agenda

Think Tank

Bring Your Own . . . Enhancement

Over the next 5 years, it's forecasted that roughly 30% of enterprises will augment BYOD policies to include ?bring your own enhancement? (BYOE) to add focus to augmented staff members. It will be tempting for IT to try and regulate or control human augmentation technology, but the real focus should be to exploit the employee's interest in BYOE to advance the business. We are seeing manufacturing companies currently using wearables to promote worker safety, and companies in both travel and healthcare industries are using these devices to boost productivity. With these technologies constantly evolving, organizations should contemplate how these enhancements can be leveraged in both the personal and professional lives of the workforce. 

Takeaways: 

Think Tank

The Elephant in the Room, Data Breaches

In 2019, data breaches endured yet again as the largest security threat noted by organizations and IT security professionals alike. If data remains as a high valued commodity, ensuring data privacy and securing personal data will continue to be at the top of the list of an organization's concerns. The increases in privacy legislation, such as GDPR and CCPA, and the understanding of the ramifications stemming from a breach have allowed these concerns to remain heavily in the spotlight. Web application flaws have been identified as the top cause of data breaches. As such, establishing and maintaining web application security has developed into a high priority for all organizations. 

Takeaways: 

• Data breaches are the biggest security concern 
• Data continues to be a high value asset but the need to protect it is even higher
• New laws like GDPR and CCPA enforce consequences for failing to secure data

Think Tank

Hyper-personalization: Using AI to Drive the Bottom Line

How organizations connect with and influence the customer is set for dramatic changes: AI identification of emotions will be the driving force behind many advertisements; the rise in popularity of wearables that track user's habits, locations and biometrics will enable detection of customer emotions and reactions; environmental and behavior indicators enable companies to establish a much deeper level of hyper-personalization within the customer's experience. Companies that successfully apply these trends to gather and make use of data will increase sales and drive revenue, but there is a new industry standard for also being hyper-transparent with consumers about the data that is being collected and how it is being used. 

Takeaways: 

Think Tank

Automating Cybersecurity

IT security professionals all face one major issue: being asked to do more, with less resources. Automation and integration are a necessity in order to meet the demands of an organization's security needs. Managing risk without diminishing the speed and quality of development is achievable by integrating security into agile processes, like DevOps or CI/CD. Since most security teams are understaffed, automated solutions are becoming a requirement, rather than an option to properly manage the ever-increasing workload. 

Takeaways: 

• Automation is required to meet today's security demand  
• DevOps can operate more efficiently with CI/CD 
•  IT security staff are responsible for more than ever

Think Tank

Cryptocurrency Gains Accessibility and Popularity

More and more marketplaces and platforms are beginning to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. As this trend continues to rise, there will be a major movement to mobile-accessible cryptocurrency accounts. As trading partners surface in areas that were inaccessible capital markets before, these accounts will also propel e-commerce. It is estimated that by 2025, 50% of people will have and use a mobile-accessible cryptocurrency account. 

Takeaways: 

Think Tank

AI: Friend or Foe?

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are introducing new technologies to a wide array of products across every industry, especially cybersecurity. Facial recognition and natural language processing have become a reality thanks to deep learning algorithms, however, there is a dark side to these advancements. Cybercriminals have managed to weaponize AI to create extremely intricate malware and attack methods. This has forced organizations to use advanced heuristic solutions rather than counting on known vulnerability and attack signatures. 

Takeaways: 

• Artificial Intelligence products are already being deployed in many industries
• Features like facial recognition and chat bots are common examples
• Cybercriminals can weaponize this technology without proper security measures

Think Tank

Keeping Pace with Innovation, Chronologically and Economically

Today's digital evolution will take major enterprises twice as long and cost twice as much as initially anticipated. Companies will struggle with digital innovation as they realize the associated challenges, and the true cost of modernization. As such, leaders in smaller and more agile organizations have a great opportunity to be first to market, while those in larger organizations suffer through uninspiring, and potentially career limiting, short term results. 

Takeaways: 

Think Tank

Security in the Crosshairs - The Future Comes into Focus

All organizations, regardless of size, are continuously evolving through modern technologies. Having an incident response plan and an effective cybersecurity strategy is not a luxury, but rather a requirement. Finally, security training for employees to improve their awareness is becoming the rule instead of the exception. Security is now establishing a permanent footprint within the software development lifecycle, with SecDevOps/DevSecOps processes to incorporate security at all layers of development. 

Takeaways: 

• Any organization can fall victim to a data breach 
• Having a plan of action is essential to business survival 
•  Security has become a part of the conversation at nearly every level of an organization