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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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DeKalb County Schools District proactively protects environment with the Trend Vision One™ platform

DeKalb County Schools Partners with Trend Micro to safeguard its network and data. By leveraging Trend Vision One, the district is ensuring the security of students, staff, and sensitive information.

OVERVIEW

With 13 schools and nearly 9,000 students, DeKalb Country Schools District prides itself on being a hub for educational excellence—and a pillar of its community. Local resident, Jimmy Benefield, who took over the role of technology coordinator in 2020, sees a personal side to this mission. “Being entrusted with servicing and maintaining all of our campuses, the network, and the computer infrastructure here with the school system, it’s like I’m able to give back to the community I grew up in,” says Benefield. He relies on Trend Vision One™ to keep the district’s students, teachers, administration, and staff secure from cyber threats.

Seeing the complete picture — from servers, cloud, email, network to endpoints — is crucial to maintaining a healthy network. Having access to all of this information in one portal really saves time.

Jimmy Benefield - Technology Coordinator, DeKalb County Schools District

CHALLENGES

“Our biggest goal is to protect our environment from potential risks, ensuring our end users are safe and our network, endpoints, cloud, and email are secure,” says Benefield. “With the rise of phishing, ransomware, and other attacks increasingly becoming more disruptive for school districts across the country, keeping DeKalb County Schools is our priority with my five‑person team.”

“Protecting our students’ access to information online and addressing potential risks, such as unsecured apps, is a constant concern,” says Benefield. “Our team must also synchronize their efforts across multiple departments and schools, wearing many hats to meet diverse needs—from data integration to network infrastructure for new construction projects.”

WHY TREND

Faced with a need to increase protection on the network when he came on board in 2020, Benefield chose Trend to secure the district’s servers. “When DeKalb County Schools District experienced a ransomware attack on our computers seven months after our purchase, our Trend deployment was the game-changer in keeping the servers protected. The Trend team was with us every step of the way during the rebuild and recovery,” says Benefield.

We realized purchasing more security products was essential to our ransomware recovery process. The level of support we received from Trend during our recovery made it the obvious first choice.

Jimmy Benefield - Technology Coordinator, DeKalb County Schools District

SOLUTION

“We added Trend Vision One™ – XDR for Endpoints and Workloads after the incident to give us visibility over our network. The addition of XDR for Endpoints and Workloads helped us to discover machines that were still infected, which saved us considerable time getting those devices sent back to our district office so we could clean, protect, and return them to users.”

The district now enjoys the complete security of Trend Vision One. “Seeing the complete picture with Trend Vision One—from servers, cloud, and network to endpoints and email—is crucial to maintaining a healthy network. Having full visibility and access to all of this information in one portal really saves time,” says Benefield.

RESULTS

DeKalb County Schools District has experienced a transformation since beginning its partnership with Trend. “Trend Vision One has streamlined monitoring and provided a single interface to manage our district’s servers, cloud, email, network, and endpoints,” says Benefield. “We’ve saved valuable time, allowing my small team to focus on critical tasks, ensuring systems are up and running seamlessly.”

Benefield especially praises the Trend network security solutions. “With Trend Vision One™ – TippingPoint™, the geo block feature allows us to see on the dashboard how many attacks we are blocking hourly from other countries, and it is continuously scanning for weaknesses and vulnerabilities. We’re lucky to have TippingPoint up and running to manage those threats,” he says.

“The Trend Vision One™ – XDR for Email notifications have also become a critical feature, alerting our team to security risks and prompting rapid responses and investigations. With enhanced visibility into the network and ongoing reporting, we have successfully overseen the elimination of older device operating systems and can help my team to better prioritize and keep operations running smoothly,” says Benefield.

WHAT'S NEXT

DeKalb County Schools District is proactively bolstering security measures by focusing on training and awareness. “I’d like to make our staff and students more knowledgeable about potential attacks and ways to avoid them—not just to secure our network but to provide them with insight to reduce the chances of being taken advantage of at home,” says Benefield.

“I’m excited to use Trend Vision One to run phishing campaigns that aid in staff training,” says Benefield. As the digital landscape evolves, with the support of Trend, Benefield and his team are set to address these security concerns head‑on, fostering a safer digital environment. “Peace of mind and sleeping soundly is what I am now able to do with Trend Vison One in place. The Trend security solutions and team cover me and life is more peaceful.”

Business benefits:

Unified security platform empowers the IT team to focus on critical tasks with a single interface to manage infrastructure
Enables proactive threat mitigation and prompt responses to security risks
Bolsters the school district’s response to ransomware, phishing, and other critical risks to students and staff

Technologies

Apex One™ Cloud One – Workload Security Trend Micro Cloud App Security™ Trend Micro TippingPoint Trend Micro™Deep Discovery™ Trend Vision One™ cloud security platform 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.