The world of technological accessories has changed a lot: from simple “companions” of devices, products have become increasingly important – especially in the business world – also embracing the world of design. Logitech is one of the most active companies in this field. And Matteo Anversa, the company’s CFO since September 2024, talks about how keyboards that are recharged with light, ergonomic mice with personalized keys or headphones perfect for the noisiest environments (just to give a few examples) marry the goal of insisting on innovation to give people beautiful and personalized tools.
What were your first priorities once you joined Logitech?
“First of all, I could say, “learning the company”. I came from a more industrial experience, and the first months were fantastic because I was able to really appreciate the culture of the company. I would explain it with the English formula humble and hungry”.
What struck you the most?
“That we are our own biggest critics and from this comes the desire to create better products. The level of technology is incredible: I have been a Logitech customer since I was a child, but I never appreciated this aspect so much until I saw it from the inside.”
What does your role as CFO consist of?
“Obviously making ends meet, but to do so you need to know the company, the product, the processes and the cooperative metrics that ultimately impact financial results. Having had the opportunity to work with excellent managers in my career, I have learned that you have to commit to thinking like a well-rounded operational manager, even without perhaps having the title of COO.”
What is the Logitech world like?
“I have traveled a lot in recent months, going to all our most important sites. For me, knowing people is fundamental: I still live in Detroit, I’m not in Silicon Valley, so I do a lot of meetings via zoom. But contact with people is fundamental: the face, the person, the name, knowing who you work with. This helped me prepare the financial strategy to present to the analysts in March of this year, with our CEO Hanneke Faber.”
He has experience in companies such as Gentherm, Ferrari, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, GE. What experiences did you bring to Logitech?
“I must say that they all influenced me a little in one way or another. From Ferrari, for example, I learned how to implement processes without negatively impacting entrepreneurship and speed of execution. In Maranello the car must be ready for the Grand Prix on Sunday, and in this Logitech is very similar: having rigor without losing the entrepreneurial spirit.”
And what have you learned in the technological world?
“At General Electric, where I spent 16 years at the beginning of my career, the objective has always been to improve profitability without negatively impacting research and development. As CFO the task was to identify waste, cut costs and re-inject revenue into the heart of the company.”
Returning to Logitech: it has always been a success story for innovation and design and has a history that has lasted for more than 40 years. What is the secret to staying ahead in a market as inflated as yours?
“First and foremost, our mission is to extend human potential in work and play. The goal is to give both our customers and our employees the means to be more productive, to collaborate better and to be more creative. And this can be done by focusing on research and development and collaborations.”
Any numbers?
“Every year we spend around 6.5% of our turnover on R&D and this, regardless of what happens in the outside world, is a non-negotiable point. It’s a job that starts with knowing what the customer wants, that’s what it means to put the user at the center of everything. And it starts from within us in all sectors.”
Collaborations?
“We have many. With universities, for example: one of our most important R&D centers is the “Daniel Borel Innovation Center” in Switzerland, in Lausanne, right inside the EPFL. It is a fantastic reality that gives us a source of internships and exceptional new employees for the company”.
And with companies?
“We work with the most important in Silicon Valley: Microsoft, Zoom, Meta. Some of the products we have launched – for example MX In, the pen used with MetaQuest – were developed together with them. We have a great team: in the last six years we have won more than 300 global design awards”.
You have just celebrated the European initiative “Logi Work” in Milan. Can you tell us what we should expect from the future of work?
“There are essentially two big trends that are impacting the future: the first is that after the pandemic people work from anywhere. According to the latest research, more than 70% from two or more places: office, home, trains, airplanes, hotels and more. This is where the quality of our products comes into play”.
And the second aspect?
“Obviously the boom in artificial intelligence, which is completely changing how we human beings interact with technology. Here too, all our products – think of the mouse, the keyboard, the webcam or the videoconferencing products – are the means of how the human being interfaces with. We see a not too distant future where we will have more AI Agents of collaborators, which will allow us to expand and be extremely more efficient than we are Today”.
In short, it’s AI that we like.
“Exactly: in the company we already have more than a thousand AI Agents in customer service, finance and other areas, and this is a great result. We have concluded a partnership with Nvidia, where we have created one that can help professional gamers in live streaming. This was unthinkable just a year and a half ago.”
And this makes Logitech the ideal companion.
“Thanks to the fluidity of access to our tools, customers can customize the various buttons and have access to any AI portal that the person decides: useful, simple and revolutionary at the same time. And it’s already here.”