Interview with Paula Indermühle - CFO Vitra

Deloitte: As CFO, what do you particularly wish to prioritise over the next 12 months?

Paula Indermühle: At Vitra, we adopt a holistic view of our environmental responsibilities, which is why our environmental mission is so important. We have defined three goals for the coming years: firstly, we want to reduce the ecological footprint; secondly, we want to track each product throughout its entire life cycle to ensure that it is used for as long as possible and to make recycling and disposal easier. And thirdly, we want to ensure that clients can make their purchasing decisions based on information about where and how a product was manufactured and which partners were involved. The responsibility for achieving these goals lies with all of our employees and therefore also with me: I will be continuing to invest heavily in our sustainability mindset and commitment over the next 12 months.

Deloitte: The federal elections were in October. If you had one wish for the newly elected parliament, what would it be?

Paula Indermühle: I would like to see greater emphasis on Switzerland as a centre of innovation and research, which would contribute to progress and growth in the country and help find solutions to urgent global challenges.

Deloitte: How do you see the potential of generative artificial intelligence for the finance function, not least in the light of the shortage of labour?

Paula Indermühle: Generative artificial intelligence has considerable potential to transform the finance function and thus make it more efficient and effective. Great process optimisation potential can already be leveraged through integrated system support (for example through our SAP system) as well as automation tools such as robotic process automation. Artificial intelligence provides additional benefits that build further on this.

For example, we are currently introducing a solution for the automated processing of supplier invoices. This uses AI functionalities to read unstructured information from invoice documents, to validate the data and automatically transfer it to our SAP system and to generate workflows.

We also see great potential for AI applications in the areas of risk management and fraud detection, where large amounts of financial data are analysed to predict trends and risks and identify abnormalities.

The shortage of labour is a major challenge for our economy and will continue to spur companies to explore the potential of AI to automate routine tasks where possible and create more varied and therefore more attractive positions, and also to bridge bottlenecks in the company.

Deloitte: How do you think the role of CFO will change in the next few years?

Paula Indermühle: The role of CFO has become more dynamic, diverse and strategic in recent years. The traditional finance tasks are still important, but now the CFO also drives innovation, efficiency and growth. In my role, I am heavily involved in shaping and implementing corporate strategy, and this requires a deep understanding of the business, market dynamics and technologies. My responsibilities also extend beyond finance, for example into IT, legal & compliance, the centre of excellence, strategic planning, product operations management and other areas.

The role of CFO will continue to develop as a supporting and structuring role in management and will remain extremely exciting as it combines strategic orientation, an analytical mindset and influence on the company.

Deloitte: How do you see the evolution of interest rates and consequently the financing conditions for companies over the next 12 months?

Paula Indermühle: Interest rates have been very low for years and their increase is justified in order to restore the value of money. This normalisation has probably come to an end with the Swiss National Bank’s latest raise in interest rates.

The supply of debt financing and debt financing conditions in Switzerland remain attractive despite higher interest rates. The new interest rate level and the resulting increase in borrowing costs are prompting companies to further optimise their liquidity and cash management and to review their financing strategy. This will depend on the individual situation, the sector concerned, the size of the company and its financial strength. We will therefore also see a change on the demand side of debt financing.