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Belgium 01-10-2026 Squad Only Virtual english
Low-code, no-code, and AI tools are giving business teams more ability to build solutions themselves. The challenge is setting the right boundaries before fast local solutions become important operational assets. Three pressure points need attention. - Boundaries must be clear: teams need to know what they can build alone and what requires IT, security, or architecture review. - Supportability matters when a quick solution becomes business-critical. - Risk control remains necessary around data access, compliance, security, process dependency, and maintenance. The working question is simple: how do we enable business-led development while keeping security, ownership, and support under control? If you are trying to enable this safely, let’s compare approaches with others facing the same balance.
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Belgium 06-10-2026 All Members Physical english
As enterprise AI transitions from experimental Proofs of Concept (POCs) into real implementations, digital leaders are encountering a shared challenge: consumption-based public cloud token billing models do not fit neatly into traditional IT budgeting. Daily token consumption can rise unexpectedly, pushing expenses through the roof while arbitrary caps quickly kill momentum for innovation. For many CIOs, this raises an open strategic question: How do we keep costs under control while further stimulating innovation? During this interactive CIONET roundtable, we will explore among peers how to navigate AI tokenomics. Rather than treating public cloud LLMs as the default path, we will investigate how different execution environments, ranging from hybrid cloud setups and targeted on-premise models to specialised edge hardware, can help balance cost with performance. This session is intentionally designed as an open peer-to-peer exchange; a space to compare notes, challenge current ways of working and architectural setups, and discuss practical approaches to building predictable, scalable AI models.
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Belgium 08-10-2026 All Members Physical english
Every large organisation has been through a major transformation, and most through several. The word transformation is misleading because it suggests a beginning and an end. But organisations that do well are the ones that have given up on the idea of arriving and realise that constant change has become the new norm, and missing a single cycle leaves you permanently behind. This evening, two leaders will share how they think about this, coming from opposite directions. John Porter led Telenet through a sustained period of reinvention spanning the pandemic, a full reorganisation into tribes, M&A, and a shift to a performance driven culture. Along the way, the IT department was dissolved and technology was embedded inside autonomous tribes that run as small businesses. There is no CIO at Telenet. It is Telenet Group’s purpose to become a digital-first, customer-centric organisation. To deliver on this ambition, it has embarked on a transformation journey built on three pillars: (i) the implementation of a scaled-agile operating model (organisation), (ii) the acceleration of digitisation and automation underpinned by optimised IT systems, platforms, and strategic technology partnerships (digitisation), and (iii) a performance leadership culture focused on accountability, ownership, and a change mindset (culture). Kris Vervaet, on the other hand, has just become CIO at KBC, the bank whose mobile app has been ranked best in the world three times and whose AI assistant Kate now handles 70% of customer queries on its own. But Kris is no ordinary CIO: he ran DPG Media Belgium as CEO, and KBC went looking for someone who has led transformation rather than someone who manages technology. So while one organisation got rid of the CIO role, the other reinvented it, and both are thriving. The conversation will range across organisational and IT redesign, the rise of digital-first customer experience, the impact of AI on how every business is run, and the harder questions of culture, talent and leadership. The question for every leader in the room is what that tells you about your own role, your own operating model, and the pace at which you are prepared to keep evolving.
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CIONET Trailblazer: CISO: The Shift from Prevention to Resilience: Turning Visibility into Execution
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CIONET Trailblazer: AI Transformation: Bridging the Cultural Divide to Achieve Competitive Advantage
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Assaf Harofeh Medical Center becomes a healthcare leader with Trend security
Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, a leading Israeli hospital, faced growing cyber threats. Trend Micro's comprehensive security solutions protected its data and ensured business continuity, allowing it to focus on providing quality healthcare.
OVERVIEW
Assaf Harofeh Medical Center is the fourth largest university hospital in Israel and the center of the Shfela region, serving a population of about 1.5 million in the central and lowland areas. Employing a staff of approximately 3,400, the outpatient clinics, emergency room, hospital, and maternity ward are backed by dozens of departments, institutes, clinics, and laboratories in all sub-specialties.
Assaf Harofeh’s IT department serves the hospital as well as Shmuel Harofeh Hospital and the Abu Kabir Forensic Medicine Institute. The Medical Center’s five-member system and information security develops, maintains, upgrades, and integrates any technology purchased by the medical center, while investigating new technology as well as running an external emergency response team.
Their IT system consists of 500 servers, along with 2,600 workstations and two active-active servers that assist approximately 4,000 users.
CHALLENGES
As hospitals operate with a 100 percent policy of availability, computer systems as well as medical systems, should operate 24/7. The real challenge is creating an uncompromising operational continuum. In addition to operational continuity, Assaf Harofeh must ensure that their systems are interoperable with the various defense systems, comply with the regulations dictated by the Ministry of Health, and decide which systems they can integrate to help support the medical center’s vision and meet any challenges.
Assaf Harofeh deals with thousands of events a year and understand that in order to remain better protected, they must invest in the education of users alongside the technological solutions they implement.
Trend Micro gives the hospital maximum visibility of all the systems, applications, and environments, and of course, the hospital’s networks.
Tal Avitan
CTO at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center
WHY TREND
Assaf Harofeh chose to protect their systems with Trend Micro’s defense solutions due to the company’s unique technology offerings, powered by their knowledgeable team. Participating in the planning of the hospital, Trend Micro’s team eventually became just as familiar with the medical center’s systems as Assaf Harofeh’s IT specialists had become.
Assaf Harofeh was impressed with Trend Micro’s variety of solutions. This mix provides automation to save management resources, offer advanced reports, visibility for every endpoint, and the ability to detect problems at the highest level. Trend Micro provides Assaf Harofeh with a true robust next gen system, armed with machine learning to give their CTO peace of mind.
SOLUTION
Under the tutelage of Assaf Harofeh project manager, Guy Segev, the medical center was equipped with a variety of Trend Micro solutions. Starting with OfficeScan™ to protect endpoints using machine learning technology, Segev oversaw the inclusion of ScanMail™ for Microsoft® Exchange™ for email protection, Trend Micro™ Data Loss Prevention, Trend Micro™ Vulnerability Protection, Trend Micro™ Control Manager™ for centralized management, Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ for server protection, and Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Analyzer.
RESULTS
Assaf Harofeh has reduced their operational cost in system maintenance significantly with the use of Deep Security. Upgrading to the latest version of the endpoint protection solution enables the medical center to benefit from machine learning and automation, improving reporting capabilities significantly, so even non-IT managers can understand these capabilities along with their significance within the ongoing operation of the medical center. “Trend Micro gives the hospital maximum visibility of all the systems, applications, and environments, and of course, the hospital’s networks”, said Tal Avitan.
As a result of our close partnership with Trend Micro, we have become leaders in the healthcare system. We are the first to hear about attacks, even before the cyber authority. I feel I have a lateral sector responsibility for part of my experience for the entire health sector in Israel.
WHAT'S NEXT
With more than 60 years of service, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center plans to remain an important part of Israel’s health sector and healthcare security. “As a result of our close partnership with Trend Micro, we have become leaders in the healthcare system. We are the first to hear about attacks, even before the cyber authority. I feel I have a lateral sector responsibility for part of my experience for the entire health sector in Israel.” said Avitan.
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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.
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