As the largest telecom operator in Belgium, Proximus has a broad digital landscape to run. Geopolitical changes add even more complexity to this.
As the largest public telecom operator in Belgium, CIO Antonietta Mastroianni faces a wide range of challenges. With a team of approximately 3,000 internal and external employees across a dozen different departments, she juggles many balls in areas such as cybersecurity, AI, customer experience, and the list goes on.
The business strategy needs IT, and vice versa. “Without close collaboration between the different departments, no digital strategy you develop will work,” she states. Moreover, she experiences the power of hybrid in various domains. For instance, Proximus has a hybrid approach in terms of cloud strategy, but also in terms of talent management (internal and external employees). AI also flows through the veins at Proximus. “I believe that Agentic AI can deliver enormous value within the product development process,” she says.
How would you describe the IT environment you’re responsible for at the moment?
Mastroianni: “As CIO of Proximus, I’m responsible for the entire digital IT environment including Proximus ADA, the Center of Excellence for Cybersecurity and AI. This responsibility encompasses the entire IT landscape: from planning and development to operational management of all applications and digital platforms. “We have over 3,000 employees, of which about a third are internal. The remaining 2,000 are external partners.”
“The structure of the IT landscape within Proximus is agile and organized into different tribes and chapters. We have a Corporate tribe that focuses on transforming internal business platforms such as finance, HR, and billing. There’s also the Enabling tribe that manages the systems for service and order management aimed at improving the customer experience for our external customers, and Digital Channels that is responsible for the development of our digital platforms. Furthermore, there’s the TV Chapter, Integrated Customer Experience, Architecture, Strategy and Program Management, and last year we established the “Service & Integration Management team” that ensures our technical platforms and infrastructure are managed according to the highest quality standards.”
“Last but not least, and perhaps one of the most important today is the Data tribe. This department focuses on data architecture, and bears the responsibility to make data available, all while ensuring its correct use.”
What are your main priorities at the moment?
Mastroianni: “With the current geopolitical challenges in mind and the fact that telecom is a critical infrastructure in our country, business continuity and cybersecurity are a major priority for us. The technology sector also faces many challenges such as the integration of modern technologies while legacy systems persist. Furthermore, there are still some challenges on the table in terms of talent management. The rapid technological evolution requires continuous upskilling.”
“Our top priority is of course Bold2025, Proximus’s three-year strategy. Lastly, a large part of my attention is focused on customer experience. Customers expect continuous, fast, and modern digital services, which places high demands on IT and ease of use.”
Does the rest of the organization sufficiently understand those challenges? Is everyone on the same page?
Mastroianni: “Absolutely. The role of CIO has changed enormously in recent years. In the past, the CIO’s agenda was separate from the business agenda, but that’s a thing of the past. I work closely with my colleagues, aligning my priorities with the company strategy.”
If you don’t collaborate with other departments within the company or don’t follow up on your customers’ needs, no digital strategy you develop will work.
Antonietta Mastroianni, CIO Proximus
“Technology is more capable than ever of helping the business, so collaboration is more necessary than ever. If you don’t collaborate with other departments within the company or don’t follow up on your customers’ needs, no digital strategy you develop will work.”
Does your department have access to sufficient resources and people to complete those challenges?
Mastroianni: “In an ideal world, there would always be more capacity (laughs). In reality, we have to consider various constraints such as budget. Evolving technology also influences capacity. The required knowledge changes so rapidly that it becomes impossible to build everything internally.”
“At Proximus, we therefore adopt a hybrid approach. We collaborate with external parties so that we can respond quickly and flexibly to technological evolutions and capacity needs. These strategic partnerships help us scale up at the right time. Additionally, we try to build and maintain core competencies internally.”
Is the future of the IT environment in the cloud, on-premises or a combination?
Mastroianni: “The current geopolitical situation is causing more attention to be paid to private and sovereign cloud solutions. Our strategy is deliberately multicloud. Some applications run in the public cloud, others in the private or sovereign cloud.”
“In addition, we work with various hyperscalers. There is no one size fits all approach for us. We look for the most suitable solution for each application. This way, we can still go in any direction and consider which cloud offers the best solution for which application in each situation.”
What impact do impending legislations such as NIS2 have on IT policies?
“Compliance is fundamental at Proximus. Not only due to our role as a telecom operator but also because of our public character. We take compliance very seriously,” Mastroianni emphasizes. “NIS2 is handled within a broader governmental and compliance approach, along with other legislation such as GDPR.”
We don’t see compliance as a burden, but as an essential part of operational policy.
Antonietta Mastroianni, CIO Proximus
“We have a specific program with clear actions and investments to meet the requirements of NIS2 step by step. There is also a department that follows this up. We don’t see compliance as a burden, but as an essential part of operational policy.”
How do you deal with the current AI hype?
Mastroianni: “Proximus invests heavily in AI. With the establishment of Proximus ADA, a dedicated Center of Excellence has been set up that focuses on both AI and cybersecurity. At the policy level, a company-wide AI strategy has also been implemented. Our approach consists of two pillars. On one hand, we implement use cases that stem from the needs of business and technical teams, and on the other hand, we focus on Agentic AI. We focus not only on AI that accelerates processes but fundamentally changes the way of working.”
“We are not developing this AI strategy alone. ServiceNow supports us in integrating Agentic AI within customer-oriented and IT processes, with the aim of improving employee efficiency and user experience. Specifically, this happens through AI-driven summaries of customer cases, suggestions for next best actions and a GPT-like chatbot that supports agents during their work. The initial applications focus on internal productivity, but the ambition is to structurally improve the end customer experience in the long term as well.”
Finally, which trends are you following with an eye on the coming three years?
Mastroianni: “The trend I’m currently following most closely is the implementation of Agentic AI in the product development process. When I think about the old way of working, namely writing recommendations, specifications, code, or even testing it, I believe this is an area where Agentic AI can deliver enormous value.”