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Giuseppe Ficara - The Untold Story of Amplifon's Data & AI Transformation
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Germany Nov 11, 2025 Country Members Physical english
On the eve of the ServiceNow World Forum, CIONET invites you to an exclusive dinner in the fabulous Restaurant Little London in the heart of Munich City. Join leading CIOs, CDOs, and ServiceNow product owners for a candid exchange on how to get the most from your ServiceNow investment.
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Switzerland Nov 12, 2025 Country Members Physical english
CIONET invites you to a private dinner with a select group of enterprise CIOs and senior infrastructure leaders in Zurich – part of a multi-country dialogue series with IT executives across Europe. This strategic dialogue is designed for digital leaders to share insights on one of the most pressing challenges facing today's leaders: How can organisations build true digital sovereignty in the face of geopolitical uncertainty, regulatory pressure, and growing technological dependencies?
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Germany Nov 13, 2025 Country Members Physical german
Bauen Sie mit uns ein starkes Netzwerk führender WOMEN CIDOs aus der IT- und Technologiebranche auf! Unser zweites Treffen findet im PwC Experience Center in Frankfurt statt.
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Belgium Nov 13, 2025 Country Members Physical english
The Role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) The role of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is no longer confined to securing the network perimeter. As organisations become more digitally connected and data-driven, the CISO’s responsibilities have expanded far beyond traditional security measures. Today’s CISO must not only defend against cyber threats but also enable the business to innovate securely, manage complex regulatory environments, and instill a culture of trust across the organisation. This event will explore the evolving role of the CISO as a strategic leader who balances security with business enablement. As digital transformation accelerates, how can CISOs align their security strategies with organisational goals, ensure compliance, and lead their teams in the fight against increasingly sophisticated threats? Key Discussion Points: From Gatekeeper to Strategic Partner: How CISOs can shift from being seen as barriers to innovation to becoming key enablers of business agility and transformation through security. Balancing Risk and Innovation: Learn how top CISOs navigate the delicate balance between mitigating risk and supporting the organisation’s need to innovate and scale in a secure environment. Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC): Explore how CISOs are managing an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, ensuring compliance while still driving business objectives forward. Building a Security-First Culture: Practical strategies for CISOs to foster a culture where security is embedded into every part of the business, from boardroom discussions to frontline operations. CISO as Crisis Manager: How to prepare for and lead your organisation through major cybersecurity incidents. From ransomware attacks to data breaches, we’ll discuss how today’s CISO is as much a crisis manager as they are a strategist. Why You Should Attend: As a CISO, your role is evolving faster than ever before. This event is designed to provide you with actionable insights into how to embrace your expanded responsibilities while keeping your organisation safe and secure. Whether you’re focused on aligning security with business goals, navigating regulatory challenges, or leading in times of crisis, this event will equip you with the strategies to lead the next era of cybersecurity.
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UK Nov 13, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
Join us on November 13th for the exclusive roundtable powered by Cognizant.
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Italy Nov 13, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Questa roundtable sarà l’occasione per un dialogo diretto e peer-to-peer tra CIO, CISO ed executive della community CIONET.
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Providing top-tier customer service is a cornerstone of ERGO. To serve thousands of customers sustainably, ERGO Insurance used a Microsoft Azure-powered AI Virtual Agent (VA) developed by EBO. The solution revolutionized the company’s customer service by providing personalized, 24/7 assistance.
ERGO Insurance, a part of the ERGO Group, is committed to offer comprehensive insurance, pensions, and investment services. "Our goal is not just to offer top-tier insurance services, but also top-tier customer experience," begins Rea Theleriti, Chief Customer and Digital Transformation Officer at ERGO Insurance.
However, this goal came with a challenge: sustainably serving thousands of customers round-the-clock. To overcome this, ERGO Insurance wanted to revolutionize its approach, starting with its call centers. “Over the years, we have been focusing on instilling excellence in our intermediaries,” Theleriti explains. “More recently, we started looking into innovating the whole customer journey. We wanted to create an omnichannel experience for our customers, where they could use their preferred communication channels.”
Taking a step forward, ERGO Insurance cooperated with EBO, a Microsoft partner and leader in customer engagement automation, to implement, Χαρά (Joy), an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven Virtual Agent (VA) built on Microsoft Azure.
What makes the Virtual Agent particularly unique in the Greek insurance market is its outstanding recognition rate. Χαρά was built using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning techniques, Azure Cognitive Services, and Azure Bot Services. EBO’s NLP experts worked with ERGO Insurance and Microsoft to build a VA that can have two-way human-like conversations with customers. The VA’s sentiment analysis can identify users’ emotions and adapt to the conversation accordingly. Finally, Χαρά’s machine learning capabilities keep its language library updated, enabling the VA to learn, adapt and handle more complex tasks.
With these features, the VA can handle both predefined and open-ended questions. “The Virtual Agent’s 95.5 percent recognition rate allows it to understand messages from customers and respond appropriately,” explains Konstantinos Chatzisymeon, Chief Information and Processes Transformation Officer at ERGO Insurance.
Combined with a conversational tone and the ability to communicate in 'Greeklish', a blend of Greek and Latin characters, users experience a more personal touch than with usual chatbots. "We aim to communicate with our customers in whichever way they prefer," explains Theleriti. “The more dialogues and services we offer, the more we can understand our customers. And though it may be a competitive advantage now, a Virtual Agent will become standard practice in the future.”
Simpler, more personalized interactions
One version of the Virtual Agent mainly addressed frequently asked questions (FAQ), enabling customers quick access to information regarding insurance coverage, emergency procedures, and more. While this helped with decreasing the workload for one-touch tickets, ERGO Greece wanted to create a more personalized experience. It integrated the VA directly into its core systems to offer more functions and perform a variety of operations.
The VA was then deployed to assist with policy renewals, enabling customers to verify their payment amounts and methods. Moreover, users could register for the customer portal via the VA. “It walks customers through registration with a dialog-driven process, which is more personal than filling in a standard form by yourself,” elaborates Theleriti. “This makes people feel more comfortable, and that encourages more sign ups.”
Within four months of using Virtual Agent, ERGO Greece saw better customer experience. "Achieving 85 percent customer satisfaction rate for dialogues initiated through the VA is a great sign. It shows that our users are happy with these interactions," remarks Theleriti.
Providing 24/7 support has also had a positive impact on the company’s policy renewal process. Typically, once customers are sent a notification to renew their policy, they would have to find the notice and contact an agent or call center. Since the burden of the process lies on the customer, some may just forgo renewing their policies.
Now, the renewal process is simplified with the VA. Customers can request and access information easily even without specific policy details. They only need to provide their name and tax identification number or vehicle plate number. They can then make the payment online. “Customers sometimes renew their policy twice a year, so the easier we make it for them to make payments, the more value we are offering as a company. Having the VA significantly helps us manage the payment system, as we’re handling around 3,000 transactions per month,” describes Theleriti.
While the VA can fully operate automatically, ERGO Insurance has full control over conversational workflows and can manage, build, or enhance conversation flows at any point in time. Should a customer conversation require human intervention, Χαρά automatically transfers the conversation seamlessly to a human agent. “In four months, 83 percent of chats were completely handled end-to-end by the VA. This has eased our agent workload and enabled us to focus on more complex business tasks,” says Theleriti.
Following the successful pilot phase, ERGO Insurance is set to implement further use cases of the VA. The company is hoping that it will become the starting point for many core processes, including renewals and claims. “The most crucial consideration is how we integrate technology into our customer journey. If it's supplementary, it won't create value, and people won't use it,” elaborates Chatzisymeon. “Our goal is to digitize and automate our processes to truly revolutionize the experience by making the interaction conversational via the VA.”
“EBO is proud to have collaborated with ERGO Insurance on its digital transformation journey,” shares Dr. Gege Gatt, CEO at EBO. “We are excited about the future potential of the VA to serve as the starting point for many of ERGO Insurance’s core processes. EBO remains committed to integrating technology seamlessly into the customer journey to create truly transformative experiences."
Reflecting on the journey so far, Theleriti notes, “I place great value on our partners, EBO and Microsoft, and our staff who implemented this solution. Transformation isn't solely driven by technology. How we use technology and what we choose to do with it is most critical in how we’ll transform customer experience in the future.”
Giuseppe Ficara - The Untold Story of Amplifon's Data & AI Transformation
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Jesús Oliva, Head of Data & AI at Moeve - From Data Challenges to AI Leadership
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Radosław Maćkiewicz - CEO at COI - Empowering Citizens Through Digital Innovation
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
The role of the CIO has evolved from managing systems to shaping outcomes: growth, resilience, and competitive edge are now won or lost in the technology arena. Today ’ s CIOs must balance stability with innovation, control costs while attracting scarce talent, and modernise legacy infrastructure while adopting emerging technologies.
As AI transitions from a specialised tool to an all-pervasive force, understanding its profound implications for our human lives is no longer merely academic but an urgent imperative for social well-being and strategic preparedness.
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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