Pieter Jordaan
Group CIO
TUI
February 2026
As Group CIO at TUI and a Governing Body Member of the DACH CIO Community, Pieter Jordaan is driving enterprise transformation. Under his leadership, TUI – the world’s leading integrated tourism business – has embraced artificial intelligence (AI) not as a tactical tool, but as foundational infrastructure.
At the recent DACH CIO Community Executive Summit, Jordaan delivered a keynote on the AI enabled CIO, sharing practical frameworks and strategic insights that are redefining TUI’s approach to AI and setting new standards for innovation across the travel industry and beyond. Here, Jordaan offers an inside look at TUI’s AI journey and their evolving approach to customer experience. He emphasises the leadership role that CIOs need to play in the transition to the new AI enabled organisation.
AI as Core Infrastructure: Beyond the Add-On Mindset
Many organizations still treat AI as an incremental add-on for process optimization or analytics enhancement. Jordaan challenges this perspective, stating, “AI is not just an add-on like Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) or data or analytics. It is a fundamental shift in the way society, business and the internet will operate.” At TUI, AI is embedded throughout the enterprise – across every process, system, and customer interaction.
AI will penetrate every single area of a business.
Jordaan uses a striking analogy of the old world of the horse and the new world of AI, the car: : “If you ask, ‘How is this car going to make my horse go faster?’ You’re missing the point. The real question is, ‘How do I switch from a horse to a car?’” This shift requires not only new technology, but also a reimagining of organizational structures, processes, and talent.
Overcoming Obstacles: Technology, People, and Governance
TUI’s transformation began with a candid assessment of the challenges ahead. On the technology front, breaking down data silos and consolidating data centres were essential first steps. “We call it unboxing your data – making it available, readable, and accessible,” Jordaan explains. Migrating to the cloud, specifically consolidating into an AWS data centre in Frankfurt, provided the “oxygen needed to leverage AI properly” and speed up innovation.
But technology is only half the battle. “Technology is moving faster than people,” Jordaan notes. He says the real challenge lies in securing executive buy-in, structuring the organization for AI accessibility, upskilling TUI’s 67,000 employees, and maintaining robust governance and security.
Put AI in the hands of everybody, let them experiment with it, and that increase in AI literacy is what really gives you the biggest gains.
Through structured education and change management, TUI empowers employees at all levels to adopt and innovate with AI. They are focused on building a culture that moves beyond incremental improvements – the low hanging fruit – to address transformative challenges and opportunities.
AI in Action: Hyper-Personalization and Agentic AI
TUI’s AI strategy is both pragmatic and ambitious, starting with targeted, high-impact use cases. For example, by deploying AI in the call centre, TUI reduced complaint handling times from five minutes to just thirty seconds. This early success paved the way for rapid scaling. “We now have over 3,000 specific AI assistants built by the business and IT, saving thousands of hours per week and giving colleagues more time for complex, more value-adding tasks,” Jordaan shares. These AI solutions are not limited to customer service – they now span retail, crisis management, legal, finance, and other critical business functions.
As customer expectations evolve, TUI’s end-to-end ownership of the customer journey gives it a unique advantage in delivering AI-driven hyper-personalization. “We’re focusing on having a long-running conversation with the customer, personalizing every touchpoint based on all their cumulative interactions,” Jordaan explains. He adds, “We are unboxing the unique brand experiences we have, and we're bringing that to the customers via AI.”
Looking ahead, TUI is closely tracking the evolution of e-commerce, with a particular focus on the rise of agentic AI. Jordaan notes that for the first time, customer adoption – instead of universities or government agencies – is driving this technological trend. “We might lose the levers of marketing as we know it today. Agents are now browsing the web and they don’t fall for marketing levers. They’re driven by an open market. Big change is coming through agentic e-commerce as we are pushing more of the sales funnel up into the agentic channels,” he predicts.
Agentic AI is probably the biggest leverage CIOs can have if they can make that shift in the organization.
Measuring Impact & Ensuring Future Success
While efficiency gains and revenue acceleration are important, Jordaan cautions against focusing exclusively on short-term results. “AI actually benefits multiple areas – efficiency, risk management, and new business models. Revenue is a byproduct of a different vehicle.” He says the real value of AI is in investing in robust infrastructure and cultivating organizational mindset shifts required for sustainable, long-term transformation.
Jordaan also emphasizes the unpredictable nature of AI’s evolution. He notes, “Anyone who says they know what three years from now will look like is lying.” As no single leader or organization has all the answers, peer engagement and knowledge sharing are critical to navigating this uncertainty. Jordaan emphasizes, “The only way we’re going to win the AI race is if we learn and help each other. We as CIOs need to stand together and lead our organisation through this change.”
To connect with C-level peers and learn how you can advance your AI strategy, apply to join Gartner CIO Communities. If you are already a member, sign in to see when your community is gathering next.
Special thanks to Pieter Jordaan and TUI.
By CIOs, For CIOs®
Find your local community and explore the benefits of becoming a member.
