Program

In an era defined by rapid market shifts and increasing uncertainty, digital sovereignty powered by open source, is no longer just a technical consideration, but a leadership topic. This roundtable invites IT decision-makers into an open dialogue on how to reduce proprietary lock-in, embrace transparent innovation, and strengthen operational resilience. Through shared experiences and perspectives, we will explore how organizations can gain the flexibility to pivot, scale, and secure their infrastructure, turning digital sovereignty into a strategic asset rather than a vulnerability.

As data environments expand across cloud, on-prem, hybrid, SaaS, analytics platforms, and emerging AI implementations, many organisations lack continuous visibility into where sensitive data resides, how it is accessed, and where it may be exposed. Without a mature Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) capability, security and governance frameworks struggle to keep pace, leaving gaps in oversight, accountability, and risk management. In this context, innovation can quickly outpace control, increasing regulatory exposure, operational vulnerability, and board-level concern.

As talent becomes a critical constraint, the digital workplace plays a decisive role in attracting, enabling, and retaining employees. This roundtable invites IT decision‑makers to discuss how the right tools and experiences support productivity, engagement, and choice. A dialogue on balancing employee expectations, IT strategy, and business outcomes in a competitive talent market.

AI increases the speed and complexity of incidents, making it harder to understand what is happening and why. This roundtable brings IT decision‑makers together to discuss how data and visibility across systems support awareness, response, and continuity in AI‑driven environments. A dialogue focused on how organizations make sense of disruption, build trust in their data, and strengthen resilience when insight matters as much as action.

More and more solutions are being built outside the IT department. That brings speed and innovation, but also the risk of silos, security issues and lack of coordination. In this roundtable, we will discuss how IT decision-makers can create the right frameworks so business teams can build safely and effectively. We will also explore how to turn enterprise data into new business models and revenue streams. Join fellow IT leaders for an open conversation about how IT can move from support function to co-driver of business value.

AI is reshaping global hardware demand and memory is at the center of the storm. Prices are volatile, lead times are extending, and allocation is becoming the norm. For CIOs, infrastructure strategy now depends as much on securing supply as on defining architecture. How do you protect your roadmap in a market where availability moves faster than budgets?Join this executive roundtable to exchange perspectives on securing capacity, managing volatility, and staying competitive in the AI-driven supply reality.

Most IT organizations still manage network, compute, storage, and security in separate silos, adding complexity and vendor sprawl. But AI and automation are changing the game, letting these technologies run as one unified, self-optimizing system instead of a patchwork. What would that shift mean for how we make decisions, structure our IT teams, and deliver new value to the business? Let’s explore how IT decision-makers can move from stitching systems together to orchestrating them by design and how a unified approach could free teams to drive innovation.

AI is moving fast, but so are the expectations for control, trust, and compliance. In this roundtable, we’ll explore how IT and business leaders can build AI strategies that scale across the organization while respecting local rules and values. What choices support long-term flexibility, and how do we avoid locking ourselves into platforms we can’t control? Let’s talk about how to make sovereignty a business advantage.

Digital friction is draining productivity. Employees lose hours each week to tech troubles. As budgets tighten and hybrid work models become permanent, organisations need smarter solutions. How can you move from reacting to IT problems to proactively creating a seamless digital employee experience? In this roundtable, we explore how AI‑driven tools like the HP Workforce Experience Platform (WXP) can help optimise device management, reduce unnecessary spend, and improve productivity. Through open dialogue and peer-to-peer sharing, we’ll focus on best practices to reduce digital friction, optimise resources, and enable hybrid work.

What if your challenge of skill shortage, old OT systems, regulatory compliance, and lack of visibility could be leveraged? In this roundtable, we will explore how ageing operational technology - technical debt – can be cashed in, as a catalyst for consolidation, resilience, and compliance. Let’s challenge the traditional view of OT - with the right foundation we are ready to unleash agentic AI, secure and automate the operational infrastructure with a potential of significant business value.

This roundtable brings IT decision-makers together for an open discussion on how to strengthen resilience, governance, and digital sovereignty in response to growing uncertainty. With perspectives on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), we will explore how a more consistent IT foundation can help organizations increase control, reduce operational complexity, and create greater flexibility in how critical services are delivered. Through peer dialogue and shared experiences, the session will focus on practical choices, trade-offs, and lessons learned to support both near-term delivery and long-term growth.

This session marks the official launch of CIO Analytics 2026. We highlight the key shifts shaping the role of the CIO: the growing expectation that IT decision-makers bring business insight to the table, the persistent pressure of cybersecurity, the rise of AI, and the broader transformation of IT from operational backbone to strategic driver. A data-driven look at the paradigm shift defining IT leadership in 2026. Sara Amini will be joined on stage by Morten Petri Frandsen, Global IT Director at Fibertex Nonwovens A/S, who will share his perspective on the CIO mindset and how resources and investments are prioritized in practice.