Unilever renews BPS deals with Capgemini and Accenture

Unilever, the Anglo-DutchImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. consumer packaged goods manufacturer, has renewed its BPS deals with Capgemini and Accenture, for finance and accounting (F&A) and HR services respectively.

Capgemini’s deal is a €100m+ five-year renewal for F&A services across 130 countries, and builds on an existing seven year relationship. The scope covers Unilever’s record to report operations in its Southern Hemisphere region, including global intercompany processes, as well as access control and reporting & monitoring globally. Capgemini will deliver the services from locations in Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, India, Singapore and China.

Accenture’s renewal is also for five years (although financial terms weren’t disclosed), Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.covering a variety of HR services globally, such as recruitment, reward and HR administration, learning services, learning system hosting, payroll administration, and management and administrative services. The deal expands a ten-year long relationship with Unilever. It is one of the key second generation UK BPS deals we highlighted in our BusinessProcessViews note Second generation BPS deals – supplier opportunities and challenges.

Accenture is attempting to introduce innovations into the HR service, for instance, introducing outcome-based contracting ‘relevant to Unilever’s business targets’, rather than traditional SLAs. It is also introducing what it calls a proactive recruiting approach, and expanding the use of social media. These tools are aimed at providing Unilever with a more suitable pool of candidates, clearly one of its overall outcomes.

Tying technology and service innovations like this to business outcomes is a key trend we expect to see more of in 2013 (see Predictions 2013: UK Business Process Services). However not all providers have the same level of capability as Accenture. Some providers will succeed in this shift, while some will undoubtedly fail.