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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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Trend Micro Apex One offers lightweight, flexible protection for forestry firm Coillte

Trend Micro Apex One offers lightweight, flexible protection for forestry firm Coillte

OVERVIEW

Coillte is not your typical business. The 30-year-old forestry and land solutions company has an estate representing nearly 10% of Ireland’s land, extending to over 440,000 hectares. How it takes care of this land matters more today than ever, in terms of social, environmental, and economic sustainability. It’s also big business; the forestry sector contributes over €2 billion to the Irish economy every year.

Marc Walsh is the firm’s cloud and security architect, responsible for the entire technology infrastructure across on-premises and cloud environments. He looks after approximately 700 employee end-users, and a similar number of endpoints, split between servers, desktops, and PCs, along with a Citrix® estate of virtual desktops (VDI).

CHALLENGES

Like most mid-sized organisations, Coillte is a target for ransomware, data theft, business email compromise (BEC), and other remote cyberattacks which could cause far-reaching reputational and financial damage. Trend Micro blocked over 27.8 billion unique threats in the first half of 2020 alone, over 90% of which were email-borne. This highlights one of the biggest challenges for IT security bosses like Walsh; protecting the organisation’s soft underbelly (its users) from these threats without impacting their productivity.

Unfortunately, the incumbent AV provider Coillte was previously using was slowing down performance of the Citrix platform and therefore negatively affecting users in their day-to-day work. Given that Citrix touts an optimised performance and highly reliable end-user experience, even across low-bandwidth or high-latency connections, this was unacceptable. The search was on for a new provider.

WHY TREND

Walsh initially trialled several endpoint security solutions, carrying out a proofof- concept for a Citrix environment. Trend Micro Apex One came out on top for performance and was selected to run across the rest of the server estate, and then eventually all of the company’s laptop and desktop clients.

Trend Micro Apex One offers protection from all known and unknown threats on PC endpoints, Macs, and VDIs, from a single solution. Even better, it does this via an architecture that uses endpoint resources more effectively to outperform the competition on CPU and network utilisation.

In addition, Trend Micro Apex One offers:

XGen™ protection for cross-generational threat defence, including behavioural analysis, high-fidelity machine learning, app control, web and file reputation, and command and control (C&C) blocking
Virtual patching to protect against known and unknown vulnerabilities
Centralised visibility and control via Trend Micro Control Manager™
Sensitive data protection via endpoint encryption, integrated DLP, and device control
Threat detection and response via integration with Trend Micro™ XDR

"Trend Micro Apex One has really helped us during lockdown in a work-from-home scenario, as we have endpoints updating from the cloud directly and via a central console."

Marc Walsh - Cloud and Security Architect, Coillte

RESULTS

Whilst migrating Trend Micro Apex One over to the firm’s hundreds of servers and endpoints, Walsh was presented with another challenge. COVID-19 lockdowns forced all of Coillte’s employees to work from home from company PCs and laptops. Fortunately, Trend Micro Apex One handled this shift in strides thanks to its cloud architecture.

“We’ve changed dramatically from a situation where we were having to switch off functionality in our previous security software, just to keep things running, to having full coverage from Trend Micro,” says Walsh.

“Trend Micro Apex One has really helped us during lockdown in a work-from-home scenario, as we have endpoints updating from the cloud directly and via a central console.”

Walsh has been so impressed with the performance and capability of Trend Micro Apex One that he’s now looking at Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ for enhanced server protection across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.

"Trend Micro is very forward thinking with regards to its product roadmap. I see a lot of innovation, so we will probably look at integrating more security products in the future."

Marc Walsh - Cloud and Security Architect, Coillte

Technologies

Apex One™

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.