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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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Germany Sep 9, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Frankfurt: AI Driven Logistics

Vom ersten Use Case zur strategischen Neuausrichtung CIONET lädt bereits zum vierten Mal zu einem exklusiven Roundtable für CIOs und Digitalverantwortliche aus Logistik und Handel ein. Im Mittelpunkt des Abends steht die Frage, wie Unternehmen ihre KI-Initiativen erfolgreich skalieren und aus ersten Use Cases echten strategischen Mehrwert schaffen. Microsoft 365 für Frontline Worker: Moderne Tools, die Mitarbeitende im Tagesgeschäft entlasten ServiceNow für Prozessintegration: Automatisierte End-to-End-Workflows – vom Schadensfall bis zur Retourenabwicklung KI-gestützte Disposition und Planung: Mit smarten Algorithmen zur optimierten Supply Chain Digitale Lieferketten und letzte Meile: Transparenz, Effizienz und Kundenzentrierung durchgängig gedacht

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Belgium Sep 13, 2025 All Members Physical english

CIONET Cycling Event

Join us for a wonderful ride. The ride is accessible to all levels of riders and doesn't require extensive technical skills. More information will follow soon. Looking forward to ride together!

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Germany Sep 17, 2025 Country Members Physical german

München: Cyber Security Fatigue

Cybersecurity ist längst kein reines IT-Thema mehr – sie betrifft das gesamte Unternehmen. Doch während die Bedrohungslage zunimmt, geraten viele Security-Verantwortliche an ihre Belastungsgrenzen: zwischen 24/7-Verantwortung, wachsenden Anforderungen und dem ständigen Innovationsdruck.

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Germany Sep 17, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Köln: CIO & CISO, das Rezilienz-Power-Duo

IT-Betrieb und Cybersicherheit stehen heute unter extremem Druck: steigende Komplexität, wachsende regulatorische Anforderungen (NIS2, DORA, KRITIS), chronische Ressourcenknappheit – und gleichzeitig eine Bedrohungslage, die keine Verzögerungen duldet. Trotzdem agieren viele IT- und Security-Teams noch immer in Silos. Die Folge: ineffiziente Abläufe, Tool-Wildwuchs, langsame Reaktion auf Vorfälle und unklare Verantwortlichkeiten.

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Germany Sep 18, 2025 Country Members Virtual german

Online: Nachhaltige IT - CIDO Priorität

Nachhaltigkeit ist für CIOs nicht nur ein „Nice-to-have“, sondern eine strategische Priorität – sie beeinflusst direkt die finanzielle Performance, die operative Effizienz und die langfristige Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

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Belgium Sep 18, 2025 Country Members Physical french

Les Rencontres: La dette technique : Un défi stratégique pour les entreprises

La dette technique est comparable à la négligence des réparations d'une maison. Ignorer un toit qui fuit peut faire gagner du temps aujourd'hui, mais cela pourrait conduire à l'effondrement du plafond plus tard. Pour remédier à la dette technique, il faut trouver et réparer ces fuites dès maintenant et mettre en place un plan d'entretien de la maison afin qu'elle soit prête pour les extensions futures. Pour résoudre ces problèmes, il faut définir des priorités stratégiques, communiquer clairement avec les parties prenantes et établir une feuille de route à long terme pour la modernisation. Cet événement se déroulera entièrement en français.

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Recent Cases

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AB InBev GCC Uses Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI for E2E Automation and Increasing Efficiency

Anheuser-Busch InBev is the world’s largest brewer.For AB InBev, quick access to data and conclusions is crucial. Because the current platform is overloaded, the Command Center team created a short-term automated solution with Azure Synapse for Power BI to access data while migrating from the existing platform.platform, allowing stakeholders to still have access to their critical information.

Creating an Automated Foundation for Reporting

Since AB In-Bev was already using Power BI, choosing Azure Synapse to support their data platform made the most sense, as Synapse seamlessly integrates with Power BI and the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem.

The Command Center team used Azure SQL sandbox methodology - a method that allows the BI team to use the performance of SQL Sandbox for data transformations & calculations and use Power BI only for the visualization. 

When building out the interim Azure SQL Sandbox solution, the first step was consolidating the data. To prevent the increase in manual work, a high priority was given to automate the movement of Excel files. Users across the organization upload their Excel files to a SharePoint drive. To ensure files were standardized before being used, an automated process via Logic apps, VBA validates the file format, file size, upload time, and more. Once all these features are validated, the file is posted to a new, restricted-access SharePoint folder. This ensures that data can't be moved or removed without proper access. 

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Figure 1 – High-level overview of AB InBev’s data flow

Once data is properly processed in the SharePoint folders, it’s temporarily moved into Azure Blob Storage’s high performance file system automatically using Azure Logic Apps. From there, Azure Synapse pipelines trigger stored procedures using dedicated SQL pools. This helps offset some of the loading time and improve Power BI performance. A SQL script is then run to create a final table of data and subsequently notify admins via e-mail that the table is ready. Based on a successful notification trigger, Power Automate will automatically refresh Power BI on the node and an automated email will be sent out to the SME to approve release of the Dashboard.

By using Azure Synapse pipelines, AB InBev’s Command Center team was able to automate what before was a very time-consuming part of their ETL pipeline and reduce refresh times by 91%. Synapse effortlessly works with tools like Logic Apps, Power Automate and Power BI to easily bring together all their data sources and ensure the data which users rely on is high-quality and accessible. 

Bringing Real-Time Insights to All Corners of AB InBev

With this new data platform and pilot, the team was able to take this solution forward for all complex reporting while they waited for long term data migration to be completed. For AB InBev, Power BI fit their organizational needs by handling different data sources, providing increased efficiency, and reducing operational costs. 

One of AB-InBev’s most used dashboards is the Rate & Mix dashboard. The Rate & Mix dashboard tracks the mix of Brand, SKU, Variant and Price. Volume metrics highlight how many products were sold and the Rate highlights the price at which product was sold and whether the product was discounted or not. With this product, the Commercial, FP&A and Revenue Management teams can use these metrics to understand how products are performing in the markets. The products has multiple tabs that enable deep dives and further analysis. 

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Figure 2 – The Rate Mix Waterfall View provides a general overview of which Mix is driving maximum results and which ones are not performing well

The ease of use with Power BI visuals has empowered individuals across AB InBev to easily access insights to aid decision making and help react to the market quicker.  

Building an Insight-Driven Future

Adoption of Power BI across AB InBev involved gradual growth lead by a top-down approach. While many individuals were hesitant to learn a new tool, advocacy from leadership and seeing the effectiveness of Power BI convinced users of the value of Power BI and how it could improve their daily workflow. With the influx of Power BI users, AB InBev built a Power BI Center of Excellence to build products enabling insights across the AB InBev ecosystem.

AB InBev is looking to bring together all their data into one data lake within the next 3-5 years. By consolidating their data pipeline, they plan to fully automate their data flow and improve performance even more. AB InBev is constantly growing and as a result, the organization is always pushing to build a single source of the truth and bring disparate data sources and tools together. Unifying all their data into one data lake will set AB InBev up for easy data integration. 

With an automated back end supported by Azure Synapse and Data visualization supported by Power BI, AB InBev has the powerful, competitive edge that empowers users to focus on decision making and react to the market even quicker.

Disclaimer –This post represents the personal views and opinions of the team members involved, based on their experience, and does not necessarily represent the view and opinion of AB InBev.  No Warranties, Promises and/or representations of any kind, expressed or implied, are given as to the nature, standard, accuracy or otherwise of the information provided in this article nor to the suitability or otherwise of the information to your particular circumstances. AB InBev is not liable for any loss or damage of whatever nature (direct, indirect, consequential or other) whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise, which may arise from your use of the information in this article, which is provided as is and without any warranties.

 

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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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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