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CIONET - What's next

Connecting ambitious digital leaders and businesses around the globe.

Catch up on the upcoming CIONET Events

             
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Italy Sep 25, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian

Innovation in Balance: governing the power of data and automation

Nel percorso verso l’AI e la trasformazione digitale, dati e automazione sono gli elementi centrali di ogni strategia tecnologica. Ma senza una governance chiara, rischiano di diventare non solo fonte di inefficienza, ma anche di rischi e incoerenza.   Come garantire che i dati siano completi, accessibili e affidabili? Come automatizzare le operation IT e i processi aziendali mantenendo controllo, compliance e sicurezza?   Durante questa roundtable esclusiva, organizzata da CIONET Italia e IBM, affronteremo:   La governance come abilitatore di dati affidabili e automazione sicura. Come prepararsi a un’adozione dell’AI realmente scalabile. Il ruolo di controllo, resilienza e gestione del rischio nell’innovazione.

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Belgium Oct 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english

CIONET Round Table - Rethinking AI

AI isn’t just another tool. It changes how we work, how we think, how we organise ourselves.Yet most organisations still approach it like a digital upgrade, deploying assistants, automating workflows, testing use cases inisolation.The results are predictable. Short-term wins. Long-term confusion.Effort spent. Value unclear.Many companies can’t connect AI to their actual strategic goals,and the promised ROI never materialises.At the same time, something deeper is shifting.AI can now reason, decide, adapt. Not just mimic processes butcontribute to them.The technology is evolving, but the way we implement it hasn’tcaught up.If your AI still fits inside a single department, you’re likely solvingthe wrong problem.If it works only for individuals, you're missing how your teamsactually deliver value.If it replaces people instead of supporting them, you're buildingfor today, not tomorrow.The next step isn’t more AI. It’s the right AI.Built for your business, your teams, your way of working.Not a tool to add but a structure to build around.Are we ready to treat AI as a shared capability, not a scatteredexperiment?Can we move beyond individual efficiency and build systems thatcollaborate, learn and adapt with us?Those are the questions we’ll explore at the round table.

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Poland Oct 17, 2025 Invitation Only Physical & Virtual Polish

IT EXECUTIVE MASTERCLASS 5

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Germany Oct 28, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Köln: Powershift

Am 28. Oktober lädt CIONET CIOs und Digital Leaders nach Köln ein: hier stellen wir reale Anwendungsfälle vor, in denen KI-Agenten Aufgaben autonom übernehmen, Prozesse beschleunigen und Entscheidungen vorbereiten – mit messbarem Nutzen für das Business.

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France Nov 4, 2025 Country Members Physical french

Maîtriser la souveraineté numérique: du réseau à la donnée

À l’ère des mutations géopolitiques et réglementaires, l’établissement d’une souveraineté numérique est devenu un élément stratégique essentiel pour les entreprises. Ce dialogue stratégique mettra en lumière le rôle fondamental du réseau dans la mise en place du contrôle, de la confiance et de la résilience. Nous explorerons comment une infrastructure moderne et résiliente permet d’appliquer des politiques de gestion des données et d’assurer la continuité opérationnelle. Ce dialogue stratégique, réservé à un groupe restreint de pairs, est conçu pour permettre aux leaders du numérique d’échanger sur l’un des enjeux les plus urgents aujourd’hui. Nous discuterons des réseaux « sovereign-ready » et débattrons des préoccupations croissantes autour de la souveraineté des données, qui motivent l’adoption de politiques de confidentialité et de protection des données de plus en plus strictes à l’échelle mondiale.

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Netherlands Nov 10, 2025 Public Physical english

Reis mee: CIO Innovation trip Web Summit 11 nov 2025 Lissabon

CIONET Nederland vertrekt met een groep Nederlandse CIO's en digital leaders 10 t/m 12 november 2025 voor de geheel verzorgde CIO Innovation Trip naar de Web Summit in Lissabon, Portugal. Reis jij mee of neem je collega(s) mee!

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Recent Cases

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Volvo Group streamlines invoice and claims processing with Azure AI and AI Document Intelligence

Volvo Group, a global manufacturing leader, sought to streamline invoice and document processing, utilizing Microsoft Azure AI services and AI Document Intelligence. The solution, launched after a six-week pilot and four-month production timeline, automated data extraction from images and translation, saving Volvo Group over 10,000 manual hours.

Volvo Group cofounders Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson were always keen to remind workers and customers alike that “Automobiles are made by and for people.” Although this might seem like an obvious statement, the 96-year-old Swedish company made it their mission to continuously empower Volvo employees to create safe, high-quality vehicles that meet the changing needs of its customers and the populations they serve. “By using our innovation power to develop new solutions, we strive for a better everyday life for people around the world,” says Annavi Pushpalatha, Head of RPA & Workflow Digitization at Volvo Group.

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment, and marine and industrial engines, Volvo Group continuously applies that innovation to every aspect of its business. As a result, everyone from shop floor workers in Volvo Group manufacturing plants to service and maintenance experts and customer experience professionals in 190 countries has benefited. The company’s innovative mindset also helps Volvo Group’s customers with everything from driving experiences to solutions for financing and service. 

“We recently had two scenarios in service and financing we needed to transform, and both had to do with processing critical internal and customer-facing ‘paperwork,’ including invoices and credit notes,” says Malladi Kumara Datta, RPA Product Owner at Volvo Group. “The data was complex and came in a variety of forms, including emails, digital and scanned PDFs, and written bills.” Some of the documents were stamped or contained images, and many had tables across multiple pages. There were also other documents like freight receipts, contracts, and terms and conditions, complicating the processes.

Automating complex workflows, extracting critical data

“Our automation team was tasked with coming up with a solution that could be more efficient and help the company better utilize the data it was collecting in these differing forms,” says Datta. A primary goal for Volvo Group was to easily extract accurate data from documents containing images, stamps, and printed text with handwritten notes over it. The other main goal was to take documents in multiple languages and translate their information into the specified language of the team needing the information. Datta says that the solution not only needed to read the data; it also had to make decisions based on that data, including whether or not it needed translation, and direct the data to the right team or archive, depending on the stage it was in the process. 

Volvo Group wanted a flexible platform solution that could evolve with Microsoft Azure AI services and other Microsoft technologies like Azure AI Document Intelligence. “We needed advanced capabilities, especially with AI Document Intelligence, to help us create a solution that extracts data from images—including photographs, stamps, and seals—and overwritten text to gain more detailed information about the products or services accounted for in the documents,” says Datta. “A technology which could quickly produce accurate text in multiple languages.”

“The documents are received through Microsoft Outlook, and we use Power Automate cloud connector for Office 365 to copy, for example, a particular PDF file,” says Pushpalatha. “Using Azure Data Factory, we can preprocess documents to remove noise from scanned images, rotate and sequence images, and trim unnecessary pages. The output is either an XML or CSV file, depending on the Volvo Group division it will be sent to.” After the automation lifecycle, files are removed from storage and archived in a designated system.

Volvo Group also employed Power Automate to create a data table in SharePoint detailing processing times for each document. The data was then linked to a Power BI report to track metrics such as average processing time, throughput time, and success rate of the automation. “The Azure solution gives us a lot of flexibility to innovate,” says Datta.

Rapid development, significant results

“Working with Microsoft and the Customer Success Unit, we went from a six-week proof of concept to a four-month production timeline,” says Pushpalatha. Volvo Group has rolled out the solution in multiple markets to date, but further rollouts are planned to create a better employee experience. This solution will be added with new features that bring even more pre-processing and automation possibilities.

Since launch, the company has saved 10,000 manual hours—about 850-plus manual hours per month. “The time savings are significant, and of course, automation brings better quality,” says Datta. “But for us it’s about employee experience and customer experience, how seamlessly these documents are processed.” Datta adds that the most important factor is that employees are giving positive reports and liking their work more. “Across the board, they have more time to focus on innovation and tasks related to their specific skill sets.”

Pushpalatha agrees, “We know this directly impacts the relationships between Volvo Group divisions and customers. When people are more satisfied with their work, it creates a better experience for everyone.” 

Checkout our CIONET COOKBOOK

cookbook

Embark on a culinary journey through the ever-evolving world of digital leadership with our third edition of the CIONET Cookbook: Recipes for Digital Success. Unveiling the intricate trilemma faced by today’s Master Chefs, our trailblazing European CIOs address a challenge at the nexus of customer interests, digital transformation strategies, and IT modernisation. Their secret? Synchronising the gearing between customer, business, and technology to create a frictionless movement through the digital landscape.

The CIONET Cookbook uses the analogy of a five-star restaurant to explain the importance of optimally integrated technology, with the CIO as Master Chef. In order to provide the best service to its customers, a top restaurant must have the right atmosphere, an inviting menu, a well-equipped kitchen, talented and committed front-of-house and kitchen staff and smooth-running processes that ensure an enjoyable experience for diners.

CIONET TV

 
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Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge

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Isabelle Droll - CIO for Airline, Corporate, Hotels & Resorts and Sustainability at TUI - Data, Diversity, and Destinations

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Sharon Prior - CIO in transition - How Great Tech Leadership Begins with Business Thinking

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José Antonio López, Group CIO at TOUS - Jewels, Data & AI: Inside the Digital Transformation of TOUS

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Tom Tanghe - General Manager ITC EMEA at Daikin Europe - Reinventing the CIO Role

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CIOFEST 2025 - From Order Taker to Proactive Disruptor

CIONET Reports

 
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Cybersecurity in critical infrastructure

Geopolitical tensions have dominated the headlines for over two years now. In this context, the cyber threat landscape is also evolving rapidly. The protection and security of critical infrastructure – both physical and digital – is becoming increasingly important.

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HDS - From Hype to Reality Navigating the Challenges of GenAI

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Integration In An Era Of AI: Challenges And Opportunities

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Anna Kopp

Head of IT Germany and Regional Office Lead Munich, Microsoft

“The CIONET App allows us to learn from eachother and and find the courage to be authentic by hearing stories from others! Thanks to Tobias and the whole team for bringing us together:-) ”
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Mauricio Amaro

IT Director, IT Thinker

“The main things that I would like to get from our community of Digital Leaders are: networking, share experiences, share best practices and successful cases, and comments and recommendations about providers.”
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Vice president IT & Compliance, VisionaryRCM (A Carlyle Grp Company)

“The CIONET app provides a really cool platform to network and share insights.”

About CIONET

CIONET’s mission is to help IT executives become more at ease and above all more successful in their jobs. So they can do more than just keep up with change but ultimately define it. CIONET opens up a whole new universe of opportunities in IT management.

With the largest membership of corporate digital leaders across Europe, Latin America, US and Australia, CIONET has the expertise and pioneering vision to solve or address any IT management challenge.

Why join CIONET?

From our local and global events, from our publications and research to our executive education programmes, everything we do is aimed at making sure digital leaders maximise their potential.

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with digital leaders who share your interests, who face the same challenges, who care about the same topics.

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stories, experiences, and ideas around our shared mission.

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from our exclusive events, publications and research.

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inspiration, thought-provoking conversations, expert perspectives and exclusive first-hand content each and every day

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You can either send us a registered handwritten letter explaining why you'd like to become a member or you can simply talk to us right here!

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