The AI Advantage: Maximising Value across the Microsoft Ecosystem
September 9, 2026
12:00 pm
Date: Wednesday 9th September 2026
Time: 12:00pm – 5:00pm + Evening Social
Location: Hitachi Solutions Europe, Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London
Join Hitachi Solutions, Microsoft and fellow business leaders for a peer-led afternoon of customer stories, expert insights and networking focused on helping organisations maximise the value of their Microsoft ecosystem through AI.
Hear from experts and customer speakers from organisations including Microsoft, Aberdeen City Council, and The Royal Mint as they share practical experiences, lessons learned and real-world examples of AI adoption and innovation.
As AI moves from experimentation to business reality, organisations are increasingly looking for practical ways to drive adoption, deliver measurable outcomes and unlock greater value from their existing technology investments.
Through customer success stories, Microsoft insights, interactive discussions and live demonstrations, we’ll explore how leading organisations are transforming operations, empowering employees and scaling AI with confidence.
Learn from client success stories
Explore what’s new across Microsoft
Scale AI with confidence
Connect with Microsoft and peers
Who Should Attend
This event is designed for business and technology leaders responsible for transformation, innovation and digital strategy, including:
- CIOs, CTOs and IT Directors
- Data & AI Leaders
- Dynamics 365 Owners
- Finance and Operations Leaders
- Customer Experience Leaders
- Transformation and Innovation Teams
Agenda
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Arrival, Sign-in and Networking Lunch
1:00 pm – 1:10 pm Welcome & Introduction
Opening remarks, event objectives and an overview of the afternoon.
1:10 pm – 1:50 pm Keynote Panel: Aberdeen City Council: A Transformation Journey in Action
As organisations look to turn AI ambition into real business value, Aberdeen City Council offers a compelling example of transformation in action. In this customer keynote panel, Andy McDonald and Steve Roud from Aberdeen City Council join Simon Drake and Megan Robertson from Hitachi Solutions to share how the council are modernising services and unlocking greater value from its Microsoft investments.
The discussion will explore Aberdeen’s journey across citizen services, HR, social care and wider digital operations, sharing how the council is unlocking greater value from Microsoft investments to improve services, protect its citizens, empower employees and support future innovation.
Panelists:
- Andy McDonald – Executive Director, Corporate Services, Aberdeen City Council
- Executive Director – CorporateSteve Roud – Chief Officer Digital & Technology, Aberdeen City Council
- Simon Drake – UK General Manager, Hitachi Solutions
- Megan Robertson – Lead Functional D365 Consultant, Hitachi Solutions
Chair:
- Amy Horne, UK Head of Marketing, Hitachi Solutions
1:50 pm – 2:10 pm Microsoft Frontier Vision: The AI Advantage & What’s New in Customer Engagement
Microsoft’s perspective on the Frontier Firm, AI transformation and the latest innovations across Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement.
2:10 pm – 2:30 pm Modernising Finance for the Future: The Royal Mint
Finance is no longer just a back-office function; it is a strategic enabler of growth, agility and innovation. In this customer session, The Royal Mint will share how it transformed its finance operations to create a more efficient, data-driven and future-ready organisation.
The session will explore the drivers behind the transformation, the challenges of modernising legacy processes, and how The Royal Mint has leveraged technology to streamline operations, improve visibility and support better decision-making across the business. Attendees will gain insight into how the organisation is reducing manual effort, increasing operational efficiency and creating a stronger foundation for future innovation.
Speaker:
- Richard Hobbs – CIO, The Royal Mint
2:30 pm – 2:40 pm What’s New in Finance & Supply Chain
Key AI innovations and agentic capabilities helping organisations drive efficiency, automation and insight in ERP.
2:40 pm – 2:50 pm Break
2:50 pm – 3:10 pm Client Story: Building and Governing an AI Factory
How data, governance and AI foundations are enabling AI innovation at scale.
3:10 pm – 3:30 pm Client Story: Scaling Copilot Adoption through Digital Communities and Human-Centric AI
Driving AI adoption across the organisation through practical use cases, communities and change enablement.
3:30 pm – 3:50 pm Embed and Scale AI for Impact + What’s New in Cloud, Data & AI
Tips for embedding and scaling AI, including governance, adoption, data readiness and the latest developments across Microsoft Azure and AI suite including, Fabric and Agent 365.
3:50 pm – 4:00 pm Break
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Breakout Sessions
Choose from interactive peer discussions and expert-led sessions, including:
- Roundtable: Lessons in Scaling AI: Discuss common barriers, lessons learned and practical approaches to operationalising AI.
- Roundtable: The Value of Getting User Experience Right: How small design investments pay off across a project.
- Showcase: Agent 365 in Action: Demonstration of Microsoft’s new control plane for agents – observe, govern and secure.
5:00 pm Networking Drinks & Social Reception
Continue the conversation with drinks, canapés and networking with customers, Microsoft representatives and Hitachi Solutions leaders.
Secure your place
Details
- Date 9 September, 2026
- Time 12:00
Venue
- Hitachi Solutions Europe, Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, London