Evaluating Tech Investments and ROI

About
Panellists

About
Technology spend has never been higher, yet proving its value has never been harder. Many boards are asking: What is the real return on our investment?

Despite advances in AI, automation, and data platforms, fewer than a third of organisations can confidently measure the business impact of their technology. Too often, projects are justified on aspiration rather than evidence.

At the same time, the economic environment demands accountability. Leaders must decide not only where to invest, but how to measure value creation, from operational efficiency to customer experience, resilience, and growth.

We explore how to evaluate technology investments with rigour and clarity and how to ensure every digital initiative contributes meaningfully to business outcomes.

Discussion points:
- Many organisations still struggle to connect technology investments to measurable business outcomes. What are the biggest reasons ROI assessments fail in practice?
- How can procurement, finance, and technology teams collaborate to evaluate value creation rather than focusing purely on cost reduction?
- How do you define and measure value when outcomes may be both operational and strategic?
- How can leaders distinguish between well-marketed hype and genuine, value-accretive investment?
- How should leaders balance the need to deliver quick returns with the importance of building sustainable innovation and long-term platform maturity?
- To measure ROI credibly, what data foundations and governance are required, and how do organisations avoid over-reporting or synthetic ROI?
- What is the most effective way to communicate technology ROI to boards and investors who may not be deeply technical?
- As AI and automation evolve, could ROI tracking itself become predictive, providing live, data-driven insights into future financial and operational performance?
- For leaders looking to make smarter investment decisions tomorrow, what is the most pragmatic, lowest-risk first step towards improving how ROI is measured and demonstrated?
- As AI begins to influence valuations and share prices, what responsibilities do senior leaders have to ensure ROI claims are grounded in real-world performance rather than proof-of-concept outcomes?
Panellists

Akshay Upadhye, Chief Technology Officer, Spendkey

Jaco Vermeulen, Chief Technology Officer, BML
Panellists

Akshay Upadhye, Chief Technology Officer, Spendkey

Akshay Upadhye is an accomplished Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and highly influential leader with over 30 years of experience driving transformative strategies across procurement and enterprise technology.

As a seasoned executive, Akshay possesses a proven track record of leveraging technology to deliver tangible business value and measurable bottom-line impact for world-renowned organisations, including Rolls-Royce, Santander Bank, and SKF. His profound expertise encompasses IT strategy, digital transformation, and the implementation of scalable, data-driven solutions.

Akshay is a recognised pioneer in intelligent automation, particularly noted for his thought leadership in developing and deploying AI Agents to revolutionise procurement. His work focuses on implementing autonomous systems that effectively amplify human judgement, accelerate strategic decision-making, and unlock significant cost efficiencies and enhanced business agility.

Jaco Vermeulen, Chief Technology Officer, BML

As a CTO/CIO serving private equity portfolio companies and large corporates, I have extensive experience in M&A advisory, having participated in over 50 transactions with a combined value exceeding £10 billion. I have led digital business strategy, transformation, and value creation initiatives that have delivered over £60 million in direct operational savings, generated more than £30 million in new revenue, and created over £500 million in enterprise value. For more than a decade, I have delivered AI-enabled capabilities across industries including healthcare, travel, utilities, logistics, manufacturing, insurance, retail, and oil & gas. In healthcare specifically, my work has focused on predictive diagnostics and dynamic optimisation of care and services.

For years, retail innovation has focused on efficiency—faster checkouts, cleaner interfaces, shorter paths to purchase. But in the rush to streamline, we’ve lost something essential: conversation. Forget chatbots. Forget dashboards. This is a conversation. And it’s quietly changing how retail works from the first “hello” to the final click.

Join fellow senior retail leaders for a dinner hosted in partnership with Rezolve Ai, and Microsoft. Together, we’ll explore how intelligent, conversational AI is reshaping digital commerce; not with noise, but with nuance. This is a shift from transactional UX to intelligent, contextual interaction powered by AI that works across the journey, not just at the edge of it.

We’re not talking about pilots or prototypes. We’re talking about what’s working:

AI that actually integrates
Advice that feels human
Support that sells

This isn’t a new channel. It’s a new layer woven across the entire retail experience: search, discovery, decision-making, checkout, service, and loyalty. We’ll unpack how forward-looking retailers use conversational AI not as a bolt-on feature but as a strategic layer that deepens product discovery, increases conversion, unlocks lifetime value, and reduces friction across the customer journey. All without rebuilding from scratch.

AGENDA

18:30 Arrival & Welcome Drinks
19:10 Move to Seats
19:15 Opening Remarks
19:25 Scene-Setter: What’s Actually Working in Retail AI

Why conversational commerce is not a channel- it’s a layer
What leading retailers are already doing differently
Why it’s not about building more AI, but activating the right one in the right place

19:35 Dinner & Moderated Discussion

How are you scaling AI into legacy architectures? What’s the integration challenge vs opportunity?
How do you maintain trust and tone when AI is customer-facing? What does “human” really mean in the context of digital experience?
What does intelligent, frictionless discovery look like in 2025?
What KPIs are you using to measure AI’s impact across CX, AOV, and LTV?
What resonates with your board when discussing these investments?

21:35 Final Thoughts & Takeaways
21:30 Close

HEAR FROM

Jake Lett

CEO & Chairman, Rezolve Ai

Daniel M. Wagner is an entrepreneur and technology pioneer, leading Rezolve Ai—a global force in Conversational Commerce and AI-driven retail. With four decades at the cutting edge of digital innovation, Dan is known for turning bold ideas into industry-shaping realities.

At just 20, Dan founded MAID, the world’s first commercial online information service, and by his late 30s, he had taken it public on both the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, becoming one of the youngest CEOs of a listed company. This early success established him as a digital commerce trailblazer.

Since launching Rezolve Ai in 2016, Dan has redefined retail technology, introducing Brain Commerce and expanding globally through partnerships with Microsoft and Google. Under his leadership, Rezolve Ai was named a “Next Big Winner” in AI for 2025 by MarketBeat.

Jake Lett

President, Global Commerce, Rezolve Ai

Mark is an expert commercial leader with 25 years of experience bringing technology to life for retailers, brands and financial institutions globally. Focusing on strategic partnerships, business development and M&A, Marks’ past successes include a leadership role, as Chief Commercial Officer, in the successful IPO of Attraqt (LSE: ATQT), a business Mark joined at its inception.