null

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.

Please Log In with your CIONET account first

Pizza Pizza selects Trend Micro to bolster security for its customers across Canada

Pizza Pizza, a leading Canadian pizza chain, has strengthened its security posture with Trend Micro solutions. By deploying OfficeScan and Deep Security, the company has effectively protected its endpoints and servers from a range of cyber threats.

OVERVIEW

Pizza Pizza is one of the largest quick-service pizza restaurant brands in Canada. Founded in Toronto in 1967, Pizza Pizza rapidly expanded throughout Ontario. In 2007, Pizza Pizza acquired the Pizza 73 brand in Alberta, which significantly increased the number of its restaurants. The company opened its first location in New Westminster, British Columbia in 2018, marking the start of the franchise’s planned expansion across the greater Vancouver area.

The company currently has more than 700 Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 locations across Canada, both as franchises and as joint ventures with individual store owners. An innovative company that uses wind and solar power for its data centers, Pizza Pizza strives to maintain a state-of-the-art technical environment across all locations.

CHALLENGES

Pizza Pizza is dedicated to providing its customers with excellence in customer service—and that means processing orders quickly and accurately while ensuring that customer data is protected. In 2007, Pizza Pizza’s IT team began to see a growing number of virus attacks in other organizations and wanted to ensure they had a solution to protect their systems. At the same time, Pizza Pizza customers were beginning to adopt smartphones, and the company wanted to expand its ecommerce channel to give patrons an easy way to place orders via mobile devices. With this new channel and the growing number of threats, the company was under increasing pressure to ensure that every transaction that passed through its system was secure.

In addition, Pizza Pizza noticed that its incumbent security solution was consuming a significant amount of bandwidth. When the solution updated, it created a bottleneck that occasionally prevented orders from going through. “It was not a viable solution,” said Amar Narain, chief information officer and vice president of information technology at Pizza Pizza. “We needed something that worked and that didn’t add risk to our business.”

WHY TREND

Trend Micro’s forward-looking security and its uniquely efficient approach to updates are a winning combination for Pizza Pizza. In 2007, Narain needed a new security solution to protect the company without interfering with the processing of orders. Staying current on updates was crucial for security, but those updates could not slow down the system. “Trend Micro’s solution is the one that stood out,” said Narain. “Instead of tying up bandwidth by pushing an update to five different computers in the store over one link, the Trend Micro™ OfficeScan™ solution (now Trend Micro Apex One™ solution) pushes the update to just one computer, and then that one pushes it to the rest of the computers in the store.”

When Pizza Pizza began exploring the cloud in 2017, Narain and his team again looked to Trend Micro. They toured Trend Micro’s offices and research labs and were impressed with what they saw. “What we really like about Trend Micro is that they look ahead,” said Narain. “They look at where security is going and how it’s evolving. It gives us confidence in their solutions.”

"What we really like about Trend Micro is that they look ahead. They look at where security is going and how it’s evolving. It gives us confidence in their solutions."

Amar Narain - Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology, Pizza Pizza

SOLUTION

Pizza Pizza deployed OfficeScan to its endpoints across the enterprise in 2007 and has been using it ever since. OfficeScan’s blend of machine learning and threat protection techniques eliminates the company’s security gaps across any user activity and any endpoint. It constantly learns, adapts, and automatically shares threat intelligence across the environment. “OfficeScan gives us peace of mind, knowing that all our stores are protected,” said Narain.

Narain’s positive experience with OfficeScan led him to turn again to Trend Micro for server protection with Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ solution in 2018. Deep Security automatically and virtually patches server, cloud, virtual desktop, and application vulnerabilities. “Our Trend Micro proof of concept was a success,” said Narain. “With Deep Security, we know threats are being caught and patches are being applied proactively.”

"With Deep Security, we know threats are being caught and patches are being applied proactively."

Amar Narain - Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology, Pizza Pizza

RESULTS

Since implementing OfficeScan and Deep Security, Pizza Pizza’s IT systems have not been compromised, even as monthly reviews reveal that they are receiving more spam, viruses, phishing emails, and malware than ever before. “We see these threats, but they are taken care of by Deep Security before they can do any damage,” said Narain. “That extra security on appliances and servers means that nothing is making its way to the server.”

Trend Micro solutions push software updates and security patches to franchises simultaneously to ensure that all stores are up to date. The IT team can verify the updates on a single console, so they know that all their stores always have the best possible protection. “I would highly recommend Trend Micro, based on my positive experiences,” said Narain. “They have all the pieces we require in a security solution.”

WHAT'S NEXT

Narain and his team have been busy rewriting Pizza Pizza’s ecommerce and retail back end onto Google Cloud Platform, using microservices for rapid implementation. “We want the benefits of the cloud, such as scalability, flexibility, and agility,” he said. “Trend Micro security will play a big role in that effort, helping the company ensure that all data is protected both in and out of the cloud.”

Technologies

Apex One™ Trend Micro™ Deep Security™

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.