CIO Midmarket Summit | TBD | Virtual Summit - Real-time Online Conversations
↓ Agenda Key
Keynote Presentation
Visionary speaker presents to entire audience on key issues, challenges and business opportunities
Keynote Presentations give attending delegates the opportunity to hear from leading voices in the industry. These presentations feature relevant topics and issues aligned with the speaker's experience and expertise, selected by the speaker in concert with the summit's Content Committee." title="Keynote Presentations give attending delegates the opportunity to hear from leading voices in the industry. These presentations feature relevant topics and issues aligned with the speaker's experience and expertise, selected by the speaker in concert with the summit's Content Committee.
Executive Visions
Panel moderated by Master of Ceremonies and headed by four executives discussing critical business topics
Executive Visions sessions are panel discussions that enable in-depth exchanges on critical business topics. Led by a moderator, these sessions encourage attending executives to address industry challenges and gain insight through interaction with expert panel members." title="Executive Visions sessions are panel discussions that enable in-depth exchanges on critical business topics. Led by a moderator, these sessions encourage attending executives to address industry challenges and gain insight through interaction with expert panel members.
Thought Leadership
Solution provider-led session giving high-level overview of opportunities
Led by an executive from the vendor community, Thought Leadership sessions provide comprehensive overviews of current business concerns, offering strategies and solutions for success. This is a unique opportunity to access the perspective of a leading member of the vendor community." title="Led by an executive from the vendor community, Thought Leadership sessions provide comprehensive overviews of current business concerns, offering strategies and solutions for success. This is a unique opportunity to access the perspective of a leading member of the vendor community.
Think Tank
End user-led session in boardroom style, focusing on best practices
Think Tanks are interactive sessions that place delegates in lively discussion and debate. Sessions admit only 15-20 participants at a time to ensure an intimate environment in which delegates can engage each other and have their voices heard." title="Think Tanks are interactive sessions that place delegates in lively discussion and debate. Sessions admit only 15-20 participants at a time to ensure an intimate environment in which delegates can engage each other and have their voices heard.
Roundtable
Interactive session led by a moderator, focused on industry issue
Led by an industry analyst, expert or a member of the vendor community, Roundtables are open-forum sessions with strategic guidance. Attending delegates gather to collaborate on common issues and challenges within a format that allows them to get things done." title="Led by an industry analyst, expert or a member of the vendor community, Roundtables are open-forum sessions with strategic guidance. Attending delegates gather to collaborate on common issues and challenges within a format that allows them to get things done.
Case Study
Overview of recent project successes and failures
Case Studies allow attending executives to hear compelling stories about implementations and projects, emphasizing best practices and lessons learned. Presentations are immediately followed by Q&A sessions." title="Case Studies allow attending executives to hear compelling stories about implementations and projects, emphasizing best practices and lessons learned. Presentations are immediately followed by Q&A sessions.
Focus Group
Discussion of business drivers within a particular industry area
Focus Groups allow executives to discuss business drivers within particular industry areas. These sessions allow attendees to isolate specific issues and work through them. Presentations last 15-20 minutes and are followed by Q&A sessions." title="Focus Groups allow executives to discuss business drivers within particular industry areas. These sessions allow attendees to isolate specific issues and work through them. Presentations last 15-20 minutes and are followed by Q&A sessions.
Analyst Q&A Session
Moderator-led coverage of the latest industry research
Q&A sessions cover the latest industry research, allowing attendees to gain insight on topics of interest through questions directed to a leading industry analyst." title="Q&A sessions cover the latest industry research, allowing attendees to gain insight on topics of interest through questions directed to a leading industry analyst.
Vendor Showcase
Several brief, pointed overviews of the newest solutions and services
Taking the form of three 10-minute elevator pitches by attending vendors, these sessions provide a concise and pointed overview of the latest solutions and services aligned with attendee needs and preferences." title="Taking the form of three 10-minute elevator pitches by attending vendors, these sessions provide a concise and pointed overview of the latest solutions and services aligned with attendee needs and preferences.
Executive Exchange
Pre-determined, one-on-one interaction revolving around solutions of interest
Executive Exchanges offer one-on-one interaction between executives and vendors. This is an opportunity for both parties to make key business contacts, ask direct questions and get the answers they need. Session content is prearranged and based on mutual interest." title="Executive Exchanges offer one-on-one interaction between executives and vendors. This is an opportunity for both parties to make key business contacts, ask direct questions and get the answers they need. Session content is prearranged and based on mutual interest.
Open Forum Luncheon
Informal discussions on pre-determined topics
Led by a moderator, Open Forum Luncheons offer attendees informal, yet focused discussions on current industry topics and trends over lunch." title="Led by a moderator, Open Forum Luncheons offer attendees informal, yet focused discussions on current industry topics and trends over lunch.
Networking Session
Unique activities at once relaxing, enjoyable and productive
Networking opportunities take various unique forms, merging enjoyable and relaxing activities with an environment conducive to in-depth conversation. These gatherings allow attendees to wind down between sessions and one-on-one meetings, while still furthering discussions and being productive." title="Networking opportunities take various unique forms, merging enjoyable and relaxing activities with an environment conducive to in-depth conversation. These gatherings allow attendees to wind down between sessions and one-on-one meetings, while still furthering discussions and being productive.
12:35 pm - 1:20 pm
1:35 pm - 1:45 pm
1:35 pm - 1:45 pm
1:50 pm - 2:20 pm
As more businesses undergo a digital transformation, and as those digital transformations become more ingrained into organizational culture, "Digital" becomes not something unique and different from the business, but a core component of every aspect of the business. As this shift occurs, IT itself faces the very real possibility of no longer being something unique from the business, but instead a component of every aspect of the business. In this world, what role then exists for the CIO? Two clear paths are presenting themselves - one leads to a focus on infrastructure and integration, to keeping the lights on for the digital innovators, while the other leads to information and innovation itself. Knowing which path to choose, how to choose it, and how to see it through will be one of the greatest challenges CIOs of this era will face.
Takeaways:
2:25 pm - 2:55 pm
While Information Security has existed for decades, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), as a formal and holistic practice, is much newer yet already has taken pre-eminence over its forebear. What is the CISO, who in many ways has toiled in invisibility, infamy, or ignominy to do when faced with the issue of being supplanted by the Chief Risk Officer, just as enterprise demand for and focus on security has reached all-time heights? Savvy CISOs will recognize this new, broader need for holistic visibility into, and management of, overall enterprise risk and will position themselves for success by looking beyond traditional information security boundaries and engaging business partners around all enterprise risk.
Takeaways:
3:00 pm - 3:25 pm
Volume, variety, velocity, veracity; all four of the hallmarks of Big Data have a clear fit in the world of security as the number of threats grows, their natures diverge, the speed with they are encountered (and subsequently have to be dealt with) accelerates, and the need to be ever more accurate enhances. As enterprises have made significant investments in Big Data programs and analytics platforms, they are beginning to reap real benefits in terms of business efficiency and innovation. The time then has come to begin applying those same principles and platforms to the security challenges facing enterprises to allow for faster, more effective overall security.
Takeaways:
3:30 pm - 3:55 pm
Digital Transformation is driving rapid adoption of public clouds to accommodate dynamic business development and operations. How do companies leverage assets created in different datacenters? How can executives manage the risk of an evolving and often transient vendor ecosystem? Knowing what do look for in a strategic advisor, how to create a hybrid cloud based on open standards, and best practices to adopt are critical and necessary to be prepared for future growth.
Key take-aways:
Red Hat can help CIO's get prepared for future growth and help solve IT challenges. Open source software has made way for many technological advances, including hybrid cloud computing, big data, social, mobile and containers. As the global leader in enterprise-class open source software solutions, Red Hat and its partners are well-positioned to help customers achieve operational excellence and continue to innovate so they can effectively compete as a digital enterprise.
When it comes to implementing network security infrastructure there are two schools of thought: use best-of-breed point solutions, or go with all round consolidated platforms. Pros and cons abound for either approach revolving around varying levels of protection, integration, and administrative overhead but the increasing complexity of current security infrastructure is showing a winning approach. Even though consolidated solutions may offer greater benefits in the long run, no one exists in a green-field situation when it comes to network and infrastructure security so careful planning is required to ensure the necessary protection.
Takeaways:
4:00 pm - 4:10 pm
4:15 pm - 4:40 pm
There is no escaping the fact that the demands on the IT department are changing. Those changes are necessitating changes in the IT department itself and nowhere is this being felt more than in the roles and responsibilities of the IT staff themselves. Complicating this transition is the fact that every IT department is undergoing to change at roughly the same time making the personnel with the requisite skillsets extremely hard to find, and perhaps even harder to retain. Savvy CIOs need to quickly identify which are the hot skills they most urgently require and then build a strategy that allows them to build (train), borrow (outsource), or buy (hire) the right people with the right capability at the right time.
Takeaways:
There's no other way to say it than bluntly; Information Security is a white-hot field within Information Technology as a whole " over the last dozen years it has gone from after-thought, to scapegoat, to critical enterprise success factor. As a result, the need for capable and qualified Information Security specialists, whether front-line Analysts, mid-level Managers, or top level CISOs is at an all time high, but personnel and skills availability is sinking to an all-time (at least in terms of supply and demand ratio) low. There simply isn't enough expertise in existence to go around, or enough education occurring to create it. In this environment, senior Information Security leaders have to get creative in their pursuit of the people, performance, and passion necessary to address this capability shortfall.
Takeaways:
4:45 pm - 5:10 pm
Of the four disruptive technologies, Cloud and Big Data are the two most top of mind for CIOs, the former because it has the potential to enhance agility and productivity while enabling efficiencies and reducing costs and the latter because it derives insights that drive competitive advantage and increases revenues. As the two continue to grow in relevance and importance to enterprise IT, and indeed to the enterprise as whole, it is only natural that they begin to intersect with the cloud becoming the optimal platform for the delivery of Big Data capabilities, either in-house through the use of IaaS/PaaS or out-of-house through SaaS or Analytics as a Service. IT departments and the CIOs that lead them then need to look to their Big Data and Cloud strategies and determine how best to align them to leverage the advantages where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Takeaways:
5:15 pm - 6:15 pm
The role of the modern IT Executive is more complex than it has ever been before, not just because the technology landscape has become more complex, but also because increasingly IT execs have had to become a business-focused executive, not just a technologist. Long have we talked about the CIO and CISO getting a seat at the table but modern businesses are now demanding that their technology impresario join them and leverage his deep and rich technical acumen to allow the organization as a whole to better position itself for market-place success. To be successful, CxOs need to invest in themselves, in their personnel, and in the right technologies to allow them to position the IT department to proactively address business needs as an innovator and driver, rather than order-taker and enabler.
Takeaways:
6:15 pm - 6:30 pm
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
7:00 am - 8:00 am
8:10 am - 8:40 am
It's no secret - the integration of disparate systems, disparate applications, and disparate data stores has long been one of the biggest challenges faced by the IT department. Simply put, getting everything to talk to everything is no easy task. The rapid adoption of cloud delivered services has compounded this problem almost exponentially - if it was hard to integrate when you controlled the whole stack it has become nearly impossible when you control very little of it. To be efficient and effective IT departments need to adopt a new model of system, application, and data integration. Endless webs of one-off point-to-point integrations simply won't cut it anymore and a purposeful, structured approach is required.
Takeaways:
8:45 am - 9:15 am
Of all the risk management issues that present themselves to the modern-day CISO, perhaps the most difficult to address is that of privacy. In and of itself, privacy is no different a challenge than protecting any other sensitive information, however the multi-jurisdictional impacts of the issue due to wildly differing laws between the US and European countries (as well as Canada, another country with strong privacy laws) make this an issue that is often times overwhelming to address. CISOs must work diligently to ensure that their privacy efforts conform with the standards of any jurisdiction with which they might work, where their data might be held and this is an almost overwhelming task.
Takeaways:
9:20 am - 9:45 am
Today's modern CIO is embarking on a digital transformation journey exploring radical hybrid IT strategies and leveraging new technologies like Cloud, Social, Mobile and Big Data. However, with 'keeping the lights on' legacy IT components costing nearly 90% of a typical IT budget, how can IT make powerful advancements and lead business change?
Join this interactive session to learn how award-winning CIOs are successfully tipping the balance by liberating people, time and money from costly ongoing maintenance of their ERP systems including SAP and Oracle, to invest in strategic initiatives that create real-world competitive advantage.
9:50 am - 10:15 am
The hype around the cloud is pervasive and can be potentially overwhelming but numerous studies have shown that tangible benefits can be had, whether in cost savings, efficiency improvements, or flexibility enhancements. That said numerous impediments exist to not just realizing that value, but even considering adoption; regulatory issues, integration challenges, business process revamp, and a dozen other challenges can halt cloud projects in their tracks before they get off the ground. In this group discussion we'll explore those inhibitors, understanding which challenges prevent adoption and what can be done to overcome them.
Takeaways:
Building security into your enterprise processes, and integrating it with your existing technology investments has never been more critical or complicated than it is in this era of decentralized computing, and ever-tightening compliance requirements. Furthering this complication is the impact that partnering deals can have since infrastructure, applications, and even data may now longer be under your direct control. To be able to ensure efficient and effective security capabilities you need to understand the nature of the threats that exist today, the impact a sourcing relationship can have on these threats, and the mitigation strategies and tools key industry leaders are using to address the challenge.
Takeaways:
10:20 am - 10:30 am
10:35 am - 11:00 am
We all know that ROI calculations, on the surface, are simple mathematical formulas: compare the cost of investment against the value of the return over a given and agreed upon period. But determining exactly what each side of the equation entails and totals is the challenging part, and nowhere moreso than in burgeoning areas such as IoT adoption where use cases are still not clearly understood, and technology costs are highly variable, and all the components related to cost may not yet be quantifiable. The benefits are there, as a number of enterprises are discovering with early pilot programs, but CIOs must enter this area with their eyes wide open to ensure that early IoT implementations have the ROI necessary to keep more complex projects moving forward.
Takeaways:
As with all things in life, the focus on how to conduct enterprise security ebbs and flows between varying degrees of reactivity and proactivity. In the old school Security 1.0 world, where the focus was almost completely on network security, efforts were in general proactive in nature with firewalls and anti-malware seeking to prevent threats before they even occurred. This didn't work so well and so Security 2.0 focused on reactivity, wrapping things like encryption around the data so that even if a breach occurred, the loss would be mitigated. Yet breaches, and losses, continue to occur. So if primarily proactive security doesn't work, and if primarily reactive security also doesn't work, how then do we find the right balance between the two to find a security posture that does work?
Takeaways:
11:05 am - 11:30 am
While the combination of Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud have been present and disrupting IT departments and enterprises as a whole for over two years now, in many ways organizations have still not fully embraced them, have still not fully leveraged them. These new platforms allow organizations radically new ways to go to market, allowing for broad scale deployment of systems of engagement that create dynamic relationships with clients and prospects. Finding the resources, wherewithal, and ability to fully commit to these technologies and the capabilities they create has proven to be a struggle for many, but a struggle that can be overcome by leveraging the right partners that bring the right skills and experiences to bear.
Takeaways:
Since regulatory (and industry) compliance became a notable thing in the early-mid 2000's it has been intimately linked with information security and often times has been the lever (or hammer) by which enterprises made necessary investments in security. But being compliant and being secure aren't the same thing, and in too many cases enterprises that were perfectly compliant have been perfectly breached. A new focus is needed; one that respects that while security and compliance are not the same thing, they are working towards the same goal (a reduction in overall enterprise risk exposure) and sees that compliance flows from security.
Takeaways:
11:35 am - 12:00 pm
The promise of the cloud is almost beyond compare; infinite computing resources, unmatched reliability and uptime, instantaneous service availability, simplistic self-service and provisioning, and the low-low prices of a buy by the drink model. These are the reasons behind the rush to the cloud that we are currently experiencing, but the wholesale adoption does bring a downside " as more and more capability is moved to the cloud, more and more cloud providers are utilized since, for the most part, each provider offers only a limited suite of services. The MultiCloud environment that creates a new set of challenges that IT leaders need to overcome, notably resiliency, interoperability/integration, and security and compliance through careful planning and the lessons learned from building complex on premise distributed systems.
Takeaways:
From a technology standpoint, as a society the world of business has gone through two distinct stages in the evolution of its information security focus. The first addressed network based protection and preventative controls such as firewalls and anti-malware. The second looked at data-centric and detective controls such as encryption and intrusion/extrusion monitoring. Since breaches continue to occur at a record pace, what is need new is clearly a new evolution, one that pushes towards individual focused security through granular user monitoring and management as provided by solutions such as Identity and Access Management. While IAM isn't a new technology field, it is one whose time has come and CISO need to begin investing in modern-day, light-weight, easy to implement IAM solutions now to stay ahead of the curve, and reduce enterprise threats.
Takeaways:
The breach onslaught demonstrates that existing security solutions are incapable of defending current threats
Enterprises need to begin looking at security from an activity perspective rather than an artifact perspective
IAM provides activity insight, and therefore threat awareness, no other platform can equal
12:05 pm - 12:30 pm
The accepted number for the amount of the IT budget that is tied up in operational spend, in paying to maintain technology that has already been purchased, is 80% leaving only 20% for the IT department to use to drive new projects. Because this level of funding is so low, as much as 70% of IT sponsored projects fail. Yet IT departments are being constantly pushed to be innovative, to find a way to embrace new technologies and leverage them to drive business change. How can you do that when your time, money, and effort goes to just keeping the lights on? Join us as we collectively explore this issue and examine some of the successful strategies that are being leveraged by top IT leaders.
Takeaways:
Like death and taxes, IT outages are an inevitability whether as the result of power loss, telecommunications outage, or any one of a myriad other potential technical and non-technical issues. In this environment, the savvy CIO knows that what matters most is preparation " being ready for that next outage with an IT infrastructure that is both resilient and flexible and Disaster Recovery procedures that allow for efficient and effective recovery, balancing Recovery Time and Recovery Point objectives with appropriate cost. Disasters happen but with proper planning they don't have to be disastrous to your business.
Takeaways:
12:35 pm - 1:20 pm
1:25 pm - 1:50 pm
The lifeblood of any cloud relationship is the Service Level Agreement (SLA) upon which it is based " the SLA sets the expectations of both parties and acts as the roadmap for change, whether planned or unplanned. Each SLA has a complex lifecycle that includes three distinct phases " negotiation where the original terms of the agreement are established, measurement where service is actively monitored to ensure agreed upon levels are achieved, and management where deficiencies from and adjustments to initial agreements are acted upon. IT Leaders must take an active role in all phases of the SLA lifecycle to ensure optimal protection for their enterprise.
Takeaways:
In todays environment there can be no arguing that a comprehensive IT Security program is a de facto requirement for every organization. Such a program needs to address the full range of security threats that can be leveraged against an organization, needs to be integrated into whatever regulatory and governance requirements exist, but beyond that it needs to be accessible, consumable, and actionable by everyone that is influenced by it, or interacts with it. Building a program that is shared through social channels and relies on the collaborative input of employees and constituents for not only creation but enforcement will drive higher levels of adoption, responsiveness and, ultimately, protection.
Takeaways:
1:55 pm - 2:20 pm
Best practice in most enterprises, at least as far as the CIO and CISO goes, is to squash Shadow IT wherever it is encountered. Shadow IT, the argument goes, leads to a world of data and integration problems for the IT department, and significant amounts of unknown and unquantifiable risk for the information security group. A small but vocal minority however is beginning to advocate for Shadow IT as a catalyst of innovation, citing the increases in productivity and creativity by allowing enterprise staff to find their own out of the box solutions to organizational problems. CISOs can allow their organizations to have their cake (Shadow IT) and eat it too (still be secure) by following a few simple steps that allow them to build in security regardless of user activity.
Takeaways:
2:25 pm - 2:50 pm
Innovation is more than just a buzzword; it's fast becoming the mantra by which successful companies live. As enterprises strive to become ever more agile, offloading mundane responsibilities to sourcing partners can free the resources to become innovative. While beneficial, this really only scratches the surface as it still requires and relies on your resources to undertake that innovation journey. Partners that can bring innovation wherewithal to the table however, that can bake it directly into the service offering provide a greater opportunity to innovate. Understanding how such services can be integrated into your day to day operations, how they can spring board your innovation efforts, and how they can allow you to become truly transformational is essential to innovation success.
Takeaways:
The breadth and depth of security threats that are targeting the modern enterprise are bordering on overwhelming, but they're not alone as the breadth and depth of security solutions are also bordering on overwhelming. When security managers have to respond to alerts and warnings from dozens of security systems, and CISOs have to make strategic decisions based on fragmented data, it's hard to argue that security is improving. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms that aggregate the vast quantities of data, correlate diverse events, and filter the signal from the noise are allowing enterprises to get back ahead of the curve and make appropriate tactical and strategic decisions.
Takeaways:
2:55 pm - 3:20 pm
Executives are currently facing a difficult challenge in terms of personnel management because they are dealing with three very different generational groups of workers " Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials. These three groups all have very different outlooks on the world and on work, and all have very different work styles and capabilities. These differences lead to lack of understanding and conflict in a lot of cases, conflict that leaders must learn how to overcome. Smart leaders know that they need to leverage the differences between generations rather than expecting, and trying to force, everyone to be the same, and that building an integrated workforce, with complimentary skills and abilities, is the key to long-term workforce stability.
Takeaways:
For many years the CIO, has struggled with the concept of IT-Business alignment and finding ways to ensure that the IT department and the Lines of Business with which it integrates have a common understanding and ability to communicate. Now, as the CISO and the information security department grow out of the IT shadow, they increasingly find themselves in the same position. Their challenge however is greater in that the concepts of IT security are in many ways more abstract than those of generalist IT, and their activities often run counter to the goals of the rest of the organization. CISOs must learn for the trials and tribulations of the CIO and the IT department, and find common ground with the business, to ensure they can hear what their partners are saying, while communicating their own points in understandable terms.
Takeaways:
3:25 pm - 3:35 pm
3:40 pm - 4:05 pm
4:10 pm - 4:35 pm
Android represents the most common and most popular mobile device operating system and any businesses developing for an external audience absolutely must ensure that Android is a supported platform in the capabilities it offers. However, Android is also the most unsecure platform with as much as 95% of all mobile malware inexistence targeting that platform and so businesses that allow mobility within their organization must very carefully consider that threat before they allow Android devices to connect. Rationalizing that dichotomy of a device that will be common and popular amongst the workforce yet at the same time represents a dire threat to enterprise security is an issue that every CIO and CISO must address.
Takeaways:
The discussion around the convergence of physical security and information security dates back over a decade, but though much was made of the concept in the early 2000's little was actually done and the buzz faded. Flash-forward to today however and the buzz is back because of the increased focus on holistic risk management, the increased pressure of greater compliance requirements, and the increased demand for every aspect of the business to be a value generator. CISOs and CIROs need to evaluate the opportunities for both technology convergence (streamlining platforms) and organizational convergence (streamlining roles) to meet new threat protections mandates.
Takeaways:
4:40 pm - 5:20 pm
The importance technology plays within an enterprise will only continue to gain momentum as more developers, engineers, and programmers enter the workforce. As these segments continue to grow, so does the diversity of the workforce within the technology field. For a field that is severely constrained by a talent and skills gap, this influx of bodies can only be a good thing. Beyond the basic ability to deliver of identified capabilities a diverse workforce, whether cultural or gender influenced offers a whole that is more than the sum of the parts. Finding ways to drive and increase diversity in IT then should be a key focus for every IT executive.
Takeaways:
5:20 pm - 5:30 pm
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm