Gunter Van Craen - CDIO at Bekaert - Embracing Digital Transformation

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Spain 10-12-25 Invitation Only Physical spanish
Italy 10-12-25 Invitation Only Physical italian
Questa roundtable esclusiva offrirà a CIO, CISO e Leader di ITOps/Engineering un confronto diretto per individuare le migliori strategie di Innovazione che, attraverso l'observability, ottimizzino il Return of Investment.
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Belgium 11-12-25 Country Members Physical english
Imagine being able to monitor, simulate, and optimise an entire city, factory, or supply chain in real time. Next-generation digital twins are making this vision a reality, transforming how we manage and understand complex systems. By creating dynamic virtual replicas of physical assets and processes, digital twins allow organisations to predict issues, optimize performance, and make data-driven decisions with unprecedented accuracy.This event will explore how digital twins are being used across industries to revolutionize the way we operate and maintain large-scale, intricate systems—whether it’s the infrastructure of a smart city, the efficiency of a factory floor, or the resilience of global supply chains.Examples of Digital Twins in Action:Smart Cities: Urban planners can use digital twins to simulate traffic flow, monitor energy usage, or predict the impact of weather events on infrastructure. This enables cities to optimize resources and improve the quality of life for their citizens.Factories of the Future: Manufacturing plants are leveraging digital twins to monitor equipment in real time, prevent downtime, and optimize production lines. With predictive analytics, factories can avoid costly breakdowns and improve overall efficiency.Supply Chain Management: Complex supply chains, spanning continents and industries, can be modeled as digital twins to track shipments, simulate disruptions, and optimize logistics. Businesses can reduce inefficiencies and respond faster to market demands.Key Themes:Real-Time Monitoring and Simulation: How digital twins provide real-time insights into complex systems, allowing for dynamic response and optimization.Predictive Power: Leveraging AI and data analytics, digital twins help organisations predict and mitigate issues before they happen, from equipment failures to supply chain bottlenecks.Scalability Across Ecosystems: Digital twins aren’t limited to individual assets—learn how they can be scaled across entire ecosystems like smart cities or global supply chains for maximum impact.Building Trust and Security: With digital twins handling critical infrastructure and sensitive data, what are the security and governance frameworks needed to ensure trust in these virtual systems?Why You Should Attend:Next-generation digital twins are no longer just a concept—they are revolutionizing industries by offering a new way to manage complexity. Whether you’re looking to optimize a city, factory, or supply chain, this event will provide practical insights into how digital twins can transform your organisation’s operations and drive future innovation.
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Spain 11-12-25 Invitation Only Physical spanish
Poland 11-12-25 Invitation Only Physical english
Zero Trust isn't a project, it's a philosophy. Verify every connection, trust nothing implicitly, segment everything. When you build systems this way, something remarkable happens: security becomes resilience. A breach doesn't cascade. An outage doesn't take down the business. You gain visibility into every user, device, and workload, turning security from a perimeter problem into a data problem you can actually measure and control. During the CIONET Executive Roundtable, we will tackle three key questions: How do you design systems that survive breach? When you assume compromise and verify everything, incidents stay contained. We'll show how Zero Trust architecture prevents one failure from cascading into total collapse. What's your plan when critical infrastructure fails? Identity providers go down. Cloud regions fail. Vendors get breached. We'll discuss how to build resilience when you can't eliminate dependency risk. How do you make Zero Trust work without ripping everything out? Legacy systems, existing infrastructure, business constraints. We'll explore where leaders are actually succeeding and where they're stuck. Zscaler is our partner in organizing the event. James Tucker, Head of CISOs in Residence EMEA, will be representing the company. He will share insights from real-world implementations and show how organizations are evolving their architectures to embed Zero Trust and resilience in a cloud first world.
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Netherlands Dec 9, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
Digital transformation and ongoing economic uncertainty are intensifying the pressure on IT leaders to do more with less. In this environment, gaining precise control over IT costs—while continuing to deliver effective, efficient, and innovative technology operations—is more critical than ever. At this exclusive CIONET Executive Roundtable, hosted in partnership with It’s Value, we will explore how Technology Business Management (TBM) principles can help CIOs and IT leaders make data-driven financial decisions that drive measurable business value. Key Discussion Themes Turning data insights into smarter IT investment decisions Setting priorities for cost optimisation and maximising ROI Quantifying and communicating the business value of IT initiatives Evaluating the principles of FinOps and the implications of public, private, and hybrid cloud environments for cost management Embedding effective change management to drive adoption and alignment Achieving tangible business outcomes from AI initiatives while maintaining fiscal discipline The evening will also feature a fireside chat with Sunil Anand, Global Head of Technology Business Management at National Grid. Sunil will share practical lessons and key milestones, retracing the National Grid cost management journey. This dinner offers a unique opportunity to: Exchange experiences with peers facing similar challenges Gain insights from TBM experts and industry practitioners Reassess your own IT financial strategy in a relaxed, collegial setting Join us for an evening of insight, discussion, and connection—designed to help you strengthen IT’s role as a true business value driver.
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Italy Dec 10, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Questa roundtable esclusiva offrirà a CIO, CISO e Leader di ITOps/Engineering un confronto diretto per individuare le migliori strategie di Innovazione che, attraverso l'observability, ottimizzino il Return of Investment.
Read More
Belgium Dec 11, 2025 Country Members Physical english
Imagine being able to monitor, simulate, and optimise an entire city, factory, or supply chain in real time. Next-generation digital twins are making this vision a reality, transforming how we manage and understand complex systems. By creating dynamic virtual replicas of physical assets and processes, digital twins allow organisations to predict issues, optimize performance, and make data-driven decisions with unprecedented accuracy.This event will explore how digital twins are being used across industries to revolutionize the way we operate and maintain large-scale, intricate systems—whether it’s the infrastructure of a smart city, the efficiency of a factory floor, or the resilience of global supply chains.Examples of Digital Twins in Action:Smart Cities: Urban planners can use digital twins to simulate traffic flow, monitor energy usage, or predict the impact of weather events on infrastructure. This enables cities to optimize resources and improve the quality of life for their citizens.Factories of the Future: Manufacturing plants are leveraging digital twins to monitor equipment in real time, prevent downtime, and optimize production lines. With predictive analytics, factories can avoid costly breakdowns and improve overall efficiency.Supply Chain Management: Complex supply chains, spanning continents and industries, can be modeled as digital twins to track shipments, simulate disruptions, and optimize logistics. Businesses can reduce inefficiencies and respond faster to market demands.Key Themes:Real-Time Monitoring and Simulation: How digital twins provide real-time insights into complex systems, allowing for dynamic response and optimization.Predictive Power: Leveraging AI and data analytics, digital twins help organisations predict and mitigate issues before they happen, from equipment failures to supply chain bottlenecks.Scalability Across Ecosystems: Digital twins aren’t limited to individual assets—learn how they can be scaled across entire ecosystems like smart cities or global supply chains for maximum impact.Building Trust and Security: With digital twins handling critical infrastructure and sensitive data, what are the security and governance frameworks needed to ensure trust in these virtual systems?Why You Should Attend:Next-generation digital twins are no longer just a concept—they are revolutionizing industries by offering a new way to manage complexity. Whether you’re looking to optimize a city, factory, or supply chain, this event will provide practical insights into how digital twins can transform your organisation’s operations and drive future innovation.
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Germany Dec 15, 2025 Public Virtual german
Angesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf eine ereignisreiche Zeit zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt künftig erwarten. ngesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf ein ereignisreiches Jahr 2024 zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche neuen Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt im Jahr 2025 erwarten.AA
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Belgium Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
This CIONET Round Table will focus on how the IT department can be the enabler that unlocks organisational efficiencies and helps to improve the employee experience. We will explore how CIOs and Digital Leaders can fundamentally transform the internal service experience by breaking down organizational silos, orchestrating complex cross-functional workflows, and leveraging a unified platform to deliver a truly frictionless experience for every employee.
Read More
UK Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
At this CIONET executive roundtable – brought to you in association with UiPath – we’ll explore this question and more. Bringing together senior IT professionals from across multiple vertical markets, we will focus on the benefits of agentic AI as applied to end-to-end processes. And we’ll seek to understand how organisations might overcome automation barriers to drive greater value creation.
Read More
Netherlands Dec 9, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
Digital transformation and ongoing economic uncertainty are intensifying the pressure on IT leaders to do more with less. In this environment, gaining precise control over IT costs—while continuing to deliver effective, efficient, and innovative technology operations—is more critical than ever. At this exclusive CIONET Executive Roundtable, hosted in partnership with It’s Value, we will explore how Technology Business Management (TBM) principles can help CIOs and IT leaders make data-driven financial decisions that drive measurable business value. Key Discussion Themes Turning data insights into smarter IT investment decisions Setting priorities for cost optimisation and maximising ROI Quantifying and communicating the business value of IT initiatives Evaluating the principles of FinOps and the implications of public, private, and hybrid cloud environments for cost management Embedding effective change management to drive adoption and alignment Achieving tangible business outcomes from AI initiatives while maintaining fiscal discipline The evening will also feature a fireside chat with Sunil Anand, Global Head of Technology Business Management at National Grid. Sunil will share practical lessons and key milestones, retracing the National Grid cost management journey. This dinner offers a unique opportunity to: Exchange experiences with peers facing similar challenges Gain insights from TBM experts and industry practitioners Reassess your own IT financial strategy in a relaxed, collegial setting Join us for an evening of insight, discussion, and connection—designed to help you strengthen IT’s role as a true business value driver.
Read More
Italy Dec 10, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Questa roundtable esclusiva offrirà a CIO, CISO e Leader di ITOps/Engineering un confronto diretto per individuare le migliori strategie di Innovazione che, attraverso l'observability, ottimizzino il Return of Investment.
Read More
Belgium Dec 11, 2025 Country Members Physical english
Imagine being able to monitor, simulate, and optimise an entire city, factory, or supply chain in real time. Next-generation digital twins are making this vision a reality, transforming how we manage and understand complex systems. By creating dynamic virtual replicas of physical assets and processes, digital twins allow organisations to predict issues, optimize performance, and make data-driven decisions with unprecedented accuracy.This event will explore how digital twins are being used across industries to revolutionize the way we operate and maintain large-scale, intricate systems—whether it’s the infrastructure of a smart city, the efficiency of a factory floor, or the resilience of global supply chains.Examples of Digital Twins in Action:Smart Cities: Urban planners can use digital twins to simulate traffic flow, monitor energy usage, or predict the impact of weather events on infrastructure. This enables cities to optimize resources and improve the quality of life for their citizens.Factories of the Future: Manufacturing plants are leveraging digital twins to monitor equipment in real time, prevent downtime, and optimize production lines. With predictive analytics, factories can avoid costly breakdowns and improve overall efficiency.Supply Chain Management: Complex supply chains, spanning continents and industries, can be modeled as digital twins to track shipments, simulate disruptions, and optimize logistics. Businesses can reduce inefficiencies and respond faster to market demands.Key Themes:Real-Time Monitoring and Simulation: How digital twins provide real-time insights into complex systems, allowing for dynamic response and optimization.Predictive Power: Leveraging AI and data analytics, digital twins help organisations predict and mitigate issues before they happen, from equipment failures to supply chain bottlenecks.Scalability Across Ecosystems: Digital twins aren’t limited to individual assets—learn how they can be scaled across entire ecosystems like smart cities or global supply chains for maximum impact.Building Trust and Security: With digital twins handling critical infrastructure and sensitive data, what are the security and governance frameworks needed to ensure trust in these virtual systems?Why You Should Attend:Next-generation digital twins are no longer just a concept—they are revolutionizing industries by offering a new way to manage complexity. Whether you’re looking to optimize a city, factory, or supply chain, this event will provide practical insights into how digital twins can transform your organisation’s operations and drive future innovation.
Read More
Germany Dec 15, 2025 Public Virtual german
Angesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf eine ereignisreiche Zeit zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt künftig erwarten. ngesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf ein ereignisreiches Jahr 2024 zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche neuen Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt im Jahr 2025 erwarten.AA
Read More
Belgium Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
This CIONET Round Table will focus on how the IT department can be the enabler that unlocks organisational efficiencies and helps to improve the employee experience. We will explore how CIOs and Digital Leaders can fundamentally transform the internal service experience by breaking down organizational silos, orchestrating complex cross-functional workflows, and leveraging a unified platform to deliver a truly frictionless experience for every employee.
Read More
UK Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
At this CIONET executive roundtable – brought to you in association with UiPath – we’ll explore this question and more. Bringing together senior IT professionals from across multiple vertical markets, we will focus on the benefits of agentic AI as applied to end-to-end processes. And we’ll seek to understand how organisations might overcome automation barriers to drive greater value creation.
Read MoreDiscover how Carrefour strengthened its global security posture and accelerated digital innovation by adopting Splunk Cloud Platform. By centralizing data and security monitoring across multiple regions, Carrefour’s Security Operations Center (SOC) now detects and responds to threats three times faster ensuring customers enjoy a safe, reliable, and connected shopping experience across all channels.
2
Technologies
Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI)
System Integrator
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“TeamViewer enabled us to keep innovating when navigating remote working, and it enabled us to augment the small trackside crew that travels the world with the full force of the team back in the UK.” - Toto Wolff, Principal and CEO at Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team
3
Technologies
System Integrator
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Discover how Carrefour Belgium partnered with Kyndryl to revolutionize their IT infrastructure and enhance customer experiences. By migrating 100% of their on-premises systems to a state-of-the-art hybrid cloud data center and modernizing store operations with Google Cloud Platform, Carrefour Belgium achieved seamless business continuity, improved operational efficiency, and set the stage for future digital transformation. Dive into this compelling customer case to learn how Carrefour Belgium is leading the charge in retail innovation with Kyndryl's expertise.
2
Technologies
Google Cloud Platform
System Integrator
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Embark on a culinary journey through the ever-evolving world of digital leadership with our third edition of the CIONET Cookbook: Recipes for Digital Success. Unveiling the intricate trilemma faced by today’s Master Chefs, our trailblazing European CIOs address a challenge at the nexus of customer interests, digital transformation strategies, and IT modernisation. Their secret? Synchronising the gearing between customer, business, and technology to create a frictionless movement through the digital landscape.
The CIONET Cookbook uses the analogy of a five-star restaurant to explain the importance of optimally integrated technology, with the CIO as Master Chef. In order to provide the best service to its customers, a top restaurant must have the right atmosphere, an inviting menu, a well-equipped kitchen, talented and committed front-of-house and kitchen staff and smooth-running processes that ensure an enjoyable experience for diners.
The role of the CIO has evolved from managing systems to shaping outcomes: growth, resilience, and competitive edge are now won or lost in the technology arena. Today ’ s CIOs must balance stability with innovation, control costs while attracting scarce talent, and modernise legacy infrastructure while adopting emerging technologies.
As AI transitions from a specialised tool to an all-pervasive force, understanding its profound implications for our human lives is no longer merely academic but an urgent imperative for social well-being and strategic preparedness.
Geopolitical tensions have dominated the headlines for over two years now. In this context, the cyber threat landscape is also evolving rapidly. The protection and security of critical infrastructure – both physical and digital – is becoming increasingly important.
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Head of IT Germany and Regional Office Lead Munich, Microsoft
IT Director, IT Thinker
Vice president IT & Compliance, VisionaryRCM (A Carlyle Grp Company)
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