Accenture will provide application development, implementation, and support services to Unilever operations in 25 European countries. The services will be delivered from Accenture’s centers in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Hungary.
Accenture said a number of staff would be transferred from Unilever to Accenture, although the company did not give any indication of how many employees would be affected.
Two months ago, Unilever confirmed that it was in final negotiations to outsource its global human resources operations to Accenture, although it is still not known when that deal will be finalized. Unilever also announced in December 2005 that it was outsourcing both its procurement operation in North America and its finance and accounting business in Europe to IBM Global Services.
These cost-cutting measures have not gone down well with Unilever’s European employees who called for a day of action last December amid claims that the restructuring would lead to widespread job cuts.
