On April 30, 2019, Atos' raison d' être was written into the articles of association of this Societas Europaea. In doing so, it became the first CAC 40 company to adopt a statutory raison d'être under the impetus of its CEO Thierry Breton.
A Raison d'être based on Atos' corporate purpose
The raison d'être of Atos is set out in article 2 of the company's articles of associationintegrating it into its corporate purpose:
"At Atos, our mission is to help shape the information space..
"With our skills and services, we support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence.
"Everywhere in the world, we enable our customers and employees, and more generally the greatest number of people, to live, work and progress sustainably and with complete confidence in the information space.."
A raison d'être co-constructed with shareholders shareholders and stakeholders
This raison d'être is the fruit of a process of co-construction process supported by the management team and involving employees.
The formalization of the raison d'être involved consultation with employees and the Executive Committee, as well as an opinion from the Board of Directors' CSR Committee.
The fruits of this labor were enshrined by the Annual General Meeting, which decided to enshrine Atos' raison d'être in its bylaws with 99.93% in favor - well above the two-thirds threshold required for such a decision.
The raison d'être of Atos, the embodiment of a new vision of the role of business in community life
The raison d'être (orsense of purpose"is presented as the mark of "identity, vocation and essence"of the company, and aims to make it a lever for "leadership to its stakeholders".
In 2019, Thierry Breton presented this raison d'être as a reflection of the crucial responsibilities demanded by the dual ecological and digital transition: ecology and security. It is also the materialization of Thierry Breton's conviction that the new role of the company "in the life of the city", as opposed to Milton Friedman's approach.
This positioning echoes WEMEAN's belief in a partnership-based company, with greater stakeholder involvement. A vision a priori still shared, with the election ofÉdouard Philippe to the Atos Board of Directors.
A few weeks later, Thierry Breton was appointed by Emmanuel Macron to become European Commissioner for the Internal Market to join the team of new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
From Atos' raison d'être to its raison d'agir: an example of positive-sum action against Covid-19
Recently, Atos announced a partnership with a Danish startup to help governments run effective vaccination campaigns against Covid-19.
This mobilization enables Atos to promote its expertise and position itself as a partner to public authorities by "[contributing] to the development of scientific and technological excellence". A project in line with Atos' raison d'être, which is now integrated into the company's presentation in its press releases.
