When your technology project matters most, choose experience.

The Same Script, Told Again and Again

By the end of the first day of ALL IN, I noticed that speakers had started to repeat each other. Whatever the panel, the message was some version of "AI is urgent, it will change everything, and we need to retain our sovereignty."

At first, I thought the problem was me. I'm a software developer at heart, so maybe my appetite was just to hear about code and see it in action. The more I listened, though, the clearer it became that I wasn't missing technical depth so much as lived experience. Almost nobody explained how AI had changed their own organization. Every news outlet already tells us AI is the next big thing, so a room full of practitioners should be able to tell us something the headlines can't. Where did you start? What did you try? What worked, what failed, and what would you do differently if you started over tomorrow? I heard almost none of that.

Instead, a large share of the programme went to investment, governance and data sovereignty. Those topics matter, and some of those conversations were excellent, but they stay high up. They tell you where the money is going, and very little about what happens when a team sits down and tries to use the technology.

‍

Sovereignty is not residency

Some panellists did say things every executive should hear, and it was good to hear this one said out loud: data sovereignty is not the same as data residency.

Many people still mix up the two. A provider tells you your data sits in a Canadian data centre, and that feels like control, but where your data is stored doesn't decide who can reach it or what happens to it. Canadian lawyers and infrastructure providers have warned that data held by a foreign-owned provider can still fall under that provider's home-country laws. The best-known example is the U.S. CLOUD Act, which can apply even when the servers are in Canada.

AI adds another layer that is easy to miss. Real sovereignty also means controlling how the AI services you use treat your data. A service that trains on your information as you use it doesn't forget that information when you vacate the premises because it keeps footprints of it in its DNA. Vendor lock-in used to be about contracts and migration costs, and now it's also about what you have already handed over without realizing it. That makes every AI vendor decision a riskier one than it looks.

That distinction is exactly why the investments announced around ALL IN matter. Two days before ALL IN, Bell announced a $50-billion expansion of its AI data-centre project in Saskatchewan, the largest private capital investment in Canadian history. At the event itself, Canada and Germany committed new funding to LawZero, a lab building trustworthy AI, and held the first meeting of their Sovereign Technology Alliance.

‍

An Invitation to Experiment

I would have loved to hear more trial and error from the stage. I understand why it's rare. AI isn't a fixed target, and what you say today may look naive in six months, so sharing an experiment that didn't work takes courage.

The industry won't wait for anyone to catch up, though. Enormous sums are flowing into infrastructure, and impatient shareholders are waiting for their returns. If the target keeps moving, our processes must move with it, which means faster thinking and more experimentation. Waiting for AI to be perfect before getting on the train means never getting on at all. The internet has never been perfect either but somehow, we have managed to work with it.

So start now, with what you have, and share what you learn, failures included. That's what I was hoping to hear from the stage.

‍

We no longer have an AI problem. We have a talent problem.

The idea I heard most, and the one I agree with most, is that technology is no longer the bottleneck. People are. What we have to work out is how to build the skills, habits and judgment our organizations need to use these tools well. Canada and Germany both named talent as a priority, and that priority now has to reach every team, not just the research labs.

As a developer, I left ALL IN wanting more. As someone who manages a team of developers, I left a little reassured because nobody in that building has found the magic formula that makes everyone ten times faster. A company is more than its developers. Make developers ten times faster while everyone around them stays the same, or slows down trying to keep up, and you haven't solved anything. You've just moved the bottleneck downstream.

When we think of national defence, we think of hardware: ships, aircraft, tanks. In 2026, that picture is incomplete. One of the most critical layers of Canada’s defence capability is increasingly digital. The quality of the software powering our defence systems have become a strategic imperative.

“Today, the defence sector relies heavily on cutting-edge, highly complex computer and digital systems that need to be built, upgraded, and secured,” says François de Bellefeuille, software engineer and VP Client Solutions at Spiria, a Canadian custom software development firm. De Bellefeuille is also a member of Gatineau’s newly formed strategic defence committee, a signal that the National Capital Region is positioning itself as a technology hub for the sector.

“A mission-critical system that fails, or ties your operational continuity and autonomy to another country’s decisions is a major risk. What you build, how you build it, and who builds it are now potentially questions of national security.”

The C5ISRT framework makes this explicit. Command and Control, Communications, Computing, Cybersecurity, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting: the doctrine that now shapes modern defence operations is, at its core, a software problem. Every component depends on systems designed with precision, built to withstand adversarial conditions, and maintained by teams who understand both the technology and the stakes. A weakness in any layer is critical for national security.

These software threats are already well documented. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security recorded 2,561 incidents in 2024-2025 affecting federal institutions and critical infrastructure partners. While in August 2025, a vulnerability in widely deployed software exposed data at the House of Commons.

These are not abstract vulnerabilities. Now, the real challenges rising are related to the firms building the very technologies we use in defence. Systems built offshore without robust architecture become liabilities the moment they are deployed. And software developed outside Canada introduces supply chain dependencies that defence procurement frameworks are only beginning to address seriously.

“Canada has the talent, the firms, and the expertise to grow software capabilities from within, without relying on other countries,” de Bellefeuille adds. As Canada moves to meet NATO’s 5% GDP target, the contracts are being written and the systems are being designed.

Ships, aircraft, tanks: the hardware of national defence is only as capable as the software that commands, connects, and secures it. Well-built and Canadian-built critical systems are key to the success of our national defence.

IN 2025, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) reshapes the rules of business and technology. It amplifies what already exists: solid foundations become a competitive advantage, while fragile ones can translate to security, operations and financial nightmares.

“Sadly, AI will not solve all your business and technology problems, at least, not on its own,” says François de Bellefeuille, software engineer and VP Clients Solutions at Spiria, a Canadian custom software development firm. Founded in 2003, the company has a team of more than 150 experts across Canada and has worked with more than 600 clients cross-industries.

While it is impressive how much AI can improve efficiency, Spiria reminds us it is not magic. The reality with new technologies is that they often amplify existing successes or challenges in a company. “If we think of legacy software, adding AI will probably shine a very bright light on existing technical, data, efficiency and security gaps—putting them forward and making them impossible to ignore,” adds François.

Both Spiria’s business and software experts agree, legacy systems create a major obstacle to success for many organizations here in Ottawa. “These outdated systems create a major setback for many companies looking to integrate new technologies and keep evolving at the pace of the market,” mentions Mr. de Bellefeuille. “And it does not discriminate per industry.”

Whether companies evolve in insurance, manufacturing or defence, the strategic modernization of their systems could allow them to set foundations for solid and sustainable business growth.

Where to Start?

According to their experts, deciding which outdated systems need to be refreshed is a strategic and business decision rather than a technical one. “Yes, you use technology. But you use it to improve critical operations in your business. It’s something you should do with purpose and strategy.”

“With our clients, we rarely recommend a simple lift and shift,” says François. According to Spiria’s experts, anyone modernizing their software applications should minimally consider the interoperability of their systems, the real investment needed for an effective system migration, the impact on their users, employees and clients, and the key components needed to add new technologies, namely AI.

For François, the modernization of software systems is very important for Ottawa businesses. “I truly believe the Capital region can follow the fast-paced technology changes happening in the world. With the right tools, we can go far and use technology to help us foster positive change in the region.”