Artificial intelligence and people were focal points at the twentieth celebration of CIODAY. We have reached a point where we can see what AI can do every day, but we are also starting to realize that a large part of future developments is invisible behind our knowledge horizon. The contributions on stage swung back and forth between the known and the unknown. Still, the common thread was: taking people into account in the transitions we are going through as a society and as organizations.
Tech comes in second place: without the right people and training people in the right way, investments in technology do not yield value. This development is a testament to the CIO, who has transformed from a glorified IT manager into a manager of digital talent in two decades. However, it could well be that the next two years will bring more changes for the CIO than the past twenty.
Video Killed the Radio Star
The day was kicked off by an AI-generated video of former CIO of the Year Hylke Sprangers, who, accompanied by the 1979 hit Video Killed the Radio Star, put the technological developments of the last 250 years in a broader perspective. “Every fifty years we see a new wave of technology that makes the old obsolete. And now we see the convergence of nanotechnology, quantum computing, data, and artificial intelligence: in short, we must prepare for the unknown.”
An IT strategy aligned with a corporate strategy
Aart Rupert, CIO of the year 2023, enthusiastically explained how he tackled the transformation of Damen Shipyards. “Our key success factor is that the IT strategy is fully aligned with the corporate strategy.” This rests on the pillars of customer centricity, digitalization, smart products, sustainability, and operational excellence. A second factor is that Damen thinks about the value for the customer, the employees, and the financial stakeholders in everything it does. A third factor is working agile to manage innovation, and, in parallel, maintaining a waterfall approach for replacing legacy. The final success factor is the quality of collaboration in the teams. Rupert is keen to state that the transition can only succeed because of the great teams in the company, who work together in an egalitarian way.
Risk-free journey to a ‘consumable’ multi-cloud
Even companies with roots in the digitalization of our society can suffer from legacy. Outdated databases and systems can slow down an organization’s cloud ambitions. This was also the case at Vodafone, said Arman Ashouriha, Head of Cloud Infrastructure Modernization. He looked for the best possible technology that could modernize the organization’s complex IT landscape in an accelerated, efficient, and risk-free way. Thanks to an intensive collaboration with Oracle, Vodafone can clean up legacy systems and prepare for a migration to the public cloud. “I think many companies are facing similar challenges and are looking for a smooth transition from legacy to a distributed, business-centric multi-cloud – preferably delivered in a consumable way that incentivizes people across the organization to make the most of it.”
AI is key to security in an AI-driven future
The surge in public cloud technology has also changed the way we think about network security. “For years, we’ve built hub-and-spoke networks, trusting everything inside the network and distrusting everything outside the network. That architecture has become a threat,” said Ray Chaudhry, founder of Zscaler. Our IT landscape has become complex, with new software solutions constantly being added. “No wonder the bad guys keep coming,” he said. That’s why we need comprehensive AI security to protect public and private AI applications, which is why Zscaler has launched its Zero Trust Exchange. He sees a crucial role for AI agents in cybersecurity and in solving UX and EX issues.
Kurt De Ruwe, CIO of AkzoNobel, puts Zscaler’s philosophy into practice and proves that a large company can successfully adopt a zero-trust approach. The paint and coatings manufacturer monitors the entire digital experience – end-to-end – of all users. “Some people think the network is secure, but that’s nonsense.” De Ruwe described the headquarters as a “coffee shop with free Wi-Fi,” where only business-critical applications run on their own network segment. Of course, extra protection is needed for installations and operational technology (OT). And “implementing zero trust obviously requires strong buy-in from the C-suite, otherwise you won’t get it off the ground,” De Ruwe said.
AI + cybersecurity = turbocharged attacks
While Chaudhry sees AI as the primary enabler of effective cybersecurity, Helmut Reisinger, CEO of Palo Alto Networks for EMEA, put it a little differently. The combination of cybersecurity and AI is creating a rapidly changing threat landscape. “AI is turbocharging the number of attacks. There are 2.3 million new attacks every day,” the CEO warned. “The time between compromise and detection is now six days, and that will have to be much shorter in the future.”
Reisinger also stated that AI is indispensable to finding an answer to the mass adoption of AI among criminals. “We have to fight AI with AI. Companies use thirty to forty toolsets to protect their IT. That is far too expensive, simplification is needed.” This is only possible with AI-powered tools, such as Precision AI and Zero Trust, Code to Cloud, and AI-driven SOC platforms from Palo Alto.
Change will never be as slow again
Where previous speakers mainly mentioned AI concerning concrete developments, Dave Wright, Chief Innovation Officer for ServiceNow, zoomed out. The industrial revolution, the first wave of automation, and the digital revolution have accelerated change. This speed has never been faster than it is now, but it will never be as slow again.” All inventions of the last century have been made without artificial intelligence. Human inventors have a limited capacity. AI will surpass the average intelligence of 120. What will happen when AI surpasses us by 1,200 points?”
People are trying to do what they always did, but now with the help of AI, it is more efficient. “But we need to embrace an AI mindset,” Wright said. “It’s not about doing more of the same with AI, it’s about doing things with AI that you couldn’t do before.” In short: we need to prepare for the digital butterfly effect. Wright gave an example of this: the rise of autonomous cars will lead to fewer traffic fatalities, which will mean fewer donor organs will be available in the future, which is why the medical sector is already investing in research into cloning human organs. This is also a consequence of the rapid evolution of AI.
Concerns about digital readiness
While Wright outlined the unfathomable that lies ahead in the near future, Michael Bradshaw focused on the conclusion of his company’s latest research report. Digital leaders may be confident, but they are also concerned about the digital readiness of their organizations. Bradshaw has served as CIO at several large American companies and recently became SVP & Global Practice Leader for Applications, Data & AI at Kyndryl. According to him, the IT landscape is far too complex, and organizations need to rationalize their application landscape. As an example, he cited IBM, which has reduced approximately 1,800 software solutions to fewer than 260. Bradshaw, still as CIO at Kyndryl, has also initiated a successful transformation. “We can’t continue doing what we’ve always done,” he said, “but a lot of people in the C-suite shy away from critical questions.”
His key takeaway: employees and culture determine the success of an IT transformation as much as technical skills and expertise. In addition, an IT transformation is never finished: if you do not continuously ensure adjustments within your IT environment, others will eventually do it for you. Finally: plan, modernize, and transform for the future, not for how the organization is today. The result: Kyndryl is now completely platform-based and has implemented zero trust from the start of the transformation.
Podium debate
After the first plenary round, the podium was for Focco Vijselaar, Managing Director at VNO-NCW, Ronald Verbeek, Director of the CIO Platform Netherlands, and Emily Glastra, chair of the board of NLdigital. The trio had to answer the question of what challenges they saw for Dutch (and European) businesses. Vijselaar mentioned the aging population first. He sees digitalization as the key to productivity growth. The lack of competitiveness in Europe is the second challenge; there is a lack of key players in Europe. Thirdly, there is of course a cybersecurity problem, which can undermine a safe, productive, and competitive society.
AI is one of the solutions, said Ronald Verbeek. We also need to look at cybersecurity again, from scratch. New laws and regulations can help with this. Finally, the most sensitive issue was discussed: the stagnating productivity in the Netherlands and Europe. Because “how productive are we, really,” Emily Glastra wondered. “How can we increase productivity? How can we make citizens more competitive?” Public-private partnerships have a role to play here, and the existing ecosystem around NLdigital can help with this.
Diversity and inclusivity lead to growth
Now that diversity and inclusivity are experiencing headwinds due to populist tendencies, it was opportune to see two people on stage who were looking forward instead of back. Helen Tubb, policy advisor in Brussels, encouraged the vast majority of those present: “DEI is not about sidelining men. It is about embracing everyone, all talents, to generate business value.” And the Dutch tech sector in particular can benefit from this because it has a strikingly low number of female leaders. The benefits have been proven: better financial performance, a larger market share, and, through employee diversity, a better fit with the market. “Remember that women make up fifty percent of the customers,” Tubb said.
She also talked about the results of her PhD research at INSEAD on talent sponsorship. It turns out that women, and to a certain extent minorities, are mentored, but receive too little long-term support in the form of a sponsor, an experienced leader who can bring a talented person to the attention of managers, the board, and other companies. Formalization of sponsorship is desirable to see structural results, Tubb said.
Hamed Sadeghian, CEO of Nearfield Instruments, talked about the teams within his company: “It’s much more fun to work with a diverse group of people. Diverse teams have more perspectives.” But he also says that building a diverse community is less of a challenge than making people feel part of the organization. “Our culture is open and respectful.” This makes it possible to discuss sensitive topics, such as the recent riots in Amsterdam. “We take these things very seriously,” Sadeghian said. This makes employees feel heard and safe.
Working on a safe Europe
A completely different theme is our national and international security. Michiel Borgers, Director of JIVC, the IT organization of the Ministry of Defense, asked for help. “Due to the geopolitical situation we are in, the conflicts in the Middle East and the tensions in the South China Sea, Defense needs people to support components remotely, via IT.” Hostile powers, especially Russia, are trying to sabotage military installations as well as civilian targets. We must be prepared for the unknown. Cooperation is necessary, because “if a large-scale conflict were to occur, not only Defense would be affected, but also the electricity supply, banks, universities, and hospitals. Then we would need each other very much. Let us work together on a safe Europe and a safe NATO,” Borgers concluded.
Practical examples
Human design thinking at Walmart
Subsequently, various use cases were discussed. David Cleaves, Head of Creative at Argodesign, spoke about the design of business applications that his organization specializes in. In recent years, his company has been focusing on systems and interfaces for employees. “How can we apply human design thinking to the complex business software landscape? How can we use design to increase revenue, reduce costs, and make employees’ working lives more productive and efficient so that they are ultimately happier in their jobs?” Cleaves gave the example of the retailer Walmart – the largest private employer in the world with more than two million employees – where Argodesign formed panels of employees to analyze obstacles in the customer journey, come up with solutions, and have them help shape and test them. All the information was brought together in a ‘design language system’, where all the code components are stored. Documenting this journey with employees, communicating it internally, and having them talk about it at various stages gives it extra weight, and the result is that these employees are proud of what they have achieved together, and are happier in what they do.
Digital twin heart
What about a digital twin of a marathon runner’s heart, which can run hundreds of simulations without burdening the athlete? Jessica Heres, Digital Strategy & Innovation Lead Europe at Tata Consultancy Services is full of anticipation: “This kind of AI-enabled digital twin takes technology and innovation to a new level. There is no safer way to see how a heart responds in real time under different conditions.” The technology is not only applicable in sports but also a solution for medical care.
How can companies innovate further with digital twins and AI? Heres provided the answers: they can optimize their decisions based on simulated scenarios. They can scale projects faster, with more confidence, and they can adapt more quickly, by using synthetic data where real data is impractical or impossible.
Virtual medical assistant
How do you make your vision a reality? David Fearne, Global Head of genAI and Analytics at Cognizant, spoke about this. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federal state with wide income disparities, wanted to make its healthcare accessible to all its citizens. With exceptional care that is available 24/7. “The UAE wanted a central telephone helpline modeled on 111 in the UK, where call centers direct patients to the right help via a flow chart. But they didn’t want an army of call center agents. They wanted to provide an expert level, essentially a doctor who is always available.”
With the help of generative AI, Cognizant has built a virtual assistant that can diagnose more than 900 cases with 98.5 percent accuracy. But technology was only part of the solution. There was no existing regulatory framework, so the company worked with authorities and doctors to create a framework based on the pillars of intention, information, cognition, and presentation so that outcomes could be evaluated and people could see how the assistant works and how it arrives at certain questions and answers. The system is operational in a pilot with 4,000 citizens and is working successfully. The system has already attracted interest from other countries, such as the UK and Singapore. It is proof that innovative visions and ideas can be accelerated into production with Gen AI in a transparent way, even in highly regulated environments where emotions play a major role.
AI use cases: often about cost savings, less about process redesign
The final speaker on AI quoted science fiction author William Gibson: “The future is already here, it’s just unevenly distributed.” Matt Prebble, Senior Managing Director, Data and AI Lead at Accenture, shared key insights from the approximately 1,500 AI projects the company has completed across industries, business lines, and processes. Two-thirds of the completed use cases are in customer service, marketing, programming & technology, and knowledge management.
Customers often embrace a dual-track approach: achieving rapid benefits by improving existing processes, while innovating deeply at the core of the value chain. Most companies organize AI innovation through a hub-and-spoke model, where some direction is provided from the center but most innovation happens at the edges. Many organizations start by experimenting en masse with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of proofs of concept, before reverting to centralization for coordination. The vast majority of companies are currently looking for productivity improvements in existing parts: they are primarily looking to save costs, Prebble said.
Less than 10 percent are looking for innovation in the core and designing business models. Five things recur across all successful implementations, Prebble said: leading with value, a strong digital core, a focus on talent, continuous innovation, and responsible AI. Most value, however, is created where business units are connected and all stakeholders work together. The cultural aspect is crucial: investing in people is more important than technology.
Leadership: it’s about people
NN
That thread was picked up by the CIO of the Year 2022. “It’s always great people who create great results, today and tomorrow,” said Rob Visser, CIO at NN. The real value behind information and technology is created by the people behind it, who translate information into actions that provide value for customers. “I don’t manage information or technology, I manage people.” Everyone who works at NN must be able to fully develop their talent. The organization firmly believes in ensuring that its people are better qualified than those of the competition so that the products are also better valued than those of the competition. To achieve this, the non-IT people also need to have some technical knowledge, and that starts at the top. “All board members are tech savvy, they are all certified by MIT. They know what quantum computing is, an API, what cloud computing entails, AI, LLMs…”
Instead of seeing technology as an enabler and a cost item, leaders now realize that it is essential, just like the digital, data-driven organization. However if people do not have sufficient technical knowledge, an organization cannot achieve its goal. That is why NN invests a lot of energy in appropriate training through so-called Guilds, which are led by people selected for their expertise. “This way, everyone has sufficient knowledge to be able to use technology to the maximum.”
FrieslandCampina
Burce Gültekin, CIO at FrieslandCampina, shared an insight she recently gained. Invited for a sailing trip on a racing boat, she learned that crew and technology must be perfectly aligned, otherwise, you capsize. In a board, technology and people must also be in sync, otherwise you cannot navigate properly. To stick with the sailing analogy: “As CIOs, we focus quite a bit on the boat and, to be honest, much less on the art of navigating it in the right direction.” Technology must serve people, and that is why people and customers must always be central when designing solutions with technology and data.
FrieslandCampina has been through a difficult period and had to watch costs and become more efficient. The use of AI supports the organization in this, not only by boosting sales but also by rationalizing all processes in the chain – “from grass to glass” – and by simplifying and improving IT.
It pays to build a “digital supership,” said Gültekin. With strong sails, a strong bow, and a rudder that is flexible enough to change course smoothly. “But don’t forget that people have to sail it through the storm. When you invest in technology, you also have to invest in people. Good leadership inspires and empowers so that people can navigate towards the future.”
Heineken
A new wind has also started blowing at Heineken because the company had lagged in terms of digitalization. And this was primarily a cultural issue, said Ronald den Elzen, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at Heineken. Because the company has mainly grown with many local breweries and brands, a much more central approach than before was needed for successful digitalization. “We started by not talking about technology. At the time, IT was still just a facilitating business unit and reported to the finance department.” But den Elzen received a commitment from senior leaders in the company and today, four years later, digital & technology form one of the five pillars of Heineken’s strategy. “We are now a truly strategic, ‘enabling’ part of the business.”
Heineken was able to do this by training technical people in business knowledge, and by teaching specialists from the business and, for example, the supply chain, technology knowledge. Over the past four years, the company has nearly doubled its technology investment, and the number of people in technical roles has more than doubled. But ultimately, it’s not about the technology, Den Elzen assured. It’s about the transformation, about influencing consumer and employee behavior. And it starts with everyone, across all parts of the business, being on board.
Image by Dennis Khalil