JANUARY 16, 2025
As we wrap up another exciting year, it's time to take a look back at some of the standout moments from Evanta’s EMEA and Australia CIO Communities. This year, over 800 CIOs participated in our proprietary Leadership Perspective Survey, giving us invaluable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing IT leaders today. These insights help shape our programmes, ensuring they address the most pressing issues and trends in the tech world.
Across 16 communities in 10 cities and 8 countries, we delivered 33 Town Halls, 10 Executive Summits, and 13 Inner Circle Dinners. On reflection, three key themes for CIOs emerged for the second half of the year: delivering digital innovation to drive value, maximising existing resources to optimise costs, and leading organisations through advanced technology adoption.
Let's take a closer look at some of the communities’ highest-rated sessions in the second half of the year.
Highly-Rated Presentations
Sustainability & Digital Acceleration — A Journey of People, Data and Technology
Kirsty Bennett, CIO of Bentley Motors, captivated UK & Ireland CIO Community Members in October with her keynote on sustainability and digital acceleration. She explored Bentley's 'Beyond100' strategy, emphasising IT's crucial role in driving sustainability amidst rapidly evolving tech lifecycles.
One CIO in the manufacturing industry said: “I loved it. Very humble, engaging and authentic, but also lots of value and stuff that resonated with me.”
Leading the Digital Revolution — Unleashing Efficiency and Elevating Customer Experience
John Cox, CTO at Coles, delivered an engaging opening keynote at the Melbourne CIO Executive Summit in November on leveraging digital tools and AI to enhance operations and customer experiences. He discussed fostering a culture of innovation through smart automation and data insights, ensuring Coles remains at the forefront by providing seamless digital interactions.
One community member had this to say after: “Very pragmatic and realistic presentation.”
Transform Your Enterprise — Lessons From Cloud Migration
This practical case study on cloud migration delivered by Vinay Kumar, CTO at Landmark Group, offered CIOs at the Middle East Executive Summit in September essential lessons on managing IT budgets. Kumar emphasised the importance of clear communication about cloud costs, partnering effectively, and taking a holistic approach to applications.
“Great, valuable information” was one comment from a Banking CIO based in Riyadh, KSA.
Digital Acceleration — A Journey of People, Technology and Data
Alessandro De Luca, Group CIO at Merck Group, shared insights on how data and technology drive innovation and business success to his peers at November’s DACH CIO Executive Summit. He highlighted the significance of a people-first approach in tech implementation and discussed factors for scaling digital initiatives.
One community member shared: “Very interesting and encouraging session and presented in a very professional, relaxed manner. It also contained a lot of content relevant to me. So really inspiring.”
Scale Local Applications for Global Deployment to Transform & Simplify User Experience
Olivier Gibert, Global CTO at Carrefour, provided strategies for scaling local applications for global deployment. Carrefour's impressive recent rollout of the Pick and Pack Programme meant he was able to share guidance on identifying suitable applications for broader deployment and transforming them for global compatibility. Gibert emphasized a smooth, incremental rollout while phasing out legacy systems, focusing on a seamless, omnichannel approach.
One CIO Governing Body member said: “Very instructive and able to apply in my context.”
Communicate Cost & Value of ERP Transformation to Influence Decision-Making
In a dynamic panel moderated by Taras Podbereznyj, CIOs from leading organisations in the Nordics, including Transtema, Nobia, Vaisala Oyj, and MOWI, discussed navigating ERP transformations. The conversation centered on building a compelling business case for stakeholder buy-in, implementing cost-effective technologies, and upskilling users for new systems.
“The engagement and collective knowledge of the peer group is fantastic,” said one Nordic CIO Community Member.
Gartner Futures Lab — The Future of Leadership
At the Gartner Futures Lab, Frank Buytendijk, Distinguished VP Analyst, has been exploring the evolving landscape of leadership in the modern world. The provocative closing keynote examined current leadership practices and the impact of AI and digital transformation on executive roles, asking – is human augmentation the future of leadership? Together with Buytendijk, Benelux CIOs discussed the dynamics of distributed versus centralised leadership, offering insights into the future of leadership across industries.
A Governing Body Member said: “Loved the philosophical discussions and hearing the different points of view.”
Most Popular Content for CIOs
Town Hall Insights: AI-Driven Advancement – Strategies for Success
With AI and GenAI remaining key topics across our communities, CIOs in the DACH region discussed how to use AI in meaningful ways, build trust and transparency in the organisation, and ensure that humans remain central to the AI revolution. These are takeaways from their discussion on how AI is redefining productivity, strategy, and leadership.
Peer Practices: 6 Influential CIOs Offer Their Advice on ESG Initiatives
With many key priorities -- from emerging technologies, generative AI, legacy systems and increasing expectations from stakeholders -- knowing how to tackle sustainability through IT can be tough. We asked six CIOs who are members of Evanta communities what they are currently doing to achieve their goals for ESG and sustainability – these are their takeaways.
Infographic: 2024 CIO Leadership Perspectives
Each year, we analyze the responses from our Leadership Perspective Survey and share the key priorities for IT leaders from around the world. As CIOs launched their top initiatives for 2024, this was a snapshot of what 1,100 CIOs reported in our survey.
Blog: Three Areas of Focus for CIOs in 2024
At the start of the year, we look ahead and predict the critical areas of focus for CIOs, based on hundreds of conversations with community members.
Session Insights: Unifying IT Ecosystems to Accelerate Decision-Making
At the Middle East CIO & CISO Executive Summit, Taha Tkito, CIO at Americana Foods, shared lessons learned from his team's journey in unifying IT infrastructure across a vast manufacturing organization. Here, he discusses the five defining moments of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) digital transformation.
Here are a few sentiments shared by CIO community members this year that remind us of the power of community and collective knowledge:
The various formats, like executive boardrooms and Peer-to-Peer [Meetings] are incredible meeting opportunities.”
- CTO from the Middle East CIO Community
Of all CIO events, I feel [Evanta] is the most brilliant and relevant in the quality of the content and the industry peers they manage to bring to the event!”
- Melbourne CIO Community Member
My first Evanta event, and I will be making it a priority to go to all of them from now on. I feel more confident in myself and have made some amazing connections in just a short space of time. Brilliant.”
- CIO from $8 billion transport organisation in Europe
As we look forward to another year of peer collaboration through regional CIO communities, we are sharing CIO key themes for 2025. These themes will be reflected throughout agendas at virtual and in-person gatherings in the first half of next year.
- Collaboration and Co-Ownership to Drive Digital Innovation
- Empowering Business Technologists
- Focus on Architecture and Innovation
Are you a C-level technology leader looking to validate strategies with your CIO peers? Apply to join your local CIO community, or if you are already a member, sign in to MyEvanta to find opportunities to connect with peers in your community.
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