Revolutionizing Budgeting and Forecasting at Unilever’s Global Support Function

From Inefficiency to Excellence: The Transformation Journey

At Unilever’s Global Property and HR Support Function, the budgeting and forecasting process was a daunting, inefficient task. Spanning 8 to 10 weeks every quarter, it consumed valuable resources and left little time for obtaining cost center manager approvals or crafting meaningful strategic narratives around the budget and forecast. For a global leader like Unilever, this inefficiency was untenable, and change was overdue.

From:

• 8-10 weeks of budgeting and forecasting every quarter
• Submissions made without regional or departmental sign-off
• No storytelling or operational context accompanying the numbers

To:

• A streamlined process completed in just 7 working days
• Full ownership and sign-off from all key stakeholders
• Clear stories and actionable insights behind every submission
  
  

Here’s how Tejas, as an integral part of Unilever’s team, led this transformation.

The Challenge

When Tejas joined Unilever’s support function based in Kingston-upon-Thames, UK, he encountered a process riddled with inefficiencies:

1. Excessive Time Spent: Budgeting and forecasting cycles took up 8-10 weeks every quarter, effectively consuming two months of the team’s time and leaving no room for other priorities.
   
   
2. Lack of Accountability: Budgets were submitted to the group without the sign-off from regional and departmental heads, creating a lack of ownership and accountability.
   
   
3. No Narrative or Context: Submissions were purely numerical, lacking the operational realities, risks, or opportunities that made up those numbers. This left the leadership team with little insight into the story behind the data.
   
   

For such a vital global support function, this inefficiency and lack of strategic input were major roadblocks.

The Solution

As a Transformation Manager at Unilever, Tejas spearheaded a comprehensive overhaul of Unilever’s budgeting and forecasting processes. 

The solution included:

1. Redesigning the Planning Process:
   
   • We reengineered the entire planning cycle, reducing complexity and establishing clear steps for each stage.
   • He collaborated with regional heads to pre-agree on templates and outputs, streamlining the review and feedback process.
     
     
2. Optimizing Power BI:
   
   • We overhauled the Power BI dashboarding solution, ensuring accurate integration of data from all sources and automating manual tasks.
   • While redesigning the underlying data structures, we worked on eliminating inefficiencies and errors.
     
     
3. Building Collaboration and Ownership:
   
   • Tejas ensured regional heads had the tools and processes to review and sign off on budgets quickly and effectively.
   • By fostering collaboration across teams, we created a process where everyone had a stake in the outcome.
     
     
4. Providing Contextual Insights:
   
   • In addition to numbers, we worked with the team to incorporate narratives and operational realities into the submissions.
   • The new process included detailed explanations of risks, opportunities, and actionable insights.
     
     

The Results

The transformation led by Tejas delivered remarkable outcomes for Unilever:

• Time Efficiency: The budgeting and forecasting cycle was reduced from 8-10 weeks to just 7 working days, freeing up two months of resources every quarter.
  
  
• Ownership and Accountability: For the first time, budgets were submitted with full regional and departmental sign-off, creating accountability and alignment across the organization.
  
  
• Clarity and Insight: Each submission now included a clear story, providing leadership with insights into risks, opportunities, and operational realities behind the numbers.
  
  
• Recognition from Leadership: The CFO of the global support function praised the team as the “only support function with their act together”, highlighting the effectiveness of the revamped process.
  
  

Testimonial

One of Tejas’s colleagues, Amandeep Panisar, shared her experience working with him:

“I had the pleasure to work with Tejas for 6 months, as part of the same team at Unilever. During this time, he taught me a lot about financial tools and processes, providing me with excellent training that helped me to immediately gain confidence in my new role. He was an asset to the team, being able to bring significant improvements to the existing financial processes, facilitating the automation and expedition of those.
His enthusiasm, passion, and knowledge of FP&A are outstanding!
I’d be grateful to work with him in the future!”

Conclusion

Through his expertise in FP&A and his ability to foster collaboration, Tejas helped Unilever’s Global Support Function transform an inefficient and cumbersome process into a streamlined and insightful system. 

His leadership not only saved time but also brought clarity, accountability, and actionable insights to the organization. 

This case demonstrates how innovation and collaboration can deliver exceptional results—even within a highly complex global organization.