null

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.

Please Log In with your CIONET account first

ABN AMRO modernizes its infrastructure in 9 months with Datometry and Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics

Dutch bank ABN AMRO was looking to move business-critical workloads from Teradata to Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics. As a result of leaving its legacy vendor, ABN AMRO realized significant scaling advantages, gained flexibility, and laid the foundation for a comprehensive cloud strategy.

ABN AMRO is one of the largest retail banks in the Netherlands, with more than 5.2 million retail clients and 20,000 employees worldwide, operating in 12 different countries. Its wealth management exceeds €200 billion in assets under management, serving more than 100,000 clients.

ABN AMRO wanted to move its workloads from its legacy system, Teradata, to Azure Synapse Analytics but did not find the conventional approach of code converters appealing. ABN AMRO found that code converters have limitations in converting legacy code with poorly documented business logic. Often, manual intervention to extract, modify, and reinsert the code is required.

A further complication was the nature of the business process served by the application. Several applications served sophisticated risk models that are subject to stringent regulation. These models are certified by a regulatory body, and changes would require a time-intensive certification process before putting them into production.

Finally, the deadlines were tight. The switchover from the legacy system to Azure Synapse Analytics needed to be performed with as little downtime as possible for business analysts and other internal customers. As much as the migration was a technical problem, it was also a formidable challenge in risk management and execution.

Database virtualization leads the way

ABN AMRO turned to Microsoft partner Datometry. Based in San Francisco, California, Datometry specializes in bringing virtualization to the database stack. Its Hyper-Q platform, available in the Azure Marketplace, lets enterprises move from Teradata or Oracle Exadata to Azure Synapse Analytics without headaches.

Before the formal project kickoff, ABN AMRO had a complete blueprint of its workloads through Datometry qInsight. The qInsight report provided the team with a detailed analysis, identifying any potential challenges up-front. Equipped with this knowledge, the bank embarked on the implementation knowing there would be no major surprises.

Instead of modifying applications, ABN AMRO leveraged Datometry Hyper-Q. The Hyper-Q platform translates SQL and API calls in real time. Through Hyper-Q, existing applications work directly with Azure Synapse Analytics. The operation is fully transparent, making changes to application code unnecessary.

Hyper-Q enabled ABN AMRO to operate with a small tactical team. By drawing on strong in-house talent, the bank did not need to augment its staff significantly. Being able to keep the size of the team small was critical to maintain agility, and it also contributed to the overall cost savings.

Liberated from having to rewrite a large body of applications, the ABN AMRO team took the opportunity to selectively adjust a few individual applications. These modifications would play specifically to the strengths of Azure Synapse Analytics.

Meeting deadlines while avoiding downtime

ABN AMRO completed the project on an aggressive timeline. In nine months, the entire workload was migrated off the Teradata system and ABN AMRO was able to decommission its Teradata appliance.

Mike Waas, CEO of Datometry, said, “ABN AMRO just set a record for moving from Teradata to Azure Synapse: In only nine months, they pulled off a full migration that seemed completely impossible. Accomplishing all that, while maintaining full compliance with strict regulations that prevented any changes to the SQL text, is a phenomenal feat.”

After the migration, both the legacy system and the future stack were operated for several months side by side. This enabled business users to validate data and functionality using their original applications.

Finally, when it came time to switch over, ABN AMRO did not schedule explicit downtime. Instead, the company moved its business users to Azure Synapse Analytics, the new core data platform, completely seamlessly.

“With Datometry we have delivered a successful transformation,” said Marcel Kramer, Head of Data Engineering at ABN AMRO. “We moved our mission-critical workloads from Teradata to Azure Synapse seamlessly. With a legacy of more than 15 years of business logic, this is a remarkable result.”

The foundation for a comprehensive cloud strategy

By migrating on a short timeline, ABN AMRO realized considerable savings. The bank was able to decommission its legacy system, avoiding a costly renewal and potentially a refresh of the hardware that would have come due. Leaving the applications intact saved time and effort for rewrites and upheld regulatory requirements. Additionally, it eliminated the undue risk and room for error any modifications would have caused, ensuring the ABN AMRO team was in full control of any risk during the project.

Through Datometry's virtualization, ABN AMRO elegantly solved its migration challenge, and at a fraction of the cost of a conventional migration. Now on Azure Synapse Analytics, ABN AMRO has a strong foundation for the future.

ABN AMRO just set a record for moving from Teradata to Azure Synapse: In only nine months, they pulled off a full migration that seemed completely impossible. Accomplishing all that, while maintaining full compliance with strict regulations that prevented any changes to the SQL text, is a phenomenal feat.

Mike Waas: CEO

Datometry

A screenshot of the downloadable asset for this story

Technologies

Azure Synapse Analytics

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.