Guillaume Schott, Country Managing Director CGI

 

CGI is a global IT and business consulting firm with 93,000 consultants worldwide, generating more than $14.68 billion in revenue last year. Its growing footprint in Luxembourg is not by chance but as a result of its expertise matching the much discussed problems that the private and public sector are facing in the Grand Duchy. Namely, how to enable data sovereignty in a sustainable way, while making efficiency gains using AI. 

We spoke with Dirk de Groot, President, Scandinavia, Northwest and Central-East Europe, and Guillaume Schott, Country Managing Director for Luxembourg, about how a global firm stays relevant locally, what the trends are in the market, and how AI is impacting the way they work.

 

In the big picture what are your objectives?

Dirk de Groot: To grow in relevance for our clients! This year, our dual strategy was to grow across the globe through both a buy and build strategy. It’s a very interesting time to be in a digitally transforming world.

 

What was the firms most interesting acquisition in the buy strategy in the last 12 months?

D.d.G.: I know that are lot of your readers are international, so you probably know BJSS, the leading engineering firm we acquired in January 2025. This added 2,500 partners to our headcount. Meanwhile, in Germany, we acquired Novatec, and in France, we just completed the acquisition of Apside, a leading digital and engineering firm. So yes, we’ve been busy.

 

 

« We believe in high-performancece digitaltransformations that enable clients to takecoco ntrol of their ICT landscape. » Dirk de GROOT, President, Scandinavia, Northwest and Central-East Europe CGI

 

And what about Luxembourg, who do you work with?

Guillaume Schott: The public sector and government, European institutions, and the financial sector, including banks and insurance companies. For banks, we provide project services, our real DNA, such as integrating portfolio management within the complete ecosystem of the bank. We are regulated by the CSSF as a PSF, which allows us to work directly within the production environments of our clients. Although complying with all the regulations can be challenging, it gives us a competitive advantage.

 

How does being a global company help you provide solutions for a market like Luxembourg?

D.d.G.: We live in an ever more complex world, but even as a global firm, our primary focus is local, and when I say local, I mean it. Many of our partners and employees have a stake in the company and, as owners, they literally live among their clients.

Our global footprint enables us to match local needs with global expertise, using near-shore and offshore centres of excellence. For example, we have a dedicated Anti-Money Laundering (AML) product, ideal for the Luxembourg market, delivered by our Czech team. We understand the importance of local experts who know the regulations, culture, and desired outcomes of our clients. The truth is, no matter where we deliver our services from, it’s always with a single point of local accountability. Here in Luxembourg, Guillaume doesn’t have to call the other side of the world to ask for permission to act. This way we build trust and long term relationships with our clients because the leader who makes the promise to the client is the one who must keep it, as he or she is end-to-end accountable.

 

The world is migrating to the cloud, but in Luxembourg this story is complicated by regulation. What trends are you seeing in data strategy.

G.S.: I agree about cloud migration and its complexities. But things have changed in the last two years because the regulator (CSSF) now allows organisations to do more in the cloud. We also support implementation in the Sovereign Cloud, which is a hot topic in Luxembourg for organisations particularly sensitive about keeping their data compliant.

 

It’s a competitive market. Why should clients choose CGI? 

D.d.G.: We have the agility of a boutique with the capabilities of a global firm, and there are very few who can authentically claim that. We’re fundamentally agile in our decision-making, while drawing upon blueprints learned from around the globe. When clients choose us, they gain access to this global knowledge, but the leader sitting next to them will be the one making decisions in their interest, and he or she can make those decisions today.

G.S.: We offer the perfect combination to meet the needs of European clients. We have people who live and operate in Luxembourg, Strasbourg, and Brussels, but if they need expertise or resources from further afield, they have many  venues to choose from. For clients, it’s the perfect combination, knowing there’s a French-speaking or English-speaking expert working nearby who understands their needs, whether in project management or infrastructure architecture, while also having access to our full global capabilities. It’s also true that when price becomes a key factor, we can rely on development teams in cost efficient locations. We’re totally flexible and organized globally to adapt. 

 

What impact is AI having on your business?

D.d.G.: AI isn’t new, it’s been around for decades. But since the rise of Generative AI, everybody is talking about it. It’s embedded in everything we do, whether through cloud solutions, data centres, business processes, or infrastructure support. At CGI, we see ourselves as Client Zero, we use AI internally, learn from it, and then share that knowledge with our clients. In everything we do, AI is fully baked in.

As soon as you provide a common tool to all employees, you start creating efficiencies and productivity gains. But the real question is how to ensure those efficiencies translate into results for clients and shareholders. We focus on designing solutions ready for execution, not just for boardroom slides. We excel at turning ideas into results, ensuring real, measurable business outcomes.

 

What about the Future, where do you see the industry going?

D.d.G.: Regarding the future, I’ve often been asked if I have a crystal ball, and of course, we don’t. But we have something close to it: our yearly client survey program. We stay close to our partners and clients by interviewing all of them every year. This allows us to stay ahead, understanding their evolution, leading, and helping them navigate an ever-changing landscape. We interview all of our clients every year, asking detailed questions to ensure we truly understand their needs.
We also meet with universities, partners, and others to ensure we have an in-depth understanding of where things are heading.

We believe in high-performance digital transformations that enable clients to take control of their ICT landscape. We run it as our business, organising it globally in the best possible way. As a result, clients gain the time and resources to invest in the future. For example, we have a client in traffic management, managing public information on incidents and traffic jams. CGI took over the entire ecosystem in ensuring everything ran smoothly. The client now has room to consider jointly invest in accommodating autonomous and connected vehicles. That’s how we like to operate.

 

And what about Luxembourg, where do you see the future going for CGI?

G.S.: In Luxembourg, data sovereignty is key. We know that Luxembourg prefers to have applications and systems run locally, but we also live in a global world. For CGI, this reinforces what Dirk said, staying close to clients and operating as a local boutique, while leveraging our global delivery engine.

Nobody can really predict what will happen in ten years, but we can say with confidence that we’re ready to support our clients through every eventuality.