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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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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

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.