CIONET

Karl Davies-Barrett, Global Partner CTO at Microsoft, will join us as a panellist at CIONEXT | Mastering the Cloud on 29th November! Register now at www.cionext.com and don't miss the discussion on all things cloud:

✅ How complexity impedes progress. How do we optimise processes and maximise value?

✅ How to align business goals with coherent IT and cloud strategies?

✅ How to navigate the challenges of hybrid and multi-cloud setups and keep our options open?

In this #LeadershipDeepDive interview, Hendrik Deckers discussed with Karl Davies-Barrett Microsoft's mission to democratise technology, emphasising its cloud-first strategy, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the importance of integrating business value with technology, as well as the cultural shift at the company under the leadership of Satya Nadella. Karl also highlighted the significance of AI at Microsoft, its 3% contribution to cloud platform revenue, and upcoming AI capabilities. He addressed various cloud strategies, including the complexities of multi-cloud environments, the 'lift and shift' approach, and hybrid cloud. He acknowledged the reality of vendor lock-in, advocating for due diligence and informed choices in cloud services.

Watch the full interview to find out more and don't forget to book your virtual seat at CIONEXT | Mastering the Cloud: www.cionext.com!

Colin Fisher, Global Senior Director, Cloud Partner Ecosystem at Red Hat, is a panellist at CIONEXT | Mastering the Cloud on the 29th of November! Register now 👉 www.cionext.com/ and join us for the discussion on:

✅ How complexity impedes progress. How do we optimise processes and maximise value?

✅ How to align business goals with coherent IT and cloud strategies?

✅ How to navigate the challenges of hybrid and multi-cloud setups and how to keep our options open?

In this #LeadershipDeepDive interview, Hendrik Deckers discussed with Colin his experience and the critical role of open-source software in the development of cloud technology. Colin emphasized the importance of agility, scalability, and reliability in adapting cloud-native technologies and also the challenges of cloud adoption, including security and compliance concerns. How can Red Hat guide organisations through the adoption of cloud-native technologies? What is the role of open source in the cloud-native landscape? How can cloud-native strategies empower your digital transformation journey?

Watch the full interview to find out and don’t forget to book your virtual seat at CIONEXT | Mastering the Cloud: www.cionext.com !

Colin Bannon, CTO at BT Business, is a panellist at CIONEXT | The Fabric of Future-proof Organisations on the 18th of October! Register now 👉 www.cionext.com/18 and join us for the discussion on:

✅ How top Digital Leaders architect the businesses of tomorrow? What is the supporting strategy of the future? Do they implement global business services (GBS), and who needs to lead these? What is their IT operating model?

✅ What is the core digital platform strategy and how to select the right components for maximum flexibility and minimum risk, all while ensuring data sovereignty, compliance and privacy?

✅ What’s the optimal IT infrastructure and connectivity underpinning the businesses of the future? How do we manage the cost, performance and resilience of multi-cloud and hybrid architectures, in order to excel in big data, AI & IoT?

In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview, Hendrik Deckers discussed with Colin his experiences and the complex, evolving landscape of network technology and cloud services in the Telco sector. They spotlighted the key challenge of technological complexity, emerging from swift technological advancements and the transition to multifaceted cloud environments. In order to cope with this complexity, organisations need integrated operational models and cohesive internal structures. The conversation brought Hendrik and Colin to the significance of network architecture and introduced BT’s new innovative service, Global Fabric. The latter aims at establishing an interconnection fabric for cloud and multi-cloud environments, as crucial technologies to support the upcoming digital transformations.

How does Cisco and BT help their clients building a platform-based approach and integrating products together? How did they reduce operational complexity? Is the Global Fabric going to change the way businesses view transformation? Listen to the full interview to find out!

#CIONET #CIOcommunity #CIO #CXO #CDO #CTO #DigitalLeadership #ITArchitecture #Platforms #ITInfrastructure @BT Business @Cisco

Olivier Gibert - Global CTO at Carrefour - will join us on the 18th of October at CIONEXT | The Fabric of Future-proof Organisations. Register now 👉 www.cionext.com/18 and don’t miss the discussion on future-proofing your organisation’s platforms, infrastructure and architecture!

Operating in more than 40 countries with over 337,000 employees and several thousand stores, Carrefour is a retail giant with the ambition of becoming the leader of food transition for all.

In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview, Hendrik Deckers discusses with Olivier the challenges the food industry is now facing: faster time to market, perpetually changing customer needs, increasing drive towards personalisation and greater focus on efficiency.

Olivier describes Carrefour’s IT strategy, which revolves around five pillars, in more detail. He underlines the importance of enhancing performance via data, tech use in boosting commercial activity, future-proofing the organisation with innovations like generative AI, cloud adoption, and refining working methodologies. Olivier touches upon the gradual and strategic organisational transformation from a country-specific model to a synchronised structure while navigating the challenges of legacy systems, varied market conditions, data management and increasing security across diverse geographical locations.

How did Carrefour choose the most effective IT operating model? How do you select the right components for maximum flexibility and minimum risk while creating a core digital platform strategy? What’s the optimal IT infrastructure and connectivity underpinning the businesses of the future? Watch the full interview to find out and don’t forget to book your virtual seat at CIONEXT | The Fabric of Future-proof Organisations 👉 www.cionext.com/18!

“We are the plumbers of the Internet,” says Gordon Thomson, VP Service Provider EMEA at Cisco. Register now 👉 www.cionext.com/18 and join us on the 18th of October at CIONEXT | The Fabric of Future-proof Organisations, to discuss “IT plumbing” in more detail:

✅ How top Digital Leaders architect the businesses of tomorrow

✅ Their core digital platform strategy

✅ The optimal IT infrastructure setup

Cisco will be represented on the panel by Alexandra Zagury, VP, Partner Managed & as-a-Service, Global Partner Sales!

In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview, Hendrik Deckers discussed with Gordon the principal challenges Digital Leaders encounter today. Due to economic pressures, organisations must restructure their operations. Simplification, enhancing security, reducing energy costs, and improving user experience have become not just a priority but a necessity. Gordon also elaborated on Cisco’s transformation from being product-feature-focused to becoming an outcomes-and-platform-driven organisation.

IT infrastructure currently utilises 1-2% of global electricity, and this figure is projected to rise to 3-4%, due to the proliferation of data, advancements in cloud technology, and increased utilisation of AI. Gordon discussed sustainability at Cisco, where innovation is driven by the creation of solutions that are both circular and energy-efficient, prioritising mitigating the impacts of this increasing energy consumption.

How do Cisco and BT help their clients by building a platform-based approach and integrating products? How did they reduce operational complexity? How does the company ensure data security whilst transporting 80% of internet traffic? Are AI & Automation going to erase human interaction from network observability and management entirely? Watch the full interview to find out!

Bart Kerkhofs, VP IT at Bridgestone EMIA, will join us on the 18th of October at CIONEXT | The Fabric of Future-Proof Organisations! Register now 👉 www.cionext.com/18 and don’t miss the discussion on how top Digital Leaders future-proof their organisations by re-architecting their businesses, platforms, and infrastructures.

With a retail colossus status of 6,000 outlets spanning Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa, Bridgestone is widely recognised for its premium tyres. However, it’s not just about manufacturing anymore. The company has embarked on a journey towards becoming a tech-centric giant.

In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview, Hendrik Deckers discussed with Bart the shifts in the automotive industry, driven by CASE vehicles (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electrified), and the organisation’s transformative journey to re-architect the business from a pure manufacturing entity to a sustainable solutions company. Bart explained three pillars that were key to Bridgestone’s success on this journey: the Digital IT Backbone, the Digital Operating Model Change, and the Creation of the IT Partner Ecosystem.

While discussing their implementation approach, Bart mentioned an "evolutionary over revolutionary" strategy and described Bridgestone’s Fleet Care service, their "cloud-first" focus, and the creation of the Enterprise Platforms Team.

Is development tool democratisation a key focus for Bridgestone at the moment? How does the company maintain its commitment to sustainability and innovation? How are their current platforms leveraged to achieve better business results? Watch the full interview to find out!

Davio Larnout, Co-founder and CEO at Radix, is making waves in the world of AI. Watch the #CIONET Leadership Deep Dive Interview as he discusses the impact and potential of AI in various industries. Radix is a pioneering AI company that delivers transformative solutions with the objective of creating real impact for clients through AI leverage.

Learn from Davio’s remarkable journey, driven by his passion for entrepreneurship and technology. Recognise the critical significance of understanding AI's capacity and the value of experimentation in uncovering its true potential. Davio recommends rethinking your organisation's processes and business models to fully harness AI's transformative power and unlock its boundless possibilities.

In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview with Hendrik Deckers, Davio explains how Radix is using various AI categories, like deep learning and generative AI, to help automate cognitive tasks and push the boundaries of innovation. He illustrates this by explaining how the implementation of natural language processing has transformed the job-matching process at VDAB.

CIONET invites you to watch this new episode to gain insights into Radix's strategic commitment, its approach to centralisation and decentralisation, and its focus on building AI applications that deliver tangible and meaningful value.

Artie Debidien, EVP/CIO Consumer Wholesale Enterprise at KPN, was one of the speakers at the international virtual conference CIONEXT on April 26. Hendrik Deckers meets her in the office of the Dutch telecom KPN to interview about her broad educational experience, views on innovation, and how she developed as a digital leader.

“KPN will always go for sustainable innovation,” says Artie, “and everyone should be part of it — it’s a dance floor wherein you ask everyone to dance.” The focus on teamwork and common passing through mistakes and failures distinguishes her approach to leadership and innovation.

From the interview, we learned that with every innovative enterprise comes a scale of risks and new value where the latter needs to be justified. AI is a true needle-shifter, being known for the fears about security and privacy it produces in the wider public. Artie believes AI will not percolate into business at an apocalyptic tempo and the benefits it brings will be distributed at a safe pace. “You need to drive the change” is her answer and she stresses the talent people bring into continuous innovation.

How is Agile working at a company with a 1000 people in IT? How does KPN innovate on a daily basis? And finally, why did Artie change from a lion to an elephant in her fascinating, diverse career? Watch the full Leadership Deep Dive interview with Artie Debidien to find the answers and perhaps discover why always shooting for the moon is a worthy tactic.

“Red Hat is an enterprise software company with an open source development model that is helping the world to consume open source software in a very productive manner”. Over the past 30 years Red Hat grew from 100 to 20 000 employees and over the last 5 years the company’s revenue has doubled.

In this #LeadershipDeepDive interview Hendrik Deckers talks to Hans Roth, Senior Vice President & General Manager Red Hat EMEA, about managing such an impressive growth and the key components that allowed the company reach this size: people, culture, innovative, open source development model and the ecosystem of clients, partners, integrators and hyperscalers - just to name a few.

Hans explained how he currently sees the evolving role of the CIO in organisations, how Red Hat helps companies be more successful and how providing choice for customers has always been a vital part of Red Hat’s DNA. Hendrik also asked Hans about the open hybrid cloud strategy, the role of digital sovereignty in today’s world and the culture of passion cultivated at the organisation.

Find out more and watch the full interview now!

Arlene Buehler, CIO/CDO at DB Cargo is the keynote speaker at #CIONEXT, our flipped virtual conference next week, April 26th. Register here https://www.cionext.com/17 and find out how top organisations are driving innovation!

In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview Hendrik Deckers talked with Arlene Buehler about the challenges DB Cargo faces. With 31 000 employees and operating across Europe and in China, DB Cargo is the biggest rail freight provider in Europe. „One train can replace 52 containers”, Arlene pointed and this translates to a gigantic reduction of CO2 emissions. Bringing more traffic from the road to rail is DB Cargo’s mission enabled by Automation and Digitalisation.

„I’ve always been a big fan of business and IT fusion”, says Arlene. And she brings this motto into the organisation. She puts strong emphasis on close communication and collaboration by creating communities and being sensitive and open to the challenges the business and partners are facing. „I'm also a believer that we should not reinvent the wheel. There's a lot of good practices from our competition, but also from our partners. And I'm also a very big fan of co-creation.”

Having lived and worked across four continents, it is not surprising that dialogue and effective communication are key elements of Arlene’s leadership and management style.

How does Arlene see the success of innovation? How can AI detect train damages? Can DB Cargo have an Amazon-like interface? What is DB Cargo’s data strategy and what role AI plays in it? How to achieve work-life balance in today’s world and why is it so important?

Watch the full interview to learn more and don’t forget to join us online on April 26th and watch Arlene with fellow panellists at the next CIONEXT conference. Register here https://www.cionext.com/17

#LeadershipDeepDive #AI #Automation #CIO #CxO #DigitalLeaders #DigitalLeadership #CIONET #innovation #technology #data #cloud #UiPath