Sopra Group’s governance structure consists of a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, a Managing Director and a Board of Directors.

This organisational structure is supported by an ongoing operational and functional structure as well as a temporary mission structure for the management of particular businesses and projects.

Ongoing structure

Sopra Group’s ongoing structure is composed of three operational tiers and their associated functional structures. 

Tier 1: Executive Management

Executive Management comprises the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the Managing Director and the Executive Committee (the COMEX).

The Executive Committee comprises the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the Managing Director and the Directors of the major operating entities.

Sopra Group’s Executive Committee members are responsible for the development of strategy and supervise the organisation, management audit, functions and development of major client accounts of the Group.

Tier 2: Divisions and subsidiaries

This tier consists of entities having the status of divisions. Sopra Group’s divisions are market-oriented and are organised around one of the following three parameters:

• business line (Consulting, Systems & Solution Integration, Axway);
• geography (countries, regions);
• economic sector.

Tier 2 is the core level of the ongoing structure. The component entities of each division are autonomous branches with their own management, sales force and production teams.

Tier 3: Branches

Tier 3 is composed of branches, which constitute subdivisions of Tier 2 entities whose workforce exceeds a certain number of employees, that are fragmented at the geographic level or whose activities require separate management structures.

These branches are the organisation’s primary building blocks. They operate as profit centres and enjoy genuine autonomy. They have responsibility for their own human resources, budgets, operating statements and results. They invoice their clients and manage debt collection. Steering meetings focusing on sales and marketing strategy and human resources are held weekly, and the income statement and budget are reviewed on a monthly basis.

The diagram below illustrates the three tiers of the ongoing structure:

Operational support functions

The operational organisation is reinforced by the presence of three central units providing assistance to the agencies and overseeing major transformation projects:

• the Industrialisation Department, which is responsible for the methods and tools used to ensure the quality of services and supervises the production of the Group’s Service Centres for all major project commitments;
• the Major Commercial Programmes Department, which promotes the major account strategy;
• The Offerings Department, responsible for developing partner relations and new offerings.
  

Functional structures

Functional management (Corporate Secretariat, Finance and Administration, Logistics, Human Resources Management, Communication, Information System Resources, Internal Information Systems, Legal Affairs) is centralised for the entire Group. Functional managers contribute to overall Group cohesiveness, transmit and ensure commitment to the Group’s core values, serve the operational entities and report directly to Executive Management. The functional capacity of international subsidiaries is strictly limited to the local business environment. Axway has launched an organisational project, which has resulted in the establishment of its own functional departments providing the entity with complete functional autonomy.

Functional structures standardise and propose management rules (information system resources, IT systems, financial reporting, etc.), support and render services on behalf of operational units and monitor the application of strategies and rules.

In this manner, they contribute to overall supervision and enable the operational entities to focus on business.
Their direct accountability to Executive Management ensures that the entire Group functions smoothly.

Temporary mission structure for business and projects

Sopra Group’s organisation must retain flexibility in order to adapt to changes in its markets and ensure the successful completion of projects.
Projects are handled by temporary mission teams and are supervised:

• at the level of the Group’s branches or business units;
• or under the authority of a pilot unit, established to leverage synergies across several branches.

Each project must be organised in order to meet a fundamental objective: guaranteeing the financial success and contributing to the overall growth of the Group.

Depending on their particularities (size, area of expertise, geographical zone covered) large-scale projects can be managed at the Branch, Division or Executive Management level . Certain larger projects requiring the resources of several branches may involve the creation of a Tier 3 profit centre.