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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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Puratos Enhances Customer and Employee Experiences with OutSystems

Puratos decided to look for a solution that would provide the company with limitless innovation while enabling it to keep up with the constant new developments in the food industry. Since adopting OutSystems, the platform has become a strategic technology in Puratos’ digital transformation.

"The versatility of the OutSystems development platform makes it possible to solve problems without limitations and innovate fast by lowering the technological threshold."

Gerasimos KouloumpisICT Digital Architects Manager and Customer Experience Applications Manager, Puratos

Challenge

Searching for a solution to enhance customer and employee experiences

Based in Belgium, Puratos is a global manufacturing company that supplies bakers, pastry chefs, chocolatiers, and large industrial customers with cutting-edge services and ingredients.

Founded in 1919 as a father-and-son operation, the company has evolved into a successful international business focused on creating exceptional customer and employee experiences while positively impacting society. Regarding the latter, the company is determined to achieve sustainable water usage, waste reduction and carbon neutrality by 2025.

This way, when Puratos creates innovative food solutions for companies that put health and well-being first, it is also helping customers, people, and the planet grow sustainably.

To achieve this vision, the company monitors consumer opinion in several regions and cultures of the world. This requires Puratos employees to look for ways to exchange information with customers and partners at the right time, as the right solution at the right time can make all the difference.

Therefore, a flexible and robust IT environment is non-negotiable, and nothing should prevent rapid response to market developments.

That’s why Puratos decided to look for a low-code development platform. After a careful evaluation, the company chose OutSystems high-performance low-code platform and ForTrevo as its implementation partner.

Why Puratos chose OutSystems:

Full-stack visual development with no limits
Powerful integration
Deliver public-facing web apps and portals

“Choosing OutSystems and ForTrevo experts doesn’t just facilitate rapid, targeted development of new business applications; it also streamlines integration with current ERP, CRM, and content management systems.” - Olga DuarteCEO, ForTrevo

Solution

Delivering new solutions that foster inspiration and collaboration

As Puratos’ Group ICT Digital Architects Manager and Customer Experience Applications Manager, Gerasimos Kouloumpis is intimately involved in application management and development. When asked why Puratos chose OutSystems to tackle its development needs, Kouloumpis highlighted the platform’s versatility:

“You can solve problems without restrictions. The development platform helps lower the threshold, technologically speaking, so we can focus on what matters to the business. That’s true for applications developed in OutSystems and solutions that integrate OutSystems with applications currently used in our complex business landscape. The result is a series of user-friendly solutions that align with the right business objectives.”

Since adopting OutSystems, Puratos has delivered several applications that ensure the company’s digital competitive edge.

The list includes:

Online platform to promote and encourage recipe collaboration: this solution is a true differentiator in the industry. Users can create and share recipes while adding nutritional calculations and recommendations. Thanks to its intuitive user interface, the solution is being used by over 1,500 bakers, pastry chefs, and chocolatiers worldwide. Since it first launched, the application has been expanded with a second module to give customers a similar experience.
Process flow solutions: Puratos has delivered several solutions to support its R&D department to control process flows such as sample orders, baked goods testing and conducting relevant analyses.
Solutions to identify and monitor nutrients and ingredients: the Quality Control Department uses the OutSystems technology in tandem with other state-of-the-art technology to identify and monitor nutrients and ingredients.
myPuratos: a digital hub used by thousands of Puratos customers in 20+ countries. The company uses OutSystems to orchestrate the data flow and business rules between global ERP, CRM, and CMS environments and for integrations with third-party online payment service providers.

Results

Digital Innovation is now part of the Puratos’ DNA

Since adopting OutSystems, Puratos has reduced the lead time for innovation. Kouloumpis explained:

“Now, we can quickly create a Proof of Value (PoV) for certain functionality or applications and validate business ideas in the digital world. Imagine personalized baking solutions, for instance. Within a few weeks, we have a viable result and an application developed, tested, and validated. Business users are pleased by what IT can deliver. That’s partially attributable to the intuitive, accessible nature of the OutSystems development platform.”

Partner

ForTrevo

ForTrevo's team designs and develops innovative web, reactive & mobile applications, using OutSystems platform. Our team of Certified OutSystems Developers is strongly skilled and committed to...

Learn more about ForTrevo

Another aspect of the OutSystems platform highlighted by Kouloumpis is how the OutSystems platform blended with the rest of the Puratos digital landscape. The way it didn’t change the IT team’s way of working was critical to make OutSystems an instrumental platform in Puratos’ digital transformation journey.

Now, innovation isn’t held captive by a rigid IT environment; it’s validated and rolled out quickly. As for future customer and employee experiences, they’ll continue to become more and more tailored.

Technologies

Outsystems

Partners

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