René Steenvoorden - 20 years CIO Platform Nederland - Vlog:

Happy 20^th anniversary, CIO Platform Nederland! Congratulations with twenty years of history and I'm very pleased the platform is still doing so well. I joined the CIO platform in 2005 and served on the board from 2010 until 2016. To this day, I am still a member.

My reasons for joining
The reasons I joined the platform are still valid today:

• It is an independent association;
• It has the right set of peers that talk about topics that are very relevant for the boardroom;
• It is working together with all the stakeholders in the field, and it has impact;
• And most of all, it's also fun.

One of the biggest reasons why I chose the platform when I was still a very junior CIO, is that at events people were laughing. And that is important because the world is already serious enough.

Key themes - what were our key themes in the periods 2010 - 2016?
Well, I highly recommend reading the excellent blogs of my predecessors, Peter Hagedoorn  and Henny Wesseling. We continued the path they set, growing the number of members for example, but also growing the maturity of the conversations. We moved beyond discussions about IT being merely a cost factor and why it should not report to the CFO. We argued that CIO’s should be part of the strategic boardroom discussions. Well, I am proud to see that digital leaders are now frequently part of the board, and that digital is taken very seriously by all stakeholders.

We also strengthened the collaboration with those stakeholders. For example, a big theme was cyber security (and it still is). As chair of the CIO Platform, I joined the very first Cybersecurity Council (CSR), the highest Advisory Council for the government on the topic of information security. The strong part about that council was, and it also still is, the collaboration of all involved organizations like the IT suppliers, the IT demand side, the government, the academic and ethical organisations and the military. Everybody is working together to make the Netherlands more digital and safer.

Now, another part of expanding the collaboration was towards the universities, the labour market and especially young people in IT. We launched several excellence initiatives, such as ‘Strictly for Business,’ where, together with universities and our member organizations, we recruited students to solve business cases, promote careers in IT and have fun at Papendal. I fondly remember those events.

We invested in the collaboration with our European colleagues, in the form of other CIO associations in Europe and we had quite significant impact on European legislation. Moreover, we achieved more fair licence agreements with the big software suppliers. And again, that's still a big theme even today.

Special mentions
Now, all this progress was achieved through teamwork. However, there are six persons I want to mention specifically in this reflection:

• Of course I start with Foppe Vogd, our key driver, our big energy in meetings, the guy that always made it happen in the first 15 years of the platform;
• Another big name I want to mention is Ronald Verbeek, who I hired in his very early days as the director of the CIO platform, and he still makes it all happen today;
• Next, I like to highlight Rob and Regina Beijleveld, along with Hotze Zijlstra from ICT Media. They are our faithful partners in getting the stakeholders together and organize, amongst others, the CIO Day and the CIO of the Year award;
• And I want to give a special mention that Robert Jan Stegeman, who used to be the CIO of Nuon and part of our board but unfortunately passed away at a very early age.

Recommendations for the future
Finally, here are my recommendations for the future.

• Leadership: Please continue your digital leadership role as we have a big joint responsibility. We have the key responsibility to make society a better place, to make digital a driver for success, but also to keep it digital solutions fair, secure and inclusive.
• Together: We must do this together. CIO platform Nederland is an essential leadership platform to bundle digital knowledge and to help society to progress. That becomes even more important when we look at everything that is happening in the world. With all technologic developments and all global economic and political tension, let's stick together as digital leaders.
• With all stakeholders: Keep an open mind for all stakeholders. Work together with the supply side with the big hardware and software partners, the consultants, with the universities, with the government and keep it international. Connect with other functions like marketing and finance because they are becoming more, or even mostly, digital too.
• Keep it fun: And finally, make also sure you make IT fun and enjoy life. Stay high on energy and involve all members and all individuals in their organizations. Get the young people in and the more senior people like the CIO alumni and make it happen together.

So, CIO Platform Nederland – ready for the next 20 years? I think you are!

Kind regards,

René Steenvoorden,
Chairman CIO Platform Nederland 2010 - 2016