Unilever scales AI across a 100% cloud-based operating model
Unilever
Unilever's Chief Enterprise Technology Officer Steve McCrystal describes how the company has implemented more than 500 AI-based capabilities across the globe over the past decade, run on a fully cloud-based digital infrastructure that handles 8 petabytes of data across 25,000 daily data pipelines and 240TB of network traffic a week for over 3 billion transactions. Unilever has trained 23,000 employees in AI usage, opened an AI research hub in Toronto, and uses AI to help connect consumer demand, product development, planning, suppliers, logistics and manufacturing, achieving cost savings in its supply chain, governed by its Responsible AI framework.
Overview
Unilever's Chief Enterprise Technology Officer Steve McCrystal describes how the company has implemented more than 500 AI-based capabilities across the globe over the past decade, run on a fully cloud-based digital infrastructure that handles 8 petabytes of data across 25,000 daily data pipelines and 240TB of network traffic a week for over 3 billion transactions. Unilever has trained 23,000 employees in AI usage, opened an AI research hub in Toronto, and uses AI to help connect consumer demand, product development, planning, suppliers, logistics and manufacturing, achieving cost savings in its supply chain, governed by its Responsible AI framework.
The challenge
Unilever is one of the biggest companies in the world, with a complex technology estate spanning 1,500 applications; optimising processes to keep pace with shifting markets, while keeping systems resilient and secure across various functions and markets, is no easy task.
The solution
Unilever's team introduced an industry-first Integrated Operations (iOps) programme to enhance its end-to-end customer value chain using advanced analytics, technology and data-driven decision-making, moving to a 100% cloud-based operating model to create agility in enabling AI across its tech and data platforms. The company established one of the industry's first AI-focused research hubs, in Toronto, Canada, and uses AI to help seamlessly connect consumer demand, product development, planning, suppliers, logistics and manufacturing, achieving cost savings in its supply chains. Its Responsible AI framework governs how it develops, deploys and uses AI.
Reported business value
Unilever has implemented more than 500 AI-based capabilities across the globe over the past decade, and trained 23,000 employees in AI usage by the end of 2024. Its enterprise data platform contains 8 petabytes of data, fuelled by 25,000 data pipelines processing new data each day, and its network handles on average 240 terabytes of data a week for over 3 billion transactions, keeping IT systems up and running 99.995% of the time, 365 days a year.
Sources
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