{"id":783268,"date":"2025-10-24T18:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devoteam.com\/?post_type=news-and-pr&p=783268"},"modified":"2025-11-21T18:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T17:59:12","slug":"reinventing-business-in-the-age-of-ai-key-takeaways-from-the-portugal-digital-summit-2025","status":"publish","type":"news-and-pr","link":"https:\/\/devoteam.info\/en-pt\/news-and-pr\/reinventing-business-in-the-age-of-ai-key-takeaways-from-the-portugal-digital-summit-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Reinventing business in the age of AI: Key takeaways from the Portugal Digital Summit 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The \u201cPortugal Digital Summit 2025<\/a><\/strong>\u201d, held at the Lisbon Congress Centre on 22 and 23 October, established itself as a crucial event for the Portuguese digital economy. With the motto \u2018Reinventing Business in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,\u2019 the meeting served as a stage for leaders and experts to discuss the transformative influence of AI on organisations and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event stood out for its rich and diverse content, featuring a structure of 10 themed stages. These stages addressed crucial challenges that mark the present and the future, focusing on topics such as: Future of Money, Future of Energy & Sustainability, Future of Digital Trust and Cybersecurity, among others. The debate was promoted through diverse formats, including Keynotes, Discussion Panels and Case Studies. The presence of several renowned speakers, such as astronaut Sara Sabry and researcher Nils Olaya Fonstad from MIT CISR, further enriched the quality of the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devoteam played a central role, appearing as a Stage Partner on the \u2018Future of Leadership and Work Stage | New Paradigm Management in the AI Era<\/strong>\u2019. This stage, entirely dedicated to management and cultural adaptation of work in the face of AI disruption, solidified Devoteam’s position as a thought leader in the areas of strategy, technology, and human capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future of Leadership and Work Stage: A summary of the programme<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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On the morning of 22 October, the \u2018Future of Leadership and Work Stage | New Paradigm Management in the AI Era<\/strong>\u2019 hosted a programme that integrated strategic vision, data analysis and operational application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme began with the keynote speech \u2018Towards the Agentic Enterprise<\/strong>\u2019, presented by Jesper Schleimann, Head of Business AI<\/em> at SAP EMEA One. His message focused on the transition to the next level of enterprise AI, highlighting the concept of \u2018Agentic Mesh\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highlight of the programme was the Discussion Panel \u2018Strategic Decision-Making in the AI Era: From Data to Action<\/strong>\u2019, which featured Bruno Mota<\/strong>, CEO<\/em> of Devoteam Portugal, H\u00e9lder Dias Ribeiro<\/strong>, CDO<\/em> of Sonae MC, and Jo\u00e3o Nascimento<\/strong>, CIO<\/em> of EDP. The panel was moderated by Jo\u00e3o Guedes Vaz<\/strong>, Board Member, Managing Partner, Global Head of Leadership Consulting<\/em> at Boyden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed by the presentation of the case study \u2018Rewriting the Operations Playbook: How Mota-Engil\u2019s transformation path has included AI for End-to-End Innovation?<\/strong>\u2019, in which Pedro Campos<\/strong>, Executive Director and Head of Management Consulting<\/em> at Devoteam, and Filipe Morla<\/strong>, CEO <\/em>of Mota-Engil Global, explored Mota-Engil\u2019s strategic vision and digital transformation journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also time for a demonstration on the topic \u2018AI Tools that Augment Management and Strategy<\/strong>\u2019 led by Francisco Morais<\/strong>, SDR Manager<\/em> at Factorial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, a Fireside Chat between Adolfo Martinho<\/strong>, General Manager<\/em> of DXC Portugal, and Catarina Ceitil<\/strong>, CIO <\/em>of Galp, providing a 360\u00ba perspective on culture, strategy and management tools in the new era of AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of decision-making: Highlights from the panel discussion<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The panel discussion \u2018Strategic Decision-Making in the AI Era: From Data to Action<\/strong>\u2019 addressed a crucial challenge in the digital age: how to convert data into real and sustainable value for organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This moment brought together Bruno Mota<\/strong>, H\u00e9lder Dias Ribeiro<\/strong>, and Jo\u00e3o Nascimento<\/strong>, leaders who, in their daily roles, are at the forefront of the evolution of decision-making models, promoting the use of data, algorithms, and increased collaboration for more agile, reliable, and value-generating decision-making, with the discussion focusing on three major themes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data governance: The critical factor for AI scalability<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the points of discussion focused on the challenge of Artificial Intelligence scalability. Despite vast investment in infrastructure, the transition from proofs of concept (PoCs) and MVPs to large-scale implementation is often interrupted. The main barrier identified is not technological, but rather organisational in nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need for robust and non-negotiable data governance was the central point of consensus among all speakers, considered essential for the successful implementation and scalability of Artificial Intelligence. Jo\u00e3o Nascimento<\/strong> emphasised the importance of having \u2018good foundations\u2019, warning that \u2018bad data generates bad outputs\u2019. As an example, he mentioned EDP’s investment in cataloguing more than 80% of its data domains. Bruno Mota<\/strong> added to this, warning that many companies that consider themselves data-ready end up failing due to the absence of an adequate governance structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enablement at scale<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The transition from experimentation to actual business transformation requires a significant effort in large-scale training and a clear demonstration of Return on Investment (ROI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This point was highlighted by H\u00e9lder Dias Ribeiro<\/strong>, who presented Sonae MC’s \u2018AI Accelerate\u2019 programme, structured around three essential pillars: People <\/strong>(focus on digital literacy and skill set development); Process Transformation<\/strong> (avoiding the application of AI to obsolete processes); and AI-enabled Products<\/strong>. Sonae MC’s CDO <\/em>also emphasised that \u2018value measurement\u2019 is the key factor in unlocking potential in organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the same lines, Jo\u00e3o Nascimento<\/strong> highlighted EDP’s investment in training thousands of employees, adapted to different levels of maturity in AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, Bruno Mota<\/strong> summarised that the biggest challenge lies precisely in validating ROI and ensuring that AI projects evolve from mere experiments into robust solutions capable of effectively transforming organisational processes and workflows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human-in-the-loop<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The panel discussion emphasised that the future lies in optimised collaboration between humans and machines, rather than an exclusive choice. H\u00e9lder Dias Ribeiro<\/strong> illustrated this synergy by sharing the use of quasi-autonomous agents in cybersecurity. In addition, Bruno Mota<\/strong> highlighted the importance of human intervention, estimating that \u201890% of agents would benefit from having a human-in-the-loop component\u2019 for greater assertiveness and confidence in decision-making. Jo\u00e3o Nascimento<\/strong> reinforced that the human factor represents, above all, a strategic and differentiating issue in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summary, it was concluded that, although automation is ideal for technical and back-office processes, crucial customer-oriented decisions still require human oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, competitive advantage will not be determined by algorithms, which are widely accessible (democratised), but rather by how technology is specifically applied to the business, by leadership vision, by valuing talent, and by speed of implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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