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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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Rossmann Runs Business-critical Logistics System on OutSystems

With more than 1,500 stores in around 400 cities, Rossmann Poland is the country’s leading drug store chain. And since 2020, the retailer has used a logistics app called “S-Hub” in its central distribution warehouse.That app and 24 others are built on OutSystems, and the number keeps rising.

“OutSystems gives us the ability to build applications we need with virtually no limits, including extensive apps that cover critical operations.” - Robert HaberBusiness Solutions Architect, Rossmann Poland

Challenge

Numerous App Dev Technologies Led to Development Silos

Rossmann Poland has a long history of in-house custom software development, which has helped the drug store giant differentiate in its market. Around 300 specialists work in its IT department, and they had a veritable smorgasbord of different software development technologies.

“We were concerned about hitting a wall with low-code. But we’ve found no limits to what we can do with OutSystems. The ability to modify or extend code at the front-end or back-end means we can deliver apps precisely tailored to our needs.” - Piotr JugielDeputy Director of the IT Department, Rossmann Poland

In mid-2019, Rossmann Poland decided to complement and standardize its application development technology, aiming to provide a single, comprehensive application development kit that would speed up the development process and allow developers to focus less on technology and more on solving business problems. This additional element was the choice of a low-code solution.

Ultimately, the company chose OutSystems as the platform met their requirements to deploy on-premises and was suited to multiple use cases, including mission-critical core business systems and smaller web and mobile workplace applications.

Why Rossmann Poland chose OutSystems:

Speed-up development and improve agility
Independence from mobile platforms
Full-stack visual development with no limits

Solution

Convincing IT Teams Step by Step

With a large team of experienced developers, Robert Haber, Business Solutions Architect at Rossmann, had to tread carefully to win over colleagues to a new low-code way of working. “Junior developers were very receptive and quick to learn OutSystems,” says Robert, “But, in fairness, it wasn’t easy to convince all of our developers to go low-code.”

“To win over skeptics, presenting low-code as a panacea doesn’t work,” says Robert. “Instead, a step-by-step approach is more persuasive. We pointed out the areas of development where OutSystems gave the most benefits, like UI development and speed. We gradually proved the case with concrete results.”

“To win over skeptics, presenting low-code as a panacea doesn’t work. Instead, a step-by-step approach is more persuasive.”- Robert HaberBusiness Solutions Architect, Rossmann Poland

Results

25 Apps and Counting—Including a Mission-Critical Logistics App

Now, just over two years since adopting OutSystems, Rossmann has 25 applications running on OutSystems, serving around 20,000 users every day. Of these, 4,000 are heavy users at head office, and around 16,000 are users in stores.

Rossmann has a blended sourcing approach that combines in-house development with certified developers from OutSystems partners to assist on more complex projects.

“Many developers assume low-code is just for simple tools in the back office,” says Robert. “But we’ve proven the contrary very quickly. OutSystems allows us to build the applications we need with virtually no limits, including extensive apps that cover critical operations.”

So, although Rossmann has several simple applications that do not require extensive integration, it also has more complex business-critical solutions that it has comprehensively integrated with core systems.

S-Hub—A Mission-Critical Logistics App

The S-Hub app is at the center of Rossmann’s supply chain. Installed on Android devices used at Rossmann’s central distribution warehouse, S-Hub scans incoming and outgoing deliveries, streamlining distribution to stores.

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