IDC & Black Box Executive Dinner
Building the Right Foundations for an AI-Ready Enterprise
IDC’s research shows that improving security, compliance, and business resilience while also increasing agility and flexibility are at the top of the list for European organizations when it comes to IT service delivery strategy. But for many organizations, making progress towards these goals is really challenging. IT organizations have to balance many competing priorities when it comes to funding, and what funding there is, is mostly spent on keeping the lights on rather than driving digital or IT transformation.
The top quarter most digitally advanced companies have embraced infrastructure transformation, and the results are stark – these Digital Leaders see greatly enhanced revenue growth compared to the mainstream of IT. These advanced organizations embrace emerging technologies widely and deeply to deliver better business results – and this is especially important in the new Digital Economy where IT is increasingly responsible for the Digital Experience of customers, partners, and employees – and critically for many, also the business model. Digital Leaders are the pioneers of GenAI – with 54% extensively adopting GenAI for business use cases, compared to just 14% for the Digital Mainstream.
For organizations looking to increase their competitiveness and differentiation to match the Digital Leaders, transformation is essential. In this AI-driven environment, communications matter as much as compute and memory for a successful outcome and getting the foundations right is essential. This involves closing the automation gap and working with expert partners that have the knowledge, skills, and experience to help deliver the required change quickly, reliably, and with lower TCO.
This exclusive dinner offers a confidential setting for senior technology leaders across retail, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, and logistics to exchange real-world experience. Participants will gain IDC’s independent perspective on how European enterprises can close the infrastructure-readiness gap and prepare for an AI-Ready future.
Agenda
IDC & Black Box Executive Dinner
One Day Event
Welcome & Champagne Reception
Welcome Address from IDC & Black Box
Andrew Buss
Senior Research Director, Infrastructure, IDC Europe
Delegate Introductions
Starter Discussion Topic & Feedback – High-Performance Infrastructure: Delivering AI Successfully at Scale
As organizations increasingly adopt AI, how are they having to rethink prior assumptions about compute, storage, networking, and security. This discussion will explore how new levels of performance, integration, and manageability are required to move beyond Proof of Concept and deliver a successful AI-Ready infrastructure that scales seamlessly in production.
Main Course Discussion Topic & Feedback – Secure and Resilient Enterprise Networks: Enabling the AI-Driven Business
As organizations continue to adopt cloud, SaaS and AI technologies, secure and resilient networking remains the foundation for performance, user experience and business continuity. This discussion will explore how modern architectures such as SD-WAN, SASE and Zero Trust help organizations optimize connectivity, strengthen security, and support digital transformation initiatives.
Dessert Discussion Topic & Feedback – Optimizing Secure Connectivity: Visibility, Control and AI-Enabled Operations
Securing connectivity is only the first step. Organizations are increasingly looking to unify networking and security through single-pane-of-glass management, enhanced observability, and AI-assisted operations. This discussion will focus on improving operational efficiency, accelerating troubleshooting, strengthening compliance, and maintaining consistent visibility and control across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Coffee Served & Evaluation Forms Distributed
Event Close
Speakers
Andrew Buss
Senior Research Director, Infrastructure
IDC Europe
Read bio
Andrew Buss
Partner
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