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Belgium 13-11-2026 Squad Only Physical English

Building the Business Case for New IT Capabilities; How to justify investment when value is strategic, shared, or only visible over time.

Many IT capabilities are essential and difficult to fund through a simple project ROI. The challenge is showing why architecture, governance, resilience, cybersecurity maturity, data foundations, and AI readiness deserve investment before the gap becomes expensive. Three pressure points make the case harder. - Shared value means the benefit often sits across several teams, while the budget sits in one place. - Timing creates friction because the cost is immediate while the value appears over time. - Risk translation is needed so business and finance leaders understand the consequence of delaying the investment. The working question is simple: how do we turn foundational IT capabilities into credible investment cases that link cost, risk, business value, and future flexibility? If you are building these cases internally, let’s compare how others are positioning value, risk, and timing.

Belgium 19-11-2026 All Members Physical English

Europe’s Digital Foundations

Public organisations are re-evaluating the digital foundations on which critical services depend. Cloud strategy is increasingly shaped by questions of operational control, legal exposure, supplier dependency, interoperability and long-term resilience. For public-sector leaders, the issue is not only where workloads are hosted, but how much strategic control remains over the technologies that support essential public services. This is where European cloud initiatives, sovereign infrastructure and open-source technologies become strategically important. Together, they can increase transparency, preserve portability and reduce dependency on individual providers. But they also raise practical questions around maturity, procurement, integration, support models and long-term sustainability. Open source brings a specific dimension to this discussion. It claims to better support transparency, interoperability and strategic autonomy, but it is also requiring clear governance, security controls and operational support. The opportunity is to understand where open technologies can strengthen the public-sector technology stack, where commercial platforms remain essential and how both can coexist within a coherent European digital strategy. Three questions shape the discussion: Which parts of the public-sector technology stack require stronger European control? What role should open-source technologies play in reducing dependency and strengthening transparency? Which governance and procurement decisions will determine whether a sovereign cloud strategy succeeds? Bringing these perspectives together can define where sovereign cloud and open technologies create strategic value, identify the decisions that deserve executive attention, and establish practical principles for strengthening Europe’s digital foundations while preserving flexibility and innovation. See you at the table?

Belgium 24-11-2026 Country Members Physical French

Les Rencontres: Innovation de l'Ombre

Créativité vs. Chaos : Quelle est la gouvernance minimale ? Le défi principal est d'équilibrer le risque et le rythme du changement. Les équipes métier adoptent de nouveaux outils d'IA et low-code de leur propre chef, créant une véritable créativité mais aussi un risque massif et non géré. Cette discussion se concentre sur l'établissement de voies simples et sûres pour l'innovation, en débattant de la gouvernance minimale qui protège la réputation de l'entreprise tout en évitant l'erreur d'écraser les initiatives utiles dans l'ombre. Questions clés d'Échange entre pairs : Où l'innovation de l'ombre aide-t-elle plutôt que de nuire, et comment éviter de l'écraser ? Quelle est la gouvernance minimale qui protège la réputation tout en maintenant la vitesse, et à qui appartient-elle réellement ? Comment les pairs ont-ils réussi à transformer les efforts initiaux de l'ombre en services officiels soutenus sans perdre la confiance de l'entreprise ? Comment pouvons-nous rendre plus facile d'innover de manière responsable que de simplement agir en franc-tireur ?

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OutSystems enables Sodexo Engage to better deliver rewards and benefits for customers

The high-performance low-code development platform helps differentiate Sodexo Engage in the competitive benefits and reward market.

OutSystems, a global leader in high-performance application development, today announced that Sodexo Engage has deployed the OutSystems platform to deliver a robust and secure, fully managed service for its public sector customers, in just 12 weeks.

The future-proof platform allows public sector customers of Sodexo Engage to offer both eVouchers and Bulk Voucher Cheques to their employees via desktop and mobile devices, as well as the ability to process high volumes of vouchers. It also removes the need for time-consuming manual workarounds that were previously required. Alongside this, the platform is optimised for cyber-security compliance and fulfils all the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations.

Along with tightly integrating with Sodexo Engage’s own systems, including its CRM, payment gateways and helpdesk, the new platform also directly links to the aggregators used to purchase vouchers. This helps improve processes, drives efficiencies, and streamlines the entire process for customers and end-users.

Sodexo Engage, part of Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services, is a leading expert in employee engagement, providing award-winning employee benefits, rewards and recognition, and creating experiences that make a real difference to people’s lives, both inside and outside the workplace. Globally, Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services, the number two world leader in Employee Benefit and Engagement Solutions, is a trusted and responsible partner bringing to life sustainable and personalised employee experiences, at work and beyond. Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services operates in 31 countries and is supported by 4,200 employees.

The company originally worked with OutSystems in 2018 to deliver a new platform to support one of its most popular products. At that time, it was working within a very tight timeframe and needed to deliver a platform that was both functionally rich and visually attractive, as well as secure and scalable, to meet the needs of both its customers and consumers.

Jamie Mackenzie, Director at Sodexo Engage, said: “At Sodexo Engage we’re committed to delivering powerful employee experience solutions that make a real difference to people’s lives, both inside and outside the workplace. The OutSystems platform provides us with the right technology to do this. Not only does this new platform enable us to provide a quick and easy-to-use on boarding process for customers, and a simple journey for voucher recipients, it also allows the team to automate processes so that the day-to-day routines don’t have to rely on manual workarounds, all while complying with the stringent requirements of the public sector.”

Willem van Enter, Vice President Europe, Middle-East & Africa, OutSystems, added: “Our high-performance low-code development platform has enabled Sodexo Engage to rapidly develop a solution that delivers for its customers by allowing them to securely process high volumes of vouchers, whilst complying with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations, and being optimised for mobile, as well as desktop access. It is another great example of the sort of success organisations can achieve by working with OutSystems.”

About Sodexo Engage

Sodexo Engage delivers powerful employee experience solutions which are developed in partnership with their stakeholders to lift the happiness and wellbeing of their people, which in turn supports their objectives and business performance.

Globally, Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services, number 2 world leader in Employee Benefit and Engagement Solutions, is a trusted and responsible partner bringing to life sustainable and personalized employee experiences, at work and beyond. Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services operates in 31 countries and is supported by 4200 employees.

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