Breakfast Briefing: From Pilot to Production: How leaders successfully scale AI

An executive briefing on how CIOs strengthen cloud foundations, control cost, and put the right guardrails in place to scale AI with confidence.

Event details

  • Date: Tuesday 2 June 2026
  • Time: 8:15 – 10:00
  • Location: 14 Stories, 14th floor, 120 Fenchurch St, London EC3M 5AL
Modern IT Breakfast briefing

Why make time for this

AI doesn’t just increase innovation – it increases demand on your platform. More data, more workloads, more automation, more integration… and suddenly the cloud setup that was “fine” becomes expensive, fragile, and hard to control.

You’ll leave with a prioritised set of actions you can apply straight away – framed as leadership decisions: what to standardise, what to stop, and what to automate next.

This breakfast briefing is for leaders who want modern IT outcomes without modern IT chaos – not a deep technical workshop, and not hype. It’s an executive‑level session on how modern IT teams keep control as complexity (and AI demand) rises.

We’ll focus on right‑sized control: the minimum set of standards and automation that reduces cost and fragility without adding bureaucracy or slowing change.

 

In this session we’ll focus on four practical moves that help organisations stay in control: 

  • Simplify cloud operations so day‑to‑day running doesn’t expand with every new workload
  • Use serverless and managed services where they reduce patching, maintenance, and operational risk
  • Adopt simple, repeatable standards and guardrails so exceptions don’t become permanent complexity (without slowing delivery)
  • Automate the right controls (cost, governance, reliability and recovery) so control doesn’t rely on heroics

Simplify cloud operations so day‑to‑day running doesn’t expand with every new workload

Adopt simple, repeatable standards and guardrails so exceptions don’t become permanent complexity (without slowing delivery)

Automate the right controls (cost, governance, reliability and re

You’ll leave with a prioritised set of actions you can apply straight away – framed as leadership decisions: what to standardise, what to stop, and what to automate next.

What we’ll cover

 

  • The reality check: why cloud gets expensive and brittle

The patterns leaders recognise quickly: over‑provisioning, orphaned resources, weak cost ownership/tagging, single points of failure, and “visibility” that doesn’t translate into action.

  • Cost control that does not create risk

Quick wins, basic cost governance (tagging, budgets, alerts, lightweight showback), avoiding “bad savings”, and automation that makes cost control repeatable (not a monthly scramble).

  • Reliability without overengineering

Pragmatic ways to improve availability and recovery confidence: defining what availability you actually need, removing single points of failure, trusted backups (including tested restores), performance protection, sensible zone/region trade‑offs, and alerting that drives action – not noise.

  • Modern IT without the complexity: serverless, guardrails and automation

Where serverless/managed services remove patching and maintenance (and where they don’t fit), the “right‑sized standards” that prevent drift, and the automation shortlist: cost governance, backup verification, drift prevention, baseline security, and decision dashboards – using Azure‑native capabilities to reduce tool sprawl.

  • The practical next‑step plan

A simple 30/60/90‑day sequence: what to do in weeks 1-2, 3-6, and 7-12, plus what to measure (cost trend, incident trend, change success, recovery confidence).

Who this is for

Senior IT leaders and teams accountable for service outcomes and spend, including:

  • CTOs, CIOs, Heads of IT / Infrastructure
  • IT Managers responsible for availability and supplier performance
  • Cloud owners and technical leads who inherit “working” cloud that is expensive and fragile
  • Leaders looking to reduce operational overhead through serverless / managed services
  • Finance or operations stakeholders who need better cost visibility and control

What you'll leave with

  • A clear model for where cloud costs quietly leak (and where not to cut)
  • A short list of reliability moves that deliver the biggest uplift for typical SME estates
  • Practical ways to improve resilience without rebuilding everything
  • Where serverless removes complexity – and where it introduces constraints
  • A “right‑sized standards” approach: repeatable defaults and patterns that prevent drift without slowing change
  • A focused automation shortlist: cost governance, backup verification, drift prevention, baseline security, and decision dashboards
  • Decision‑oriented options on what to stop, start, or standardise using Azure‑native capabilities (to reduce third‑party spend and operational effort)
  • A simple 30/60/90‑day modernisation plan, including quick wins and what to measure
A meeting with a group of people around

The morning’s structure

 

08:15: Arrival + Networking: Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and connect with peers while taking in panoramic views of London.

08:30: Welcome and framing – “control without complexity”, not a technical deep dive.

08:35: Main Session: Richard Kuczma, Wanstor’s CTO, introduces the big levers: cost control without risk, reliability without overengineering, and right‑sized standards + automation (including where serverless / managed services reduce operational effort and fragility).

09:35: Discussion/Q&A: Executive‑level prioritisation: spend vs availability vs governance, what can’t go down, and what’s blocking action.

09:55: Close: Summation and next steps.

About Wanstor

Wanstor helps organisations make technology feel effortless – reliable operations, stronger security without added complexity, and change that actually sticks. We’re outcome‑led, not output‑focused: we measure success by how productive and seamless the day‑to‑day experience is, and how confidently leaders can make decisions on cost, risk and reliability – not just by ticket counts or activity.
We work across the Microsoft ecosystem to reduce disruption, remove avoidable waste, and create a calmer, more resilient operating environment – which is exactly why this briefing stays practical: clear decisions, pragmatic guardrails, and actions you can apply immediately.

We’re trusted by leaders in Not‑for‑Profit, Housing Associations, Legal Services, Consultancies, Professional Services, and Hospitality because we make things happen – fast, securely, and with zero drama. If you want a partner who’s proactive, practical, and always focused on your outcomes, you’ll feel right at home with Wanstor.