First global outsource of its kind at Unilever

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined CMS on 1 May 2017.

Unilever has one of the largest and most sophisticated technology shared service organisations (ETS) on the planet, with an annual spend of in excess of 1 billion euros. Recently its strategy has focused on customer satisfaction and further improving the quality of services delivered to Unilever's people - the end users.

The renegotiation of Unilever's service desk and deskside support arrangements was an opportunity to deliver against that strategy. Historically a dual vendor arrangement, Unilever now opted for a single vendor strategy - Unilever's first truly global outsource. Following a competitive tender for the services, Unilever chose to partner with Unisys, incumbent in Europe and the Americas and now taking on the rest of the world.

As long-standing adviser to Unilever on technology matters, Olswang was chosen at the start of this year and early in the tender process as legal partner for this project. Olswang advised on the previous generation of this outsource and so was well-placed to add maximum value and efficiency to negotiations. Olswang worked hand-in-hand with Unilever's ETS General Counsel Glenn Quadros and the dedicated Unilever transaction team.

We are extremely proud to be trusted adviser to Unilever and involved in truly the first transaction of its kind. Commenting on the success, Glenn Quadros said: "A fantastic collective effort. Plenty of hard work ahead, but a massive milestone in producing a world class contract that supports the ETS agenda. Olswang is one of our trusted advisers for complex technology projects and we were very pleased with their support and guidance, in helping deliver this level of quality and rigour."

The Olswang team was led by Technology and Sourcing partner Dominic Dryden working alongside associates Mike Llewellyn and Adam Wright, HR partner Melanie Lane and team, and Finance partner Julian Turner.