Confare Swiss CIOAWARD Winner Anna Maria Blengino (Sunrise)– Technology alone doesn’t transform a business – people do
Anna Maria Blengino is CIO at Sunrise – one of the biggest telecommunication companies in Switzerland. As the winner of the Confare Swiss CIOAWARD Maria is well-versed when it comes to IT and leadership. In this interview we are going to take a closer look at her understanding of the CIO role, the Sunrise-UPC merger, how to build a learning tech-organisation and much more.
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What does the modern CIO role mean to you today – and how has your own perception of it evolved in recent years?
For me, the role of the modern CIO goes far beyond running IT efficiently, it’s about being a strategic business leader who uses technology to create measurable value for customers, employees, and the company as a whole.
When I first stepped into the CIO role, my focus was naturally on the foundations: develop systems further, ensuring security, and building a reliable IT backbone. At Sunrise, that meant making sure we could serve millions of customers seamlessly every single day. Over time, my perception of the role has evolved. I realized that technology alone doesn’t transform a business, people do.
What excites me today is the opportunity to bridge business strategy with innovation. At Sunrise, this has meant moving from being a traditional telecom IT function to becoming a true digital enabler: driving automation, embedding AI into daily operations, and creating the capabilities that help our business units innovate faster and serve customers better.
The biggest change in my own perspective is seeing myself less as the “head of IT” and more as a change leader. My role is to inspire teams, encourage experimentation, and make sure that every technology initiative is tied to a real business outcome, whether that’s improving the customer experience, empowering employees, or opening up new revenue opportunities.
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How can IT truly drive business innovation rather than simply responding to demands?
The key is for IT to step out of the role of “order taker” and become a co-creator of business value. Too often, IT is seen as the function that executes requests. True innovation happens when IT has a seat at the table early on, helping to shape the strategy and identify opportunities that the business may not even have imagined yet.
At Sunrise, my team actively scans for opportunities where technology can open new doors, instead of waiting for business units to come with demands. A good example is how we are leveraging AI and automation. These weren’t simply requests from the business, they came from IT identifying use cases that could reduce complexity, accelerate processes, and ultimately improve customer experience.
Driving innovation also means building the right culture: encouraging teams to experiment, fail fast, and learn. IT should act as a bridge between cutting-edge technology and business reality, translating trends like AI, data platforms, or 5G into concrete business outcomes.
When IT works this way, it moves from being reactive to being a driver of growth, new services, and even new business models. For me, that’s the real power of the modern CIO role: not waiting to be asked but proactively showing the organization what’s possible.
Which experiences from the IT integration after the Sunrise–UPC merger were particularly formative for you personally?
The Sunrise–UPC merger was a defining moment for me, both professionally and personally, because it was my first large-scale merger. I quickly realized that there is no “playbook” you can simply apply: you need to study, learn, and stay humble. I spent a lot of time listening, observing, and being inspired by the consultancy teams and colleagues who had gone through similar journeys before. That openness to learning was crucial.
One of the toughest but most important decisions we made was to not compromise the business roadmap while consolidating and transforming IT. It was an enormous challenge, running a complex integration while continuing to deliver innovation for the business. But in the long run, this discipline paid off: we maintained business momentum, protected customer experience, and still managed to simplify and modernize the IT landscape.
Another big lesson was that the technical merger is the easier part, the cultural merger is the real challenge. Systems can be integrated with enough time and resources, but aligning mindsets, overcoming fears, and dismantling the “status quo” mentality requires empathy and leadership. Addressing human concerns, creating trust, and building a shared vision were just as critical as the technical work itself.
Finally, a strategic choice we made was to build independence through a central IT stack. That architecture not only simplified the integration but also gave Sunrise the flexibility to spin off when the time came. It showed me how IT can shape the long-term resilience and independence of a business, not just keep the lights on.
Looking back, the merger taught me that humility, cultural integration, and long-term architectural vision are just as important as technical excellence.
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Cloud, data platforms, API ecosystems – how do you leverage technology to open up new growth opportunities?
For me, technologies like cloud, data platforms, and API ecosystems are not ends in themselves: they are enablers of innovation and growth. They give us the agility and integrity we need to truly unleash the potential of advanced technologies such as AI.
At Sunrise, our data platforms play a central role. By ensuring data integrity and consistency across the organization, they allow us to build AI applications that make a real difference, from improving customer experience to optimizing network operations and automating internal processes. Without a strong data foundation, AI initiatives would be fragile or siloed. The same applies to cloud: it gives us the scalability to experiment and innovate quickly, while APIs open our ecosystem to partners and developers, turning IT into a growth platform rather than a closed system.
I often think of a line from Thomas Davenport’s work on competing with analytics: “Every company has data, but few turn it into a strategic asset.” In our case, the combination of cloud, data integrity, and API-first design is what transforms data into an asset that fuels AI-driven growth. Looking forward, I see these technologies not just as operational tools, but as strategic levers that create new opportunities: enabling new services, strengthening customer loyalty, and even paving the way for entirely new business models.
How do you ensure agile ways of working become deeply embedded and sustainable in your organisation?
Agility is not a methodology, it’s a mindset. To make agile ways of working truly stick, they have to move beyond IT projects and become part of the company’s DNA.
At Sunrise, we learned that this requires a few key ingredients. First, leadership must walk the talk. If executives still plan and steer in rigid, hierarchical ways, teams will never feel empowered to work differently. We as leaders must promote transparency, iterative delivery, and cross-functional collaboration at all levels.
Second, we focus on the human side of agility. Tools and ceremonies are important, but what really matters is psychological safety: people must feel they can experiment, fail fast, and learn without fear: creating that safe space was essential to unlock collaboration and break down silos.
Third, we connect agility to business outcomes, not just IT efficiency. When teams see that agile methods directly accelerate product launches, improve customer experience, or reduce time-to-market, the approach gains credibility and spreads organically.
Finally, sustainability comes from scaling practices across the organization — from product management to operations — and not treating agile as a “project within IT”. We bring together the right technical and business profiles, ensuring we deliver value incrementally rather than waiting for “big bang” rollouts.
That’s how agile becomes not a process, but a sustainable way of working.
You put great emphasis on internal mobility and development – how do you build a learning tech organisation?
For me, building a learning tech organization means creating an environment where people can constantly grow, explore new roles, and develop skills that keep them, and the company, future-ready.
At Sunrise, we approach this on several levels. We invest in the next generation of talent through our graduate program. We bring in young professionals from Swiss universities and polytechnics, and some of us also give lectures to stay connected with academia. This constant exchange keeps fresh ideas flowing into the company and helps us shape the skills of tomorrow.
We as well leverage our partnerships with hyperscalers and key service providers. Their learning academies give our teams access to world-class training and certifications, ensuring we stay on top of cloud, data, and AI developments.
Sunrise makes internal development very concrete through rotations, job sharing, and vertical career growth. I’m a strong believer in people moving across functions, because every move brings a new perspective and strengthens collaboration. I’ve experienced this myself in my own career path, and I encourage others to take the same opportunities.
Finally, what ties it all together is a culture of curiosity and empowerment. Technology changes fast, but if people feel trusted to learn and reinvent themselves, the organization naturally stays ahead.
What role does AI play in your daily work – and how do you prepare not only IT, but the entire company for it?
AI has become part of my everyday work. I use it as a personal copilot, for drafting and refining content, analyzing complex information, and even preparing for discussions with my peers. It helps me make better decisions, faster. But the bigger impact is how we prepare the whole company to embrace AI. At Sunrise, we’ve made a deliberate effort to build the foundations first: our cloud, data platforms, and API ecosystem ensure that data integrity and scalability are in place. Without that backbone, any AI application would remain a silo experiment.
On top of this, we are embedding AI into concrete business processes. For example, we’re using AI to improve customer service by anticipating needs and providing smarter support to our care and sales agents.
Equally important is the cultural preparation. We run workshops, training, and hands-on pilots so that teams can experience AI directly. The message is clear: AI is not just for IT, it’s for every part of the business. By giving employees both the tools and the confidence to use AI, we are making sure that adoption is broad and sustainable. My role as CIO is not only to bring AI into IT, but to make the entire company AI-ready, technologically, culturally, and strategically.
Why are diversity and purpose not just “nice-to-have” for you, but true success factors?
For me, diversity and purpose are not slogans: they are what keep me motivated as a leader and what make teams successful.
When I look back at my own career, I realize how much I’ve learned from working with people who think differently than I do. It was often the most diverse teams, with different nationalities, generations, and professional backgrounds, that found the smartest solutions. They challenged each other, they challenged me, and they came up with ideas none of us would have developed alone. That experience really shaped my belief that diversity is the engine of innovation.
IT is a demanding field, the pace is relentless, and the pressure can be high. What gives me and my teams resilience is knowing that what we do is enabling millions of people to connect, to work, to share their lives. That sense of purpose turns “tasks” into impact. It’s what gets people through tough moments, like long integration nights or ambitious transformation programs.
As CIO, I try to live this every day: by giving space to different voices, encouraging internal mobility so people can reinvent themselves, and always connecting our technology projects back to the bigger mission. For me, diversity and purpose are not nice-to-haves, they are the human foundations of sustainable success.
What are your top 3 pieces of advice for women aiming for a CIO career?
This is a topic very close to my heart. I’ve worked with many talented women in technology, and I know how important it is to encourage the next generation of female leaders to aim high, including for roles like CIO.
My three pieces of advice are:
Be curious. Never stop learning. Technology and leadership are constantly evolving. What will set you apart is your ability to stay curious, to explore, and to keep growing your skills and perspective.
Do not underestimate yourself. If someone assigns you a challenging task or role, take it! They would never give it to you if they didn’t believe you were capable. Too often, women hesitate because they feel they must be “100% ready” before stepping up. Trust yourself, others already do.
Do not change yourself into a man. Stay different, emotional, and unique. Your authenticity is your strength. Bringing your perspective, empathy, and individuality to the table is exactly what makes diverse teams powerful. If you try to conform, the team loses the very contribution that only you can bring.
I believe we need more women in CIO roles — not only because it’s fair, but because it makes organizations stronger. And the best way forward is for every woman to embrace her curiosity, confidence, and authenticity.