Dive Brief:
- Unilever partnered with Google Cloud and Accenture to launch a custom app for its more than 53,000 factory-based associates, the consumer goods giant said in a Wednesday announcement.
- The solution, called My Unilever, centralizes access to Google Workspace tools, including email, chat and document sharing, as well as to learning and payroll systems, some of which were previously only available via in-house paper documentation, the announcement said.
- Streamlining employee processes is part of an enterprisewide digital transformation effort. In April, the company completed an 18-month migration to Azure infrastructure. It also elevated former CIO Alessandro Ventura to global VP of technology transformation in July.
Dive Insight:
Modernization reaches out from IT to touch all parts of the enterprise, optimizing workflows, streamlining processes and enhancing customer and workspace interfaces.
My Unilever’s end-user interface was built using Google’s no-code development platform Appsheet, the company said. Accenture assisted the deployment and coordinated a pilot program, which recently concluded.
The decision to leverage Google Cloud capabilities for the workforce solution just months after migrating core applications, compute and data to Azure reflects a common strategy for sourcing the right tools for specific use cases.
“Unilever has a multi-cloud strategy and we look to hyperscaling technology where appropriate for the business,” a company spokesperson said via email.
Seeking out best-in-class capabilities is apt to lead organizations to multiple cloud providers, despite potential interoperability, workforce and financial issues.
Multicloud also mitigates vendor concentration risks.
“Companies don’t want to be roped into a sole-source position purely from a negotiations and procurement perspective,” Andy Sealock, senior partner, advisory and transformation at consulting firm West Monroe, said.
“Despite the financial, tooling and skill set pressures pushing organizations toward a single cloud,” said Sealock, “some still push back and say, ‘Hey, I just don't want to be painted into a corner.’”
