The tech leader’s next directive: Service excellence

Moving CIOs from infrastructure maintenance to proactive, experience-led service

HotTopics Food for Thought In partnership with 

The tech leader's job isn't just about keeping the lights on anymore. The role has shifted fundamentally from maintaining back-office infrastructure to becoming the main guardian of experience.

This HotTopics Food for Thought session tackles the new strategic directive for CIOs and CTOs: designing intentional, AI-powered experiences that boost productivity, customer satisfaction, and organisational speed.  

Drawing on research from 2,000 global IT leaders and employees, we’ll move past generic tech hype to focus on practical strategies:

• Managing expanded mandates: Tech leaders currently spend 72% of their time on non-traditional work across HR, finance, and legal. We’ll discuss how to balance this broader scope without burning out your teams or losing talent.  
  
  
  
• Shifting board mindsets: 87% of leaders agree experience-focused metrics offer better operational insight than old-school uptime numbers. We’ll share how to build cross-functional relationships and get traditional boards on board.  
  
  
  
• Pragmatic AI adoption: 73% of leaders view Agentic AI as a trusted future member of the service desk, but real questions around trust, governance, and ROI remain. We’ll explore how fusion teams and smart org design can turn AI potential into actual value.  

Beyond the roundtable discussion and breakfast, you’ll also have the chance to step away from your desk for a hands-on sushi cooking class, followed by a standing reception to enjoy what you’ve made.

Event details

📍 Location: Central London

🗓 Date: 24th September 2026

🕛 Time: 9.30 AM - 1.00 PM BST

•  9:30 AM – Arrivals
• 10.00 AM - 11.00 AM - Breakfast
• 11.00 AM - 12.00 PM - Cooking academy
• 12.00 PM - 1.00 PM - Standing reception

👥 The Hosts: Doug Drinkwater, Editorial and Strategy Director, HotTopics

Apply to join