Unilever’s digital transformation built on the platform Microsoft Azure and partnership with Accenture, as the household goods giant went digital.
In today’s turbulent global economy and ever-shifting geopolitical landscape, enterprise-wide digitalization is becoming mission-critical in assisting organizations in anticipating and mitigating problems, particularly in the supply chain.
In April 2023, Unilever announced that, with the assistance of Accenture and Microsoft, it had successfully completed one of the largest and most complex cloud migrations in the consumer goods industry, leading Unilever to become a cloud-only enterprise.
Utilizing Azure as its primary cloud platform, the transformation enables Unilever to expedite product launches, enhance customer service, and improve operational efficiency, all while supporting Unilever in meeting its sustainability commitments.
Azure Supply Chain Management is a set of cloud-based services and solutions offering end-to-end supply chain visibility, predictive analytics, demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and supplier collaboration.
This aids businesses in gaining insights, automating processes, and making data-driven decisions to enhance supply chain performance.
Accenture plays a key role in assisting Unilever to enhance productivity, drive efficiencies, and scale up disruptive AI-powered innovations. With 3.4 billion people using Unilever products every day, this consumer goods leader has a rich history of innovation, spanning over 100 years – from reinventing soap in the late 19th century to pioneering sustainable living today. Unilever’s experts are currently leveraging the latest digital technologies to keep the company at the forefront of innovation, ensuring better experiences for customers.
Unilever is incorporating AI solutions to enhance the accessibility of the shopping experience and experimenting with blockchain technology to advance its sustainability goals. This showcases how Unilever is leveraging technology solutions in its operations. Similar to many businesses worldwide, Unilever has been harnessing the power of AI to drive innovation.
The company’s transformation will make it more accessible to everyone – including visually impaired people, who it now caters for after partnering with the accessibility app specialist Be My Eyes, a developer of AI accessibility solutions apps.
Also, read – SAP has announced a Transformation Program that is expected to affect 8,000 jobs
Unilever invests in AI solutions
Unilever is working with Be My Eyes to train volunteers and provide product information and data to the Chat GPT-4 AI bot. Unilever’s customer support team will also be integrated into the Be My Eyes app experience, allowing shoppers the option to be automatically connected to the Colman’s careline team for further support if needed.
“We’re a truly data-powered organisation,” says Steve McCrystal, Unilever’s Chief Enterprise & Technology Officer. “We’re using advanced analytics to make better-informed decisions quicker than ever before.
“Working with Accenture and Microsoft on this global transformation project, we can respond to ever-changing consumer needs faster, allocate our resources more effectively to focus on what drives growth, and bring services and products to the market faster.”
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet says the collaboration “builds on our relationship of more than three decades with Unilever” and that it “raises the bar as a digital powerhouse and industry leader”.
“Accenture’s deep expertise and strong ecosystem partnerships will help Unilever scale AI and generative AI more rapidly and responsibly across its business and discover new pathways to value.”
