Unilever initiated a project to ensure its return on investments in advertising and promotion activities were optimised, using a single effective IT tool to manage and control the efficient market roll-out of its brands and innovations. This involved:
- Further harmonisation and standardisation of promotion-related business processes - Increased optimisation of the S&OP processes.
Unilever’s Process Office Department (the corporate ‘bridge’ between operational business and IT) worked with Unilever business experts from different countries to evaluate the process for setting up, preparing, analysing and executing product promotions. The result was a unique pan-European business process blueprint supported by one common set of tools and systems, to be implemented as TPME (Trade Promotions Management & Evaluation).
Implementation Analysis
Unilever Benelux (BNL) was one of the first selected to roll out this new process. The company asked Voorne Partners for support with an impact analysis of project implementation and help in preparing the Benelux organisation for related change.
Acting as local project manager, Voorne Partners coordinated and supported the input, requirements and project activities on behalf of the Benelux operations and ensured alignment with the Process Office’s overall TPME project planning and execution.
The detailed analysis phase included :
- Conducting a High Level impact analysis of the new solution
- Creating a plan of approach for BNL business involvement for the detailed analysis phase
- Managing, supporting and guiding the detailed analysis phase for BNL business resources and input in line with overall
- Process Office plans Managing and guiding coordinated input to the detailed analysis phase on the different market circumstances (and related local processes) then existing in Belgium and the Netherlands
- Preparing the business related activities for the high level plan of TPME implementation ensuring complete coverage of BNL critical items
- Delivering to the BNL board an impact analysis of the business critical items for decision to Go or No-Go with TPME
Using the techniques introduced by Voorne Partners, the business organisation was brought fully on board and gained a thorough understanding of the change the new solution would bring.
Implementation support in UK and DACH
After the Unilever Process Office’s detailed analysis phase was executed in Benelux, UK/Ireland and DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), actual project implementation was initiated for UK/IRL and DACH.
The approach and support provided by Voorne Partners for BNL led the Unilever Process Office to ask Voorne to coordinate all business input and run-up activities for the DACH and UK implementation.
By creating one central execution plan for all the countries concerned Voorne Partners, together with the Process Office, achieved a single approach and single voice from the business. Implementation was on time and led to a successful Go-Live with no major interruptions to business. As the ‘voice’ of the business organisations, Voorne Partners helped the Central Implementation Team to:
- Identify the right business priorities
- Secure availability of business resources throughout the implementation phases
- Deliver the required local change management activities
Fokke van der Veer (VP Supply Chain Benelux): “With its very pragmatic but well structured approach, Voorne Partners helped us during a stage where our organisation was in the midst of multiple (organisational and process) changes. Voorne Partners helped us reduce the workload on our organisation and with the focused project involvement of our people were able to pinpoint the important items for the Benelux organisation. As an ‘outsider’ Voorne Partners significantly helped to create good interaction between the business and the Process office/IT, achieving an approach that balanced the need for harmonisation on one hand and pressure from specific business requirements on the other. Their business sense, combined with speed and process knowledge, helped us a lot in the decision making process for this project.”
On any given day, two billion people use Unilever’s products. With 163,000 people in around 100 countries worldwide, the worldwide turnover in 2009 was €39.8 billion. The products are sold in over 170 countries around the world. In many countries Unilever manufactures the products that they sell, while Unilever also exports products to countries where Unilever does not have manufacturing operations.
Unilever is the global market leader in all the Food categories in which they operate and Mass Skin Care and Deodorants in which it operates and it has very strong positions in other Home and Personal Care categories. In 2009 Unilever invested €891 million in research and development and €89 million in community projects worldwide.