Ideas, Infrastructure and Innovation
On Friday, 2 October 2026, an idea became a reality as the Dutch IBM community came together for the very first DCUG Day.
Hosted at the IBM Innovation Studio in Amsterdam, the event welcomed IBM Champions, customers, IBMers, business partners and technology experts for a full day of roadmaps, technical insights, applied AI, real-world experiences and open conversations.
From the first conversations over coffee to the informal reception at the end of the day, the atmosphere was engaging, open and inspiring. People from different IBM communities did not simply come to listen. They came to share, question, connect and learn from one another.
That was exactly what DCUG Day was created to achieve.
Innovation becomes meaningful when knowledge is shared, communities connect and ideas are turned into real-world solutions.
One day, many communities
The Dutch IBM Champion User Group brings people together across technologies, industries and areas of expertise. The first DCUG Day demonstrated why those connections matter.
The programme began with registration and coffee, followed by the official welcome and opening. The morning continued with IBM roadmap updates and an open discussion around IBM Bob, Ask IBM and AI. After lunch, attendees could choose between two parallel tracks before everyone came together again for a panel discussion, an IBM Champions Program Leader message and the informal reception after the closure.
The audience represented a broad spectrum of the IBM ecosystem, including infrastructure, business automation, enterprise asset management, IBM Power, AIX, artificial intelligence, security, software development and application modernisation.
Instead of discussing those areas in isolation, DCUG Day encouraged people to look for connections. Infrastructure specialists could hear how AI is changing application development. Maximo professionals could learn from AIX security and lifecycle practices. Architects, developers, customers and business leaders could exchange perspectives on how innovation can be accelerated without sacrificing governance, reliability or control.
The result was more than a collection of presentations. It was a shared conversation about how IBM technologies, communities and expertise can reinforce one another.
A journey through the IBM roadmap
The morning roadmap programme provided a fast-moving overview of developments across the IBM portfolio.
Marcel Osterwald opened with IBM Business Automation. Joris Mertens continued with IBM Infrastructure, covering areas including IBM i, IBM Z, IBM Power, Storage and AIX. Cor Hartjes then discussed IBM Automation and the connections between technologies such as Engineering Lifecycle Management, Instana and Turbonomic.
Peter den Haan looked at IBM acquisitions, including Confluent, and how these developments fit within the broader IBM ecosystem. The roadmap programme concluded with“We are the Champions,” presented by Ronald van der Knaap and Damiaan Zwietering. [DCUG_Day_2...Theme _IBM | PowerPoint]
Together, these sessions showed the breadth of IBM’s technology portfolio. More importantly, they created a foundation for the conversations that followed.
A roadmap becomes truly useful when it helps people understand not only what is changing, but also how different developments relate to their own organisations, challenges and ambitions. By bringing the roadmaps together in one programme, attendees could see relationships and opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden within individual product communities.
IBM Bob, Ask IBM and an open conversation about AI
After the roadmap presentations, the programme turned towards IBM Bob, Ask IBM and the rapidly evolving role of AI in designing, developing and modernising enterprise solutions.
Rather than treating AI as a one-directional product story, this part of the day became an open conversation. Attendees were encouraged to bring their own questions, experiences and modernisation challenges into the discussion.
How can organisations extend trusted IBM platforms without creating unnecessary complexity? How can AI and automation accelerate delivery while preserving governance and control? Where can AI deliver genuine value today, and what is needed to move from an interesting prototype to a production-ready solution?
These questions would continue to surface throughout the rest of the programme.
IBM Bob became one of the recurring themes of the day. The conversation went beyond code generation. It looked at how AI can support the complete journey from an initial idea and architectural vision to a governed, secure, integrated and sustainable business application.
That distinction matters. The value of AI is not simply that it can help teams create something faster. Its real contribution emerges when it helps people turn ideas into solutions that can be trusted, used and managed in the real world.
Two tracks, one connected story
After lunch, the programme divided into two parallel tracks.
Track 1 focused on Data, AI and Intelligent Automation, while Track 2 explored AIX Security, Availability and Intelligent Delivery. Both tracks ran from 13:15 until 15:15, after which everyone returned to the plenary programme for the closing panel discussion.
At first glance, the subjects appeared very different. In reality, they told two sides of the same story.
Organisations want to use AI and intelligent automation to create better applications, services and customer experiences. At the same time, those solutions must remain secure, available, governable and continuously deliverable.
Innovation and operational control are not opposing goals. Sustainable modernisation requires both.
Track 1: Data, AI and Intelligent Automation
The first track explored how AI and intelligent automation are changing application development, customer service, technical modelling and enterprise asset management.
Building business-ready Maximo applications with IBM Bob
Jan-Willem Steur of Naviam demonstrated how IBM Bob can help transform a Maximo requirement or AI idea into a governed, integrated and business-ready application. The session showed why AI-assisted development must go beyond prototyping and also address architecture, security, integration and long-term operational use.
Closing the service gap with an AI-powered customer portal
Stefan Hoffmanns of Gemba Service BV brought together watsonx self-service, conversational interactions, remote assistance and customer-facing asset insights. With IBM Bob supporting development, the session showed how these technologies can create a more connected and accessible customer service experience.
AI-assisted technical modelling with Modelman SAM
Walter van der Heiden presented practical demonstrations of AI-assisted technical modelling with Modelman SAM, formerly Mercury. The session made AI tangible by showing how it can support specialist modelling activities while keeping professional knowledge at the centre of the process.
Bridging Claroty xDome and IBM Maximo MAS 9
Aiman Ansari, Solution Architect at Naviam, showed how AI-powered asset discovery in Claroty xDome can connect with IBM Maximo MAS 9. The session covered the integration architecture, API flow and automated creation of managed Maximo asset records, turning discovered information into operationally valuable asset data.
Track 2: AIX Security, Availability and Intelligent Delivery
The second track focused on keeping mission-critical platforms secure, available and continuously deliverable, combining established AIX expertise with modern automation and development practices.
AIX Trusted Execution and secure patch management
Christian Sonnemans, Senior AIX Engineer at ASN Bank, examined passive and active Trusted Execution, daily integrity scans, auditor evidence, Ansible integration and secure patch verification. The session highlighted the importance of continuous controls, automated validation and demonstrable compliance.
The latest developments in LKU and LLU
Christian Sonnemans continued with recent developments in Live Kernel Update and preparation for Live Library Update. Practical findings for AIX 7.3 TL03 and later demonstrated how these capabilities can help organisations maintain critical systems while reducing service disruption. What a lucky to present 2 sessions about AIX (the real passion of Christian)
Intelligent delivery for IBM Maximo
Ivan Lagunov, Manager Technology at Naviam Europe, connected Maximo development with source control, CI/CD, automated validation, OpenShift, Kubernetes and AI-assisted delivery. The session showed how controlled and repeatable delivery practices help organisations move changes more safely from development into production.
Bringing the conversations back together
At 15:30, the two tracks came together again for the panel discussion“IBM Bob, AI and the Future of IBM Modernization.”
Hosted by Peter den Haan, the panel brought together Walter van der Heiden, Christian Sonnemans and Jan-Willem Steur. The conversation explored how AI, automation and platform modernisation are shaping the future of IBM technologies and customer success.
The panel was a fitting conclusion to the content programme because it brought different perspectives back into one conversation.
Modernisation cannot be approached from a single technical viewpoint. It requires dialogue between infrastructure specialists, application teams, architects, security professionals, developers, customers and business leaders. It also requires people who are willing to discuss not only successes, but also challenges, lessons learned and the realities of moving technology into production.
That is where the value of a community such as DCUG becomes most visible. It provides a place where people can learn across traditional boundaries rather than developing answers in isolation.
From presentations to personal conversations
Following the IBM Champions Program Leader message, the formal programme transitioned into an informal reception with drinks and snacks.
The relaxed setting gave IBM Champions, IBMers and clients the opportunity to continue the conversations from the sessions, share experiences and discuss their own projects, challenges and ideas. Connections made during the formal programme became more personal, while presentations inspired new discussions between people from different communities and areas of expertise.
It was a natural conclusion to a day centred on knowledge sharing. The final conversations demonstrated that some of the most valuable moments at a community event take place when the slides have finished and people have time to compare experiences openly.
And, of course, the first DCUG Day could not end without several photoshoots with our IBM Champions Program Leaders, Libby and Kathryn. It was a memorable way to close a day built around community, advocacy and a shared enthusiasm for technology.
Continue the journey in the DCUG community
The conversations do not end with the event.
The presentations and photo gallery from DCUG Day will be shared in the IBM TechXchange DCUG community library. Links will be shared once all materials and photographs have been uploaded, giving attendees and other community members the opportunity to revisit the sessions, continue learning and share the experience with their networks.
By making the content available through the community library, the knowledge and inspiration from the day can continue to reach people long after the doors of the IBM Innovation Studio have closed.
A very big thank you
A huge thank you to everyone who attended the first DCUG Day. Your questions, stories, energy and willingness to participate brought the programme to life.
A massive shout-out to all presenters and panellists for investing their time, sharing their expertise and bringing practical, real-world examples into the discussions. Your openness made the event far more than a series of technology presentations.
A sincere thank you to the IBM team for supporting the programme and contributing roadmap insights, technical knowledge and engaging conversations throughout the day.
And a very big hats off to the entire IBM Innovation Studio team. Thank you for the warm hospitality, professional support and for hosting the DCUG community in such an inspiring environment.
Last but certainly not least, a special thank you to our DCUG IBM liaisons, Peter den Haan and Ronald Teijken. Your support, connections and commitment played an essential role in turning the idea for DCUG Day into reality.
And finally , we are so happy to have a great IBM Champion Program team guided by @Libby Ingrassia and @Kathryn DuPont. We kept the last slide for you because you both where and are in our hearts
The first DCUG Day showed what can happen when people are willing to look beyond individual products and established communities. We connected infrastructure with automation, AI with enterprise applications, security with intelligent delivery and technology roadmaps with practical experience.
But the most important connections were not between products.
They were between people.
The first DCUG Day may have ended, but the conversations, ideas and new connections are only just beginning.
Let us continue to connect, share and inspire.