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Belgium 13-1-26 Squad Only Virtual english

Moving Legacy Systems to the Cloud Efficiently : Balancing cost, risk, and continuity in complex migrations

Migrating legacy systems to the cloud remains one of the toughest balancing acts in IT. Every choice affects stability, cost, and trust at once, and what starts as a modernisation effort quickly turns into a negotiation between ambition and reality. Suddenly budgets rise, dependencies appear late, and timelines tighten as old architectures collide with new expectations. In the end, success depends on sequencing, ownership, and aligning business priorities with infrastructure limits, and not only on technical readiness. Making it work requires more than a plan on paper. Knowing which systems genuinely belong in the cloud, which can wait, and which should stay put shapes the entire roadmap and defines its success. Each refactoring decision sets the level of future flexibility, but it also drives cost and risk. The trade-offs between speed, sustainability, and resilience only become clear once migration begins and pressure builds. Let’s discuss how to plan migrations that stay on track, manage hidden dependencies, and handle downtime with confidence. Let’s also discuss how governance, testing, and vendor coordination keep progress visible and credible. Are you in? A closed conversation for those who turn cloud migration from a disruption into a long-term advantage.

Belgium 20-1-26 All Members Physical english

The CIO as Investor - CIONET Belgium Annual Event

CIOs today are being judged less as technology leaders and more as portfolio managers. Every euro is under scrutiny. Boards and CFOs demand lower run costs, higher efficiency, and clear ROI from every digital initiative. Yet, they also expect CIOs to place bets on disruptive technologies that will keep the enterprise competitive in five years. This constant tension is redefining the role. In this session, we go beyond FinOps and cost reporting to tackle the strategic financial dilemmas CIOs face.

Belgium 22-1-26 Invitation Only Virtual english

AI-Driven Development: Redesigning workflows, responsibilities, and trust in the age of automation

AI coding assistants entered development teams quietly, but their impact grows by the day. What started as autocomplete now shapes architecture decisions, documentation, and testing. And when productivity gains are visible, so are new risks: security blind spots, uneven quality, and the slow erosion of shared standards. Teams move faster, but not always in the same direction. The challenge has become integration rather than adoption. And new questions have risen: how do you blend automation into established practices without losing oversight? When is human review still essential, and what should the rules of collaboration between developer and machine look like? As AI tools learn from proprietary code, where do responsibility and accountability sit? Let’s talk about how to redefine those workflows, balancing creativity with control, and protecting code quality in a hybrid human-AI environment. A closed conversation on where AI accelerates progress, where it introduces new debt, and how development culture must evolve to stay credible.

January 13, 2026 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual english

Moving Legacy Systems to the Cloud Efficiently : Balancing cost, risk, and continuity in complex migrations

January 22, 2026 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual english

AI-Driven Development: Redesigning workflows, responsibilities, and trust in the age of automation

January 27, 2026 Squad Session Invitation Only Physical english

Zero Trust in Reality : Making segmentation, identity, and access work in complex environments

Zero Trust sounds simple on paper: trust no one, verify everything. But once you start implementing it, the fun begins. Legacy systems, hybrid networks, and human habits don’t read the manual. The idea is solid; the execution, not so much.

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United Arab Bank leverages Trend Micro Security’s Automated and Integrated Solutions

To safeguard its sensitive customer data and ensure operational resilience, United Arab Bank, a leading financial institution in the UAE, sought a robust security solution. Trend Micro's advanced protection, integrated approach, and automation capabilities proved to be the ideal fit.

OVERVIEW

United Arab Bank, P.J.S.C. (UAB) is among the longest-standing and most innovative banking and financial services firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Based in Sharjah, one of the seven emirates of the UAE, United Arab Bank was incorporated in 1975. United Arab Bank operates seven corporate and retail branches throughout the country.

United Arab Bank’s offerings include corporate and retail banking, trade finance, and treasury services. The bank is seeing strong feedback on its “Sadara” premium banking service and Islamic banking services and aims to further grow its retail customer bank.

Over the past year, United Arab Bank has strengthened its core business and optimized costs to position for future growth.

United Arab Bank’s security transformation shows how banks can leverage Trend Micro’s security integration and automation to defend against cyber threats, enhance business processes, and keep customers’ trust.

Ayman AlQudsi

Chief Information Officer
United Arab Bank

CHALLENGES

Major challenges in the banking and finance sector include minimizing operational risk from internal processes and meeting strict government and industry compliance regulations. United Arab Bank’s legacy anti-malware software was not robust enough to monitor employee and customer behavior, or to prevent the wide range of increasingly complex cyberattacks. Managing encryption was also time consuming, with lost credentials taking eight hours on average.

Due to the evolving threat landscape, including banking malware, United Arab Bank conducted a survey of cybersecurity vendors and decided to upgrade its solutions with Trend Micro.

Trend Micro’s automated and integrated security solutions, and its strong research and development, are key for our competitiveness, our compliance, and staying ahead of the curve.

Mahmoud Yassin

Head of Information Security
United Arab Bank

WHY TREND

One of the main selling points has been Trend Micro’s research and development— especially Trend Micro Research security roundups and predictions reports. In addition, Trend Micro XGen™ security capabilities provide United Arab Bank with a layered security approach that can quickly protect, detect, and respond to new threats. In addition, UAB have improved visibility and streamlined investigation across their entire IT infrastructure by adding an endpoint detection and response layer on top of the same agent.

“Connectivity, smart devices, and e-commerce are all fueling the record number of threats in the Middle East’s banking sector,” says Ayman AlQudsi, Chief information Officer at United Arab Bank. “United Arab Bank’s security transformation shows how banks can leverage Trend Micro’s security integration and automation to defend against cyber threats, enhance business processes, and keep customers’ trust.”

SOLUTION

United Arab Bank has replaced its legacy anti-malware software with Trend Micro’s secure digital platform, which includes full network visibility and management of cyber threats, including advanced persistent threats (APTs). In particular, United Arab Bank has deployed Trend Micro solutions: Smart Protection Complete covers user protection including endpoint security and email to protect UAB’s internal email exchange as well, Deep Security software for workload runtime security, and EDR for real-time threat detection and response. United Arab Bank has also integrated Trend Micro solutions with the VMware NSX virtualization software.

RESULTS

United Arab Bank is already seeing impressive results—with virtual patching, malware protection, user behavior, and malicious activity monitoring applied for 500 users running 60 systems and apps across 1,000 servers. For example, United Arab Bank reduced time to manage encryption from eight hours to two hours, detects over 80% of cyber threats, and quickly and easily deploys security agents.

“In the face of rising cyber threats against banks in the region, United Arab Bank’s security transformation with Trend Micro assures our customers that they are banking on the most secure banking platform,” says Mahmoud Yassin, Head of Information Security at United Arab Bank.

WHAT'S NEXT

United Arab Bank is continuing to implement industry best practice and develop shared services and product offerings with its partner banks across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Central to United Arab Bank’s mission is to adopt an innovative banking approach that can continue to deliver a superior customer experience.

United Arab Bank is working closely with Trend Micro on next-generation solutions such as Trend Micro™ Intrusion Protection to protect the environment from known and undisclosed vulnerabilities, Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Inspector to detect targeted attacks and ransomware anywhere in the network (including north-south and east-west network traffic) and detect zero-day exploits and malicious communications, as well as Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Analyzer to extend the value of their Trend Micro solutions by using a centralized custom sandbox to send suspicious files for analysis and share that intelligence to achieve a connect threat defense strategy.

As both the UAE and United Arab Bank are set to mark their 50th anniversary Golden Jubilees in the 2020s, United Arab Bank is ideally-positioned to continue to play a leading role in securing the banking and financial services for customers in the UAE and the GCC for years to come.

“Trend Micro’s automated and integrated security solutions and its strong research and development are key for United Arab Bank’s competitiveness, our compliance, and staying ahead of the curve,” says Mahmoud Yassin, Head of Information Security at United Arab Bank

Technologies

Apex One™ Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Complete Vision One™ with Managed XDR

CIONET Business Circles

Healthcare Circle

Digital Transformation is redefining the future of health care and health delivery. All stakeholders are convinced that these innovations will create value for patients, healthcare practitioners, hospitals, and governments along the patient pathway. The benefits are starting from prevention and awareness to diagnosis, treatment, short- and long-term follow-up, and ultimately survival. But how do you make sure that your working towards an architecturally sound, secure and interoperable health IT ecosystem for your hospital and avoid implementing a hodgepodge of spot solutions? How does your IT department work together with the other stakeholders, such as the doctors and other healthcare practitioners, Life Sciences companies, Tech companies, regulators and your internal governance and administrative bodies?

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.