{ speaking · workshops · exec briefings }
Talks that make
systems talk.
Integration architecture, MCP in production, and multi-system troubleshooting, from someone who presents platform architecture to banking C-levels for a living. Amsterdam-based, travels for good problems.
{ 01 · upcoming }
Where to catch me next.
2026
Using an agent to build an agent (without building Skynet)
Hello Stavanger 2026 · Maskinhallen, Tou Scene · 11:05 · track: Practical use of AI/LLM. Automating banking customer onboarding with AI agents. The safety patterns that keep a recursive trust chain under control, the multi-persona approach that replaced the team I don't have, and the production scars that taught me idempotency matters more than intelligence.
{ 02 · topics }
What I talk about.
MCP in production: what the Azure Portal screenshots don't tell you
Running Model Context Protocol on Azure API Management for banking: security holes you must close manually, audit logging that doesn't hang your requests, and the IaC gap nobody mentions. Based on the published 4-part production guide.
Integration platforms that survive 3am
Designing banking integration platforms (contract enforcement, event-driven sync, observability first) from the architecture of Grand Central and SyncHub. Why "observable first" beats "feature first", and what breaks when you skip it.
Multi-system root cause analysis
How to debug failures that cross team boundaries: networking, auth, protocols, and timing. Lessons from enterprise incident response, including the time 800K users got locked out of their banking app, and why every fix needs a rollback plan.
Formats: conference talk, hands-on workshop, or executive briefing. Content gets tailored to the room. Engineers get the policies and the code, leadership gets the decisions and the numbers.
{ 03 · for organizers }
Bio & assets, ready to steal.
Copy-paste bio, third person, no superlatives to trim:
René Nijkamp is a Product & Integration Architect at Backbase, where he architects Grand Central, the platform connecting banks' core systems, payments and SaaS tools. With 17+ years spanning embedded payment terminals, mobile banking at ABN AMRO, enterprise incident response at Shell, and cloud integration platforms, he specializes in making systems talk, and in finding out why they stopped. He writes about Azure APIM and MCP at itsrene.nl.
Headshot: 800px JPG · 1200px JPG
{ 04 · booking }
Get me on stage.
One email, no agency in between.
{ there's always a solution }