Organisations want highly productive product teams, yet cannot afford every team to reinvent foundations around infrastructure, security, data, and compliance. Architects are increasingly asked to square that circle: enable speed without sacrificing coherence.
Platform Engineering plays a crucial role in this context, not as an operating model in itself, but as an enabling capability that supports a modern operating model built around productive product teams. Done well, it provides reusable platforms, paved roads and guardrails, allowing teams to focus on business outcomes rather than foundational concerns.
This Architect Round Table brings together a small group of senior architects to explore how Platform Engineering can be shaped and applied in a Microsoft‑centric enterprise environment, combining architectural framing with real‑world experience.
The format is intentionally compact, interactive, and limited in size.
What to expect
This session is structured around three complementary perspectives:
- Architectural clarity on what Platform Engineering is and just as importantly, what it is not
- A concrete enterprise implementation illustrating how platforms support productive teams at scale
- An open peer discussion on architectural trade‑offs, role evolution, and lessons learned
Agenda
9:30 - 10:00
Arrival & Coffee
10:00 – 10:10
Welcome & introduction
10:10 – 10:40
Platform Engineering in a Microsoft‑centric environment
with Diederik Wyffels – Managing Partner, 45 Degrees
An architectural introduction: How Platform Engineering provides shared capabilities, standards and accelerators that support an operating model with empowered product teams, without constraining innovation or autonomy — and how Microsoft technologies fit into this picture.
10:40 – 11:10
Umicore Infrastructure Platform Engineering – experience from the field
with Wim Henderyckx – Senior Manager Infrastructure Platform Engineering & Data Platform, Umicore
A practitioner’s view from a large, complex enterprise: How platform engineering is applied in practice, which choices were made, what tensions emerged, and how platforms help teams move faster without losing control.
11:10 – 11:25
Break
11:25 – 12:00
Panel conversation & round‑table discussion
Moderated by Michiel Gedopt – Microsoft Alliance Manager, Cronos
An interactive discussion with the speakers and participants, focusing on:
- Where architects see the biggest challenges today
- How platform capabilities change the architect’s role
- What actually helps product teams — and what doesn’t
12:00 – 14:00
Lunch & informal exchange
Who should attend?
This round table is intended for:
- Lead, Principal and Enterprise Architects
- Solution Architects operating at enterprise scale
- Architecture leaders working closely with CIO or IT leadership
If you are involved in defining shared platforms, architectural guardrails, or long‑term technical enablement, this session is designed for you.
If this invitation is not directly relevant to you, please feel free to forward it to a colleague for whom it may be.
Practical Details
- Date: Wednesday, 24 June 2026
- Location: Kasteel Sint‑Michiels, Groenstraat 11, 2860 Sint‑Katelijne‑Waver
- Format: In‑person round table
- Capacity: Limited to 20 architects
Register Today
Participation is limited to preserve the quality of the discussion.
Organised by 45 Degrees in collaboration with Micronos (Cronos Group).
Need some help or guidance?
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Part of the Cronos Group
Need some help or guidance on your transformation journey? We are happy to listen, and even more to help.