Gunter Van Craen - CDIO at Bekaert - Embracing Digital Transformation

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Poland 5-12-25 Invitation Only Physical Polish
Liderzy biznesowi pokładają ogromne nadzieje w agentach AI, widząc w nich szansę na zbudowanie przewagi konkurencyjnej. Rzadko jednak pada zasadnicze pytanie: czy cyfrowy fundament organizacji – dane, integracje, systemy – jest na to gotowy? Czy obecna strategia integracji wspiera ambicje biznesowe, czy je spowalnia? Podczas naszego biznesowego śniadania CIONET, organizowanego we współpracy z Digia (Finlandia) i Savangard, przyjrzymy się trendom, które dziś definiują architekturę i integracje w Europie i w Polsce. W gronie ok. 20 liderów IT porozmawiamy m.in. o tym: Czy strategia integracji danych i aplikacji powinna uwzględniać przyszłe zastosowania AI? Jak przekształcić kluczowe dane w powtarzalne „data products”, które przyspieszają dostarczanie wartości biznesowej? W jakim kierunku ewoluują platformy integracyjne – iPaaS i API Management? Cloudification - jakie lekcje wynoszą firmy, które przeszły takie transformacje z legacy do nowoczesnej integracji w chmurze? Jak zorganizować „integration core team”, który wzmacnia rozproszone i coraz bardziej niezależne zespoły technologiczne? Spotkanie odbędzie się w kameralnej atmosferze Centrum Praskiego Koneser (CHPTR) i będzie prowadzone w formule dyskusyjnej – z myślą o praktykach zajmujących się modernizacją architektury, integracją systemów i przygotowaniem IT na kolejne lata.
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Poland 8-12-25 Invitation Only Physical Polish
W wielu firmach monitoring wydaje się działać poprawnie, dopóki nie spojrzymy na to, czego nie widać: luki między narzędziami, brak wspólnego obrazu usług, opóźnienia między zdarzeniem a decyzją. W takiej sytuacji trudno wcześnie wykryć degradację, oszacować wpływ incydentów na klientów czy przewidzieć ryzyka, które uderzają w biznes, zanim IT zdąży zareagować. Podczas CIONET Executive Roundtable, którego partnerem jest Spluk, porozmawiamy o tym, ile organizacje tracą na rozproszonym monitoringu i jak wiele można zyskać, gdy staje się on spójnym systemem, a nie zbiorem narzędzi. Zastanowimy się, jak połączyć dane z aplikacji, infrastruktury i biznesu w jeden obraz, który realnie wspiera szybkość reakcji, stabilność usług i jakość decyzji.
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International 9-12-25 Public Virtual english
The CIONET Awards 2026: Part 1, the premier celebration of excellence in digital mission and leadership. During this event the spotlight falls on two of the most critical arenas in modern enterprise: Applications & Architecture and Data & AI. Prepare for a dynamic session where each nominee will present their groundbreaking achievements.
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Brazil 9-12-25 Country Members Physical portuguese
Cerimônia de Premiação CIONET BRASIL 2025.Reconheceremos as Empresas Líderes em Excelência Tecnológica em Projetos e os Líderes Digitais do Ano 2025.Quando?09 de Dezembro de 2025A partir das 18:30Onde?Sheraton São Paulo WTC HotelInscrições online: https://www.cionet.com/pt-br/events/pr%C3%AAmios-cionet-brasil-2025
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Netherlands 9-12-25 Invitation Only english
At this exclusive CIONET Executive Roundtable, hosted in partnership with It’s Value, we will explore how Technology Business Management (TBM) principles can help CIOs and IT leaders make data-driven financial decisions that drive measurable business value.
Read MoreNetherlands 9-12-25 Invitation Only Physical english
Digital transformation and ongoing economic uncertainty are intensifying the pressure on IT leaders to do more with less. In this environment, gaining precise control over IT costs—while continuing to deliver effective, efficient, and innovative technology operations—is more critical than ever. At this exclusive CIONET Executive Roundtable, hosted in partnership with It’s Value, we will explore how Technology Business Management (TBM) principles can help CIOs and IT leaders make data-driven financial decisions that drive measurable business value. Key Discussion Themes Turning data insights into smarter IT investment decisions Setting priorities for cost optimisation and maximising ROI Quantifying and communicating the business value of IT initiatives Evaluating the principles of FinOps and the implications of public, private, and hybrid cloud environments for cost management Embedding effective change management to drive adoption and alignment Achieving tangible business outcomes from AI initiatives while maintaining fiscal discipline The evening will also feature a fireside chat with Sunil Anand, Global Head of Technology Business Management at National Grid. Sunil will share practical lessons and key milestones, retracing the National Grid cost management journey. This dinner offers a unique opportunity to: Exchange experiences with peers facing similar challenges Gain insights from TBM experts and industry practitioners Reassess your own IT financial strategy in a relaxed, collegial setting Join us for an evening of insight, discussion, and connection—designed to help you strengthen IT’s role as a true business value driver.
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Belgium Dec 4, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
CIONET is committed to highlighting and celebrating female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, creating a leadership programme that empowers and elevates women within the tech industry. This initiative is dedicated to showcasing the achievements and successes of leading women, fostering an environment where female role models are recognised, and their contributions can ignite progress and inspire the next generation of women in IT.
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International Dec 9, 2025 Public Virtual english
The CIONET Awards 2026: Part 1, the premier celebration of excellence in digital mission and leadership. During this event the spotlight falls on two of the most critical arenas in modern enterprise: Applications & Architecture and Data & AI. Prepare for a dynamic session where each nominee will present their groundbreaking achievements.
Read More
Netherlands Dec 9, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
Digital transformation and ongoing economic uncertainty are intensifying the pressure on IT leaders to do more with less. In this environment, gaining precise control over IT costs—while continuing to deliver effective, efficient, and innovative technology operations—is more critical than ever. At this exclusive CIONET Executive Roundtable, hosted in partnership with It’s Value, we will explore how Technology Business Management (TBM) principles can help CIOs and IT leaders make data-driven financial decisions that drive measurable business value. Key Discussion Themes Turning data insights into smarter IT investment decisions Setting priorities for cost optimisation and maximising ROI Quantifying and communicating the business value of IT initiatives Evaluating the principles of FinOps and the implications of public, private, and hybrid cloud environments for cost management Embedding effective change management to drive adoption and alignment Achieving tangible business outcomes from AI initiatives while maintaining fiscal discipline The evening will also feature a fireside chat with Sunil Anand, Global Head of Technology Business Management at National Grid. Sunil will share practical lessons and key milestones, retracing the National Grid cost management journey. This dinner offers a unique opportunity to: Exchange experiences with peers facing similar challenges Gain insights from TBM experts and industry practitioners Reassess your own IT financial strategy in a relaxed, collegial setting Join us for an evening of insight, discussion, and connection—designed to help you strengthen IT’s role as a true business value driver.
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Italy Dec 10, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Questa roundtable esclusiva offrirà a CIO, CISO e Leader di ITOps/Engineering un confronto diretto per individuare le migliori strategie di Innovazione che, attraverso l'observability, ottimizzino il Return of Investment.
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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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Netherlands Dec 11, 2025 Invitation Only Physical dutch
Navigating tommorrow's threatscape: Cybersecurity insights for digital leaders. Op 28 november in de 3D Makers Zone in Haarlem.
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Belgium Dec 4, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
CIONET is committed to highlighting and celebrating female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, creating a leadership programme that empowers and elevates women within the tech industry. This initiative is dedicated to showcasing the achievements and successes of leading women, fostering an environment where female role models are recognised, and their contributions can ignite progress and inspire the next generation of women in IT.
Read More
International Dec 9, 2025 Public Virtual english
The CIONET Awards 2026: Part 1, the premier celebration of excellence in digital mission and leadership. During this event the spotlight falls on two of the most critical arenas in modern enterprise: Applications & Architecture and Data & AI. Prepare for a dynamic session where each nominee will present their groundbreaking achievements.
Read More
Netherlands Dec 9, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english
Digital transformation and ongoing economic uncertainty are intensifying the pressure on IT leaders to do more with less. In this environment, gaining precise control over IT costs—while continuing to deliver effective, efficient, and innovative technology operations—is more critical than ever. At this exclusive CIONET Executive Roundtable, hosted in partnership with It’s Value, we will explore how Technology Business Management (TBM) principles can help CIOs and IT leaders make data-driven financial decisions that drive measurable business value. Key Discussion Themes Turning data insights into smarter IT investment decisions Setting priorities for cost optimisation and maximising ROI Quantifying and communicating the business value of IT initiatives Evaluating the principles of FinOps and the implications of public, private, and hybrid cloud environments for cost management Embedding effective change management to drive adoption and alignment Achieving tangible business outcomes from AI initiatives while maintaining fiscal discipline The evening will also feature a fireside chat with Sunil Anand, Global Head of Technology Business Management at National Grid. Sunil will share practical lessons and key milestones, retracing the National Grid cost management journey. This dinner offers a unique opportunity to: Exchange experiences with peers facing similar challenges Gain insights from TBM experts and industry practitioners Reassess your own IT financial strategy in a relaxed, collegial setting Join us for an evening of insight, discussion, and connection—designed to help you strengthen IT’s role as a true business value driver.
Read More
Italy Dec 10, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian
Questa roundtable esclusiva offrirà a CIO, CISO e Leader di ITOps/Engineering un confronto diretto per individuare le migliori strategie di Innovazione che, attraverso l'observability, ottimizzino il Return of Investment.
Read More
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
Netherlands Dec 11, 2025 Invitation Only Physical dutch
Navigating tommorrow's threatscape: Cybersecurity insights for digital leaders. Op 28 november in de 3D Makers Zone in Haarlem.
Read MoreTrend Vision One™ provides centralized visibility management across all protection levels
Trend Vision One™ provides centralized visibility management across all protection levels
WHAT IS OUR PRIMARY USE CASE?
Normally, we use the solution for day-to-day investigations. We get alerts when something is going on in the environment. Right now, we are using that tool for the asset management team to identify services or applications that are not allowed for governance and all of these purposes. In addition to that, we use it for isolating devices. We also have a service with them, an MDR service. They analyze information, and they do investigations for us as well.
It allows us to work from a single console instead of having to use four or five separate tools to maintain the same level of security.
HOW HAS IT HELPED MY ORGANIZATION?
Mainly, we were concerned with the visibility of the environment. We didn't have a tool that was able to allow us to see or have visibility of what the endpoints were doing on the servers in the environment. That was the main reason to adopt this solution - to have visibility on the environment as, in the past, we didn't have that capability.
WHAT IS MOST VALUABLE?
The isolation of devices has been really important. We like all the attack surfacemanaged NPEs. It's helping us to identify devices and protect us on the network. That's in combination with third-party integrations as well. We have integrations that are helping us to identify devices using our vulnerability management services. It's scanning the network and it's sending all that data to VisionOne. With that information, we identify devices that are protected on the network and the environment.
The reports are a really good feature for showing results to upper management levels.
The search features help us try to correlate information and identify any suspicious activity. That's another feature that has been really important.
We are using it everywhere except for the network, so we don't have the network discovery service from Trend Micro. However, we have it on endpoint servers and email and also the cloud as well. We use cloud conformity to connect that piece.
Trend Micro has a feature called Vision One, that provides us with centralized visibility management across all protection levels. That's helping us to have a centralized view of the console. That's the main reason why we still have that product.
Centralized visibility is important. When we are doing investigations, we can do everything in one console instead of moving to different screens or different windows. The centralized visibility and management across these protection levels helped with our efficiency. It helps us to identify quicker, any potential threat, or any special activity.
They have this feature called Risk Index which I use sometimes to validate the level of rates we have. We don’t use it often - maybe once every one or two weeks. We use it to rank our security operations overall. Mostly, we just check it out of curiosity.
We use the managed XDR service that they have. It relieves a lot of workload especially during investigations or interim reports about any particular activity - especially with the coverage after hours. It is helping us with the capability there. Also, if something really bad is happening, we have eyes watching all the activity, which is nice.
Using this managed XDR service enables our team to work on other tasks - especially when we, in certain ways, allocate some of the investigation pieces. We basically create a request for them to investigate things, and that allows us to focus on other things to optimize our security toolset. That's really helpful.
We use the attack surface risk management capability they have. We use that heavily right now. It was a big use case in the past few months. We use it to identify multiple devices without protection, the applications that have been used by our users, and which ones are risky. We are using that on a regular basis. It's helped us identify blind spots and more assets. It's positively affected our security posture by improving a lot of our visibility.
XDR helped us decrease our time to detect or respond to threats. In the past, we didn't have that visibility. When we enabled that tool, at the beginning, it was a little bit noisy. That's something to be expected coming from a new tool. However, after testing through these years, things are improving, and now we can see better results, especially during investigation alerts.
The solution has helped us to reduce the amount of time we spend investigating false positive alerts. In the beginning, there was a large amount of false positives. Right now, we are day to day trying to reduce them. At this point, they are lower compared with the beginning of the implementation. Things are improving. We are reducing false positives as we go which is great.
WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT?
We do use the automation capability a little. However, we noticed some limitations, especially on the playbook side. The API we use. We are integrating that with another product, a SOAR product. The playbooks are a little bit limited in what they can do at this point. Let's say that we want to connect on a specific API. The templates we cannot modify very well. When we noticed that limitation, we decided to go and use Trend Micro VisionOne API and connect it to other tools to develop that activity using another product.
Under attack surface management, when you go to the specific sites or applications that the users are accessing, the capability of downloading that report could be better. Let's say, as an example, we want to identify users using chatGPT, for example. We want to download that data through an API or through the GUI. Right now, it's not available as an option. Maybe having the capability of extracting data from VisionOne for specific areas of the tool could work. That's something that could be useful, especially if we want to generate that report and send it to specific teams. Often, we don't want to provide DX to all the people. Sometimes it's easier to just have that file and share that file with the people who need to have that information.
The biggest advantage of Trend Micro™ Managed XDR is that it has helped decrease our time to detect and respond to threats by around 50 percent.
FOR HOW LONG HAVE I USED THE SOLUTION?
I've been using the solution for around three years now.
WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT THE STABILITY OF THE SOLUTION?
The stability is good. It's not very common to have any outages. Sometimes there may be a glitch, however, it's rare. Normally we have 95% stability.
WHAT DO I THINK ABOUT THE SCALABILITY OF THE SOLUTION?
The scalability is good, especially when we are talking about third-party integrations. We can have visibility and control of all different assets. So we can have good scalability and visibility and know more about the environment in places where we didn't have any idea things were happening. It's a SaaS tool, and we don't have to do any maintenance, and it's easy to deploy. It's pretty straightforward.
HOW ARE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT?
When we have specific issues or problems connecting some products we ask for support. They respond really fast. They always try to mitigate and resolve all the issues we have. If they cannot resolve the problem, they normally share some suggestions on how we can mitigate future problems.
HOW WOULD YOU RATE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT?
Positive
WHICH SOLUTION DID I USE PREVIOUSLY AND WHY DID I SWITCH?
We did not use other solutions, although we did use Apex One for a long time. We have also used an EDR product.
HOW WAS THE INITIAL SETUP?
I was involved in the deployment. I was the one leading the data during the implementation. The process is pretty straightforward. It was a little tricky to reduce the false positive alerts, however, the portion of deploying to the environment and connecting the pieces was simple.
From our side, we had three or four people involved in the implementation.
WHAT ABOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION TEAM?
We had some help with the deployment and we had some guidance in the beginning. We requested some support from our account manager.
WHAT'S MY EXPERIENCE WITH PRICING, SETUP COST, AND LICENSING?
The pricing is good if you look at all the compatibilities and features offered by the product. There are features that can increase the pricing. We can put some credits to some features, however, if we want to enable them. With the amount of credit we have, we are covered for all of our needs.
WHAT OTHER ADVICE DO I HAVE?
I'd rate the product eight out of ten.
It is a really good product and easy to deploy. They allow you to have more visibility on your environment, especially if you have any kind of XDR solution. It will increase the visibility of what's happening in the environment. Also, from the perspective of doing maintenance updates or patches, the cloud is the way to go. The product management team does a really good job of increasing the features, and they are listening really closely to what the customer needs via feedback.
WHICH DEPLOYMENT MODEL ARE YOU USING FOR THIS SOLUTION?
Hybrid 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.
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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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