Accenture and Unilever have completed one of the largest and most complex cloud migrations in the consumer goods industry. The migration has helped Unilever, whose 400-plus brands are used by 3.4 billion people daily, become a cloud-only enterprise.
Accenture and Microsoft, and their joint venture, Avanade, worked closely with Unilever to deliver the transformation in just 18 months with minimal disruption to business operations. It has helped ensure resilient, secure and optimised operations for Unilever and provides a platform for innovation and growth.
With Azure as its primary cloud platform, Unilever will be able to accelerate product launches, enhance customer service and improve operational efficiency. Additionally, the move to Azure aligns with Unilever’s sustainability commitment by helping the company build on its progress towards curbing carbon emissions.
Creating an agile, high-performing digital core that delivers greater efficiency will give Unilever increased computing power to explore new working methods. Unilever’s adoption of a cloud-only approach will significantly improve business resilience, strengthening security and enhancing control of the IT landscape.
Accenture, Microsoft and Unilever have set a new benchmark for cloud transformation in the consumer goods industry, including unlocking innovation opportunities. This stipulates utilising industrial metaverse technologies that use real-time data from factory digital twins to accelerate (lighthouse) future factories and build upon existing cloud data platforms to power insights and predictions.
Secondly, Unilever accelerates the ability to identify trends and make decisions faster. By leveraging the power of the cloud, artificial intelligence and its strong data foundation, Unilever can forecast and adapt to changing market needs faster than ever before. For example, this will enable Unilever to achieve perpetual breakthroughs in research and development, allowing new and innovative products to be developed faster and more efficiently.
By embracing the latest AI to drive better experiences by applying Azure OpenAI Service across Unilever’s business to drive increased automation, Unilever enables better customer and employee experiences.
Finally, by reducing its carbon footprint by exiting its data centres and introducing Green Cloud Advisor, it facilitates Unilever’s transition to a more sustainable and efficient cloud environment.
Steve McCrystal, Chief Enterprise and Technology Officer, Unilever said Unilever was a truly data-powered organisation.
“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.”
Nicole van Det, Senior Managing Director and Global Account Executive, Accenture, said the path to business resilience now and in the future is through total enterprise reinvention – which involves transforming every part of the business, with cloud at the core. With access to the entire continuum of cloud capabilities, including generative AI, Unilever has the elasticity to drive innovation faster, accelerate growth and continue to set the pace as a digital powerhouse and leader in its industry.
“Together with Accenture, we’re proud to expand our longstanding partnership with Unilever,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Microsoft.
“With Microsoft Azure as its cloud foundation, Unilever’s end-to-end digitisation will enable rapid innovation across its entire business.”
Althoff continued that Unilever embracing the industrial metaverse across its factories to reimagining how its lines of business can do more with tools like Azure OpenAI Service will empower it to grow resiliently and exceed the industry’s pace of innovation.
