Digital Transformation 2.0: CEO Elie Girard at Atos

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 421-024. Elie Girard has taken the helm as CEO of multinational IT giant Atos to lead the company into the next era of digital transformation. Noticing that customers’ digital needs were evolving to become even more specialized and global in scope, he made a bold first step as leader: restructure the organization from a service-based model to a portfolio built around specific industry verticals, when competitors were moving in the other direction with the conviction that digital disruption had dissolved industry barriers. Underpinning Girard’s new digital blueprint were four pillars: the cloud, data, cybersecurity, and decarbonization. He fortified these four pillars with a steady M&A strategy resulting in nine acquisitions. But decarbonization, or reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere through strategic use of digital technology, was a brand new dimension. The environmental approach was controversial in different parts of the world. To add to the uncertainty, the COVID-19 pandemic had suddenly turned the world upside down, forcing organizations to transition into remote work overnight. In the middle of a global health crisis and ensuing economic fallout, could Girard afford to make such drastic organizational structure changes that flew in the face of industry trends? Would his decision disqualify Atos from the race with competitors, or was it the only way to serve customers in even greater need of digital solutions?