Future-Ready Sovereign Operations

Overview

This roundtable brings together senior leaders from Australia’s Energy & Utilities and Distribution & Industrial sectors to explore the accelerating demand for sovereign digital capability, Australian-based managed services and AI-enabled operational support.

Co-led by IBM in partnership with Microsoft, the session will examine how sovereign operations can strengthen trust, resilience, compliance and service quality across mission-critical workloads. The discussion will consider not only the underlying cloud and data platforms, but also the operating model required to support them — including Australian-based delivery teams, secure service management, governance processes, local operational support and appropriately cleared capability.

IBM will also showcase its sovereign delivery capability, including its Australian-based team operating from Ballarat, Victoria, which supports secure government and regulated industry work. This reinforces the broader message that sovereign cloud is not only a technology decision; it is a people, process and technology model designed to support secure, locally governed operations.

The roundtable aims to:

Surface industry insights on the shift toward sovereign-first operational models.

Understand the perceived value and risks of sovereign managed services and sovereign AI agent capabilities.

Explore where Australian-run support models can improve operational outcomes, customer experience and regulatory alignment.

Highlight the role of people, process and technology in delivering sovereign capability.

Shape a forward-looking view of how sovereign capability will influence digital transformation strategies over the next 3–5 years.

What to expect

• Hours
• Senior Executives 10+
• Networking Peer-Driven
• Discussions Interactive

Agenda

• 11:45 am Delegates arrival Registration(Factor Hour)
• 0:15 pm Welcome Drinks and Refreshments(Factor Hour)
• 0:30 pm Opening Remarks(Factor Hour)
• 0:45 pm Interactive Discussions(Factor Hour)
• 2:00 pm Closing Remarks(Factor Hour)
• 2:05 pm Networking Drinks and End Of Session(Factor Hour)

Partners

• IBM · Bespoke Roundtable At IBM, we do more than work. We create. We create as technologists, developers, and engineers. We create with our partners. We create with our competitors. If you're searching for ways to make the world work better through technology and infrastructure, software and consulting, then we want to work with you. We're here to help every creator turn their "what if" into what is. Let's create something that will change everything.
• Microsoft Every company has a mission. What's ours? To empower every person and every organization to achieve more. We believe technology can and should be a force for good and that meaningful innovation contributes to a brighter world in the future and today. Our culture doesn’t just encourage curiosity; it embraces it. Each day we make progress together by showing up as our authentic selves. We show up with a learn-it-all mentality. We show up cheering on others, knowing their success doesn't diminish our own. We show up every day open to learning our own biases, changing our behavior, and inviting in differences. Because impact matters. Microsoft operates in 190 countries and is made up of approximately 228,000 passionate employees worldwide.

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