Didier Michaud-Daniel

Biz@India

May 2018

DIDIER MICHAUD-DANIEL, CEO, Bureau Veritas

Didier Michaud-Daniel, CEO, Bureau Veritas, spoke to Biz@India about the work they are doing and how they are maintaining quality for consumers around the world by keeping the environment in mind.

How was Davos 2018 for you? What is the sense you are getting in terms of the situation of the global economy?

We can clearly feel that the global economy has restarted and that 2018 should be a bit better in comparison to 2017 and 2016. Some economies are becoming quiet brilliant which is a good news for Bureau Veritas because we touch all activities in the world in particular with commodities.

In the sense of concerns about the state of the world, can something go wrong despite the fact that right now everything looks positive?

For me everything is looking positive at this moment. After that, you never know. Because the geo-political situation is not so easy today in the Middle East for instance, with some other countries which are at risk. But we cross fingers and we hope that everything is going to be okay and that there will be no conflict this year.

Do you find that quality is becoming a greater focus around the world but also is it becoming a challenge maintaining quality because increase in competition leads to cutting corners?

First one is quality, second is safety, third one is environment and the last one is health. We are in all of these types of activities.

You are right, consumers around the world are demanding in terms of quality, and companies like Bureau Veritas are ensuring that they can distribute quality products round the world.

You mentioned other things like safety, environment and health. What is the scenario in these three domains in let’s say the Middle East with Qatar building all those infrastructure for the football cup. What is the sense you are getting there?

We work on these infrastructure to help on the technical controller and to be sure that the stadiums are going to be safe. For us, this is a good opportunity after the worldwide level with the Paris agreement of COP 21.

Clearly, a lot of companies are working on environment now and focusing on that. People can feel global warming everywhere in the world, so there’s more consciousness to that.

Protectionism is also increasing so how is that impacting your business?

No, it is very interesting because we are present in 140 countries. If we do not test the products outside the country we can do it inside the country.

So for going to change along, quality which is the most important demand of the clients, today need to remain the same. So we could test any product anywhere in the world.

But are you also passing on the skills to the local work force in all these countries?

Of course, it is very important. We have 75,000 companies today and all of our employees are local. We have Chinese in China, Saudi in Saudi Arabia and Brazilians in Brazil. The people are local and what we do is transfer the expertise.

What could change for better in your business?

What can be better is that we are currently working on markets which are developing fast, and the food market and about the new market, automobile which connected electrical and cars can also be an opportunity.

Last but not the least it is about technology. Artificial intelligence, cyber security and data protection – all of these are going to create new potential opportunities for us in the future.