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Belgium 27-8-26 AB Members Physical english

Summer Festival: Advisory Board

CIO agendas are crowded: cost pressure, cyber, regulation, talent, data, AI, vendor dependency, business expectations. Most organisations are trying to do too much at once, and the “must-do” work often blocks the strategic work. CIONET only creates value if its agenda matches what CIOs truly need, in the right format, at the right time. The challenge Pick the few priorities that matter most for 2027, then translate them into a clear CIONET agenda. Outcome we leave with A ranked CIO agenda for 2027, and a directly aligned CIONET programme outline (themes, formats, cadence), with a shortlist of speaker and case targets.

Belgium 27-8-26 Country Members Physical english

Summerfest: From Story to Habit

How to align people, shift routines, and prove value Technology transformations often fail not because the tools don’t work, but because people don’t change their work habits. Boards want proof of value, executives want business outcomes, IT wants clarity, and employees want ease. Between these expectations, the CIO’s role is no longer just to deliver platforms; it is to tell the story that motivates people and turn that story into daily habits. This session will explore: The narrative: how to craft a simple, repeatable story that explains the “why” behind change for every stakeholder. From story to routine: practical ways to embed new behaviours through manager rituals, team incentives, and visible leadership. Reskilling and new expectations: preparing teams for evolving roles, from cross-department collaboration to AI-enhanced workflows. Measuring what matters: showing progress in speed, quality, and resilience — not just in licences bought or trainings completed. The aim is to equip CIOs with a leadership toolkit: a story that unites, habits that endure, and proof that convinces even the toughest boardroom.

Belgium 8-9-26 Invitation Only Virtual english

What an AI Architect Actually Does in Practice; Skills, responsibilities, interfaces, and career moves behind one of the most misunderstood emerging roles.

The AI architect role is becoming more visible, and the scope varies across organisations. The challenge is defining what the role owns, where it sits, and how it works with existing architecture, data, security, risk, and business teams. Three pressure points need clarity. - Role definition matters because the position can span solution architecture, data architecture, governance, integration, security, vendor selection, and business process design. - Interfaces matter because the role must connect teams while respecting existing responsibilities. - Skills matter because technical depth needs to be combined with judgement around controls, delivery choices, and operational boundaries. The working question is simple: how do we define the AI architect role so it becomes useful, credible, and connected to delivery? If this role is emerging in your organisation, let’s compare how others are defining it and where they are placing it.

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Decathlon expands global digital leadership and presence with a trusted partner

Decathlon, a leading sporting goods retailer with a vast global presence, has joined forces with Trend Micro to fortify its digital operations. As the company expands its online presence and embraces cutting-edge technologies, Trend Micro's comprehensive cybersecurity solutions are playing a vital role in protecting Decathlon's customers and data.

OVERVIEW

With more than 1,700 stores in 70 countries, global sporting goods retailer Decathlon aims to bring the power of sport to the world by designing the best products at the best prices, always innovating for quality, sustainability, and performance. Decathlon’s shift toward digital operations—including creating a top online platform for customers and embracing innovations—introduced multiple security challenges. The company partnered with Trend to ensure a streamlined security approach through Decathlon’s digital expansion.

Trend Micro offers us important security coverage, with solutions for the cloud, the internet of things (IoT), and so on. There are not a lot of companies that can help us across all of those parameters.

Matthieu Vanoost - Security Manager, Decathlon

CHALLENGES

Centralization and automation are at the heart of Decathlon’s cybersecurity strategy. The company needed its infrastructure to integrate and share data security internally. It also needed to create global security standards and implement them quickly in an fastpaced business environment. “Decathlon is focused on innovation. We want to become the top sporting goods platform, so the digital side of the company has to be innovative and keep pace with technology changes,” says Matthieu Vanoost, security manager at Decathlon.

In its digital expansion, Decathlon wanted to ensure that the company’s retail units used the same cybersecurity protocols as the rest of the company. It also needed to establish good governance to secure all applications and other assets, while ensuring compliance with domestic and international cybersecurity regulations.

WHY TREND

The Decathlon team was impressed with Trend’s versatile technology. And as the first vendor on the market offering extended detection and response (XDR) across email, network, server, and cloud workloads, Trend proved itself to be a multi-faceted partner that could meet Decathlon’s needs. “Trend offers us full security coverage from the cloud to endpoint devices and email. There are not a lot of companies that can help us across all of those parameters,” says Matthieu.

Matthieu and his team also found Trend to be a responsive partner, collaborating to solve problems and develop solutions in tandem. Trend readily accepted feedback and incorporated it into product updates, launches, and rollouts. “For me, the differentiator is the human touch, which is very important if you want to create a partnership. The human value is more important than the business,” says Matthieu.

For me the differentiator is the human touch, which is very important if you want to create a partnership. The human value is more important than the business.

Matthieu Vanoost Security Manager, Decathlon

SOLUTION

Trend’s solutions have allowed Decathlon to aggressively pursue its digital vision with confidence. Decathlon deployed Trend Vision One™, Trend Micro Apex One™ as a Service, Trend Micro™ Cloud App Security, Trend Cloud One™—Workload Security, and Trend Micro™ XDR.

In addition to offering Decathlon a cohesive view of risk across the organization and allowing the company to become better prepared to manage potential vulnerabilities, Trend’s solutions provide flexibility when it comes to cost. “Trend’s pricing method is great because there is no risk. If our cloud adoption increases, we pay more as you go. If adoption decreases, we pay less. This flexibility allows us to increase and contract when needed, giving us significant cost savings compared to older pricing models,” says Matthieu.

RESULTS

“We found Trend Vision One and Cloud App Security to secure our 100,000 Google users, easy to set up and deploy—which has been a major advantage,” says Matthieu. The company also benefited from Trend Vision One’s automatic collection of security incident data and how it collects information in one platform, reducing alert fatigue, saving time, and reducing costs. “The executive dashboards and risk insights help our security team present information to leadership and other stakeholders, as well as track progress made toward key performance indicators (KPIs),” says Matthieu.

Lastly, expanding to cover a new parameter can now be accomplished with ease—there is little to no manual management of technical set up required. “If you’re efficient—if you don’t need to get information from different platforms, you can activate a new perimeter with a click, and the data is sent directly through the platform—this is a big benefit,” Matthieu explains.

WHAT'S NEXT

Establishing Decathlon as a digital leader in the sporting goods market in Europe and around the world is the priority for the company in the next few years. This requires maintaining and improving security as parameters shift and threats continue to escalate online. It also means working with industry-leading partners like Trend to ensure that state-of-the-art solutions are continuously driving business growth and innovation.

Technologies

Apex One™ Cloud One – Workload Security Vision One™ with Managed XDR

Partners

CIONET Business Circles

Cyber Circle

CIONET’s Cyber Circle: a new three-event programme exclusively focusing on the most urgent, complex, and high-impact challenges in cybersecurity today. Launched in 2026, this initiative brings together CISOs, CIOs, and senior IT executives with a strong interest in cybersecurity for three curated gatherings each year. As part of CIONET’s trusted executive community, the Cyber Circle provides a confidential, peer-driven environment to exchange insights, share real-world experiences, and address evolving cyber threats. Each session is designed to foster strategic dialogue, strengthen resilience, and elevate cybersecurity as a core driver of business value.

Telenet Business Leadership Circle

The Telenet Business Leadership Circle powered by CIONET, offers a platform where IT executives and thought leaders can meet to inspire each other and share best practices. We want to be a facilitator who helps you optimise the performance of your IT function and your business by embracing the endless opportunities that digital change brings.

Les Rencontres

Découvrez la dynamique du leadership numérique aux Rencontres de CIONET, le programme francophone exclusif de CIONET pour les leaders numériques en Belgique, rendu possible grâce au soutien et à l'engagement de nos partenaires de programme : Deloitte, Denodo et Red Hat. Rejoignez trois événements inspirants par an à Liège, Namur et en Brabant Wallon, où des CIOs et des experts numériques francophones de premier plan partagent leurs perspectives et expériences sur des thèmes d'affaires et de IT actuels. Laissez-vous inspirer et apprenez des meilleurs du secteur lors de sessions captivantes conçues spécialement pour soutenir et enrichir votre rôle en tant que CIO pair. Ne manquez pas cette opportunité de faire partie d'un réseau exceptionnel d'innovateurs numériques !

Female Leadership Circle

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. Our mission is to shine the spotlight a little brighter on female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, and to empower each other through this inner network community.