CloudPe participated in the 21st CIO 100 Awards & Conference, held from 17th to 19th September 2026 at The Leela Bhartiya City, Bengaluru. Centered on the theme “The Fearless Vision: CIO leadership for the agentic economy,” the event brought together senior IT leaders from large enterprises for three days of conversations, benchmarking, and peer learning.
A booth reserved for real decision-makers
CIO 100 is structured differently from a typical trade show. It is reserved for Head or Director-level IT professionals at companies with 500 or more employees, which meant every conversation at the CloudPe booth was with a genuine decision-maker.
Engagement built steadily across the event. Most CIOs visited exhibitor booths and saw significantly higher footfall and conversation depth at the CloudPe booth.
What CIOs are prioritizing
Across three days of conversations, a few clear patterns emerged:
- Cost is the opening question: Most CIOs who stopped by wanted to understand how CloudPe offers cloud services at a significantly lower cost than traditional providers. CloudPe runs 20 to 60% more cost-efficiently than major hyperscalers, and pricing was consistently the first thing CIOs asked about.
- Credibility matters as much as pricing: Beyond cost, CIOs asked detailed questions about how CloudPe manages its infrastructure, its operational model, and its existing customer base. With 22,000+ customers and 10+ data centres already in operation, interest in the pricing advantage was matched by interest in proof and track record.
- AWS customers are open to evaluating alternatives: A large share of the CIOs CloudPe spoke with are currently running their primary workloads on AWS. Many asked for detailed information to be shared over email after the event, signaling genuine intent to evaluate.
- GPU interest exists but is early-stage: A smaller number of conversations touched on GPU requirements. Most of these organizations are currently using pre-built AI and ML models rather than training their own, so GPU infrastructure was not an immediate need for them.
Who CloudPe met
CloudPe connected with CIOs and senior representatives from a wide range of organizations, including PB Fintech, Marvell India, ABB, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Aurigene Pharma, Allcargo, Siemens Energy, Mphasis, Carl Zeiss, Haldiram, HCL, LTIMindtree, JK Tyre, Tata Power, JSW, and several others.
What comes next
The event gave CloudPe direct access to senior technology decision-makers across BFSI, manufacturing, pharma, and enterprise software. The focus now shifts to converting these conversations into active opportunities: personalized follow-ups, mapping additional stakeholders such as Heads of Infrastructure, Cloud, and Data/AI within each organization, and sharing information tailored to each company’s current cloud setup and requirements.
About CIO 100 Awards & Conference
The CIO 100 Awards & Conference, produced by Foundry, is in its 21st year and is often described as the “Oscars of the IT industry.” It recognizes CIO 100 Award winners for leadership and innovation, and brings together senior IT leaders for peer learning, benchmarking, and networking.
