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Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge
Belgium Oct 21, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
In today's competitive landscape, customer expectations have never been higher. They demand a personalised, seamless experience at every touchpoint, from initial marketing contact to post-sale service. Unified data is at the heart of creating engaging customer experiences and is meant to fuel the 360 profile. However, for many organizations, a complete picture of the customer is fragmented, with critical data scattered in disconnected systems and departments. This exclusive roundtable will bring together Digital Leaders active in multiple industries to discuss a critical challenge: breaking down data silos to build a true 360° view of the customer. We will explore how to solve the complex integration challenges that prevent a unified view, and how to transform disparate data into a single source of truth. Join us to: Discover how to overcome the technical hurdles of integrating critical business systems, such as ERP and CRM platforms, to unify customer data. Explore real-world case studies on how organisations have successfully created unified customer insights to enhance personalisation and boost commercial and operational efficiency. Discuss best practices for turning fragmented data into actionable insights that can anticipate customer needs, drive revenue growth, and foster long-term loyalty. This is a unique opportunity for Digital Leaders who are ready to transform their customer engagement strategy and unlock the full potential of their data.
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Spain Oct 22, 2025 Country Members Physical spanish
Descubre cómo las organizaciones están utilizando la tecnología para impactar en el negocio a través de casos reales de uso y aprendizajes clave en áreas como ciberseguridad, automatización o data, contados por los protagonistas. Un espacio diseñado para inspirarte, conectar con expertos y potenciar la innovación en tu organización.
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Belgium Oct 22, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
Enterprises are questioning whether private networks and stacked firewalls are still worthwhile investments. A newer approach operates on the open internet with Zero Trust, eliminates perimeter complexity, and reframes cybersecurity as a business performance metric for boards and audit committees. This is a closed-door, peer discussion, not a lecture. We’ll examine the promise and its pitfalls: Are the promised savings significant, or are they too good to be true? What risks do you introduce? How does this collide with your installed base, legacy OT, entrenched processes and team competencies, and how do you overcome that without breaking operations or credibility with the board? Two senior leaders from global companies will spark the dialogue with lived experience: Kurt De Ruwe, CIO AkzoNobel Frank Bolata, CIO Syensqo
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Poland Oct 23, 2025 Invitation Only Physical Polish
Cloud UP! ’25 to miejsce spotkań managerów, którzy chcą świadomie i skutecznie rozwijać swoje organizacje, wykorzystując najnowsze technologie. Nieformalnym hasłem tegorocznej edycji jest “Chmura gotowa na AI” - będziemy rozmawiać o tym, co sztuczna inteligencja naprawdę potrafi oraz pokazywać, jak wdrażać ją w praktyce. Wspólnie z ekspertami przeanalizujemy, jakie warunki muszą zostać spełnione, aby wdrożenia AI były zarówno skuteczne, jak i bezpieczne. Zerkniemy za kulisy najnowszych rodzimych produktów AI-owych, by zobaczyć ich możliwości, a także poznamy najciekawsze wdrożenia z wykorzystaniem Agentspace. Po raz kolejny spotkamy się w formule Share.Explore.Execute. Stawiamy na wymianę wiedzy i doświadczeń zdobytych podczas realizacji projektów. To one stanowią punkt wyjścia do odkrywania, testowania i skutecznej implementacji najlepszych rozwiązań w organizacjach. Cloud UP! ’25 to cztery ścieżki tematyczne, na które złożą się prezentacje, rozmowy, sesje live-demo oraz pogłębione dyskusje w formule roundtables: AI: Beyond the Hype Data Mastery Resilience & Regulatory Advanced Practitioners Dołącz do liderów chmurowych innowacji w Polsce i spotkaj się z nami już 23 października w Event Hall w Fabryce Norblina.
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Belgium Oct 23, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
How to lead responsibly when technology can deceive better than a human? AI’s ability to shape our perceptions and create new realities is becoming increasingly sophisticated. While it opens significant opportunities, it also carries risks. What happens when AI goes beyond data and algorithms to influence - or even deceive - our senses? How does this change not only our understanding of reality but also the foundations of trust, creativity, and truth in business? AI isn’t just transforming business, it is altering how we experience and interpret everything around us. From AI-generated deepfakes to personalised experiences designed to influence behaviour, the line between truth and illusion is increasingly blurred. This event combines a roundtable discussion among peers with a hands-on sensory workshop, where you will experience illusions through sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Through these experiments, we will confront the ethical dilemmas that arise when AI has the power to fabricate realities and influence decisions.
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Germany Oct 23, 2025 Country Members Physical german
Längst ist klar: Die KI-Transformation im Unternehmen beginnt mit der richtigen Dateninfrastruktur. Auf dem Weg zu einer “Enterprise AI-Engine”, in der Unternehmen KI für die eigenen Daten effizient nutzbar machen, müssen bewährte Fundamentals jedoch nicht gleich über Bord geworfen werden. Der CIO im Zentrum eines strategischen Transformationsprozesses sollte vor allem die richtige Balance zwischen Bestand und Innovation finden. Die zentrale Frage lautet daher: Wie lassen sich modernste KI-Technologien in hybriden Umgebungen nutzen, wenn viele Daten noch in gewachsener Infrastruktur liegen? Genau diese Fragestellung – und die nachfolgenden Diskussionspunkte – greifen wir am 23. Oktober im Rahmen eines exklusiven CIDO Roundtables auf.
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Isabel Group automates operations, takes efficiency to the next level with Azure data platform
Belgian FinTech Isabel Group revamps platform with Azure for data & automation. New platform unlocks flexibility, unstructured data handling & machine learning, empowering employees & clients.
Our analysis of the cloud computing market revealed Azure as a leader in data analytics. - Michael Van de Borne: Data Analytics Manager - Isabel Group
For Isabel Group, simplification is a key to success. The Belgium-based fintech company’s core mission is removing hassle for customers through IT-based products that facilitate the exchange of documents, identities, and payments. In the complex world of financial administration, Isabel Group finds ways to streamline processes for its customers.
It was a natural evolution to enter into the wider Microsoft ecosystem both from a business continuity perspective and to ease the migration effort. - Michael Van de Borne: Data Analytics Manager - Isabel Group
Isabel Group originally had an on-premises data platform that was used only for BI purposes. The BI platform was a traditional SQL server-based data warehouse with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Analysis Services, and SQL Server Reporting Services. Employees accessed data through multidimensional models and paginated reports. For reporting requests, business users were required to file a ticket and a BI developer would query the data warehouse.
The platform’s single-purpose construction meant that it couldn’t handle unstructured data or be utilized to support other critical business processes. Many operations did not use automation, resulting in repetitious, error-prone tasks that needed to be carried out manually. Because the solution used on-premises infrastructure, business users were forced to rely on database administrators and datacenter operators for managing physical upgrades, hindering their autonomy. The lack of flexibility prevented internal business users from improving processes like marketing campaigns and billing and forced business decision makers to use inefficient tools to compensate for what the BI platform didn’t provide. “Or worse, they went without the proper data or no data at all,” says Van de Borne.
Isabel Group had an opportunity to simplify its own process—and unlock new business capabilities at the same time. The company needed a mature, scalable platform that could make use of machine learning and advanced analytics while offering seamless integration through every step of the data pipeline.
Azure machine learning and data science can address all kinds of problems that nobody believed we could solve previously. - Michael Van de Borne: Data Analytics Manager - Isabel Group
Going from an on-premises Microsoft SQL Server setup—where internal users worked on Windows laptops with Microsoft Office products—to an Azure ecosystem made sense. “It was a natural evolution to integrate into the wider Microsoft ecosystem both from a business continuity perspective and to ease the migration effort,” says Van de Borne. “Our analysis of the cloud computing market revealed Azure as a leader in data analytics.” Isabel Group also took advantage of Fast Track Support from Microsoft, which offered a series of workshops to evaluate how different Azure services could be used.
Working with Microsoft Cloud Partner Program member element61, Isabel Group built a solution using Microsoft Azure Data Factory with self-hosted integration runtimes, Azure Data Lake Storage for scaling and storage, Azure Databricks for processing large datasets, and Microsoft Power BI Premium for insights and reporting. Isabel Group used Azure DevOps to build a custom toolchain, build and deploy models and reports to Power BI, and test and deploy data engineering code to Databricks.
The process starts with raw data that is taken from databases via integration runtimes or sent by apps, then raw data is sent to the staging area in Azure Data Factory. Data is arranged in star schema and business keys and foreign keys are updated through Databricks, then Databricks triggers Power BI API to refresh datasets. With datasets refreshed, business insights are ready to be presented. The end-to-end process includes machine learning model training, a feature that Isabel Group wanted but was unable to fit into their old system.
The process was a complete redevelopment of all the SSIS pipelines Isabel Group used—which number in the hundreds. After two and a half years of planning, problem-solving, and building custom tools and libraries, Isabel Group was able to fully decommission its on-premises BI platform and switch over to Azure.
With the move from traditional BI reporting to more comprehensive data engineering and analysis, Isabel Group gained the ability to process larger and unstructured datasets. Plus, the automation possibilities are a huge win for the team. Infrastructure and data pipelines are automated in the new solution—in fact, the team even automated the creation of new data pipelines, since so many needed to be migrated or remade. “This has unlocked a new range of possibilities,” says Van de Borne. “Alerts, in the case of a failure, and data quality tests are now automated.”
With the modern platform, the data team can provide new data initiatives more quickly and data engineers are more efficient. This means less time is needed to maintain pipelines and reports, and more time can be given to onboarding new use cases. For example, Van de Borne’s team has already begun work on new products used for validating the identity of payment beneficiaries in real time for help with fraud detection. As a result, employees have increased trust in the data team and platform, and Isabel Group can offer new services that continue to streamline and simplify business for its customers.
With the recently deployed platform, Isabel Group expects faster turnaround times for the creation of data products and machine learning-based solutions for both internal and external use. Employees are excited to explore advanced analytics and long-term, organization-wide data governance models. Insights into user usage patterns across product offerings will help steer future development of product features and identify cross-selling opportunities within its customer base. “Azure machine learning and data science can address all kinds of problems that nobody believed we could solve previously,” says Van de Borne.
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
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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