Thomas Karlsson, Event Director at IDC, introducing the program and speakers of the day.

As digital investments accelerate, CIOs face growing complexity: modernizing legacy systems, reducing technical debt, strengthening cybersecurity, ensuring compliance, and preparing their workforce for technology-driven change. IDC research shows that nearly 40% of CIOs expect to overspend on digital infrastructure in the next 18 months, while only a fraction of initiatives deliver measurable business value.

At the same time, the next frontier is emerging: Agentic AI- systems capable of autonomous decision-making and continuous learning. While 77% of European organizations are using GenAI, only 28% have deployed agentic AI. CIOs must now balance innovation with governance, rethinking architecture, skills, and operating models to scale AI safely and strategically.

Build the shared trust layer first—where data and security come together—and every team moves faster.

AI is accelerating modernization efforts, but it’s not the foundation of long-term success. Trust is. Trust is built on the “shared trust layer,” where data and security work together to form the backbone of a resilient, future-ready IT ecosystem. Without robust security, your data is vulnerable; without actionable data, your security measures lack precision. Together, they enable innovation, agility, and long-term impact.

IDC research shows nearly 40% of CIOs expect to overspend on digital infrastructure in the next 18 months, driven by technical debt and initiatives that stall before delivering results. Operational friction—rework from quick fixes, access exceptions from workarounds, inconsistent controls, reactionary audit scrambles, and untested recovery plans—undermines progress.

This keynote introduces the Shared Trust Layer as the foundation beneath every modernization initiative. Build it first, and teams move faster everywhere: delivery cycles shrink, resilience improves, compliance gets easier, and AI scales with confidence.

You’ll leave this session with:

• A practical model to align data and security strategies for IT modernization.
• Steps to reduce operational friction and accelerate delivery cycles.
• A focused 90-day action plan to benchmark your maturity with the IDC Modernization Index and build a resilient, future-ready IT ecosystem.

In this session Ingo Paas will explore the implications of AI and the challenges of scaling this technology to its next level. He will introduce a fresh perspective on the systemic shift required in humanistic and technology leadership, highlighting critical AI challenges that often go unrecognized.

Ingo recently published his book A Billion Times Smarter, in which he challenges the prevailing global discourse on artificial intelligence and the way we exercise agency over it. Today’s presentation is delivered through the lens of the CIO, offering both strategic and leadership insights into this profound transformation.

57% of employees now work in a flexible or fully remote model — yet 33% are frustrated with their company-issued technology, and 48% of IT leaders cite exposure to hackers as a top concern. The device estate has become one of the most complex and resource-intensive challenges in modern IT leadership.

This session, informed by IDC’s 2025 Employee Experience research, examines how forward-thinking IT Directors and CIOs across the Nordics are responding — not by investing more in device management, but by fundamentally changing how it works. We will explore how standardising device lifecycle management through DaaS is freeing up IT capacity and capital for the strategic priorities that matter: AI adoption, cybersecurity resilience, and a distributed workforce that actually performs

As identity becomes the primary attack surface, enterprises must stop sophisticated threats—ATO, synthetic identities, deepfakes—without adding friction that drives abandonment or slows productivity. Siloed IAM and fraud tools create gaps attackers exploit and users feel.

By orchestrating identity risk signals—device, behavioral, network, and verification data—into real-time, risk-based decisions, organizations can continuously evaluate trust across the entire user journey. High-risk sessions are isolated and stepped up; legitimate users move forward seamlessly.

The result: reduced fraud losses, stronger compliance, lower operational overhead, and improved customer and workforce experiences. When every digital moment is continuously verified, enterprises protect the business while enabling growth.

In 2026, the promise of Enterprise AI is no longer about simple personal assistants, but the deployment of autonomous agentic workflows that deliver tangible business value. Yet, the “Pilot Paradox” remains: 90% of AI use cases are currently stalled due to a fundamental lack of enterprise readiness. For the CIO, the challenge has shifted from technological experimentation to architectural orchestration.
This session explores how to bridge the gap between “data at rest” (potential) and “data in motion” (power). We will examine the transition from centralized data gatekeeping to a federated approach, which IDC predicts will be required for 80% of agentic AI use cases by 2027.