Stanislas de Bentzmann, the CEO who continues to shape the European tech consultancy sector

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Stanislas de Bentzmann is not one to be afraid of change. In fact, he’s built a business empire around it.

In the last four decades, the French entrepreneur has seen the tech industry soar to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and has navigated his way through them all, from the dot-com bubble of the 1990s to its spectacular crash of 2000, the global financial crisis eight years later and the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.

Yet, through it all, Stanislas has not only demonstrated that he can survive times of crisis, but thrive in them, and not only for his own end. His mantra has also helped many other businesses and clients weather strong storms and come out on the other side, with the wind in their sails.

“Many businesses are afraid of recessions and it is obvious to see why,” says the Devoteam CEO. “But for me, recessions and economic downturns are simply times when certain sectors, and I include the technology sector prominently in this, are tested for their resilience, compliance and agility. When times are good, it is easy for many companies to simply ride the wave of positive market sentiment and coast alongside the giants, but when there is a downturn that is when, as we say in France, there is the ‘séparer le bon grain de l’ivraie’.” (cutting the wheat from the chaff)

And it is the wheat of what Stanislas has built which has been prospering above the chaff ever since he began his business career in France by founding Message – a company setting up production units abroad for large retailers. He subsequently sold Message in 1990, going on to join Randstad where he took on sales management functions for the Group computer offerings before taking responsibilities in Randstad’s Mergers & Acquisition activities. His learnings in M&A would provide him with the tools he would need to build a future multi billion dollar business empire.

Seeing the gap in the market during the dot-com boom in 1995, he capitalised on the development of the telecom industry and regulatory changes in France to create Devoteam with his brother, Godefroy. They initiated the business model targeting the telecommunications market, stimulated by new service providers.

The company is now one of the top digital consulting firms in Europe, focussing on business automation, cybersecurity, platform technologies, cloud service and currently a keen emphasis on data driven artificial intelligence solutions.

As a consulting firm, Stanislas has always been mindful that Devoteam should lead from the front, so keeping the ability to transform his own company when needed, serves as the perfect example to his clients. This was never more evident in his first few years of Devoteam’s existence.

“One of the reasons that Godefroy and I decided to launch Devoteam as a consulting firm was that even then, we were seeing the perpetual need for businesses to transform simply in order to survive. Our most notable achievement is being able to manage a fast-growing company after the dot-com bust in 2000 and then in 2008, during the financial crisis and of course, more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said..

Stanislas’ most recent acquisition of the UK consulting firm Ubertas Consulting has now increased his staff count to 11,000 employees, underpinning Devoteam’s modus operandi of being a strong provider of strategic transformations to businesses looking to incorporate the latest technologies – from cloud services to artificial intelligence and everything in between.

“Our corporate culture is centered around talent, acquiring the brightest and best people and then training them as our employees. This results in our high level of specialisation with strong teams building long lasting partnerships.”

Through the changes, Stanislas says that adjustments are fundamental to each and every company and these must be implemented into their work processes. Those who are not able to transform due to organisational issues will inevitably fall behind.

“Amazon is the prime example of an agile company that has moved not only with the times but ahead of them by digitising their services. There is no future for a company which does not increase its digital footprint, as today, more than ever, every company must be a tech company,” he adds.

“We are specialists and only work with the most innovative players in the market,” Stanislas says of Devoteam partners including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google and ServiceNow.

“Our strategy is not to be generalists. We aim to specialise on a few topics by partnering only with the most advanced software vendors. So while we can work on large multi-country digital projects, we are still nimble enough to work quickly and swiftly with our joint customers.”

Throughout the years of Devoteam’s growth, Stanislas has compiled a few key lessons that cumulatively form his recipe for success, much has been learnt from his favourite management book ‘Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don’t’ by Jim C. Collins’. Based on data-led studies, the book describes how companies transition from being good companies to great companies, and how most companies fail to make the transition.

“One of the most difficult things is to refrain from jumping from one project to another. CEOs are continuously faced with new problems to address – the grass often looks greener in the next field. Sometimes, it can be tempting to think that the opportunities might be more exciting or easier or more profitable in another market. But that’s rarely the reality,” he says. “The truth is that the path to success is through staying consistent with your strategy and conveying a clear message to your employees so that they understand the goal and can help you get there,” he adds.

Stanislas sets his own goals to be high.

In 2023, Devoteam hit two milestones of a billion in revenue and 10,000 staff and Stanislas has already demonstrated that he is not satisfied with those numbers: “We aim to grow to a $2 billion company within the next five years in Europe and the Middle East. We are fiercely ambitious. We want to manage the company with clear direction and discipline, but at the same time, there is a wide space for an entrepreneurial mindset, new ideas, innovation, caring and learning. Maintaining this delicate balance is my main responsibility as CEO,” he says.

“I’m always seeking growth as I believe that if you are not a CEO who is continually seeking growth, it simply will not happen. Leading from the top is the only way.”