Gunter Van Craen - CDIO at Bekaert - Embracing Digital Transformation

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Belgium 12-12-25 Squad Only Physical english
Everyone wants value for money. But in IT, that value is spread across infrastructure, software, services, and people. Your infra spend is creeping up. App maintenance is eating your budget. New development is exciting but comes with hidden overhead. And people costs, from operations to engineering, remain the largest, most overlooked slice. If you’re under pressure to optimise without compromise, this session brings the right questions, trade-offs, and shared lessons to the table.
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Poland 12-12-25 Invitation Only Virtual Polish
Skuteczne zarządzanie podatnościami w infrastrukturze krytycznej to coś więcej niż podstawowe zadanie każdej organizacji to odpowiedzialność za dostawy energii do milionów punktów poboru. Podatności są niczym mikropęknięcia w stalowych konstrukcjach mostów, często nie widoczne, wymagające wspólnej pracy wielu zespołów. To odpowiedzialne zadanie dotyczące utrzymania wysokiego poziomu cyberbezpieczeństwa. Podczas wystąpienia opowiemy, jak to robimy w tak dużej organizacji. Jak tworzymy i zarządzamy fundamentalnym procesem. W świecie, w którym atakujący nie śpią, przewaga należy do tych którzy potrafią patrzeć parę ruchów naprzód.
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Germany 15-12-25 Public Virtual german
Angesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf eine ereignisreiche Zeit zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt künftig erwarten. ngesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf ein ereignisreiches Jahr 2024 zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche neuen Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt im Jahr 2025 erwarten.AA
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Poland 15-12-25 Invitation Only Virtual Polish
Choć sztuczna inteligencja opiera się na danych i algorytmach, to jej sukces zależy przede wszystkim od ludzi. Największe ryzyko w projektach AI nie kryje się w technologii, lecz w braku zrozumienia, zaufania i współpracy między zespołami. Porozmawiamy o tym, jak komunikacja może stać się katalizatorem transformacji — albo barierą, która zatrzyma rozwój.
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Belgium 16-12-25 Invitation Only Physical english
This CIONET Round Table will focus on how the IT department can be the enabler that unlocks organisational efficiencies and helps to improve the employee experience. We will explore how CIOs and Digital Leaders can fundamentally transform the internal service experience by breaking down organizational silos, orchestrating complex cross-functional workflows, and leveraging a unified platform to deliver a truly frictionless experience for every employee.
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Poland 16-12-25 Invitation Only Virtual Polish
Budowanie wartości z AI to dziś coś więcej niż zestaw projektów: to musi być program, który łączy architekturę danych, ludzi i procesy w spójną całość. Na przykładzie mBanku zobaczymy, jak podejście obejmujące całą organizację pozwala szybciej tworzyć reużywalne komponenty, zwiększać efektywność i realnie wspierać decyzje biznesowe. O tym, co działa, co zaskoczyło i czego nikt się nie spodziewał – porozmawiamy na spotkaniu.
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Belgium Dec 11, 2025 Country Members Physical english
Imagine being able to monitor, simulate, and optimise an entire city, factory, or supply chain in real time. Next-generation digital twins are making this vision a reality, transforming how we manage and understand complex systems. By creating dynamic virtual replicas of physical assets and processes, digital twins allow organisations to predict issues, optimize performance, and make data-driven decisions with unprecedented accuracy.This event will explore how digital twins are being used across industries to revolutionize the way we operate and maintain large-scale, intricate systems—whether it’s the infrastructure of a smart city, the efficiency of a factory floor, or the resilience of global supply chains.Examples of Digital Twins in Action:Smart Cities: Urban planners can use digital twins to simulate traffic flow, monitor energy usage, or predict the impact of weather events on infrastructure. This enables cities to optimize resources and improve the quality of life for their citizens.Factories of the Future: Manufacturing plants are leveraging digital twins to monitor equipment in real time, prevent downtime, and optimize production lines. With predictive analytics, factories can avoid costly breakdowns and improve overall efficiency.Supply Chain Management: Complex supply chains, spanning continents and industries, can be modeled as digital twins to track shipments, simulate disruptions, and optimize logistics. Businesses can reduce inefficiencies and respond faster to market demands.Key Themes:Real-Time Monitoring and Simulation: How digital twins provide real-time insights into complex systems, allowing for dynamic response and optimization.Predictive Power: Leveraging AI and data analytics, digital twins help organisations predict and mitigate issues before they happen, from equipment failures to supply chain bottlenecks.Scalability Across Ecosystems: Digital twins aren’t limited to individual assets—learn how they can be scaled across entire ecosystems like smart cities or global supply chains for maximum impact.Building Trust and Security: With digital twins handling critical infrastructure and sensitive data, what are the security and governance frameworks needed to ensure trust in these virtual systems?Why You Should Attend:Next-generation digital twins are no longer just a concept—they are revolutionizing industries by offering a new way to manage complexity. Whether you’re looking to optimize a city, factory, or supply chain, this event will provide practical insights into how digital twins can transform your organisation’s operations and drive future innovation.
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Germany Dec 15, 2025 Public Virtual german
Angesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf eine ereignisreiche Zeit zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt künftig erwarten. ngesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf ein ereignisreiches Jahr 2024 zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche neuen Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt im Jahr 2025 erwarten.AA
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Belgium Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
This CIONET Round Table will focus on how the IT department can be the enabler that unlocks organisational efficiencies and helps to improve the employee experience. We will explore how CIOs and Digital Leaders can fundamentally transform the internal service experience by breaking down organizational silos, orchestrating complex cross-functional workflows, and leveraging a unified platform to deliver a truly frictionless experience for every employee.
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UK Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
At this CIONET executive roundtable – brought to you in association with UiPath – we’ll explore this question and more. Bringing together senior IT professionals from across multiple vertical markets, we will focus on the benefits of agentic AI as applied to end-to-end processes. And we’ll seek to understand how organisations might overcome automation barriers to drive greater value creation.
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Belgium Dec 18, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
We look forward to brainstorming with you on how we can strengthen meaningful engagement among our participants, create valuable opportunities for visibility, foster peer-to-peer networking, and deliver impactful content. Your expertise and guidance will help shape our strategy for the coming year and ensure that we continue to provide the best possible value to our entire community. Together, we can build a stronger, more connected community that benefits us all.
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Germany Jan 19, 2026 Country Members Virtual german
Bei diesem „Spotlight“-Online-Event wird diskutiert, wie moderne Identity Security im Zeitalter autonomer KI-Agenten gestaltet werden kann. Teilnehmende erfahren, wie KI-Agenten als eigene Identitäten verwaltet werden, wie korrekte Zugriffsrechte für Mensch und Maschine sichergestellt werden und wie Zero-Standing-Risk-Ansätze vor modernen Bedrohungen schützen. Praxisnahe Einblicke unterstützen Unternehmen dabei, ihre Identity-Programme zukunftssicher auszurichten.
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Belgium Dec 11, 2025 Country Members Physical english
Imagine being able to monitor, simulate, and optimise an entire city, factory, or supply chain in real time. Next-generation digital twins are making this vision a reality, transforming how we manage and understand complex systems. By creating dynamic virtual replicas of physical assets and processes, digital twins allow organisations to predict issues, optimize performance, and make data-driven decisions with unprecedented accuracy.This event will explore how digital twins are being used across industries to revolutionize the way we operate and maintain large-scale, intricate systems—whether it’s the infrastructure of a smart city, the efficiency of a factory floor, or the resilience of global supply chains.Examples of Digital Twins in Action:Smart Cities: Urban planners can use digital twins to simulate traffic flow, monitor energy usage, or predict the impact of weather events on infrastructure. This enables cities to optimize resources and improve the quality of life for their citizens.Factories of the Future: Manufacturing plants are leveraging digital twins to monitor equipment in real time, prevent downtime, and optimize production lines. With predictive analytics, factories can avoid costly breakdowns and improve overall efficiency.Supply Chain Management: Complex supply chains, spanning continents and industries, can be modeled as digital twins to track shipments, simulate disruptions, and optimize logistics. Businesses can reduce inefficiencies and respond faster to market demands.Key Themes:Real-Time Monitoring and Simulation: How digital twins provide real-time insights into complex systems, allowing for dynamic response and optimization.Predictive Power: Leveraging AI and data analytics, digital twins help organisations predict and mitigate issues before they happen, from equipment failures to supply chain bottlenecks.Scalability Across Ecosystems: Digital twins aren’t limited to individual assets—learn how they can be scaled across entire ecosystems like smart cities or global supply chains for maximum impact.Building Trust and Security: With digital twins handling critical infrastructure and sensitive data, what are the security and governance frameworks needed to ensure trust in these virtual systems?Why You Should Attend:Next-generation digital twins are no longer just a concept—they are revolutionizing industries by offering a new way to manage complexity. Whether you’re looking to optimize a city, factory, or supply chain, this event will provide practical insights into how digital twins can transform your organisation’s operations and drive future innovation.
Read More
Germany Dec 15, 2025 Public Virtual german
Angesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf eine ereignisreiche Zeit zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt künftig erwarten. ngesichts wachsender Cyberbedrohungen und der zunehmenden Automatisierung von Geschäftsprozessen blicken CIOs auf ein ereignisreiches Jahr 2024 zurück. Umso spannender ist die Frage, welche neuen Herausforderungen und Chancen die IT-Welt im Jahr 2025 erwarten.AA
Read More
Belgium Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
This CIONET Round Table will focus on how the IT department can be the enabler that unlocks organisational efficiencies and helps to improve the employee experience. We will explore how CIOs and Digital Leaders can fundamentally transform the internal service experience by breaking down organizational silos, orchestrating complex cross-functional workflows, and leveraging a unified platform to deliver a truly frictionless experience for every employee.
Read More
UK Dec 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
At this CIONET executive roundtable – brought to you in association with UiPath – we’ll explore this question and more. Bringing together senior IT professionals from across multiple vertical markets, we will focus on the benefits of agentic AI as applied to end-to-end processes. And we’ll seek to understand how organisations might overcome automation barriers to drive greater value creation.
Read More
Belgium Dec 18, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
We look forward to brainstorming with you on how we can strengthen meaningful engagement among our participants, create valuable opportunities for visibility, foster peer-to-peer networking, and deliver impactful content. Your expertise and guidance will help shape our strategy for the coming year and ensure that we continue to provide the best possible value to our entire community. Together, we can build a stronger, more connected community that benefits us all.
Read More
Germany Jan 19, 2026 Country Members Virtual german
Bei diesem „Spotlight“-Online-Event wird diskutiert, wie moderne Identity Security im Zeitalter autonomer KI-Agenten gestaltet werden kann. Teilnehmende erfahren, wie KI-Agenten als eigene Identitäten verwaltet werden, wie korrekte Zugriffsrechte für Mensch und Maschine sichergestellt werden und wie Zero-Standing-Risk-Ansätze vor modernen Bedrohungen schützen. Praxisnahe Einblicke unterstützen Unternehmen dabei, ihre Identity-Programme zukunftssicher auszurichten.
Read MoreWESTPOLE chooses Trend Micro to secure its systems and those of its customers
Chooses Trend Micro to secure its systems and those of its customers
OVERVIEW
WESTPOLE Italia is the Italian chapter of WESTPOLE Europe, an IT services and solutions provider. With over 40 years of experience in technology management and innovation, WESTPOLE’s primary goal is to scale up digital transformation and “go to cloud” in order to enable the creation of secure, scalable, and cutting-edge innovations.
With two data centers in Milan and Rome, the company designs services for about 500 clients, including government entities, financial institutions, and private companies. WESTPOLE changes the very concept of technological transformation and does so with a pioneering spirit, passion, and empathy.
CHALLENGES
WESTPOLE’s strategy in choosing a security vendor was aimed at consolidation—one vendor that could secure the organization and its customers. WESTPOLE was looking for a single partner that would provide reliable, innovative, and affordable security.
“We began by analyzing our infrastructure, starting to lock down the endpoint,” recalls Michele Onorato, security office manager of WESTPOLE. “Later, we moved to the data center, which had to be safe for both our protection and that of customers who use our cloud.” But the WESTPOLE project did not end there, it needed security solutions that could protect the slice of customers hosted in its data centers.
"One of the greatest benefits we experienced was the consolidation Trend Micro provided, it is very nice to have a single platform to manage everything."
Michele Onorato
Security Office Manager, WESTPOLE
SOLUTIONS AND WHY TREND
After evaluating multiple vendors based on technology and flexibility, WESTPOLE chose to protect its endpoint deployments with Trend Micro Apex One™, and its data centers with Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ software, which also secures customers hosted within its own cloud. For customers outside the data center, WESTPOLE chose Trend Micro™ TippingPoint™ and Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Inspector for network protection.
Apex One is an all-in-one solution that automates detection and response, providing complete visibility to IT and security teams. Compared to previous traditional antimalware solutions, Apex One is a unified platform for the management of different services, redefining endpoint security with vast capabilities offered through a single agent for SaaS and on-premises environments.
Deep Security and Trend Micro Cloud One™ – Workload Security are integrated and modular platforms that provide comprehensive protection of data centers that include physical, virtual, and cloud servers, as well as virtual desktops. Designed to defend the data center from breaches and business disruptions, Deep Security is the first and only agentless security platform that helps simplify security management and accelerate return on IT investments.
Deep Discovery Inspector is a network device that allows 360-degree control over all traffic, to detect any aspect of a targeted attack. And with TippingPoint, WESTPOLE experiences the best intrusion prevention to remain protected against all types of threats traveling at great speed anywhere on the network.
"Trend Micro solutions allow us to easily control security from a centralized console, which is essential from an operations point of view."
Michele Onorato
Security Office Manager, WESTPOLE
RESULTS
WESTPOLE adopted Trend Micro solutions to protect its infrastructure and its customers. “One of the greatest benefits we experienced was the consolidation Trend Micro provided, it is very nice to have a single platform to manage everything,” says Onorato. “As for the internal WESTPOLE side, the usability and lightness of the products were fundamental in removing the need to allocate additional resources.” Onorato went one to say that, “Customers are pleasantly surprised when they become aware of threats that were never detected by the solutions they used to have installed.”
The WESTPOLE data centers now house around a thousand machines and all customers using the WESTPOLE cloud are protected by Deep Security. “Customers can take advantage of all the features of this product, according to individual needs,” says Onorato.
As for the offer to customers outside of the data centers, “WESTPOLE is able to offer managed service solutions. Trend Micro solutions allow us to easily control security from a centralized console, which is essential from an operations point of view,” says Onorato. “Trend Micro virtual patching is also a great feature, as it allows us to secure legacy infrastructures, while avoiding significant costs for the renewal of the entire machine park,” continues Onorato.
WHAT'S NEXT
“We recently migrated to Office 365®, and the next step is to protect it with Trend Micro solutions. This protection will also be extended to the emails of all our customers and also to those who use advanced suites,” concludes Onorato.
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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.
The role of the CIO has evolved from managing systems to shaping outcomes: growth, resilience, and competitive edge are now won or lost in the technology arena. Today ’ s CIOs must balance stability with innovation, control costs while attracting scarce talent, and modernise legacy infrastructure while adopting emerging technologies.
As AI transitions from a specialised tool to an all-pervasive force, understanding its profound implications for our human lives is no longer merely academic but an urgent imperative for social well-being and strategic preparedness.
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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Head of IT Germany and Regional Office Lead Munich, Microsoft
IT Director, IT Thinker
Vice president IT & Compliance, VisionaryRCM (A Carlyle Grp Company)
CIONET’s mission is to help IT executives become more at ease and above all more successful in their jobs. So they can do more than just keep up with change but ultimately define it. CIONET opens up a whole new universe of opportunities in IT management.
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