What started as light-hearted social media posts about the lack of “Chicken Joy” in the menu of Jollibee stores has exploded into a full-blown crisis for a French-owned systems integrator that is implementing the fast-food giant’s “IT systems upgrade”.
Prompted by customer complaints in social media via the hashtag #ChickenSad, Jollibee has released a statement pinning the blame on the unavailability of the best-seller on its on-going IT migration.
CapGemini, a Paris-based tech firm whose local office is located at One World Square building in Mckinley Hill at Bonifacio Global City, is the company behind the switch from Oracle to SAP.
E-mails sent to CapGemini seeking comment for this story were not answered.
A relative newcomer in the local IT industry, only scarce information is available about CapGemini. IT executives spoken to by Newsbytes.PH said the company is “big” in other countries, particularly in India, but has little presence in the Philippines.
But, a post dated February 2011 at PinoyExchange.com by Arianne Galpo-Sayo, who identified herself as the HR officer of CapGemini Philippines, provided a few details about the company.
CapGemini, she said, is “one of the world’s largest IT services, transformation and management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies, with a staff of over 100,000 operating in 36 countries. It is headquartered in Paris.”
Galpo-Sayo shared that CapGemini entered the Philippines in June 2010 when it acquired Strategic Back-Office Solutions, a subsidiary of UK-based IT consultancy firm Strategic Systems Solutions, thereby creating “Capgemini (Phils) — a part of Capgemini’s Financial Services Global Business Unit.”
From her online post, it appeared that CapGemini was rapidly building up its headcount, saying the company was “see[ing] a lot of expansion.”
The local office of German software giant SAP, whose ERP (enterprise resource planning) solution is being adopted by Jollibee as its new IT system, said in a statement that it is already addressing the issue with CapGemini.
“We are taking this matter very seriously and are already working closely with Jollibee and the implementation partner, Cap Gemini, to resolve this matter as soon as possible. Please understand that we cannot comment any further at this point in time,” it said.
Tech titan Oracle has kept mum on the migration mess even after its software was ditched by Jollibee in favor of SAP.
Software executive Calen Legaspi, in a blog post, said the “hiring flurry” prior to the Jollibee’s IT migration should have raised a red flag since this indicated that the tech firm did not have the requisite manpower to work on the massive undertaking.
