McDonald’s Does Multi-Year Digital Innovation Deal With Consulting Giant

August 29, 2017 by Dave Haynes

McDonald’s has done a multi-year deal with a couple of monster consulting companies, Capgemini Group  and Publicis.Sapient, to be the QSR giant’s global IT strategic provider for restaurant and digital capabilities.

The press release is a lot of buzzword bingo, back-patting blah-blah-blah but the Chicago Tribune has decoded it and reports the deal will speed up digital innovation and boost customer experience. It will also, says the Trib, bring as many as 600 new jobs to Chicago.

The Tribune reports:

McDonald’s has put technology at the top of its priority list over the past year, investing in its “Experience of the Future” model, which includes installing order kiosks and Bluetooth-enabled table service. The fast-food giant also is rolling out mobile ordering, curbside check-in and a delivery partnership with UberEats.

A curious part of the deal sees some 100 McD’s tech people become CapGemini people.

I don’t know what, if anything, this means for companies like STRATACACHE that service McDonald’s US, or companies like Coates that are going after the business. I don’t believe either is involved in the self-service order kiosks that have been rolling out.

Here’s the release:

“McDonald’s has launched an assertive strategy to transform its business through innovation; we embrace the opportunity to put digital innovation at the core of their business,” said Paul Hermelin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Capgemini Group. “As we continue from the foundation of our strategic relationship that goes back 10 years through our IGATE heritage, we appreciate McDonald’s vision and trust. We look forward to supporting their growth plan by developing new ways to dramatically enhance the customer and employee experience, and restaurant operations.”

With this agreement, McDonald’s is bringing its industry-leading talent to Capgemini in order to leverage the companies’ combined expertise to accelerate digital technology innovation and transform the restaurant experience for customers. Capgemini plans to open a new Global Digital Retail Center in Chicago to support the relationship, develop and showcase industry-applied business innovation, and attract talent to its growing North American operations.

“As a strategic provider, Capgemini enhances our ability to bring speed, scalability and disruptive innovation across our restaurant and digital technologies as McDonald’s continues to transform the customer experience through greater convenience and personalization,” said Jim Sappington, Executive Vice President – Operations, Digital, & Technology Systems, McDonald’s Corporation. “Capgemini has proven its ability to understand our business, our industry and our customers, and has the ability to deliver the highest levels of scalable technology innovation.”

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to put our brand behind McDonald’s to set the bar together for customer experience in the industry for many years to come, through our client-centric approaches to business and shared obsession with creating the best possible customer experience,” said Tim Bridges, Head of the Global Consumer Products, Retail and Distribution Sector at Capgemini. “We look forward to delivering McDonald’s digital and restaurant technologies to locations worldwide through our Chicago Global Digital Retail Center and other centers of excellence. This will allow us to consistently innovate and design new customer-focused technologies while demonstrating leadership in platform thinking.”

“The McDonald’s brand has been a household name for generations and has continued to lead in its category by introducing new products that are uniquely informed by the needs and wants of its customers,” said Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe. “We’re honored to join Capgemini in reimagining ways the McDonald’s experience can be a source of competitive advantage on the journey of enterprise transformation.”