Unilever Deploys Microsoft NOVA Multi-Agent System, Cutting Order Processing Time by 8x
Unilever's Microsoft-built multi-agent AI system NOVA has reduced order processing time to 90 seconds in pilot markets, achieving an 8x efficiency gain.
Consumer goods giant Unilever has disclosed operational data for its AI multi-agent system "NOVA," developed in partnership with Microsoft. According to a Microsoft case study and reporting by TechOrange, the system has reduced the first-stage processing time of the Order-to-Cash workflow from 15–20 minutes of manual entry to approximately 90 seconds across 11 pilot markets.
Francis Castro, Head of Customer Operations Technology at Unilever, stated that 95% of orders in these pilot markets now require no human intervention, with teams only reviewing exceptions. Overall order processing speed is eight times faster than before, refund request handling is twice as fast, and new customer onboarding time has decreased by 90%. Unilever receives about 20 million orders annually, with roughly 2 million still arriving in unstructured formats such as emails, PDFs, or photos of paper forms.
Built on the Microsoft Foundry platform, NOVA utilizes five specialized AI agents: four read unstructured inputs and extract order information, while the fifth validates the results. If necessary information is missing or anomalies occur, the system routes the order to human reviewers. Extracted data is then input into Unilever's SAP ERP system. Microsoft engineers joined the Unilever team to build and test the workflow in under eight weeks.
Unilever plans to expand NOVA to over 50 markets, including North America, its largest market. This deployment coincides with rising cost pressures; CFO Srinivas Phatak noted during the October 28 earnings call that raw material inflation is projected to reach €900 million in 2026, prompting the company to focus on productivity gains across operations rather than price increases to maintain margins.