CAIO Institute: UK

- Discuss strategies for cultivating a culture of innovation within IT teams and across the organisation, fostering creativity and idea generation
- Identify opportunities for innovation within your organisation and align with technology initiatives with overall business objectives
- The importance of staying abreast of technology trends and leverage emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain and IoT to drive innovation
- Explore the role of risk-taking and a tolerance for failure in fostering an environment where innovation can thrive, encouraging experimentation and learning from setbacks
- How we can implement strategies to future-proof organisations by anticipating and adapting to evolving technology landscapes, market trends and customer needs

• Darryl Beckford, Director of Architecture, Consumer, BT (Moderator)
• Gabriel Chan, IT Director, GAW Capital
• Elizabeth Akorita, Group Deputy Director, Digital Delivery, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Joel Deutscher, Executive General Manager – Technology & Innovation, Planit

As the hype around generative AI continues to build, many organisations are grappling with the challenges of digital fragmentation and complexity in their data and processes. In this boardroom session, we'll explore how CIOs can take the lead in driving their companies forward by leveraging intelligent integration and automation to provide the seamless services and applications needed to support change, growth, and scalability. We'll discuss the realities of generative AI, its opportunities for transformation, and practical approaches for scaling AI initiatives in a cohesive, integrated manner.

Discussion points:
- How is digital fragmentation impacting your organisation's productivity, decision-making, and customer experiences, and what are the key pain points and bottlenecks caused by siloed data and disconnected processes?
- How can intelligent integration solutions and process automation help break down data silos, streamline cross-functional processes, and drive operational efficiencies to achieve digital cohesion within your organisation?
- What are the key considerations and strategies for successfully scaling AI initiatives across the organisation, ensuring data governance, security, and compliance, while also fostering a culture of innovation and embracing new technologies like generative AI?

Boomi

Daniel provides a radical new framework for thinking about AI, and discusses how organisations can practically adopt these technologies and avoid being seduced by the hype.

He argues that whilst these technologies are incredible at creating growth and streamlining operations, for companies to stay innovative they need to also use AI to unlock the creative capacity of their workforce.

Daniel also covers the macro impact these technologies may have over the coming decades.

Daniel Hulme, CAIO, WPP

• Discussing how AI is redefining the boundaries of personalised customer interactions, making tailor-made experiences the new norm in customer satisfaction.
• Exploring actionable strategies to weave AI into your customer experience initiatives, ensuring personalisation at an unprecedented scale.
• Unpacking the challenges of implementing AI-based personalisation.
• How can industry pioneers mastered AI-driven personalisation, and what key lessons and best practices can we adopt to enhance our own customer experience strategies?

• How does hyperautomation advance beyond traditional automation to transform modern enterprise operations and drive significant efficiency gains?
• What are the practical steps for integrating hyperautomation into business processes, from choosing the right technologies to optimising workforce involvement and process efficiency?
• How can organisations effectively measure the impact and return on investment of their hyperautomation efforts, in terms of productivity improvements, cost savings, and operational enhancements?

Local authorities are responsible for delivering many vital services to residents, visitors and businesses in defined geographical areas. They are also responsible for the built environment. Being responsible means making effective decisions, investing in, and managing, services that meet local requirements whilst complying with rules and regulations set out by central government. Our ability to do this well is dependent on being able to make sense of the vast amounts of complex data and information that we have access to. Capabilities provided by AI can be used to create a better understanding of the interplay across many of the social and environmental challenges that local authorities need to manage and can lead to more holistic policy development, better planning and optimised service delivery.

With over 11,000 locations, Post Office is by far the largest retailer in the UK. The organisation’s critical socio-economic role requires a fit-for-purpose technology estate, but providing modern technology to over 50,000 Postmasters and their staff has not been without challenges.

Join the Post Office CDIO for a fireside chat and learn more about one of the largest enterprise tech modernisation efforts in recent memory, the strategy and difficult choices behind it, and some of the lessons learned for business and tech leaders at large enterprises faced with daunting levels of technology debt.

Zdravko Mladenov, Group Chief Digital and Information Officer, Post Office Ltd

Integrating AI strategies with robust data governance is pivotal for driving innovation and securing competitive advantage in today's digital landscape. This panel will focus on:

- Exploring how to align AI initiatives with data governance frameworks can catalyse innovation while ensuring compliance and data quality.
- Diving into the criticality of ethical AI practices, and discussing actionable strategies for leaders to embed these principles within their organisations to foster trust and transparency.
- Insights into overcoming the challenges of building in-house AI and data expertise, including fostering a culture of continuous learning and the importance of diversity in tech teams to enrich perspectives and innovation.
- A forward-looking discussion on the next wave of trends in the data and AI landscape, preparing leaders to adapt and thrive in the evolving digital ecosystem.

Jon Clay, Data Director, Solera (Moderating)

Martin French, CDO, Apex Group