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

How CIOs strengthen cloud foundations, control cost, and put the right guardrails in place to scale Al with confidence

Please note that the registrations for this event has now closed.

AI doesn’t fail in the pilot. It fails at scale – when cloud demand spikes, costs become unpredictable, and governance arrives too late. This executive breakfast is a practical session for leaders who need AI outcomes in production, without turning the platform into an expensive, fragile constraint.

 

Event details

  • Date: Tuesday 2 June 2026
  • Time: 9:00 – 11:00
  • Location: 14 Stories, 14th floor, 120 Fenchurch St, London EC3M 5AL

 

Modern IT Breakfast briefing

Why this and why now

What CIOs are being pushed on right now

CIOs face a convergence of pressures: scaling enterprise AI, controlling dynamic cloud consumption, and defending against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats – including AI-driven attacks.

 

Two signals worth paying attention to

  • 83% of CEOs are increasing AI investment, yet 59% of AI initiatives fail to make it into production.
  • 71% of CIOs struggle to prioritise the AI use cases that deliver measurable business outcomes.

 

So the question isn’t “should we do AI?”. It’s: what has to be true about cloud, cost and guardrails for AI to scale safely, and actually stick?

What you’ll leave with

 

You’ll leave with a prioritised set of actions framed as leadership decisions: what to stop, what to standardise, and what to automate next, plus a simple 30/60/90 plan you can run.

  • Where cloud spend quietly leaks, and where not to cut
  • Cost control that doesn’t create risk (tagging, budgets, alerts, lightweight showback, automation)
  • The few reliability moves that deliver the biggest uplift (SPOFs, backups you can trust, tested restores, practical trade-offs)
  • Guardrails that enable speed (repeatable standards, drift prevention, decision dashboards)

 

No sales pitch, just a working session and breakfast with peers.

What we’ll cover

  1. The pilot-to-production breakpoints
    Why cloud estates become expensive and brittle as AI demand rises: weak cost ownership/tagging, orphaned resources, over-provisioning, and “visibility” that doesn’t translate into action.
  2. Guardrails that don’t slow delivery
    Right-sized control: the minimum set of standards and automation that reduces cost and fragility without adding bureaucracy.
  3. The practical plan: 30/60/90
    A clear sequence: what to fix first, what to standardise, what to automate, and what to measure (cost trend, incident trend, change success, recovery confidence).

Who this is for

This is for leaders accountable for AI outcomes, cloud cost, reliability and risk, including CIOs/CTOs, Heads of IT/Infrastructure, and senior operations/finance stakeholders who need better cost control and delivery confidence.

A meeting with a group of people around

The morning’s structure

 

09:00: Arrival + Networking: Enjoy a relaxed breakfast and connect with peers while taking in panoramic views of London.

09:20: Welcome and framing: From pilot to production: what has to change

09:25: Main Session: Richard Kuczma, Wanstor’s CTO on the levers: cost control, reliability, guardrails and automation

10:25: Discussion/Q&A: Prioritisation and constraints

10:45: Close: Summation and next steps.

About Wanstor

Wanstor helps organisations make technology feel effortless: reliable operations, stronger security without added complexity, and change that sticks. We’re outcome-led, focused on decision clarity around cost, risk and reliability, not activity for activity’s sake.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a sales event?
No, it’s a practical executive session designed to leave you with a plan and decision points.

Can I bring a colleague?
Of course, bring whoever shares accountability for cloud cost, reliability, governance or AI scale. But do make sure they register.

What should I prepare?
Nothing formal but if you know your biggest cost/reliability pain, you’ll get more from the discussion prompts.

How long is it?
It’s a breakfast briefing designed to be finished by 11:00.

Is it free to attend?
Yes, it is.