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Belgium 01-10-2026 Squad Only Virtual english

Letting Teams Build Safely with Low-Code, No-Code, and AI Tools. ; How to enable business-led development while keeping security, architecture, and support under control.

Low-code, no-code, and AI tools are giving business teams more ability to build solutions themselves. The challenge is setting the right boundaries before fast local solutions become important operational assets. Three pressure points need attention. - Boundaries must be clear: teams need to know what they can build alone and what requires IT, security, or architecture review. - Supportability matters when a quick solution becomes business-critical. - Risk control remains necessary around data access, compliance, security, process dependency, and maintenance. The working question is simple: how do we enable business-led development while keeping security, ownership, and support under control? If you are trying to enable this safely, let’s compare approaches with others facing the same balance.

Belgium 06-10-2026 All Members Physical english

The Token Trap: Reclaiming Control of Enterprise AI

As enterprise AI transitions from experimental Proofs of Concept (POCs) into real implementations, digital leaders are encountering a shared challenge: consumption-based public cloud token billing models do not fit neatly into traditional IT budgeting. Daily token consumption can rise unexpectedly, pushing expenses through the roof while arbitrary caps quickly kill momentum for innovation. For many CIOs, this raises an open strategic question: How do we keep costs under control while further stimulating innovation? During this interactive CIONET roundtable, we will explore among peers how to navigate AI tokenomics. Rather than treating public cloud LLMs as the default path, we will investigate how different execution environments, ranging from hybrid cloud setups and targeted on-premise models to specialised edge hardware, can help balance cost with performance. This session is intentionally designed as an open peer-to-peer exchange; a space to compare notes, challenge current ways of working and architectural setups, and discuss practical approaches to building predictable, scalable AI models.

Belgium 08-10-2026 All Members Physical english

The Permanent (R)evolution

Every large organisation has been through a major transformation, and most through several. The word transformation is misleading because it suggests a beginning and an end. But organisations that do well are the ones that have given up on the idea of arriving and realise that constant change has become the new norm, and missing a single cycle leaves you permanently behind. This evening, two leaders will share how they think about this, coming from opposite directions. John Porter led Telenet through a sustained period of reinvention spanning the pandemic, a full reorganisation into tribes, M&A, and a shift to a performance driven culture. Along the way, the IT department was dissolved and technology was embedded inside autonomous tribes that run as small businesses. There is no CIO at Telenet. It is Telenet Group’s purpose to become a digital-first, customer-centric organisation. To deliver on this ambition, it has embarked on a transformation journey built on three pillars: (i) the implementation of a scaled-agile operating model (organisation), (ii) the acceleration of digitisation and automation underpinned by optimised IT systems, platforms, and strategic technology partnerships (digitisation), and (iii) a performance leadership culture focused on accountability, ownership, and a change mindset (culture). Kris Vervaet, on the other hand, has just become CIO at KBC, the bank whose mobile app has been ranked best in the world three times and whose AI assistant Kate now handles 70% of customer queries on its own. But Kris is no ordinary CIO: he ran DPG Media Belgium as CEO, and KBC went looking for someone who has led transformation rather than someone who manages technology. So while one organisation got rid of the CIO role, the other reinvented it, and both are thriving. The conversation will range across organisational and IT redesign, the rise of digital-first customer experience, the impact of AI on how every business is run, and the harder questions of culture, talent and leadership. The question for every leader in the room is what that tells you about your own role, your own operating model, and the pace at which you are prepared to keep evolving.

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Thanks to scalable IT, Elindus can continuously respond to changes in the energy market

EFFIX deals with everything ICT related, including the infrastructure, security and networking. Having migrated to the public cloud in Microsoft Azure, Elindus can now continuously respond to growth and developments in the energy market. Energy prices are calculated accurately to the hour to reflect changes in the energy market.

Introduction

Elindus is a 100% Belgian energy supplier to professional businesses. As an energy supplier, Elindus assists entrepreneurs with purchasing, using and managing their energy needs. With Elindus, entrepreneurs know exactly where they stand. Contracts are not tacitly renewed, invoices are set out clearly and the prices are reasonable. Elindus monitors the market closely so that it customers do not miss out on opportunities to improve their energy policies. In just 10 years, Elindus has developed into an energy supplier that makes a real difference in the Belgian energy landscape.

We seek to build a long-term relationship with our customers by addressing their concerns, advising them and keeping a close eye on their energy file to ensure that we are a reliable energy partner for true entrepreneurs! Elindus is a proactive energy supplier to the B2B segment: Be reliable - To be transparent - Be committed. - Lode Hullebusch: CCO - Elindus

The challenge

Elindus has been working with EFFIX as their ICT partner for more than six years now. The cooperation started shortly before Elindus went through its explosive growth. EFFIX began by resolving a number of operational challenges, including problems with email traffic. At the end of 2020, Elindus moved to a new location in the Elindus Arena (Waregem’s football stadium). Given the crucial importance of high reliability, speed, scalability and redundancy within the energy sector, the company also looked into the possibility of updating its ICT system at the time of the move. To meet these criteria, Elindus decided to migrate its entire ICT environment to Microsoft Azure.

The solution

Initially, a hybrid solution was chosen for the migration and upgrade, to optimize the return on the investments made by Elindus in hardware in the past. As a result, a part of the infrastructure was originally kept on the premises. The next step was a move to EFFIX’s private cloud. Elindus’ core applications have since been migrated to the public cloud in Microsoft Azure and all its employees work with Microsoft 365. In addition to scalability, the business continuity process was also taken into account in order to minimize potential downtime. For example, redundant solutions were developed for both the private and public cloud applications. Disaster recovery was also taken into consideration, including by setting up a flexible back-up procedure. to ensure that core applications are backed up efficiently several times a day.

Lastly, security is of paramount importance to Elindus. After evaluating all its business processes, a comprehensive security plan was drawn up to encompass as many potential threats as possible. This includes scanning all data before it is communicated to users to protect them against possible attacks.

In other words, EFFIX deals with everything ICT related, including the Microsoft Azure infrastructure, security and networking.

The Microsoft Partner

EFFIX is a reliable partner providing stable and high quality ICT solutions. Partnership is one of EFFIX' key words. EFFIX works with and grows alongside its customers; it does not impose default remedies but offers solutions that tie into its customer’s identity. While the process may take a little more time as a result, the commitment is considerable and ultimately delivers more. EFFIX has a dedicated service desk available 24/7 to support its customers. All its employees have extensive knowledge of ICT and that knowledge is constantly keep up to date.

Customers come to EFFIX for first-line advice with many questions. If their questions do not relate directly to their core business, the advisers will nevertheless be able to steer customers in the right direction.

The result

Elindus now has more ICT options available to it thanks to the unique opportunities offered by Microsoft Azure. With Microsoft Azure, scaling up or down is possible to meet peaks and troughs in ICT usage. This is crucial to be able to continuously respond to growth and developments in the energy market. Energy prices need to be calculated accurately to the hour to reflect changes in the energy market. This is also crucial to Elindus’s success.

EFFIX has grown alongside Elindus. It has evolved from a small ICT provider into a medium-sized business with a broad portfolio. EFFIX has contributed to Elindus’s growth and success. And in turn, Elindus has contributed to EFFIX’s own growth and success. This has created a strong mutual bond. - Christof Anckaert: CIO - Elindus

Technologies

Azure Migrate

Partners

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