Capgemini has retained a long-term client of iGate (which it acquired in July 2015 – see Capgemini/iGate – Vive la France!). iGate’s relationship with McDonald’s Corporation goes back 10 years. Now, Capgemini has signed a “multi-year” IT strategic provider agreement with the global fast-food restaurant chain. For locations worldwide – including the UK – Capgemini will be responsible for the IT across customer and employee experience and restaurant operations.
Clearly, Capgemini’s global scale is an advantage. And the firm plans to demonstrate that it is a leader in “platform thinking”. Its plans for a new Global Digital Retail Center in Chicago will support the relationship, offering the facilities to showcase sector-applied innovation. After the iGate acquisition boosted Capgemini’s US revenue mix from 21% to 27% (see Capgemini buys iGate for $4b), there is also a desire to attract more talent to the North American operations.
Capgemini is partnering with Publicis.Sapient (see Publicis acquires Sapient for digital tech services) to deliver the contract as it tries to reimagine the ways McDonald’s can transform the restaurant experience for stronger competitive advantage. McDonalds aims to provide its customers with greater convenience as well as increased personalisation.
The selection of Capgemini and Publicis.Sapient comes a year after McDonald’s CEO reacted to suggestions that McDonald’s might need replace its workers with robots, due to increases in the US minimum wage. Steve Easterbrook was adamant that its restaurants would always have an important human element; while certain non-value-added processes could be automated, those employees would be utilised elsewhere to improve the front-of-house dining experience.
That is in line with McDonald’s shift from fast-food to ‘casual dining experience’ as it competes with a raft of newly emerged burger restaurants. Over the last six years, Fujitsu has been supporting McDonald’s UK as it has rolled out digital technologies across its franchises to support its “Experience of the Future” initiative. US franchises are currently undergoing a similar upgrade. It is a difficult balance to achieve: giving customers an efficient service through a technology-rich restaurant environment while retaining the human touch. It’s hard to believe, though, that McDonald’s will continue to employ the same numbers of people in the years ahead.