilities as they emerge,” said Jason Gowans, chief digital and technology officer at LS&Co. “What excites me most is what this foundation now makes possible: real-time visibility across our global business, AI embedded directly into our operations and the agility to operate like the world-class retailer we’re becoming.”
A Global Rollout, Continued
Last month marked another major milestone in this journey with the migration completion of LS&Co.’s East Asia Pacific and Greater China operations onto its new global ERP platform. This process brought 14 countries across the region, including Japan, China, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, onto a single, unified system.
The migration followed go-lives in Mexico, Canada, the United States, South Africa and India, as well as for Beyond Yoga®, the company’s premium activewear brand. The Andes, Brazil and Europe are currently underway, with completion expected by mid-2027.
When the program is complete, LS&Co. will operate its entire global business — across all brands, channels and regions — on a single ERP instance. That level of integration positions the company to make faster, better-informed decisions at every level of the organization.
“Taking 14 countries live simultaneously in a region as diverse as Asia Pacific — spanning different languages, regulatory environments and business practices — required an enormous amount of precision and coordination,” said Saravana Ramaratnam, VP of ERP & Market Operations, LS&Co. “The fact that it went smoothly is a testament to the rigor of our approach and the strength of the team. More importantly, it means that our colleagues across the region now have access to the same tools, the same data and the same capabilities as the rest of our global business.”
As LS&Co. continues its transformation into a DTC-first, digitally enabled global retailer, a modern and unified ERP foundation represents the operational backbone that makes that ambition achievable.
