BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//ChamberMaster//Event Calendar 2.0//EN METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:P1H REFRESH-INTERVAL:P1H CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU DTSTART:20070101T000000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU DTSTART:20070101T000000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260623T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260623T203000 X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:FALSE SUMMARY:Ottawa Chapter: DATE CHANGE | Data and AI Sovereign by Design DESCRIPTION:Building a Strong and Trusted Foundation for Agents\, Models\, and DecisionsMost Canadian CIOs are past the "should we do AI" question. The real questions now are sharper: on whose terms\, on what foundation\, and with what visibility into what the AI is actually doing?This interactive discussion is structured around three layers that most organizations are navigating in pieces and rarely all at once.Infrastructure is where sovereignty starts and where it usually stops. Data residency\, Canadian compute\, contractual protections. That's the floor\, not the ceiling. Without a unified\, trusted data foundation underneath everything else\, every layer above it gets shaky.Context is the layer most implementations skip and where the real governance advantage is built. Models arrive with general knowledge. What they lack is your organization's discovered knowledge: your terminology\, your workflows\, your policy interpretation\, the regulatory specifics of operating in Canada. Three kinds of context matter: personal\, organizational\, and market. When all three are present\, hallucination drops\, explainability improves\, and the AI actually behaves as though it understands your mandate.Application is where value is delivered agents\, analytics\, decision-support tools. Every one performs better\, and is more defensible to oversight bodies\, when the two layers underneath are solid.No slides. No presentations. Just a structured conversation among peers to leave with sharper questions than you arrived with!What You Will Take Away From This DiscussionA practical three-layer framework infrastructure\, context\, application and the questions worth asking at each layer before committing to a directionA sharper vocabulary for the sovereignty conversation: why data residency is the floor\, not the ceiling\, and what "sovereign by design" actually requires in practiceClarity on the context gap why most AI deployments underperform not because of the model\, but because of missing organizational and regulatory context and what closing that gap looks likeA way to think about explainability and auditability that satisfies both technical teams and company or accountability requirementsSpecific questions to bring back to vendors and architects: not just "is our data in Canada?" but whether inference happens here\, whether your data is training external models\, and whether the system can demonstrate what it knew and why it decidedCandid peer perspectives from other CIOs on where the real implementation friction is and where the early wins are being foundSample discussion questions: https://www.ciocan.ca/sample-discussion-questions-data-and-ai-sovereign-by-design/Speaker | Chandrashekar LSP - Managing Director\, Zoho CanadaCo- Hosts | Ian Bruce - Vice President Sales\, Zoho Canada | Sailus Sundaram - Head of Strategy/Product Development\, Zoho CanadaAbout the Speaker:\nIn most rooms there is the technologist\, the account manager\, the delivery lead\, and the commercial mind. In LSP's world\, they must be the same chair.Architecture\, delivery\, customer engagement\, commercial outcome. Most people pick one. LSP never did. Seasoned enough to know where it breaks. Present enough to fix it.His focus now is building Zoho for Canada. Outside of that\, he's usually somewhere that isn't on the itinerary. Drawn to places that aren't trying to be found.Agenda6:00 - 7:00pm Arrival & Networking Reception7:00 - 8:00pm Presentation Q & A8:00 - 8:30pm NetworkingHors d'oeuvres & Beverages to be servedOpen to CIOCAN Members & their *Qualified Non-Member Guests (*CIO/CISO/Senior IT Executive in a Leadership role)Thank you to our sponsor\nZoho is a privately held\, bootstrapped technology company that has spent 30 years navigating technological\, geopolitical\, and economic shifts while staying true to a long-term set of convictions. Serving over a million customers globally\, from small businesses to large enterprises\, Zoho has built a broad software portfolio by challenging conventional wisdom and competing with some of the largest players in the industry. That journey has shaped how we think about sovereignty\, resilience\, and the real-world trade-offs leaders face as markets and technologies evolve. X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Building a Strong and Trusted Foundation for Agents\, Models\, and Decisions

Most Canadian CIOs are past the "\;should we do AI"\; question. The real questions now are sharper: on whose terms\, on what foundation\, and with what visibility into what the AI is actually doing?

This interactive discussion is structured around three layers that most organizations are navigating in pieces &mdash\; and rarely all at once.

Infrastructure is where sovereignty starts &mdash\; and where it usually stops. Data residency\, Canadian compute\, contractual protections. That'\;s the floor\, not the ceiling. Without a unified\, trusted data foundation underneath everything else\, every layer above it gets shaky.

Context is the layer most implementations skip &mdash\; and where the real governance advantage is built. Models arrive with general knowledge. What they lack is your organization'\;s discovered knowledge: your terminology\, your workflows\, your policy interpretation\, the regulatory specifics of operating in Canada. Three kinds of context matter: personal\, organizational\, and market. When all three are present\, hallucination drops\, explainability improves\, and the AI actually behaves as though it understands your mandate.

Application is where value is delivered &mdash\; agents\, analytics\, decision-support tools. Every one performs better\, and is more defensible to oversight bodies\, when the two layers underneath are solid.

No slides. No presentations. Just a structured conversation among peers &mdash\; to leave with sharper questions than you arrived with!

What You Will Take Away From This Discussion

Sample discussion questions: https://www.ciocan.ca/sample-discussion-questions-data-and-ai-sovereign-by-design/

Speaker | Chandrashekar LSP - \;Managing Director\, Zoho Canada

Co- Hosts | \;Ian Bruce - \;Vice President Sales\, Zoho Canada | \;Sailus Sundaram \;- Head of Strategy/Product Development\, Zoho Canada

About the Speaker:


In most rooms there is the technologist\, the account manager\, the delivery lead\, and the commercial mind. In LSP'\;s world\, they must be the same chair.

Architecture\, delivery\, customer engagement\, commercial outcome. Most people pick one. LSP never did. Seasoned enough to know where it breaks. Present enough to fix it.

His focus now is building Zoho for Canada. Outside of that\, he'\;s usually somewhere that isn'\;t on the itinerary. Drawn to places that aren'\;t trying to be found.

Agenda

6:00 - 7:00pm &ndash\; Arrival &\; Networking Reception

7:00 - 8:00pm &ndash\; Presentation &ndash\; Q &\; A

8:00 - 8:30pm &ndash\; Networking

Hors d&rsquo\;oeuvres &\; Beverages to be served

Open to CIOCAN Members &\; their *Qualified Non-Member Guests \;(*CIO/CISO/Senior IT Executive in a Leadership role)

Thank you to our sponsor


Zoho \;is a privately held\, bootstrapped technology company that has spent 30 years navigating technological\, geopolitical\, and economic shifts while staying true to a long-term set of convictions. Serving over a million customers globally\, from small businesses to large enterprises\, Zoho has built a broad software portfolio by challenging conventional wisdom and competing with some of the largest players in the industry. That journey has shaped how we think about sovereignty\, resilience\, and the real-world trade-offs leaders face as markets and technologies evolve.


LOCATION:150 Elgin Street Ottawa ON K2P 1L4 UID:e.1797.1463090 SEQUENCE:3 DTSTAMP:20260606T133611Z URL:https://members.ciocan.ca/upcoming-events/Details/ottawa-chapter-date-change-data-and-ai-sovereign-by-design-1733483?sourceTypeId=Hub END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR