How Henkel is turning master data quality into a service

Every now and then, you come across a project that makes you stop and think: “Now that’s how it should be done!” That’s exactly the case with Henkel and their brilliant approach to data quality.

In a recent episode of the Digital gesagt podcast from DSAG (German-speaking SAP User Group), Stefanie Kraft (Global Process Owner) and Sandra Feisel (Head of Customer Master Data) share how they elevated master data quality to an entirely new level – and not just as a project, but as a service.

With over 1.4 million business partners and close to a million potential customers spread across multiple systems, Henkel faced the classic master data challenges: duplicate entries, inconsistent records, and time-consuming manual cleanups. But instead of accepting these issues as business as usual, they confronted them head-on.

Stefanie and Sandra take us through their journey: from being early adopters of the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), leveraging its API-first architecture, to ultimately building a centralized, cloud-based Master Data Quality as a Service platform.

CDQ played a vital role in this transformation by helping to establish consistent standards, prevent duplicates, and enrich records in real time using trusted external sources. Paired with Henkel’s robust SAP BTP foundation and their strong focus on change management and governance, the impact is real: fewer duplicates, better address quality (critical for logistics), faster processing, and built-in fraud prevention to keep payments safe.

The episode dives into every phase of the journey, from proof of concept to full rollout, and offers valuable lessons learned and practical tips for organizations ready to take control of their own data quality journey.

If you’re looking to scale data quality across systems or want real-world insight into what really works, this conversation with Stefanie and Sandra is an excellent place to start.

Find the full conversation available here in German.