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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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Delhaize digitally transforms its store network with Hanshow using Azure

Belgian retailer Delhaize was facing an operational challenge to efficiently manage pricing systems in its growing network of stores. Delhaize needed the ability to centrally manage its electronic shelf labels (ESL) and other IoT devices across its entire store network for faster and more consistent update and upgrades.

Belgian retailer Delhaize was facing an operational challenge to efficiently manage pricing systems in its growing network of stores. Despite having adopted a degree of digitalization through electronic shelf labels, local IT infrastructure left many gains in efficiency on the table through the need to still update pricing information store by store. Delhaize needed the ability to centrally manage its electronic shelf labels (ESL) and other IoT devices across its entire store network for faster and more consistent update and upgrades.

ESL improves pricing and promotion management and enhances the client’s digital shopping experience. With this technology costs go down, and efficiency goes up. 

Rolf Vanden Eynde: Regional IT-Manager - Ahold-Delhaize

 

Deploying scalable and affordable enterprise grade IoT applications in the retail industry was previously constrained by technology limitations. But digital retail solutions leader Hanshow developed a SaaS solution on Microsoft Azure that accelerated this digital transformation by connecting store shelves to retailers, store operators, and customers for Delhaize stores across Belgium and Luxembourg. 

Delhaize and Hanshow began partnering in 2018 to install electronic shelf labels and other digital solutions for their store network. ESLs are the building blocks of retail digitization, and effective solutions for connecting them are crucial to maximize efficiency and new possibilities. ESL allows customers to easily obtain product information and pay conveniently with mobile phones or NFC cards, and it also allows for quicker and more dynamic pricing methods such as automated price reductions for items close to expiration date. While ESLs already greatly increase store operational efficiency, the ability to remotely manage millions of ESL across hundreds of stores through one cloud-based network is a new and encouraging development.

Delhaize had been using ESL for several years already, however all their affiliated brands across Belgium and Luxembourg were all managed under separate local IT infrastructure. This causes a range of problems and inefficiencies for the retailer. Costs to maintain multiple localized IoT device management networks are high both financially and in time usage. For instance, if Delhaize needed to update the design templates on their ESLs, this would need to be done at each location on the localized servers. 

Delhaize was looking for a way to solve these inefficiencies along with the ability to centrally manage ESL and other devices on one cloud for their entire store network with stores in Belgium and Luxembourg. With plans for continuing to add digital solutions beyond ESL to this network, the need for a one cloud-based management system became even more important.   

To realize cloud-based management of the Delhaize store network and its over 4 million ESLs, Hanshow partnered with Microsoft to develop a SaaS solution that can handle this massive amount of integration. Hanshow’s operating system was tailored to run on Microsoft Azure Database for MySQL, unlocking the full potential of cloud-based management. And with Microsoft’s established and industry leading Azure service already in place, these stores could now be operating ESL and other in-store digital solutions instantly.

“ESL improves pricing and promotion management and enhances the client’s digital shopping experience. With this technology costs go down, and efficiency goes up,” notes Rolf Vanden Eynde, Regional IT-Manager for Ahold-Delhaize.

Benefits of a SaaS on Azure

The Hanshow SaaS solution addresses numerous challenges for Delhaize such as staffing surges during peak hours, labor costs, space constraints, and overall productivity. Under previous scenarios, retailers must install and operate their own system of servers and infrastructure on premise requiring a massive investment, untold time to set up, and significant input from IT professionals. Large retailers need to update several million price tags across their stores on any given day. Through the Hanshow SaaS system, 3 million ESLs can be updated in just 80 minutes and can be done simply from a system login anywhere. 

The Hanshow SaaS solution provides global retailers an intelligent, easy-to-deploy, user-friendly, and analytics driven platform. 

  • No need for traditional on-premises deployment involving complicated, expensive, and time-consuming hardware and infrastructure installation. Adopting Hanshow SaaS can basically eliminate these direct costs while significantly increasing IT operational efficiency. Hanshow SaaS is ready on arrival and can be accessed instantly anytime, anywhere; 
  • Data can be shared across geographies with seamless remote monitoring and updates. Through SaaS, this data sharing and remote monitoring can manage store systems around the world. This dramatically increases efficiency and allows for quick fixes to any errors or system issues;
  • With a focus on the heightened security needed from a cloud-based network, Hanshow carried out third-party security testing through a leading global security firm to certify data safety of the Microsoft Azure-backed Hanshow SaaS. This allows users to easily access system security status and provides the highest possible prevention measures to security threats.

 

“This scale and advancement in retail technology was made possible through the safety, stability, scalability and speed of Microsoft SaaS with Hanshow’s innovative management software,” said Raj Raguneethan, regional leader, Retail & Consumer Goods at Microsoft Asia. “With this work, we’re seeing only the beginning of what’s possible with IoT and SaaS.” 

On the horizon 

With the building blocks of retail digitalization in place with ESL and the Azure cloud, Hanshow and Delhaize are also entering into a proof-of-concept phase for AI-powered solutions that monitor planogram management and out-of-stock occurrences. Being able to receive and act on real time data in these areas will further help Delhaize maximize efficiency and profitability while providing a more optimized customer experience.

“By integrating retail digitization with SaaS, the possibilities are endless,” said Hanshow Executive Chairman and CEO Shiguo Hou. “Digital store solutions can now become a reality for the world’s largest retailers. This is the future. We are already seeing the wide-ranging benefits this technology brings to customers and retailers, and Hanshow is dedicated continuing these breakthroughs on an even grander scale.”

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

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“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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