By invitation only.
The community for
exceptional
Technology Leaders.
The Technology Leaders Forum is a community of senior technology leaders. It was founded in conjunction with AND Digital and operates as an independent entity with its own chair, membership and agenda
It exists to provide value to its members, facilitate in-depth discussions on the challenges and trends technology leaders face, gain insight from fellow members, and invite guests.
The community is chaired independently by Andy Davies, a practising senior technology leader, who is not an AND employee. He holds the community to the standards expected of an independent mastermind group.
The community runs on Chatham House rules, and confidentiality is paramount. Members are free to use what they hear; however, they must not reveal who said it or which organisation they were from. Nothing is recorded, and any follow-up documentation carries themes, rather than attributions.
While AND Digital supports and funds various elements of the community, no services are presented, no work is pitched, and nothing discussed in a session is shared directly with the accounts team.
About.
Why the community exists.
Leadership is a lonely job. Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), and other Technology Executives are expected to have a well-formed view of every emerging technology, build and defend investment cases, and keep the lights on while transforming the business.
Much learning happens sideways, from other leaders who have already explored, attempted, or delivered against a similar agenda. In our experience, senior technology leaders consistently need the three things:
Honest views on what actually works, rather than vendor pitches
The chance to compare notes with peers facing similar pressures
A sounding board to think out loud without it becoming a procurement discussion
The Technology Leaders Forum provides this. It is a closed group, by invitation only, drawn from senior leaders across the AND Digital client base and beyond. Members of the community hold the top technology roles in their organisation. Everyone in the room carries real budgets, responsibility and accountability.
Membership.
Membership is by invitation only, and the community is deliberately kept small to create an intimate peer group.
Invitations are only extended to leaders who meet the following criteria:
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CIO, CTO, CDIO, CISC or equivalent
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Members are expected to fully participate and be prepared to contribute. This includes leading/hosting a session based on their experience.
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Everything discussed stays in the room, without exception.
Places are personal, rather than organisational. If a member moves on from their original organisation, we usually expect them to retain their place in the community.
Deputies and delegates are generally not permitted, because with a group this size, the value is contingent on the same group of peers being in the room each time. Membership is reviewed on an ongoing basis.
The Format
The Technology Leaders Forum will meet quarterly for about four hours, followed by dinner at a local restaurant.
Each meeting will have two main elements:
THE ROUND TABLE: Members bring a live challenge, a decision they are weighing up, or something that has recently gone well or faced challenges. This is the part members consistently value most.
FOCUSED TOPIC: A single subject explored in depth. This is chosen by the community, and topics will be circulated in advance. This will sometimes be an external speakers and at other times will be a member walking the group through an experience of their own experience or a working session on a shared problem.
How it works.
The Room
The community will include our independent Chair, a small number of Members, and up to two representatives from AND Digital, and occasionally an external speaker. The AND Digital representatives attend to assist with facilitation.
We intend to keep the total room size to around twelve people. This is small enough that everyone speaks and nobody performs. It is also small enough to fit around a single table, which we believe is important.
We expect to run more communities in time, each with its own membership and character. We would rather start a second group than let the first one grow past the size that makes it work.
Other Events
We will further develop the Technology Leaders Forum to include wider participation events, such as webinars on broader topics with expert speakers, which you can invite colleagues and team members to attend.
Benefits.
Member Benefits
Genuinely comparable benchmarks. How are peers structuring their departments? What are they actually paying for AI tooling, and what is the return value? How successful was their last major systems implementation, and what lessons were learned?
Faster, better-informed decisions. Most technology decisions are not novel. Someone in the room has usually made the same call eighteen months ago and can tell you what they wish they had known.
A safe place to test thinking. Board papers, restructures, difficult supplier conversations, career decisions. Members regularly use the group to socialise an approach before taking it anywhere consequential.
Relationships that outlast the meetings. The value compounds. Members introduce each other to suppliers, candidates, and other resources.
Time back. Four hours every quarterly replaces a great deal of independent research, vendor briefings, and conference attendance that produces less usable insight.
Host Organisation Benefits
Better technology decisions, made with reference to real outcomes elsewhere rather than analyst summaries
Early sight of what peers are adopting, and what they are quietly abandoning
Reduced risk on major programmes, informed by others who have already made the expensive mistakes
A more connected, better supported technology leader, which matters more than most organisations acknowledge
The Benefit for AND Digital
The benefit to AND Digital is having successful clients who are well-informed and enabled to build and operate the most progressive solutions and services for their business and stakeholders. A secondary benefit is gaining a better understanding of market themes and trends with regard to client challenges, solutions, and opportunities.