What keeps boardrooms busy: a grip on AI, data and platforms

•  Digital independence is high on the agenda 

• Own platforms and data are more important than ever 

• AI is shifting from efficiency to value creation 

• Personalisation is maturing, as long as it's properly organised 

• Brands need to start optimising for AI agents that make customer choices 

Three years ago, Brian Hirman, Director M&A of digital agency iO, had the ambition to bring leaders from marketing, digital, tech and strategy around one table. The idea of iO Table Talks was born. Hirman, both the creator and host of the Table Talks, calls it ‘a talk show at the table’. “The iO Table Talks show where companies really stand, what the gap is between future vision and reality, and how we can bridge that together.” 

At the start of 2026, the Table Talks count had reached 41, with a total of nearly 250 guests from companies including Centraal Beheer, Karwei, Aviko, Grolsch, FrieslandCampina, Lidl, KPN and PostNL. In the third season, these round-tables were once again hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium, and for the first time by Scandinavia. 

With ‘Experience is Everything’ as its overarching theme, this season of iO Table Talks revolved around one question: how do you stay relevant in a world where technology is changing faster than organisations can keep up? 

Four themes dominated the evenings, illuminating the real challenges brands face. 

1. Heavy dependence on big tech: what are we doing about it? 

Every Table Talk began with what Hirman calls 'the sanity check': how dependent is an organisation on big tech? Virtually all organisations acknowledge that dependence on American and Chinese platforms is problematic. But when it comes to concrete measures, hardly anything happens. “Everyone recognises the risk, but most don't know how to mitigate them, because there are no good alternatives.” 

Examples that came up around the table: 

• Brands that lost 40% of organic traffic overnight due to an algorithm change 

• Organisations that depend on cloud environments where valuable customer data sits on American servers 

• Marketers who want to make a move but see no alternative to the extreme effectiveness of the major platforms. 

But there is good news, too. Things are changing compared to last year, Hirman notices. Brands are moving quicker towards secure internal AI environments that run outside the open models. 

Additionally, more organisations are separating data from applications. These applications may still run overseas, but strategic customer data is increasingly hosted on-premises or in Europe. “Compared to last year, you can clearly see a transformation.” 

As a response to heavy dependence on social platforms like Meta and TikTok, owned channels are becoming more important, Hirman notes. The strategy is shifting: organisations still use social platforms, but primarily as a pass-through. “The trend is: use social channels for engagement and to drive traffic to your own environment. There is where invest in relevance.” 

This means: 

• Greater investments in own content formats 

• First-party data collection 

• More focus on loyalty and repeat visits 

• Personalisation directly within website or app

2. Data: the eternal promise and the structural struggle 

Data was also a key theme during last year’s Table Talks. Almost every organisation recognises the importance of a single, integrated customer view, says Hirman. But the reality remains challenging: 

• Mergers and acquisitions have fragmented IT landscapes 

• In some organisations, intermediaries or retailers hold parts of the customer journey 

• Historically, important data sets have never been structured 

• Internal business cases fail because their value is difficult to quantify 

Yet, the urgency remains, says Hirman. Because without good data, all ambitions in the field of AI and personalisation are just talk. "At the end of the day, it's about the holy grail of the integrated database with a single truth." 

3. Hyper-personalisation: from hype to reality, but manageable 

Perhaps the liveliest topic at the table: personalised content at scale, or hyper-personalisation. For years, this was a beautiful promise. Thanks to the rise of generative AI, it now seems realistic. But that comes with a new problem: volume. 

 "AI makes it incredibly easy to create more content," says Hirman. "But what do you do when that creates tens of thousands of variations? Nobody wants a tsunami of content that is no longer manageable." 

Turns out that the real challenge is not personalisation, but control: how do you set up a content supply chain that can handle scale? How do you maintain control over quality and prevent fragmentation? And what roles and processes do you need to safeguard this? According to Hirman, this topic was a real eye-opener for many attendees. Not the technology, but the organisation is the bottleneck. 

4. Brand visibility in AI agents: Generative Engine Optimisation still flying under the radar 

One question that fuelled the discussion: what if AI soon makes choices for your customer? Not the consumer, but the LLM. Not the search engine, but an AI agent that autonomously selects the "best" product. 

In this scenario, the playing field shifts from Search Engine Optimisation to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). GEO is about discoverability in AI systems such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity. It became clear at the table that few brands are preparing for this. Hardly any of the attendees monitor their reputation through LLMs. Brands often don't consider their position on review platforms like Trustpilot, even though these platforms play a significant role in AI output. 

Hirman: "Marketers still think in terms of SEO mechanics, but the new reality revolves around brand authority, content quality and reputation. If you don't feed AI the right story about you, someone else will."’ 

Of all the conversations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia, one insight stands out, Hirman says: “Everyone feels we’re in a rapid digital transition. Half are looking for ways to maintain momentum; the other half are looking for ways to keep up.”  

For Hirman, that’s precisely the value of the Table Talks: “These nights show what organisations truly stand for: not the shiny side of innovation, but the daily reality.”