CIO & CISO Think Tank

Board presentations are often plagued by common mistakes - being overly detailed, backwards-looking, or lacking a clear purpose. This panel discussion addresses the disconnect between what is often presented and what boards truly need. Featuring insights from seasoned executives, board members, and communication experts, the session will explore actionable
strategies to craft presentations that are succinct, forward-looking, and aligned with board priorities such as revenue, cost, and risk.

Attendees will learn how to simplify complex information, deliver clear recommendations, and tailor presentations to specific board dynamics, ensuring their messages resonate and drive effective decision-making. Whether you’re a C-level executive or an aspiring leader, this session offers valuable guidance on mastering the art of board communication.

The rapid pace of technological change has introduced unprecedented complexity and risk for organisations. From uncontrolled cloud expenses, to complex software architectures, rapid innovation, emerging security threats, and high expectations around generative AI, the challenges can be overwhelming. How can organisations effectively manage these complexities and risks while evolving their IT landscape to capitalise on technological advancements?

Observability in its current phase has emerged as a critical solution, providing technologists and business stakeholders with real-time insights and proactive data-driven feedback loops to ensure the health, performance, and security of business applications. In this roundtable, we will explore how Observability enables organisations to successfully navigate the complexities and risks associated with each technology evolution, and what its future state will look like.

Attendees will gain insights into:

- Common challenges organisations face in the rapid IT evolution
- How Observability helps organisations overcome key business challenges
- How leading organisations leverage Observability to drive business outcomes
- The evolution of observability and its future state, which integrates generative AI

This session explores the pivotal role of CIOs in modernizing data to unlock its full value. In the contemporary digital landscape, data stands as a strategic asset, and CIOs are at the forefront of harnessing its potential. The abstract emphasizes the CIO's responsibility in implementing cutting-edge technologies and data management strategies that go beyond mere storage, enabling organizations to derive actionable insights. By adopting innovative approaches, such as advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and cloud solutions, CIOs can transform data into a valuable resource, driving efficiency, innovation, and informed decision-making across the enterprise. The discussion delves into the evolving responsibilities of CIOs in leading the charge towards data modernization, ensuring organizations remain competitive and agile in an increasingly data-centric world.

In today's complex digital landscape, outages are inevitable and can cripple businesses within minutes. In fact, 88% of IT leaders expect a global outage within the next year.

With the threat of significant revenue loss and reputational damage from even brief disruptions, operational resilience is no longer an optional investment - it has been raised to a board level priority.

Join us for an insightful discussion as we delve into the key for braving the next big outage. In this session we will explore how organisations can transform and scale their digital operations leveraging GenAI and Automation to increase innovation velocity, grow revenue, reduce cost, and mitigate the risk of operational failure. Hear from expert guests and gain actionable insights to safeguard your digital future.

Ransomware attacks are in the headlines, affecting businesses and individuals in all sectors. Through 2024, these attacks have continued to grow, resulting in significant financial losses, data theft, and reputational damage. Even businesses that have achieved a level of cybersecurity compliance remain at risk unless they have understood what impact a ransomware attack really means in the context of their business.

The good news?  When you have identified how to protect your business from a ransomware attack you have already defined what needs to be done to reduce your total cyber risk exposure across all levels of attack.

Ransomware might be the most reported attack, but is nowhere near the most expensive or damaging cyber attack you might face.

In an era where human behavior remains the primary vector for cybersecurity threats, CISOs and security leaders must pivot to a unified approach for managing human risk, by aligning technology and human-centric strategies, enhancing resilience, and redefining risk management for the modern enterprise.

Building trust and reliance across technology and security teams is key to defending the enterprise. As security stacks incorporate Security Service Edge (SSE) to sustain the SASE journey, the partnership between CIOs, CISOs, and their teams is more important than ever.

CISOs are challenged to redefine their role not only as guardians of security but also as enablers of responsible and innovative data utilization. This directive emphasizes the importance of striking a balance between data protection and leveraging the full potential of organizational data assets. CISOs must collaborate with stakeholders to establish robust data governance frameworks, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations while facilitating the ethical and strategic use of data. By unlocking the value of data, CISOs contribute to the organization's competitiveness, innovation, and overall digital transformation. This session explores strategies for CISOs to harness the power of data responsibly, thereby positioning cybersecurity as an integral driver of business success in the data-driven era.

Executing on AI Transformation in a meaningful way requires asking the right questions. Enterprises need to understand how to extract real value, mitigate risks, and leverage data to guide AI Transformation effectively through the digital noise from supplier ecosystem. This presentation/panel discussion will explore how business leaders can approach AI strategically, ensuring thoughtful implementation that aligns with organizational goals.

In today's fast-paced world of software development, bugs are inevitable, but the disruptions they cause don't have to be. Organizations have limited options for mitigating the risk of software outages due to bugs in software releases or from configuration file updates, which can cause significant disruptions, risking the stability and performance of applications.

Learn how you can be equipped to handle any challenge, keeping your focus on building great software without the fear of painful outages. Mitigate the risk of software outages with dynamic and controlled configuration updates, ensuring operational stability and safeguarding economic value.

This discussion will highlight the multifaceted nature of cybersecurity challenges. Beyond technical vulnerabilities, the psychological impact of cyberattacks on individuals and organizations was emphasized. Additionally, the importance of clear and effective communication among C-suite leaders was underscored as crucial for a coordinated and resilient response to security threats.