I wished to send out a realistic but positive message; one that is rigorous but borne forward also by a project for the future; and above all, one that is without compromise regarding the truth that we owe our staff, our clients and our investors.
For the last two years, we have based our strategy on simple principles:
- The crisis that we are going to face requires adequate preparation
- The changes that society is undergoing require of us that we put forward an adequate response
- We must preserve our fundamentals
The Crisis
It will arrive sooner or later.
SWORD, with its consistent high-added value solutions, with its capacity to mobilise over €100 million and with its non-pyramid organisation, is well positioned to face the ups and downs of the coming years.
Changing Society
Without taking a simplistic approach and without surrendering to passing fashions, we have to measure the impact of sociological changes, notably in a Group where thirty is the average age. We will accompany this change without preceding it and will manage it proactively using all the social media tools, adapting them to the corporate world.
Our Fundamentals
Only serious commitment to certain values will enable the team to be more than just a juxtaposition of talents. We base our management on three simple values: respect, rigour and involvement. We strive to ensure that each profit centre promotes a pioneering spirit that is generated by two constant criteria: well-being in the workplace associated with attainable challenges.
To conclude, we are certain, looking forward that we have made our environment secure (quality staff, top notch clients and stable investors).
We have industrialised our processes (software components, products).
We have proved our know-how thanks to industry recognised practices and benchmarks.
The Group’s strength now lies in its capacity to develop over the forthcoming years in a context, which, even if it is difficult economically, will be favourable to companies that are well-prepared as Sword is going into 2012.
Jacques Mottard
Chairman and CEO.