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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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CTT Simplifies and Accelerates Customs Clearance Processes

Learn how CTT developed a new website in record time and achieved a 75 percent reduction in the duration of customs clearance processes and a sustained decrease in related claims.

35% reduction in website development time

75% reduction in customs clearance process duration

Sustained decrease in customs clearance-related claims

Over 5,000 registered users and growing

"With OutSystems, we’re moving quickly and effectively, promoting the advantages of digital transformation at CTT."Pedro Santos Gomes, IT Director at CTT

Slow Processes Causing Hold-Ups and Frustrated Customers

Challenge - CTT (Correios de Portugal) is the Universal Postal Service provider in Portugal. As a market leader in a sector that is being changed by digitization and e-commerce, CTT is in the process of a digital transformation. The aim is to improve the customer experience and to streamline processes, making more and better services available on the web and as mobile apps.

E-commerce, along with other factors, is causing the steady growth of inbound mail and parcels that require customs clearance processes. These processes were taking more time and requiring more resources from Customs and from CTT. Communications with customers were by email. This situation contributed to longer waits for the release of mail items, generating customer frustration and a large number of claims, damaging the brand.

OutSystems and DevOps to the Rescue

Solution - CTT decided to use OutSystems to develop a new website (embedded in the CTT portal) to manage the customs clearance processes. CTT had already used OutSystems for 12 projects, and six more were being implemented or were in the pipeline. By adopting agile and specific DevOps practices, CTT now completes projects in two weeks to four months, with straightforward deployments and strong adoption rates in the organization. OutSystems-powered projects enable CTT to improve customer digital experiences, optimize back-office performance, deliver web and mobile apps and portals, and improve governance and compliance.

New Web Portal Makes for Fast Processes and Happy Customers

Results - The new website to manage the customs clearance process took 4 developers 3 months to complete, down from an estimated eight months using previous development approaches.

The customs clearance process is now simplified and accelerated. It takes an average of 4 weeks (down from 8 weeks) to conclude a process, and “no issues” processes went from 4 weeks to 2 business days. Customs-clearance process-related claims are decreasing.

The new website has over 5,000 registered users, with user numbers increasing every day. The whole process is now traceable with registered, faster communications, which has reduced the average response time.

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