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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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How Hello Sugar reached a 66% automation rate with our hybrid solution

Hello Sugar wanted to scale their waxing franchise without growing their reception staff – all while offering higher quality CX. With Ultimate’s hybrid automation solution, this process couldn’t have gone more smoothly.

Hello Sugar at a glance

The customer

Hello Sugar is the fastest growing Brazilian wax and sugar salon in the U.S.

The market

Hello Sugar serves beauty-conscious customers across the U.S.

The support team

Their support team consists of 20 receptionists who handle requests via Zendesk.

The channels

Hello Sugar offers customer support via SMS.

The situation

Hello Sugar was looking to double the number of stores – without doubling their receptionists' workload.

The solution

Ultimate's hybrid combination of gen AI and conversation design helped Hello Sugar hit a sweet spot between empathetic, personalized, and scalable support.

Getting started with Ultimate

Trying to double the number of stores in their franchise within the year – without growing their support team – may sound like the makings of a sticky situation. But what sets Hello Sugar apart in the beauty and wellness space is their tendency to be tech savvy. They knew that the best way to scale was to automate. And while a lot of other AI providers sugar coat their automation capabilities, Ultimate’s automation solution proved to be the real deal.

Hello Sugar’s CTO, Austin Towns, was instantly impressed by the generative AI technology behind UltimateGPT and quickly began automating common intents about salon services and pricing. With the help of Ultimate’s hands-on customer success team and a seamless integration with Zendesk - who recently acquired Ultimate to scale the partnership - they enhanced the quality of their support by combining ultra-personalized service with near-instant response times.

With the freedom and flexibility of generative AI, their bot also delivers precise info about the location of salons to lost customers as well as empathetic responses for first time waxers – all in perfect brand tone of voice. Meanwhile, the precision and control of manual conversation design enabled them to automate their entire appointment booking process. Now, Hello Sugar boasts a 66% automation rate thanks to our hybrid automation solution.

"We currently have 81 salons and are going to grow to 160 this year – without growing our reception staff. And with automation, we’re able to do that while offering way better CX and getting higher reviews."

Austin Towns
CTO, Hello Sugar

Automation rate: 66%

Monthly savings$: 14K

Agent hours saved: 200

AI use case spotlight #1: Hello Sugar’s journey to +66% automation

Hello Sugar wanted an AI provider that could go beyond the traditional dialogue builder. Ultimate’s hybrid approach that integrates the precision of conversation design with the freedom and flexibility of generative AI delivered on this promise.
UltimateGPT has enabled them to quickly automate FAQ style questions about services provided and how to prep for an upcoming appointment. And conversation design helped them automate intents like booking appointments, as they can use API integrations to confirm location and generate a booking link for their customers.
Taken together, they have reached a 66% automation rate – with rave reviews about their CX from customers.

AI use case spotlight #2: Knowledge base optimization for better CX

Hello Sugar also succeeded in honing the powers of a well-designed knowledge base to enhance the capabilities of UltimateGPT.
By compiling a knowledge base replete with information on the details of location of each salon around the country, their generative AI-powered bot can provide extremely precise directions. Customers are also left with the feeling that they’re speaking to a human receptionist, thanks to the bot's natural-sounding tone of voice (TOV).
As a result, Hello Sugar harnessed the power of generative AI to deliver ultra-personalized and empathetic support to customers within seconds and at scale.

The success story

Instant Zendesk integration

Ultimate’s hybrid automation solution seamlessly integrated with their existing CRM so they were able to start automating common queries straight away.

Industry beating results

As a tech savvy business within the beauty and wellness space, Hello Sugar has been able to offer improved CX even as they double their number of salons – all while saving $14K in agent costs per month.

Hybrid automation solution

With our hybrid solution, Hello Sugar was able to combine generative AI and conversation design to reach an automation rate of +66%.

Improved customer experience

With the help of AI, Hello Sugar is able to attend to customer queries in a matter of seconds. Thanks to UltimateGPT, they’re able to do so in a way that integrates empathy and on-brand TOV into each interaction.

Next on their automation journey

Hello Sugar plans on continuing to find more use cases for AI to improve CX, such as by expanding their APIs to reduce manual work for receptionists.

For example, they want to harness the capabilities of API integrations for booking and rescheduling appointments to expand the capabilities of what their bot can do when responding to these requests.

They plan to audit all existing intents to find more opportunities to leverage UltimateGPT.

Technologies

Ultimate: Chat automation Zendesk: A CRM Platform

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.