Executive Dinner
Governance Without Compromise: Rethinking Control in the Hybrid Cloud Era
September 17, 2026 at 5:30 pm | The Metropolitan 66th Floor at Willis Tower | Chicago
Sovereign cloud is a priority in principle, but progress is uneven in practice.
According to IDC research, 38% of organizations cite high cost as the biggest barrier to sovereign cloud implementation, followed by skills shortages, compliance complexity, and limited governance investment. These challenges are already influencing architecture decisions: over the past year, 18% of application workloads have moved from public cloud back on-premises, driven mainly by performance and security concerns.
For senior IT leaders, the key question is how to provide sensitive and regulated workloads with the governance, auditability, and control they require without sacrificing the flexibility of the public cloud.
To explore it, IDC, DXC and Dell are bringing together a curated group of senior IT leaders for an evening centered on Private Cloud+. The session will share fresh research, challenge prevailing assumptions, and send attendees away with a clearer path to managing sensitive workloads across hybrid environments.
41% of IT leaders
act on sovereignty only when a customer requirement or regulation forces the issue. IDC calls this the ‘sovereignty paradox’: intent is outrunning execution.
What share of your organization's cloud-native software delivery currently runs in a private cloud environment?
Most US organizations fall between 31% and 75%, with the 31–40% band the single most common range at 23%. The spread points to a deliberate balance rather than an all-in bet: organizations are sustaining substantial private cloud footprints alongside public cloud, reflecting ongoing priorities around control, security, and workload-specific requirements.
Source: IDC Syndicated Survey 2026: AI and Cloud Native Software Delivery Survey 2026, US (n = 261)
Discussion Themes
Four Conversations Every Senior IT Leader Should Be Having Right Now
Governance and control by design
Why governance can no longer be an afterthought bolted onto public cloud environments. How leading organizations are building auditability, policy enforcement, and control directly into the architecture rather than layering it on after deployment.
Data sovereignty in a hybrid world
What data sovereignty actually requires when workloads span public cloud, private infrastructure, and everything in between. How organizations are mapping data residency, jurisdiction, and access controls across hybrid estates without slowing the business down.
Closing the intent-to-execution gap
IDC research shows organizations allocate as little as 1-15% of their public cloud budget to sovereign cloud solutions, and many allocate none at all, assuming sovereignty should come free. What it takes to close the gap between sovereignty ambition and actual investment in skills, tooling, and process.
Rethinking workload placement
Enterprises are not fleeing public cloud, but a meaningful slice of workloads is moving back on-premises for performance, security, and cost reasons. How leaders are deciding, workload by workload, where governance and control requirements should drive the placement decision.
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
Rob Tiffany
Research Director, Cloud and Infrastructure Services
IDC
Read bio
Rob Tiffany
Rob Tiffany is Research Director within IDC’s enterprise infrastructure global research domain and part of the cloud and infrastructure services subdomain. He manages IDC’s Cloud Pulse research which delivers quarterly, voice of the customer insights from cloud buyers all over the world. Additionally, he leads research on global cloud adoption trends and strategies and delivers actionable insights to technology providers and enterprise decision makers. Based on his hands-on background of designing and building hyperscale cloud infrastructure, Rob is uniquely positioned to deliver guidance on the public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud infrastructures needed to succeed with next-generation workloads.
BACKGROUND
Previously, Rob was Vice President and Head of IoT Strategy at Ericsson, where he drove 5G connection management with the IoT Accelerator and contributed to global M&A activities. As Chief Technology Officer at Hitachi, he received the Presidential “Product of the Year” award for designing the Lumada Industrial IoT + Digital Twin platform. Spending most of his career at Microsoft, Rob was Director, Global Technology Lead, and co-designer of the Azure IoT cloud platform in addition to software engineering, product management, and architecture roles with Windows Phone and SQL Server.
Ben Greene
Offering Leader, Private Cloud
DXC Technology
Read bio
Ben Greene
Benjamin Greene is an Offering Leader within DXC’s Private Cloud organization, responsible for the strategy, development, commercialization, and growth of enterprise private cloud services. He works closely with global sales, solutioning, and delivery teams to help clients modernize infrastructure, adopt hybrid cloud architectures, and address evolving requirements around security, sovereignty, resilience, AI readiness, and cost predictability. Benjamin has extensive experience in cloud platforms, managed infrastructure services, and enterprise transformation initiatives, helping organizations navigate complex technology decisions while accelerating business outcomes.
Jason Cortassa
Director Systems Engineering
Dell Technologies
Read bio
Jason Cortassa
Jason Cortassa is the Americas Presales Leader for Global Alliances at Dell Technologies. With over 25 years of enterprise IT, enterprise architecture, and cloud strategy experience, Jason leads a high-performing team of solution architects partnering with Global Systems Integrators, Strategic Outsourcers, and Cloud Service Providers. He specializes in driving digital transformation, hybrid multi-cloud solutions, and emerging technologies—including Private AI—to help global enterprises turn strategic vision into business value.
Agenda
IDC Executive Dinner in partnership with DXC & Dell, Chicago
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.
Dinner & Discussion
A moderated, off‑the‑record discussion over dinner focused on real‑world execution challenges, emerging industry priorities, and their implications for enterprise leaders.
Event Concludes
The evening concludes with brief closing remarks and informal follow‑up conversations, reinforcing key takeaways and ongoing peer engagement.
Partners
Sponsored By
DXC
DXC Technology is a leading enterprise technology and innovation partner delivering software, services, and solutions to global enterprises and public sector organizations — helping them harness AI to drive outcomes at a time of exponential change with speed. With deep expertise in Managed Infrastructure Services, Application Modernization, and Industry-Specific Software Solutions, DXC modernizes, secures, and operates some of the world’s most complex technology estates. Learn more on dxc.com.
Dell Technologies
At Dell Technologies, our mission is to be our customers’ most trusted partner in unlocking the power of data and AI, delivering secure, sustainable and innovative technology that turns bold ideas into real outcomes and drives human progress in a connected world.
