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Belgium 13-11-2026 Squad Only Physical English

Building the Business Case for New IT Capabilities; How to justify investment when value is strategic, shared, or only visible over time.

Many IT capabilities are essential and difficult to fund through a simple project ROI. The challenge is showing why architecture, governance, resilience, cybersecurity maturity, data foundations, and AI readiness deserve investment before the gap becomes expensive. Three pressure points make the case harder. - Shared value means the benefit often sits across several teams, while the budget sits in one place. - Timing creates friction because the cost is immediate while the value appears over time. - Risk translation is needed so business and finance leaders understand the consequence of delaying the investment. The working question is simple: how do we turn foundational IT capabilities into credible investment cases that link cost, risk, business value, and future flexibility? If you are building these cases internally, let’s compare how others are positioning value, risk, and timing.

Belgium 19-11-2026 All Members Physical English

Europe’s Digital Foundations

Public organisations are re-evaluating the digital foundations on which critical services depend. Cloud strategy is increasingly shaped by questions of operational control, legal exposure, supplier dependency, interoperability and long-term resilience. For public-sector leaders, the issue is not only where workloads are hosted, but how much strategic control remains over the technologies that support essential public services. This is where European cloud initiatives, sovereign infrastructure and open-source technologies become strategically important. Together, they can increase transparency, preserve portability and reduce dependency on individual providers. But they also raise practical questions around maturity, procurement, integration, support models and long-term sustainability. Open source brings a specific dimension to this discussion. It claims to better support transparency, interoperability and strategic autonomy, but it is also requiring clear governance, security controls and operational support. The opportunity is to understand where open technologies can strengthen the public-sector technology stack, where commercial platforms remain essential and how both can coexist within a coherent European digital strategy. Three questions shape the discussion: Which parts of the public-sector technology stack require stronger European control? What role should open-source technologies play in reducing dependency and strengthening transparency? Which governance and procurement decisions will determine whether a sovereign cloud strategy succeeds? Bringing these perspectives together can define where sovereign cloud and open technologies create strategic value, identify the decisions that deserve executive attention, and establish practical principles for strengthening Europe’s digital foundations while preserving flexibility and innovation. See you at the table?

Belgium 24-11-2026 Country Members Physical French

Les Rencontres: Innovation de l'Ombre

Créativité vs. Chaos : Quelle est la gouvernance minimale ? Le défi principal est d'équilibrer le risque et le rythme du changement. Les équipes métier adoptent de nouveaux outils d'IA et low-code de leur propre chef, créant une véritable créativité mais aussi un risque massif et non géré. Cette discussion se concentre sur l'établissement de voies simples et sûres pour l'innovation, en débattant de la gouvernance minimale qui protège la réputation de l'entreprise tout en évitant l'erreur d'écraser les initiatives utiles dans l'ombre. Questions clés d'Échange entre pairs : Où l'innovation de l'ombre aide-t-elle plutôt que de nuire, et comment éviter de l'écraser ? Quelle est la gouvernance minimale qui protège la réputation tout en maintenant la vitesse, et à qui appartient-elle réellement ? Comment les pairs ont-ils réussi à transformer les efforts initiaux de l'ombre en services officiels soutenus sans perdre la confiance de l'entreprise ? Comment pouvons-nous rendre plus facile d'innover de manière responsable que de simplement agir en franc-tireur ?

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Playtech enhances its security with Trend Micro to deliver seamless, secure online gaming experience

Enhances its security with Trend Micro to deliver seamless, secure online gaming experience

OVERVIEW

As one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms, Playtech provides best-of-breed games and gaming services – such as casino, live casino, bingo, poker, and sports betting – across channels around the world. In a highly regulated industry, a seamless, secure experience is crucial for online gaming. Playtech must not only avoid service disruptions but also meet strict compliance requirements. That’s why Playtech relies on Trend Micro to ensure that its networks, production environments, and endpoints are fully protected without causing downtime.

"Virtual patching caught our eye and convinced us to select Trend Micro. Patching across such a big environment can be very complicated. Deep Security Software virtual patching is a game changer."

Daniel Liber - Chief Security Officer, Playtech

CHALLENGES

Playtech is a pioneer in omnichannel gambling, which offers operators and their customers a uniform experience across any product, channel (online, mobile, retail), or device using a single account and wallet. It’s critical to ensure security protection and service continuity across Playtech’s entire distributed IT ecosystem, which includes thousands of servers, virtual machines, and containers that run Playtech’s gaming systems.

Playtech also needs to meet strict compliance requirements and is subject to dozens of annual audits by external organizations in each of its operational districts.

“It’s a difficult combination. We face the same level of regulation banks do, and every gambling jurisdiction has its own rules. On the other hand, we need to be innovative and provide technical superiority over our rivals because competition in this industry is fierce,” says Daniel Liber, chief security officer at Playtech.

WHY TREND

When looking to bolster its existing security systems, Playtech invited several security providers to conduct a proof-of-concept (POC) project that simulated a cyberattack against its systems.

“Trend Micro was the leader in the POC. They definitely came out on top,” says Liber.

But Playtech’s ultimate decision to go with Trend Micro went beyond technical considerations—the differentiator was the human factor.

“We formed a very good relationship with the Trend Micro sales and account management teams. The support and communication they offered us were important and played a large part in our decision to select Trend Micro,” says Liber.

SOLUTION

Playtech selected Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ Software to protect its hybrid-cloud workloads and automatically detect vulnerabilities, malware, and unauthorized changes. Deep Security Software’s virtual patching capabilities, intrusion prevention system (IPS), and integrity checks are critical features from both a security and compliance perspective.

Many of the regulations Playtech must meet specifically require IPS and integrity checks on its production systems. Because it includes those features, Deep Security helps Playtech achieve and maintain regulatory and compliance requirements.

Trend Micro Premium Support has been instrumental in helping Playtech make the most of its Deep Security Software implementation. With its 24/7 emergency assistance from Trend Micro support technicians, Premium Support brings Liber and his team peace of mind.

"The cycle of communication with Premium Support is extremely fast. You cannot put a price tag on that. It’s tremendously important to us."

Daniel Liber - Chief Security Officer, Playtech

RESULTS

Since implementing Deep Security Software, Playtech has seen significant increases in security coverage for the company’s production environment. Deep Security Software virtual patching has reduced the time spent dealing with patching issues by approximately 40%, allowing the team to spend time on other critical activities. Deep Security Software has also helped Playtech bolster its intrusion prevention efforts by reducing false positives and missed incidents by approximately 50%, resulting in more accurate information and reducing the “noise” that IT staff must address.

Additionally, Deep Security Software improved Playtech’s reporting, enhancing the company’s audit response. Many audits require the company to prepare and share detailed reports and dashboards. With Deep Security Software, Playtech can produce those reports much faster and provide greater detail, enabling the company to easily drill down into the data to answer in-depth questions if required.

Improved reporting capabilities also allow Playtech to respond to security alerts much faster.

“Information coming from the alerts, including instructions on what to do and where the issue is, is very clear with Deep Security Software. We don’t need to do an in-depth investigation ourselves around those alerts. We can easily see and understand what the issue is and how it’s been addressed,” says Liber.

WHAT'S NEXT

Playtech is currently considering further containerization of its services, which could present new security challenges. The company is working with Trend Micro to strategize how Trend Micro services and platforms can help protect Playtech throughout their digital transformation.

Technologies

Trend Micro™ Deep Security™

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