Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge
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Belgium 28-8-25 Country Members Physical english
A special celebration marking 20 years of CIONET—two decades of empowering digital leaders and driving innovation in the technology landscape. This exclusive event will bring together our members to reflect on the incredible journey we've shared and look ahead to the future of digital leadership.Featuring keynote presentations from visionary CIOs, industry pioneers, and founding members, we’ll explore how far we’ve come and what lies ahead in the ever-evolving world of technology. Together, we will honour the contributions of our members who have shaped CIONET’s legacy while offering insights into how the community will continue to lead in the years to come.This is more than a celebration—it’s an opportunity to reconnect, reflect, and recharge with your fellow digital leaders. Don't miss this exclusive experience packed with inspiring talks, networking opportunities, and special recognitions that highlight the best of CIONET’s history and future.Let’s celebrate the past, present, and future of the digital community you helped build.
Read MoreBelgium 28-8-25 Country Members Physical english
A special celebration marking 20 years of CIONET—two decades of empowering digital leaders and driving innovation in the technology landscape. This exclusive event will bring together our members to reflect on the incredible journey we've shared and look ahead to the future of digital leadership. Featuring keynote presentations from visionary CIOs, industry pioneers, and founding members, we’ll explore how far we’ve come and what lies ahead in the ever-evolving world of technology. Together, we will honour the contributions of our members who have shaped CIONET’s legacy while offering insights into how the community will continue to lead in the years to come.
Read MoreBelgium 2-9-25 All TRIBERS Virtual english
You’ve been asked a simple question: “What does it cost to host this application?” But the answer is anything but simple. The platform sits across multiple data centres. The app spans a few VMs, shares a backup system, uses licensed monitoring, and touches five different teams. Your CMDB should help, but it’s rigid, outdated, or incomplete. And yet, you still need to provide a number, clear, explainable, and grounded in reality.
Read MoreBelgium 9-9-25 Squad Only Physical english
As Belgium navigates the complexities of GDPR and various data sovereignty regulations, organizations across multiple industries face both challenges and opportunities in managing their data across borders. The quest for compliance often intersects with the need for business growth, raising questions about the balance between protection and progress. How can companies effectively own and safeguard their data while ensuring compliance without stifling innovation and expansion in a multi-industry landscape?
Read MoreBelgium 11-9-25 Squad Only Virtual english
You’ve built the portal. Added the chatbot. Rolled out self-service. But your support lines are still ringing. And your frontline teams are still improvising. If you want digital services to feel seamless, not just look polished, this session brings you back to where value is felt: at the frontline.
Read MoreItaly Sep 25, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Nel percorso verso l’AI e la trasformazione digitale, dati e automazione sono gli elementi centrali di ogni strategia tecnologica. Ma senza una governance chiara, rischiano di diventare non solo fonte di inefficienza, ma anche di rischi e incoerenza. Come garantire che i dati siano completi, accessibili e affidabili? Come automatizzare le operation IT e i processi aziendali mantenendo controllo, compliance e sicurezza? Durante questa roundtable esclusiva, organizzata da CIONET Italia e IBM, affronteremo: La governance come abilitatore di dati affidabili e automazione sicura. Come prepararsi a un’adozione dell’AI realmente scalabile. Il ruolo di controllo, resilienza e gestione del rischio nell’innovazione.
Read MoreBelgium Oct 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
AI isn’t just another tool. It changes how we work, how we think, how we organise ourselves.Yet most organisations still approach it like a digital upgrade, deploying assistants, automating workflows, testing use cases inisolation.The results are predictable. Short-term wins. Long-term confusion.Effort spent. Value unclear.Many companies can’t connect AI to their actual strategic goals,and the promised ROI never materialises.At the same time, something deeper is shifting.AI can now reason, decide, adapt. Not just mimic processes butcontribute to them.The technology is evolving, but the way we implement it hasn’tcaught up.If your AI still fits inside a single department, you’re likely solvingthe wrong problem.If it works only for individuals, you're missing how your teamsactually deliver value.If it replaces people instead of supporting them, you're buildingfor today, not tomorrow.The next step isn’t more AI. It’s the right AI.Built for your business, your teams, your way of working.Not a tool to add but a structure to build around.Are we ready to treat AI as a shared capability, not a scatteredexperiment?Can we move beyond individual efficiency and build systems thatcollaborate, learn and adapt with us?Those are the questions we’ll explore at the round table.
Read MoreGermany Oct 28, 2025 Country Members Physical german
Am 28. Oktober lädt CIONET CIOs und Digital Leaders nach Köln ein: hier stellen wir reale Anwendungsfälle vor, in denen KI-Agenten Aufgaben autonom übernehmen, Prozesse beschleunigen und Entscheidungen vorbereiten – mit messbarem Nutzen für das Business.
Read MoreFrance Nov 4, 2025 Country Members Physical french
À l’ère des mutations géopolitiques et réglementaires, l’établissement d’une souveraineté numérique est devenu un élément stratégique essentiel pour les entreprises. Ce dialogue stratégique mettra en lumière le rôle fondamental du réseau dans la mise en place du contrôle, de la confiance et de la résilience. Nous explorerons comment une infrastructure moderne et résiliente permet d’appliquer des politiques de gestion des données et d’assurer la continuité opérationnelle. Ce dialogue stratégique, réservé à un groupe restreint de pairs, est conçu pour permettre aux leaders du numérique d’échanger sur l’un des enjeux les plus urgents aujourd’hui. Nous discuterons des réseaux « sovereign-ready » et débattrons des préoccupations croissantes autour de la souveraineté des données, qui motivent l’adoption de politiques de confidentialité et de protection des données de plus en plus strictes à l’échelle mondiale.
Read MoreNetherlands Nov 10, 2025 Public Physical english
CIONET Nederland vertrekt met een groep Nederlandse CIO's en digital leaders 10 t/m 12 november 2025 voor de geheel verzorgde CIO Innovation Trip naar de Web Summit in Lissabon, Portugal. Reis jij mee of neem je collega(s) mee!
Read MoreItaly Sep 25, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Nel percorso verso l’AI e la trasformazione digitale, dati e automazione sono gli elementi centrali di ogni strategia tecnologica. Ma senza una governance chiara, rischiano di diventare non solo fonte di inefficienza, ma anche di rischi e incoerenza. Come garantire che i dati siano completi, accessibili e affidabili? Come automatizzare le operation IT e i processi aziendali mantenendo controllo, compliance e sicurezza? Durante questa roundtable esclusiva, organizzata da CIONET Italia e IBM, affronteremo: La governance come abilitatore di dati affidabili e automazione sicura. Come prepararsi a un’adozione dell’AI realmente scalabile. Il ruolo di controllo, resilienza e gestione del rischio nell’innovazione.
Read MoreBelgium Oct 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
AI isn’t just another tool. It changes how we work, how we think, how we organise ourselves.Yet most organisations still approach it like a digital upgrade, deploying assistants, automating workflows, testing use cases inisolation.The results are predictable. Short-term wins. Long-term confusion.Effort spent. Value unclear.Many companies can’t connect AI to their actual strategic goals,and the promised ROI never materialises.At the same time, something deeper is shifting.AI can now reason, decide, adapt. Not just mimic processes butcontribute to them.The technology is evolving, but the way we implement it hasn’tcaught up.If your AI still fits inside a single department, you’re likely solvingthe wrong problem.If it works only for individuals, you're missing how your teamsactually deliver value.If it replaces people instead of supporting them, you're buildingfor today, not tomorrow.The next step isn’t more AI. It’s the right AI.Built for your business, your teams, your way of working.Not a tool to add but a structure to build around.Are we ready to treat AI as a shared capability, not a scatteredexperiment?Can we move beyond individual efficiency and build systems thatcollaborate, learn and adapt with us?Those are the questions we’ll explore at the round table.
Read MoreGermany Oct 28, 2025 Country Members Physical german
Am 28. Oktober lädt CIONET CIOs und Digital Leaders nach Köln ein: hier stellen wir reale Anwendungsfälle vor, in denen KI-Agenten Aufgaben autonom übernehmen, Prozesse beschleunigen und Entscheidungen vorbereiten – mit messbarem Nutzen für das Business.
Read MoreFrance Nov 4, 2025 Country Members Physical french
À l’ère des mutations géopolitiques et réglementaires, l’établissement d’une souveraineté numérique est devenu un élément stratégique essentiel pour les entreprises. Ce dialogue stratégique mettra en lumière le rôle fondamental du réseau dans la mise en place du contrôle, de la confiance et de la résilience. Nous explorerons comment une infrastructure moderne et résiliente permet d’appliquer des politiques de gestion des données et d’assurer la continuité opérationnelle. Ce dialogue stratégique, réservé à un groupe restreint de pairs, est conçu pour permettre aux leaders du numérique d’échanger sur l’un des enjeux les plus urgents aujourd’hui. Nous discuterons des réseaux « sovereign-ready » et débattrons des préoccupations croissantes autour de la souveraineté des données, qui motivent l’adoption de politiques de confidentialité et de protection des données de plus en plus strictes à l’échelle mondiale.
Read MoreNetherlands Nov 10, 2025 Public Physical english
CIONET Nederland vertrekt met een groep Nederlandse CIO's en digital leaders 10 t/m 12 november 2025 voor de geheel verzorgde CIO Innovation Trip naar de Web Summit in Lissabon, Portugal. Reis jij mee of neem je collega(s) mee!
Read MorePizza Pizza selects Trend Micro to bolster security for its customers across Canada
Pizza Pizza, a leading Canadian pizza chain, has strengthened its security posture with Trend Micro solutions. By deploying OfficeScan and Deep Security, the company has effectively protected its endpoints and servers from a range of cyber threats.
OVERVIEW
Pizza Pizza is one of the largest quick-service pizza restaurant brands in Canada. Founded in Toronto in 1967, Pizza Pizza rapidly expanded throughout Ontario. In 2007, Pizza Pizza acquired the Pizza 73 brand in Alberta, which significantly increased the number of its restaurants. The company opened its first location in New Westminster, British Columbia in 2018, marking the start of the franchise’s planned expansion across the greater Vancouver area.
The company currently has more than 700 Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 locations across Canada, both as franchises and as joint ventures with individual store owners. An innovative company that uses wind and solar power for its data centers, Pizza Pizza strives to maintain a state-of-the-art technical environment across all locations.
CHALLENGES
Pizza Pizza is dedicated to providing its customers with excellence in customer service—and that means processing orders quickly and accurately while ensuring that customer data is protected. In 2007, Pizza Pizza’s IT team began to see a growing number of virus attacks in other organizations and wanted to ensure they had a solution to protect their systems. At the same time, Pizza Pizza customers were beginning to adopt smartphones, and the company wanted to expand its ecommerce channel to give patrons an easy way to place orders via mobile devices. With this new channel and the growing number of threats, the company was under increasing pressure to ensure that every transaction that passed through its system was secure.
In addition, Pizza Pizza noticed that its incumbent security solution was consuming a significant amount of bandwidth. When the solution updated, it created a bottleneck that occasionally prevented orders from going through. “It was not a viable solution,” said Amar Narain, chief information officer and vice president of information technology at Pizza Pizza. “We needed something that worked and that didn’t add risk to our business.”
WHY TREND
Trend Micro’s forward-looking security and its uniquely efficient approach to updates are a winning combination for Pizza Pizza. In 2007, Narain needed a new security solution to protect the company without interfering with the processing of orders. Staying current on updates was crucial for security, but those updates could not slow down the system. “Trend Micro’s solution is the one that stood out,” said Narain. “Instead of tying up bandwidth by pushing an update to five different computers in the store over one link, the Trend Micro™ OfficeScan™ solution (now Trend Micro Apex One™ solution) pushes the update to just one computer, and then that one pushes it to the rest of the computers in the store.”
When Pizza Pizza began exploring the cloud in 2017, Narain and his team again looked to Trend Micro. They toured Trend Micro’s offices and research labs and were impressed with what they saw. “What we really like about Trend Micro is that they look ahead,” said Narain. “They look at where security is going and how it’s evolving. It gives us confidence in their solutions.”
"What we really like about Trend Micro is that they look ahead. They look at where security is going and how it’s evolving. It gives us confidence in their solutions."
Amar Narain - Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology, Pizza Pizza
SOLUTION
Pizza Pizza deployed OfficeScan to its endpoints across the enterprise in 2007 and has been using it ever since. OfficeScan’s blend of machine learning and threat protection techniques eliminates the company’s security gaps across any user activity and any endpoint. It constantly learns, adapts, and automatically shares threat intelligence across the environment. “OfficeScan gives us peace of mind, knowing that all our stores are protected,” said Narain.
Narain’s positive experience with OfficeScan led him to turn again to Trend Micro for server protection with Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ solution in 2018. Deep Security automatically and virtually patches server, cloud, virtual desktop, and application vulnerabilities. “Our Trend Micro proof of concept was a success,” said Narain. “With Deep Security, we know threats are being caught and patches are being applied proactively.”
"With Deep Security, we know threats are being caught and patches are being applied proactively."
Amar Narain - Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology, Pizza Pizza
RESULTS
Since implementing OfficeScan and Deep Security, Pizza Pizza’s IT systems have not been compromised, even as monthly reviews reveal that they are receiving more spam, viruses, phishing emails, and malware than ever before. “We see these threats, but they are taken care of by Deep Security before they can do any damage,” said Narain. “That extra security on appliances and servers means that nothing is making its way to the server.”
Trend Micro solutions push software updates and security patches to franchises simultaneously to ensure that all stores are up to date. The IT team can verify the updates on a single console, so they know that all their stores always have the best possible protection. “I would highly recommend Trend Micro, based on my positive experiences,” said Narain. “They have all the pieces we require in a security solution.”
WHAT'S NEXT
Narain and his team have been busy rewriting Pizza Pizza’s ecommerce and retail back end onto Google Cloud Platform, using microservices for rapid implementation. “We want the benefits of the cloud, such as scalability, flexibility, and agility,” he said. “Trend Micro security will play a big role in that effort, helping the company ensure that all data is protected both in and out of the cloud.”
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Embark on a culinary journey through the ever-evolving world of digital leadership with our third edition of the CIONET Cookbook: Recipes for Digital Success. Unveiling the intricate trilemma faced by today’s Master Chefs, our trailblazing European CIOs address a challenge at the nexus of customer interests, digital transformation strategies, and IT modernisation. Their secret? Synchronising the gearing between customer, business, and technology to create a frictionless movement through the digital landscape.
The CIONET Cookbook uses the analogy of a five-star restaurant to explain the importance of optimally integrated technology, with the CIO as Master Chef. In order to provide the best service to its customers, a top restaurant must have the right atmosphere, an inviting menu, a well-equipped kitchen, talented and committed front-of-house and kitchen staff and smooth-running processes that ensure an enjoyable experience for diners.
Geopolitical tensions have dominated the headlines for over two years now. In this context, the cyber threat landscape is also evolving rapidly. The protection and security of critical infrastructure – both physical and digital – is becoming increasingly important.
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Vice president IT & Compliance, VisionaryRCM (A Carlyle Grp Company)
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