Executive Lunch
Building the Intelligent, Adaptive Enterprise: AI Transformation, Resiliency and Modernization in Financial Services
October 22nd, 2026 at 12:30 pm | Toronto
Canadian financial institutions are accelerating AI investment, with spending rising across Banking (+72.3% YoY), Insurance (+79.3%), and Capital Markets (+75.8%). Yet readiness lags: only 17% of financial services organizations actively use agentic AI today, while 34% are still exploring.
Data quality and governance remain the top implementation challenge, cited by 47% of Canadian enterprises. With ROI driving AI initiative selection, technology leaders must determine the infrastructure, funding, and operating models needed to scale agentic AI effectively.
IDC, together with Wipro and Microsoft, will convene a curated group of director-level and senior technology leaders from Canadian financial institutions for a candid lunch discussion in Toronto. The roundtable offers an opportunity to benchmark your modernization journey against peers and inform AI investment priorities through IDC research.
61% of Canadian organizations
plan to significantly increase agentic AI spend in 2026, compared with 49% globally.
Most important factors when selecting AI initiatives
ROI potential leads the AI initiative-selecting priorities at 61% in Canada, outpacing the 48% worldwide average.
ROI potential outweighing strategic alignment as a selection criterion points to a bottom-up, project-by-project funding model, where individual business cases compete on payback rather than being sequenced against a broader portfolio strategy.
Technology leaders approving use cases primarily on ROI should treat the resulting capability gap as a funded line item in the business case, not a risk to discover after approval.
Source: IDC’s Functional Agentic AI Survey and IDC’s AI Leaders and Use Case Study (combined), May 2026; (WW n = 2,951, Canada n = 125)
Discussion Themes
Four Conversations Every Tech Executive Should Be Having Right Now
Agentic Transformation: Ambition vs. Reality
AI investment intent in Canada already outpaces the global average, but it does not always translate into deployment. Where leaders sit today in their AI journey, how are funding decisions made (and by who), and what challenges arise as usage scales.
Infrastructure readiness: The Trust Foundation
Data quality and governance is the top challenge enterprises name for agentic AI implementation. How leaders value data readiness, what still needs to be done to trust it, and how organizations weigh the build versus buy versus outsource decision.
The Funding Question
In Canada, ROI potential leads the criteria for selecting AI initiatives. How leaders are making the AI business case, how is spending allocated in different categories, and who owns the strategic mandate ahead of the next five years.
Beyond the Pilot
An adaptive enterprise continuously converts pilots into scaled, governed capability rather than letting them stall. How organizations keep learning and adjusting after deployment, who owns the strategy adaptation, and how to drive it into enterprise-wide.
What To Expect
An executive dinner led by a skilled moderator
An intimate gathering of senior IT leaders from diverse industries, grappling with similar issues
A secure, private conversation open only to a carefully vetted group
Your host
Megha Kumar
Research Vice President, Analytics & AI
IDC
Read bio
Megha Kumar
Megha Kumar heads software and cloud services research at IDC Canada. As a research vice president, Megha is responsible for managing and delivering projects across technology areas such as cloud services, enterprise applications, software and digital transformation for the Canadian market. She manages both the Canadian Software as a Service (SaaS) and Canadian Cloud Platforms (PaaS and IaaS) research programs in Canada
In addition to research, Megha has aided vendors with go-to-market engagements to improve market awareness and provide end users with essential guidance on technology adoption. She regularly interacts with CIOs and IT decision makers regarding their technology preferences, priorities, and concerns.
She originally joined IDC in 2007 covering the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey region, based out of Dubai, U.A.E. In her previous role at IDC, she regularly provided insights on market dynamics, vendor strategies, and end-user trends across the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey for both global and regional ICT firms as well as public sector organizations.
Megha presents at various industry and vendor conferences. She is often quoted in the media, providing opinions on technologies and market dynamics. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Marketing from York University, Canada.
Agenda
IDC Executive Lunch in partnership with Wipro & Microsoft
One Day Event
Networking Reception
A private reception bringing together senior executives and industry analysts to connect, exchange perspectives, and set context for the evening’s discussion.
Lunch & Discussion
A moderated, off‑the‑record discussion over lunch focused on real‑world execution challenges, emerging industry priorities, and their implications for enterprise leaders.
Event Concludes
The lunch concludes with brief closing remarks and informal follow‑up conversations, reinforcing key takeaways and ongoing peer engagement.
Partners
Sponsored By
Wipro
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have a dedicated workforce of over 170,000, serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.
Microsoft
Microsoft technology is fundamental to business success today. It boosts productivity, fuels innovation, and secures your critical data. With thousands of new capabilities released each year, Microsoft continuously advances what is possible — helping organisations modernise, optimise, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape