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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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Duvel Moortgat Delivers 7 Portals and 2 Mobile Apps 4x Faster

Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat brews and distributes numerous beer brands globally from its 11 breweries. The company needs slick digital systems to support its distribution channels. Since 2018, the brewer has used OutSystems to lessen the load on its small IT department.

“OutSystems eliminates lots of development toil so developers can focus on delivering business value instead of repetitive coding. We now deliver enhancements in one to two weeks instead of one to two months. So, our business can respond much more dynamically to market requirements.” - Wesly Van CleempoelIT Manager, Duvel Moortgat

Challenge

How to Reduce the Maintenance Overhead for Web and Mobile Applications?

Family-controlled Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat has produced its flagship beer, Duvel, since 1871 and now brews and distributes eleven beer brands globally. Although renowned for its traditional craftsmanship, sales and distribution increasingly depend on modern digital experiences.

The company’s back-office systems include Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Salesforce CRM. In 2017, the company developed a sales order portal to support distributors and customers. That experience led the company to look for a modern application development approach, as Wesly Van Cleempoel, IT Manager at Duvel Moortgat, explains.

“In the past, we used traditional development and front-end frameworks like Angular. Development was slow, too costly, and we had a huge maintenance overhead to keep these web apps updated and secure. We looked at low-code to lessen this burden.” -Wesly Van CleempoelIT Manager, Duvel Moortgat

At the same time, the company started its first mobile application development projects. “We encountered the same problem,” said Wesly. “It was a constantly moving target, with new devices, new operating system versions. We spent far too much of our development budget on maintenance and testing rather than enhancements.”

With more apps and portals in the backlog, Duvel Moortgat had to find a more efficient approach to custom application development. Wesly’s team investigated three low-code platforms. They quickly eliminated one as too lightweight. The brewer selected OutSystems as its favored low-code platform following a detailed evaluation.

“We felt OutSystems gave us the most flexibility and open standards,” says Wesly. “The alternative that we considered would have locked us into proprietary technology. Ultimately, we chose OutSystems not just based on our technical evaluation but the quality of its local delivery partner, Providit.”

Why Duvel Moortgat chose OutSystems:

Speed-up development and improve agility
Deliver customer-facing apps
No lock-in, open standards-based platform

Solution

Seven Portals and Two Mobile Apps Delivered

Working side-by-side with a single developer from Providit, Duvel Moortgat’s small development team quickly mastered rapid visual development with OutSystems.

“Our developers like OutSystems as it takes away a lot of the repetitive toil,” says Wesly. “Instead of needing to code yet another log-in screen or permissions framework, they can quickly drag and drop reusable components and modules. And the built-in DevOps capabilities mean you can publish in an instant to demonstrate and test much more easily.”

Although its first portal wasn’t much faster for Duvel Moortgat to develop, Wesly says, “We learned a huge amount in the process, so every subsequent development was faster. But the important thing is the time saved beyond go-live. Enhancements are much faster to deliver, testing is less onerous, and security patching is automatic with updates via the OutSystems Cloud.”

A central aspect of the portal is a customized content management system. This makes it quick and easy for Duvel Moortgat to add new product and branding collateral to the portal. Crucially, the content management features also localize what is shown to customers in different markets, such as different product and packaging labels and contact details.

Since 2019, the brewer has delivered five sales portals, a safety portal, and a complaints portal. The safety portal and one of its sales order portals have accompanying mobile apps. As its OutSystems application portfolio has grown, the cost-effectiveness and speed of delivery have continually risen.

“OutSystems has made app development much more sustainable. Without OutSystems, our small development team would have no time to deliver new features. We’d just be chasing our tail with maintenance chores and need a bigger team just to do that." Wesly Van CleempoelIT Manager, Duvel Moortgat

An example of the team’s improved responsiveness was the delivery of predictive order suggestions into its distributor’s portal. “We delivered this new capability in just a few days,” says Wesly. “This involved integrating CRM and ERP data to build a unique solution. The distributor’s portal now offers predictive order suggestions for thousands of bars across Belgium, improving customer experience and driving more sales for Duvel Moortgat.”

Technologies

Outsystems

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.