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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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Carbery Group dairy giant protected with cyber “eyes and ears” from Trend Micro

Dairy giant protected with cyber “eyes and ears” from Trend Micro

OVERVIEW

Carbery Group is a global nutrition and dairy company. Founded in 1965 and today owned by four Irish dairy co-operatives, it employs 750 staff at several facilities worldwide, including Ireland, the UK, Italy, US, Brazil, and Thailand. Chief Information Officer (CIO) Anthony O’Callaghan works with a diverse team of IT professionals supporting sites across the globe.

We want to be confident that we are protected and supported in our digital growth.

Anthony O’Callaghan

Chief Information Officer, Carbery Group

CHALLENGES

Like many CIOs, Anthony O’Callaghan has to balance his budget whilst driving digital innovation to help the organization carve out competitive differentiation in the market. But upon taking on his new position at the Cork-headquartered multi-national Carbery Group, he also recognised that cybersecurity is an often an underrated but essential foundation towards such efforts. Ransomware attackers are using increasingly sophisticated and targeted techniques today to infiltrate networks and cause maximum disruption, often stealing data in the process in order to force payment. Cybercriminals also continue to target corporates for sensitive internal and customer data to sell on the dark web.

The challenge was to standardise Carbery Group’s global cyber operations onto a single vendor across on-premises and cloud systems in order to protect business-critical data and systems at 10 geographically dispersed locations. Anthony wanted a provider that could do much of the heavy-lifting and was also looking for a true partner on cybersecurity, a firm he could trust to go beyond the transactional relationships many vendors offer.

Having worked with Trend Micro for several years in a previous role, although not as a customer, he knew that this was the right choice for Carbery Group.

It’s important to have eyes and ears on this area constantly to stay ahead of cyber threats as they are evolving quickly. That’s what we got from Trend, combined with our internal teams.

Anthony O’Callaghan

Chief Information Officer, Carbery Group

WHY TREND

Anthony chose Trend Micro to support end-to-end global cybersecurity, from the endpoint to networks and cloud workloads. This meant several major investments:

Smart Protection Complete is a comprehensive suite of enterprise products available, (SaaS and on-premises), which cover endpoint security and encryption (via Trend Micro Apex One), mobile security, web security, and email and collaboration security (via Cloud App Security).

Trend Micro Apex One is a blend of advanced endpoint threat protection controls delivered through a single agent to eliminate security gaps across any user activity and any endpoint.
Cloud App Security offers enhanced protection for Microsoft 365® and Gmail™, as well as cloud file sharing platforms, stopping many threats that are missed by native filters.

Deep Discovery Inspector is a physical or virtual network appliance which uses advanced techniques, such as custom sandbox analysis, to rapidly detect advanced, targeted malware that typically bypasses traditional security defences.

Trend Micro Cloud One – Workload Protection is a SaaS solution designed to secure customer data centres, cloud, and containers without compromising performance or security. It’s optimised to integrate tightly into the leading platforms, including AWS, Google Cloud™, and Microsoft® Azure™.

Managed XDR (MDR) is the perfect choice for customers that want to take advantage of holistic threat detection and response but don’t have the in-house resources to manage it. The platform goes beyond the endpoint to also collect and correlate data from email, server, cloud workloads, and network sources. Trend Micro analysts combine their expertise with AI and security analytics, as well as global threat intelligence, to optimise powerful detection and investigation capabilities.

We’re a global organisation and what we wanted was to have someone to keep us safe from the latest cyberattacks 24/7. That’s exactly what we got with Trend Micro.

Anthony O’Callaghan

Chief Information Officer, Carbery Group

RESULTS

The above combination has provided Carbery Group with “a significant stack” of full coverage, with MDR as the cyber “eyes and ears” of the organization, according to Anthony. Implementation was slightly slower than expected due to COVID-19-related issues, but the delays also allowed him to improve security awareness of remote working employees via the Trend Micro Phish Insight tool.

“We want to be confident that we are protected and supported in our digital growth”, said O’Callaghan. ”We’re a global organization and what we wanted was to have someone to keep us safe from the latest cyberattacks 24/7. That’s exactly what we got with Trend Micro. It’s important to have eyes and ears on this area constantly to stay ahead of cyber threats as they are evolving quickly. That’s what we got from Trend, combined with our internal teams.”

Anthony also invested in Trend Micro’s Premium Support Program (PSP) for dedicated round-the-clock help, a named customer service manager, ongoing security assessments and recommendations, priority case handling, and much more. It’s provided further peace of mind and support for the small in-house team at Carbery.

“It’s been a great partnership so far and the team is always there for us and this includes the team we’ve worked with on the commercial side, who we’re still in touch with and have a great relationship with,” says O’Callaghan. “The fact that they’ve also stayed engaged is testament to the organisation Trend Micro is.”

Technologies

Apex One™ Cloud One – Workload Security Trend Micro Cloud App Security™ Trend Micro Phish Insight Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Complete Trend Micro™Deep Discovery™ 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.