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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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How HyperJar slashed first response times by 94% with AI

As a mobile banking app, HyperJar's customers expect a UX that's quick and convenient. They turned to Ultimate's automation platform to deliver on this promise — and it's paying dividends.

HyperJar at a glance

The customer

HyperJar is a free, prepaid debit card and money app designed for everyone.

The market

They serve customers in English, across the UK.

The support team

HyperJar has a support team of 33 agents.

The channels

HyperJar offers support via chat in the mobile app and on desktop. They manage queries through their CRM, Zendesk.

The situation

They were looking to automate industry-specific use cases so agents could focus on providing the best possible support, based on a balanced approach between AI and humans.

The solution

With Ultimate, they found an automation platform tailored to the finserv industry. They use API integrations to automate common queries so agents are free to focus on the more complex ones.

Getting started with Ultimate

As an innovative finserv company, HyperJar was looking to cash in on their automation potential in order to stay ahead of the competition in their industry. Jake Samson, Systems Manager at HyperJar, said it best, “There’s no running from it, AI is here. You have to embrace it or you’ll fall behind.” After seeing some demos and comparing our competitors on G2, we shined as the best option for them.

With our extensive experience working in the finserv industry, we aligned with their commitment to make life simple and convenient for their customers by using AI to provide faster and more accessible support. Together, with their Customer Success Manager at Ultimate, Kasia, they mapped the most impactful use cases for automation – such as replacing lost cards and checking card delivery status – while still making it easy for customers to escalate to an agent when needed. Of the onboarding journey, Jake recalls, “It was a really smooth process. It’s a very user-friendly platform. It was a very structured training program, and we went live within the first 4 weeks.”

And because they were committed to automating each use case in a gradual way, they weren’t banking on seeing such impressive results so quickly. They’ve already cut their first response times (FRT) by 94% – all while maintaining a 97% CSAT score. With CX automation, customers can have speedier support and their agents are freed up to provide a human touch where needed.

“Everywhere I go, I recommend Ultimate as the platform you need to go with when you’re deciding to automate. As our Trustpilot reviewers say, ‘it’s a bot that actually knows what to do!’”

Jake Samson
Systems Manager, HyperJar

First contact resolution rate: 90%

CSAT score: 97%

Reduction in FRT: 94%

AI use case spotlight #1: Eliminating escalations for replacing lost cards

Replacing cards accounts for 16% of queries at HyperJar. Before automation, doing so required a 15-20 minute conversation with a human agent – not counting wait times.
This repetitive request proved to be a perfect use case for automation. With the help of our finserv-specialized API integrations, they were able to fully automate it within a few weeks.
HyperJar has completely eliminated agent escalations on this intent, and cut the time to resolution to under 2 minutes – contributing to an 90% overall reduction in FCR.

AI use case spotlight #2: Enabling agents to provide more human CX

Right from the outset, HyperJar knew their goal was to find the sweet spot by offering excellent customer service through CX automation while maintaining a human touch where needed, such as when resolving payment disputes.
Our approach to automation still makes it easy for customers to reach an agent as needed by designing smart escalation paths, rather than centering a deflection at all costs approach.
Because they were able to automate their most repetitive tasks, agents are free to provide that little bit of extra care to customers and to go the extra mile on complex queries. Since automating, HyperJar has maintained a stellar 97% CSAT and 4.7 stars on Trustpilot.

The success story

Instant Zendesk integration

The fact that our automation solution fits seamlessly into their CRM was a deal maker for HyperJar. Our one-click integration with Zendesk enabled them to get started with automation quickly and easily.

Insightful analytics

Our comprehensive analytics help HyperJar to pinpoint their top use cases for automation. This data also enables them to better understand their customers by making it easier to monitor conversations more closely.

Industry-leading results

HyperJar knew that automation was key to getting a leg up on competitors by providing the best possible CX. They’ve managed to achieve better operational efficiency, boasting a 94% reduction in FRT since automating, and a 42% automation rate overall.

Improved customer experience

HyperJar has achieved a 90% FCR by automating repetitive intents, and agents now have more time to focus on providing faster support on their more complex queries. They have maintained a 97% CSAT since launching their bot.

Next on their automation journey

After so much success with automating the lost card use case, HyperJar is now looking to automate six more of their most common customer intents such as checking card delivery status.

Ultimate is a platform that grows with them as their automation journey coincides with the evolution of their product. For example, they've recently begun issuing customer vouchers and rewards, and were able to automate this process right from the start.

They are also curious to try our generative AI-powered chatbot, UltimateGPT, as a way to capture the long tail of customer queries and enhance the conversational TOV of their bot as they continue to design new dialogue flows.

Technologies

Ultimate: Chat automation Zendesk: A CRM Platform

Partners

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