About my Magma consulting activities

In recent years, the digital transformation of public services has become a key driver of innovation and efficiency. As someone passionate about modernizing every organizations, I have been privileged to lead a digital transformation initiative within a Belgian public service . This experience not only enhanced our service delivery but also showcased the immense potential of leveraging technology to serve citizens better.   A particular highlight of this journey was being recognized at the Belgian AI 2025 Microsoft Hackathon for our innovative approach to digital change. Winning this award was both an honor and a testament to the hard work of the entire team, who embraced new ways of thinking and working to achieve meaningful results.   One of the most significant trends shaping the future of digital transformation is the rise of low-code and no-code platforms . These solutions empower professionals who may not have a traditional IT background to create applications, a...

Since my last update, I’ve been immersed in a major transformation initiative within a large public service organisation. While I can’t disclose the name of the client, I can share that the scale and ambition of the project are truly inspiring. The organisation is undergoing a significant digital shift, and after careful evaluation, the Microsoft technical stack has been selected as the foundation for this journey. This choice brings a robust, scalable, and secure ecosystem to the table—one that aligns well with the needs of modern public service delivery. I’m part of a dedicated project team working toward a clear and ambitious goal: delivering a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) by the end of this calendar year. This MVP isn’t just a technical milestone—it’s a strategic one. It will serve as the first tangible step in demonstrating how digital tools can enhance service delivery, improve user experience, and streamline internal operations. The work so far has been intense and rewarding....

Taking advantage of the summer months to make progress with certain clients ( ironically , July and August are often the times when we advance most quickly , while focusing on some challenging or particularly complex deliverables ), I continually find myself surprised by the lack of information and the difficulty in obtaining concrete , established , indisputable data. In other words , there is a need to base decisions on clear and precise data, akin to a scientific approach .     In daily management— beyond just financial aspects—IT departments must rely on clear , precise , and concise reporting to facilitate progress in digital transformation or technical debt management. Modernizing an information system and simplifying an architecture requires reliable reports that detail which version of a specific technical component is being used , what benefits simplification brings to a particular process, and how risks can...

  Insights from WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2025, Berlin Yesterday at the WeAreDevelopers World Congress in Berlin (thanks Julia Kordick), I attended a fascinating session on AI-powered COBOL migration. As a management consultant working with public sector clients, this resonated deeply with our ongoing challenges in legacy system modernization. The Technical Debt Crisis Technical debt in public administrations and large organizations has reached critical levels. Like compound interest on a loan, postponed modernization efforts are making systems increasingly expensive and risky to maintain. AI as the Game-Changer Let me share two concrete examples of how AI is revolutionizing legacy system modernization: Example 1: Tax Processing System Traditional Migration: 20 developers × 18 months = 360 person-months Cost: ~$5.4M (at $15K/month) Quality: 85% code coverage AI-Assisted Migration: 8 developers × 6 months = 48 person-months Cost: ~$720K Quality: 95% code coverage Productivity G...

Discussing AI's ethical role in our lives, its future impact, and societal changes has become common. One critical issue often overlooked is how AI will influence global power dynamics, with each continent striving to dominate algorithm mastery - USA, China, Russia, India, and Europe. Articles on AI and ethics usually highlight three levels: first, the assertion that AI should benefit the common good, considering job creation and losses. This assumption requires validation. Second, major AI players (Microsoft, OpenAI, Google) promote potential revolutionary benefits, such as universal cancer cures or affordable personal medication, which also need validation. These developments depend on feeding data models and specialized algorithms, but the outcome may be catastrophic. Furthermore, at the third level, AI's military applications are ominous, with details typically undisclosed to the public. Interested readers can explore more in the AI and Ethics Journal published by Spr...

Ah, the passing of time—the ultimate thief in the night! If human memory were a goldfish, we'd be swimming in a bowl of forgetfulness. Honestly, who among us can recall the intricacies of every project or the names of all the people we’ve collaborated with? It’s a wonder we manage to remember our own birthdays, let alone the details of a career that’s spanned decades! And let’s be real, the irony of a curriculum vitae—that glossy snapshot of one's professional prowess— fizzling out to little more than a dry list of job titles is a missed opportunity of epic proportions.  So, dare we dive into the vault of memories? Picture it: 1996, when my youthful self-walked through the hallowed halls of SAP, ready to tackle whatever techno-terrors lay ahead. I was the go-to guru of network and Microsoft wizardry, tasked with ensuring those clunky Windows NT 4.0 servers didn’t turn into blue-screen holes of despair. Remember the glorious chaos of Windows 95? The struggles were real, ...