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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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How our managed SaaS acceleration service shows the way to improved performance

Riverbed SaaS accelerator enables more efficient collaboration and a mobilised workforce.

Overview
Cloud first and O365?
Moving to O365 was critical for this customer - the savings on license fees and management of local servers onsite alone provided the business case for change. But once the migration was completed, the project’s success was impacted by slower response and load times of their O365 applications. This was especially true when larger files were accessed through the corporate WAN at busy times. It took the shine off what had been an amazing migration project, one that started the whole cloud transformation conversation for the customer.

With users asking why responses had gotten worse, action needed to be taken.

The challenge
Improving response and showing results
With delayed O365 performance came frustrated calls from users and it was clear that the IT team needed a resolution. When they turned to us for help, we suggested technology from Riverbed – a tried and trusted BT partner. The customer had already considered a range of vendors that claimed to offer accelerated SaaS services, but agreed Riverbed was the right technology and that we should enable, manage and deploy the solution. This offered the customer reduced risk and improved cashflow because we offer a flexible lease model with fixed monthly rentals – an ideal option to keep cash within the business.

With their use of SaaS Accelerator from BT, the customer has been able to expand the value of SaaS applications like Microsoft 365 and Salesforce to the business.”

Peter DieckSenior product manager Connect Intelligence, BT

The solution
Riverbed SaaS Acceleration services
We set about designing a service for branch offices that would accelerate performance and give users a better experience, using historic network metrics to show the benchmark for performance gains and the resulting business case. The first phase of the solution involved accelerating office-to-cloud performance by deploying Riverbed SteelHead devices into their headquarters and each of their branches, and configuring these using the pre-provisioned virtual clients hosted in O365. The service immediately showed performance improvements of over 49% on weekly data transfers of 2.1 Tebibytes (1 Tebibyte equals 1K Gigabytes).

This virtually slashed the waiting time in half. The next phase is to roll out the solution to their homeworkers by downloading SaaS software clients onto homeworker PCs, so that the same performance improvements can be achieved remotely.

The result
A single source of truth, rapidly accessible from anywhere
A 15MB Excel file or 30MB PowerPoint file that previously took minutes to open now opens in half that time. Company-wide - across 2,600 workers - the time savings are approx. 260 hours weekly and represent a strong return on investment – equivalent gains in productivity to having extra employees.

More efficient collaboration and a mobilised workforce

Now that employees can quickly open and save files on the file server, they’re less tempted to download files to their laptops which means there’s more consistency across the organisation with people not working from local versions of stored information.

Importantly, in the future, the company plans to include the software SaaS clients for workers at home, which will offer the same productivity benefits and O365 experience at home or remotely. It’s an inclusive strategy that gives flexibility and performance to workers wherever they connect from.

It also supports a flexible worker strategy that’s key to improving workforce satisfaction across the business.

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.