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Belgium 20-10-2026 Squad Only Virtual English

Deciding What Runs Where: Cloud, Edge, On-Prem, or Hybrid; How to place workloads based on performance, cost, sovereignty, resilience, and AI requirements.

Cloud decisions are becoming more selective. The challenge is deciding where each workload should run based on cost, performance, control, resilience, sovereignty, and business need. Three pressure points usually drive the decision. - Cost visibility becomes harder when usage grows across cloud services, data platforms, and AI workloads. - Performance and latency matter more when systems need fast access to data or support operational processes. - Sovereignty and resilience become critical when data location, continuity, vendor dependency, and exit options enter the discussion. The working question is simple: how do we place workloads where they create the most value while keeping the hybrid landscape manageable? If these trade-offs are on your agenda, let’s compare how others are handling similar choices.

Belgium 10-11-2026 Squad Only Virtual English

Choosing the Right Data Platform Without Creating New Silos; How to balance speed, flexibility, semantics, governance, and long-term maintainability.

Data platforms are meant to simplify access and support better use of data. The challenge is choosing and governing the platform landscape in a way that creates consistency, reuse, and long-term value. Three pressure points usually appear. - Platform choice becomes difficult when teams have different needs for speed, flexibility, cost, and control. - Business meaning needs protection: customer, revenue, product, risk, and FTE need shared definitions across tools. - Ownership and governance need to be clear, so platforms grow with accountability and discipline. The working question is simple: how do we give teams the data capabilities they need while keeping the platform landscape understandable, governed, and reusable? If these questions are familiar, let’s compare approaches with others facing the same data landscape.

Belgium 13-11-2026 Squad Only Physical English

Building the Business Case for New IT Capabilities; How to justify investment when value is strategic, shared, or only visible over time.

Many IT capabilities are essential and difficult to fund through a simple project ROI. The challenge is showing why architecture, governance, resilience, cybersecurity maturity, data foundations, and AI readiness deserve investment before the gap becomes expensive. Three pressure points make the case harder. - Shared value means the benefit often sits across several teams, while the budget sits in one place. - Timing creates friction because the cost is immediate while the value appears over time. - Risk translation is needed so business and finance leaders understand the consequence of delaying the investment. The working question is simple: how do we turn foundational IT capabilities into credible investment cases that link cost, risk, business value, and future flexibility? If you are building these cases internally, let’s compare how others are positioning value, risk, and timing.

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Akbank increases customer engagement by up to 70% with Jasper

By leveraging generative AI, Akbank transformed their marketing strategy, ensuring consistency, engagement, and efficiency.

"Jasper enables us to accelerate our creative processes and structure ideas more effectively, significantly enhancing our brainstorming capabilities and overall content strategy."

Akbank

Digital Marketing Team

The Challenge: Enhancing Content Creation

Akbank, a leading financial institution, strives to deliver the best to its customers, driving the need for ongoing enhancements and system improvements. Leading the innovation within the company, Akbank LAB builds the future of finance by creating new products and services. The team partners with fintechs and tech companies to test innovative banking solutions.

In the competitive environment, Akbank recognized the challenge of maintaining a consistent and engaging content strategy. Their digital marketing team was dedicated to creating high-quality content to connect effectively with customers. This led to the need for a solution to enhance customer engagement and generate captivating campaign content strategies, all while ensuring operational efficiency.

The Solution: Harnessing Jasper's Multifaceted Features

Akbank’s team identified an opportunity to leverage generative AI and chose Jasper as a result of its marketing-specific focus. Akbank LAB initiated a proof-of-concept test run with their digital marketing team to enhance content creation and efficiency. As part of this, Jasper was primarily used to craft engaging and personalized push notification and SMS marketing campaigns, ensuring each message resonated with recipients while aligned with Akbank's brand voice.

By collaborating with their dedicated Customer Success Manager, the Akbank team broadened its understanding of generative AI’s capabilities. They mastered key features like prompt writing in Jasper Chat to brainstorm and create the full campaigns, brand voice for consistent messaging, and the knowledge base to host comprehensive information about their banking products. Automating these tasks enabled Akbank to respond quickly to market trends and customer needs, significantly boosting its overall marketing efficiency and effectiveness.

Achieving Tangible Results: Time Efficiencies and Higher Engagement Rates

Akbank compared Jasper’s outputs to the previous systems across multiple use cases and found Jasper consistently more efficient. Their dedicated efforts paid off with a remarkable 3% increase in response rates and a 40% reduction in content creation time across ten campaigns within three months.

Beyond these impressive numbers, Jasper proved invaluable for sparking creativity and generating fresh push notification and SMS campaigns. This collaboration addressed Akbank’s dedication to perfection in content development and set the stage for future growth. By leveraging AI, they transformed their marketing strategy, ensuring consistency, engagement, and efficiency.

Founded in 1948, Akbank is a premier Turkish bank offering a comprehensive range of services, including corporate, investment, commercial, SME, and retail banking, as well as private banking and payment systems. Serving over 13 million active customers, Akbank’s innovation center Akbank LAB leads digital transformation through investments in cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, Web 3.0, generative AI, and advanced analytics, providing customers with next-gen solutions. Demonstrating a solid commitment to sustainability, Akbank aims to provide 800 billion TL in sustainable financing by 2030 and achieve a net-zero carbon footprint by 2050. Recognized internationally, the bank has received prestigious awards for its excellence in digital innovation and sustainability initiatives.

Headquarters: Istanbul

Company Size: Enterprise (1,000+ employees)

Industry: Finance

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.