Consumer goods company, Unilever, has now become a cloud-only enterprise after completing one of the largest and most complex cloud migrations in the consumer goods industry. It worked with Microsoft, Accenture, and their joint venture Avanade to complete the migration in 18 months with minimal disruption of business operations. By moving to the cloud, Unilever can ensure resilient, secure, and optimized operations along with driving innovation and growth.
“Together with Accenture, we’re proud to expand our longstanding partnership with Unilever,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president, and chief commercial officer, Microsoft. “With Microsoft Azure as its cloud foundation, Unilever’s end-to-end digitization will enable rapid innovation across its entire business. From embracing the industrial metaverse across its factories to reimagining how its lines of business can do more with tools like Azure OpenAI Service, Unilever’s digital-first approach will empower it to grow resiliently and exceed the industry’s pace of innovation.”
Unilever’s migration to Azure marks a major milestone in its digital transformation journey, enabling them to launch products faster and provide better customer service. Not only that, but this cloud-only approach contributes directly towards sustainability efforts as the company works diligently on reducing carbon emissions.
By establishing an effective digital core, Unilever can unlock greater computing capabilities to open up new possibilities. A cloud-only approach will also bolster business resilience and security – fortifying control over the IT landscape while creating a more agile environment for increased performance.
Cloud migration benefits for Unilever
- Accelerate innovation: Cloud adoption enables Unilever to explore novel avenues for innovation by transitioning to the cloud. This involves utilizing cutting-edge industrial metaverse technologies that leverage real-time data obtained from factory digital twins to expedite the development of future-ready factories. In addition, Unilever will also be able to build on its current cloud-based data platform to enable predictive analytics and generate valuable insights.
- Adapt faster to market trends: Unilever can now expedite trend identification and decision-making processes by harnessing the capabilities of the cloud, artificial intelligence, and its robust data infrastructure. This can facilitate swift adaptation to evolving market demands, thereby enabling Unilever to achieve perpetual breakthroughs in research and development. Consequently, Unilever will be able to develop innovative products with greater speed and efficiency.
- Use AI to improve experiences: Unilever will now be able to enhance its customer and employee experiences with the latest AI technologies and Azure OpenAI Service throughout its operations. This will boost automation levels, leading to more efficient processes and improved experiences for both customers and employees.
- Reduce carbon footprint: Unilever will be able to minimize its carbon footprint by transitioning away from data centers and implementing Green Cloud Advisor. This will aid in the adoption of more sustainable and streamlined cloud infrastructure, helping Unilever reduce its environmental impact.
Steve McCrystal, Chief Enterprise & Technology Officer, Unilever said, “Unilever is a truly data-powered organization. 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.”
Featured image credits: Microsoft
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