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Rouven Bergmann has been CFO of Dassault Systèmes since January 2022. A software program firm, Dassault Systemes can be energetic in CAC 40 Index of blue-chip French shares. It’s a unit of the Dassault Group, which has holdings in aeronautics, excessive tech, digital, and communications.
International Finance: Because you joined Dasault Systemes, what has been essentially the most difficult interval, and why?
Rouven Bergmann: The steadiness of managing long run and quick time period is at all times the most important wrestle for the CFO. It’s important to create the capability to spend money on the long run, however you additionally must handle efficiency quarter to quarter. Definitely, 2024 was a tough yr, due to volatility in the long run markets. There was a whole lot of geopolitical instability on the earth and in Europe. Suppose again to the European elections and the uncertainty in France. This actually has been a headwind when it comes to resolution cycles.
The timing of decision-making is changing into a bit much less predictable for our prospects. It’s not that they’re deciding towards us or for the competitors—that’s not the case. We’re successful market share from the competitors. However managing the cycle of transactions and offers has grow to be actually one thing that’s harder to foretell.
To provide you an instance, we signed a strategic settlement with Volkswagen in December of final yr; the primary dialogue began two years in the past.
GF: What’s the affect of the brand new US tariff coverage?
Bergmann: Clearly, 2025, with the state of affairs that the US administration has began with tariffs, is creating a whole lot of uncertainty for our prospects. Now they should make investments and adapt to the brand new world. I’m not apprehensive about our future, however for positive, there might be short-term volatility and noise.
GF: There’s a form of tutorial debate over how the function of the CFO has modified: changing into extra an ally and enterprise associate of the CEO and fewer an accountant. What do you suppose?
Bergmann: I’ve been on this function for 10 years at completely different firms. For me, I don’t suppose it has modified. I believe there are three kinds of CFOs. There’s extra of an accountant, who comes from the audit perform, which I believe is extra about compliance and implementing requirements however has much less enterprise interplay. Then there may be the CFO who comes from an funding financial institution, who’s extra about capital and markets and investor communication. After which there may be the operational CFO, who’s deeply related to the corporate’s worth creation cycle. I believe as we speak you should discover the right combination of the three.
GF: What do you recommend to somebody who’s younger and desires to grow to be a company CFO?
Bergmann: Acquire as a lot expertise as you may with an organization, out and in of finance. The CFO function is way more than finance; it’s important to perceive the finance perform, but in addition perceive how the enterprise works.
For instance, after I was already at a really senior stage at a software program firm, I left finance and labored as COO of product improvement. It was a job that was a mixture of operational planning and monetary planning. I needed to discover the precise resourceallocation combine, sustaining and optimizing what exists, whereas liberating up sufficient capability to develop new merchandise.
On the similar cut-off date, everyone knows that there are constraints to assets. You can’t rent as many individuals as you need, so you actually have to search out productiveness, transfer folks round, and create that flexibility in your workforce. The corporate the place I did that was one of many largest software program firms on the earth. There have been 20,000 engineers in software program improvement. So, I actually discovered the operational a part of the corporate, and now I can mix that with finance.