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Belgium 27-8-26 AB Members Physical english

Summer Festival: Advisory Board

CIO agendas are crowded: cost pressure, cyber, regulation, talent, data, AI, vendor dependency, business expectations. Most organisations are trying to do too much at once, and the “must-do” work often blocks the strategic work. CIONET only creates value if its agenda matches what CIOs truly need, in the right format, at the right time. The challenge Pick the few priorities that matter most for 2027, then translate them into a clear CIONET agenda. Outcome we leave with A ranked CIO agenda for 2027, and a directly aligned CIONET programme outline (themes, formats, cadence), with a shortlist of speaker and case targets.

Belgium 27-8-26 Country Members Physical english

Summerfest: From Story to Habit

How to align people, shift routines, and prove value Technology transformations often fail not because the tools don’t work, but because people don’t change their work habits. Boards want proof of value, executives want business outcomes, IT wants clarity, and employees want ease. Between these expectations, the CIO’s role is no longer just to deliver platforms; it is to tell the story that motivates people and turn that story into daily habits. This session will explore: The narrative: how to craft a simple, repeatable story that explains the “why” behind change for every stakeholder. From story to routine: practical ways to embed new behaviours through manager rituals, team incentives, and visible leadership. Reskilling and new expectations: preparing teams for evolving roles, from cross-department collaboration to AI-enhanced workflows. Measuring what matters: showing progress in speed, quality, and resilience — not just in licences bought or trainings completed. The aim is to equip CIOs with a leadership toolkit: a story that unites, habits that endure, and proof that convinces even the toughest boardroom.

Belgium 8-9-26 Invitation Only Virtual english

What an AI Architect Actually Does in Practice; Skills, responsibilities, interfaces, and career moves behind one of the most misunderstood emerging roles.

The AI architect role is becoming more visible, and the scope varies across organisations. The challenge is defining what the role owns, where it sits, and how it works with existing architecture, data, security, risk, and business teams. Three pressure points need clarity. - Role definition matters because the position can span solution architecture, data architecture, governance, integration, security, vendor selection, and business process design. - Interfaces matter because the role must connect teams while respecting existing responsibilities. - Skills matter because technical depth needs to be combined with judgement around controls, delivery choices, and operational boundaries. The working question is simple: how do we define the AI architect role so it becomes useful, credible, and connected to delivery? If this role is emerging in your organisation, let’s compare how others are defining it and where they are placing it.

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Siemens connects frontline workers and engineers for real-time problem-solving using Azure AI

Siemens Digital Industries Software saw the need to enable better communication and collaboration for the industrial companies that use its software. The company envisioned an AI-powered collaborative app to help people solve challenges together, and feel more connected and included as part of the larger organization. Siemens DI decided to work with Microsoft, and to use Microsoft Azure AI.

Accelerating groundbreaking transformation for industrial and manufacturing customers is the driving force behind Siemens Digital Industries Software.

A division of Siemens AG, a German multinational technology conglomerate, Siemens Digital Industries Software provides a comprehensive portfolio of cutting-edge software, hardware, and services for design, manufacturing and product lifecycle management across industries such as automotive, aerospace, machinery, battery, medical, consumer products, marine, energy, and semiconductor.

With products becoming increasingly smart and connected, Siemens Digital Industries Software saw the need to help its customers improve cross-functional communication. The company envisioned an AI-powered collaborative app to help people working across product lifecycles close feedback loops faster, solve challenges together, and feel more connected to the larger organization.

Making problem reporting easy

Siemens Digital Industries Software has long collaborated to support customers using Siemens software together with Microsoft solutions including Microsoft Teams. At many companies, shop floor workers do their best to type and report issues as they could. “But imagine you’re on a fast-paced factory line and you see a problem. Maybe you have gloves on, maybe you’re not speaking a language that is the same language as the software that has been implemented to track that line,” says Joe Bohman, Executive Vice President of PLM Products at Siemens Digital Industries Software “The reality is problems won’t be reported if it’s too hard.”

With a long-standing relationship between Siemens and Microsoft—over 35 years of joint innovation—it was a natural choice for Siemens Digital Industries Software to work with Microsoft and use Microsoft Azure AI to produce an innovative solution for their customers. Together, the companies created a Microsoft Teams app for their Teamcenter software, Siemens’ industry-leading product lifecycle management (PLM) solution. Designed specifically to improve communications across the product lifecycle, the solution builds upon the collaborative platform of Teams, with the language model capabilities in Azure OpenAI Service and cutting-edge capabilities in Azure AI Studio, including prompt flow.

Siemens Digital Industries Software customers had been relying on the user-friendly features of Teams like push notifications to simplify workflow approvals, reduce the time it takes to request design changes, and speed up innovation cycles. But issues that could turn into larger problems were getting missed because reporting often happened later in the product development process or not at all. Siemens developers combined Teams capabilities with Azure AI and its comprehensive suite of tools, including prompt flow in Azure Machine Learning, to streamline workflows that included prototyping, deployment, and service production.

Empowering workers to shape design and process

Now Siemens Digital Industries Software customers will be able to use the app’s “Tell Me” feature on their mobile device to document issues and report concerns using natural speech in real time. With Azure AI, the app can parse informal speech data no matter the language, automatically creating a summarized report and routing it within Teamcenter to the appropriate design, engineering, or manufacturing experts—in the specific language they require.

The solution is currently in pilot form with a few Siemens Digital Industries Software customers. Solution’s official release set for December 2023.

“We feel Azure AI and Azure AI Studio are powerful and inclusive tools that align with our values of innovation and transformation that empowers people,” says Joe Bohman, Executive Vice President of PLM Products at Siemens Digital Industries Software “We’ve had a long history working with Microsoft, and we’re happy to move into the next era of ongoing AI innovation together.”

Technologies

Azure AI services Azure AI Studio

Partners

CIONET Business Circles

Cyber Circle

CIONET’s Cyber Circle: a new three-event programme exclusively focusing on the most urgent, complex, and high-impact challenges in cybersecurity today. Launched in 2026, this initiative brings together CISOs, CIOs, and senior IT executives with a strong interest in cybersecurity for three curated gatherings each year. As part of CIONET’s trusted executive community, the Cyber Circle provides a confidential, peer-driven environment to exchange insights, share real-world experiences, and address evolving cyber threats. Each session is designed to foster strategic dialogue, strengthen resilience, and elevate cybersecurity as a core driver of business value.

Telenet Business Leadership Circle

The Telenet Business Leadership Circle powered by CIONET, offers a platform where IT executives and thought leaders can meet to inspire each other and share best practices. We want to be a facilitator who helps you optimise the performance of your IT function and your business by embracing the endless opportunities that digital change brings.

Les Rencontres

Découvrez la dynamique du leadership numérique aux Rencontres de CIONET, le programme francophone exclusif de CIONET pour les leaders numériques en Belgique, rendu possible grâce au soutien et à l'engagement de nos partenaires de programme : Deloitte, Denodo et Red Hat. Rejoignez trois événements inspirants par an à Liège, Namur et en Brabant Wallon, où des CIOs et des experts numériques francophones de premier plan partagent leurs perspectives et expériences sur des thèmes d'affaires et de IT actuels. Laissez-vous inspirer et apprenez des meilleurs du secteur lors de sessions captivantes conçues spécialement pour soutenir et enrichir votre rôle en tant que CIO pair. Ne manquez pas cette opportunité de faire partie d'un réseau exceptionnel d'innovateurs numériques !

Female Leadership Circle

CIONET is committed to highlighting and celebrating female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, creating a leadership programme that empowers and elevates women within the tech industry. This initiative is dedicated to showcasing the achievements and successes of leading women, fostering an environment where female role models are recognised, and their contributions can ignite progress and inspire the next generation of women in IT. Our mission is to shine the spotlight a little brighter on female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, and to empower each other through this inner network community.