With Gartner warning that 60% of AI projects will be abandoned due to poor data and weak controls, agentic RAG is no longer optional—it is the only practical path from pilot to production. In markets like Singapore, where data residency and compliance are non-negotiable, retrieval intelligence is now the bedrock of ROI.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Ed Keisling, Chief AI Officer, Progress Software, discusses how CIOs and heads of AI across Southeast Asia, can turn AI pilots and POCs into profit-generating initiatives for enterprises in 2026.

1. What is RAG?
2. Given that most regional AI pilots never scale, what specific architectural weaknesses does agentic RAG fix that traditional RAG or fine-tuning cannot?
3. In markets with fragmented data landscapes—legacy systems, multilingual content, and disparate cloud storage—how does agentic RAG ensure consistent, high-quality retrieval at enterprise scale?
4. What out-of-the-box governance and audit trails does agentic RAG provide to satisfy both local data residency laws (e.g., Singapore’s PDPA) and board-level risk controls?
5. For CIOs managing lean teams, how does agentic RAG reduce the operational burden of maintaining retrieval pipelines, monitoring hallucinations, and orchestrating multi-step agent workflows? 
6. How can agentic RAG help move beyond isolated use cases (e.g., customer support) toward fully autonomous, end-to-end processes spanning finance, supply chain, and compliance?
7. As agents become more autonomous by 2027, what retrieval strategies will prevent cascading errors or unauthorised actions, and what should CIOs implement today to stay safe?
8. (original 3) How should CIOs in Singapore and across Southeast Asia measure the ROI of retrieval intelligence compared to simply upgrading large language models?
9. For regional enterprises without custom AI stacks, what vendor or open-source scaffolding for agentic RAG offers the fastest path from pilot to profit while preserving data sovereignty?
10. What organisational, data, and leadership shifts must CIOs prioritise over the next 12–18 months to ensure agentic RAG transitions from a technical capability into a sustained source of competitive advantage?

The Biocatch report, the future of Digital Trust, concluded that with 86% viewing AI agents as the industry’s greatest vulnerability, leaders urgently need real-time behavioural insights and interbank collaboration to preserve trust.

To know more about this and to help CISOs at the region’s banks find solutions to this rising AI-driven fraud incidents, we are joined by Subhashish Bose, Director of Global Advisory, BioCatch.

1.       What are the key salient points of the future of digital trust report?

2.       How can we distinguish legitimate AI-assisted customer actions from agentic AI-driven fraud in real time?

3.       What behavioural and intent-based signals can replace static identity checks as AI agents mimic human behaviour?

4.       How do we prevent customer attrition caused by either excessive friction or unreimbursed scam losses? (intelligent friction?)

5.       What interbank intelligence-sharing frameworks can we deploy to stop authorised fraud at the receiving account stage?

6.       AI-powered scammers are on the rise. How do we accelerate fraud detection systems to match the rising speed of AI-generated attacks?

7.       What investments are needed to counter agentic AI attacks that 79% of our peers have already encountered?

8.       How should we restructure fraud and scam reimbursement policies to maintain trust without increasing vulnerability?

9.       What metrics will tell us whether our AI defences are reducing fraud losses or merely shifting criminal tactics?

10.   What is your advice for CISOs, CIOs and banking executives in the face of this rising AI-driven fraud?

11.   What is the biggest myth related to financial fraud with AI?

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, Angus Tsang, CFO and Company Secretary, CN Logistics International Holdings Limited, shares his thoughts on how finance leaders transforming the finance function to align to business priorities and market dynamics.

1. How are CFOs redefining the finance operating model to balance cost efficiency with the strategic agility required to support business growth in 2026-2027?

2. Do CFOs have a clear inventory of the skills they need versus the skills they possess, particularly regarding AI, data analytics, and regulatory technology?

3. How are CFOs adapting their talent acquisition strategy to compete for "versatile" talent in a market where specialists command significant salary premiums?

4. What is the CFO’s strategy for managing the "automation paradox"—automating routine work without eroding the developmental pathways for early-career finance professionals?

5. In your view, are succession plans for critical roles (e.g., Controllers, FP&A Heads, Tax) robust enough to withstand unexpected departures in a volatile hiring market? Is this succession plan reactive (someone resigns) or proactive?

6. What should be the approach to managing the emerging risks associated with AI governance, specifically ensuring that the team has the talent to oversee algorithmic decision-making and regulatory compliance?

7. How are CFOs leveraging the fluidity of regional hubs (Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia) to access talent pools that were previously out of reach?

8. Given the rise of contract roles (fractional/project) driven by transformation projects, how are CFOs (and CHROs) balancing permanent headcount with flexible talent to maintain organisational resilience?

10. How do CFOs measure the ROI of their talent development programmes, specifically regarding their impact on retention and internal promotion rates for leadership roles?

In 2026, an uncontrolled "agent sprawl" could exponentially increase compute, data storage, and energy use—directly conflicting with Net Zero pledges. True sustainability isn’t just about reporting emissions; it’s about embedding green governance into every autonomous decision. 

As agents become "digital coworkers," CIOs must treat energy efficiency and waste reduction as non-negotiable compliance metrics, ensuring AI acceleration doesn't come at the planet’s expense.

With us to understand what Earth Day means in the context of the exploding AI agent sprawl is Mr Liher Urbizu, present and MD of SAP Southeast Asia.

Questions covered:

1.       Give us the agentic sprawl in Southeast Asia in 2026.

2.       How do you embed "carbon-aware" policies directly into agent workflows? This should force autonomous agents to defer non-urgent batch processing to times of renewable energy availability. (treat carbon data like financial data)

3.       With Earth Day commitments tightening, what technical controls are required to mandate energy consumption caps per agent, treating efficiency as a governance rule rather than a post-execution report?

4.       To ensure agents don't inadvertently increase waste, how do you establish trusted data lineage for Scope 3 emissions, enabling an agent to verify a supplier's carbon intensity before autonomously placing an order?

5.       Given that poor data quality leads to redundant processing, what data governance rules are necessary to prevent agents from repeatedly querying or transforming the same inefficient datasets, wasting energy?

6.       How do you build a "sustainability audit trail" for every autonomous decision, allowing CIOs to trace a specific agent's action back to its energy cost and carbon footprint for regulatory reporting?

7.       As we manage agents like digital coworkers, what "retirement criteria" ensure that low-value, high-frequency agents are automatically decommissioned to prevent long-term energy leakage? (leanIX)

8.       To avoid "shadow agent" sprawl doubling your infrastructure emissions undetected, what discovery tools can catalog every autonomous agent and calculate its real-time energy consumption against your Net Zero milestones?

9.       With stakes higher than Shadow IT, how do you differentiate between essential agents that optimize sustainability (e.g., logistics routing) versus "rogue" agents that create unnecessary digital waste and technical carbon debt?

10.   Where is the starting point for my organisation to move towards a more sustainable IT operation?

Concurrently, climate-driven heatwaves stress power grids, collapsing OT systems in manufacturing hubs. The core dilemma is no longer single-peril analysis but the "poly-crisis": ransomware demands spiking as a grid fails, or a sovereign cyber operation triggering an insurance exclusion. 

For Asian risk engineers, resilience means stress-testing for layered shocks—where a trade war, a flood, and a data exfiltration all arrive on the same Tuesday.

Vivien Bilquez, global head of Cyber at Zurich Resilience Solutions, answers the following questions on resilience imperatives as the region faces its most challenging crises to date. 

1.       To set the context for our dialogue, please briefly provide a state of resilience for organisations in Asia today?

2.       With global trade splitting into US and China-centric blocs, which regulatory regime (export controls, data localization) costs/is costing/will cost businesses in Asia the most to operate under?

3.       Are existing power/electricity backups designed for simultaneous crises (e.g., heatwave blackout plus ransomware), and can we recover in milliseconds rather than minutes?

4.       How much do businesses rely on subsea cables through the South China Sea or Strait of Malacca, and what is the backup route if a cable is cut? 

5.       If a nation-state or hacktivist group shuts down existing OT systems (e.g., cooling or chemical delivery), what is the financial loss per hour of halted production?

6.       Do prevailing insurance policies exclude "sovereign cyber operations" (Stryker clauses), and have organisations moved from relying on insurance to building quantified self-resilience?

7.       When an AI-driven disinformation campaign targets an organisation’s brand or a climate event shuts plants/production facilities, do organisations have a playbook that unites engineering, the CISO, and the CFO within ten minutes? (If not, can you suggest such a playbook?)

8.       State the resilience posture of organisations in Asia

9.       What questions do I ask to put my organisation on the track to resilience?

10.   What do I need to do to put my organisation on the path towards resilience?

To move from ambition to monetisation, leaders must stop managing data in silos and start activating it in real-time across finance, supply chains, and customer systems. 

Without a unified data fabric that ensures governance and trust, autonomous agents cannot operate safely at scale. Data activation is no longer an IT project; it is the core strategy for turning AI spend into EBIT.

Joining us to clear the cobwebs of this data wall, is Mr David Irecki, chief technology officer for Asia Pacific & Japan at Boomi.

David, welcome back to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       Boomi cites an interesting statistic: 95% of organisations struggle with AI ROI, yet you argue the models are ready. Where are ASEAN CIOs getting stuck—and why are data quality and integration now the real villains, not the AI? (Singaproe report)

2.       Beyond lakes and dashboards, what does "data activation" mean in practice? How do we put live, trusted data into the flows AI agents rely on?

3.       As Agentic AI explodes in 2026, why should CIOs see APIs and integration as the new "control plane" for security, privacy, and sovereign AI?

4.       According to Boomi, with 90% of staff using AI informally, how do we enforce data governance without killing speed? Can the integration layer automate policy enforcement?

5.       Define data debt. How do we build a business case for killing "data debt" and moving from brittle scripts to reusable, AI-ready integrations?

6.       According to Salesforce, 96% of CIOs say success hinges on integrating AI into the flow of everyday work. Where do ASEAN CIOs see the fastest payback for data activation—finance, supply chain, or customer service?

7.       How does activating data for a swarm of autonomous agents differ from powering a simple chatbot? How do we make different vendors' agents talk to each other?

8.       If Asia has hit a data wall, what are the three non-negotiables for CIOs to turn AI spend into EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) by 2026?

9.       Takeway for CIO to get their CIO initiatives from delivering disappointing results to powering the business innovations? 

One of the CIO’s critical missions in 2026 should be to restore flow: a unified system where conversations trigger actions, not more tabs. We need platforms that reduce IT firefighting by embedding knowledge, automation, and follow-through into collaboration itself. 

When work moves seamlessly from talk to completion, only then can we finally stop maintaining tools and start enabling outcomes. 

This is the Resolution Economy – an economic model that focuses on guaranteed outcomes, reduced fragmentation and systemic resolution beyond experience. For the IT department, the resolution economy means fewer alerts, smoother integrations, and a digital workplace that works as one.

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCIO is Carlos Quaderi, head of Asia, Zoom. He will share his perspective on the technologies and workflows for enabling workplace and collaboration for distributed IT teams.

Questions

1.       How do we measure ROI when collaboration platforms evolve from communication hubs to operational “systems of action”?

2.       With AI agents joining workflows, how do we govern data privacy across ASEAN’s varying regulations?

3.       Can our current stack reduce fragmentation without forcing yet another new tool on employees?

4.       What metrics truly indicate workflow completion velocity, not just user activity?

5.       How should we rethink vendor lock-in when a single platform begins controlling both conversation and execution?

6.       Will hyperlocal infrastructure (e.g., Indonesia’s data sovereignty laws) limit seamless cross-border collaboration?

7.       How do we balance frontline worker needs with knowledge workers in one integrated platform?

8.       What new security boundaries are needed when AI “follow-through” pulls data across previously siloed systems?

As regulatory expectations tighten and attack surfaces expand through generative and agentic AI, waiting for incidents to strike is no longer viable. Regional leaders must pivot from compliance-driven checkboxes to intelligence-led oversight. 

By unifying external threat intelligence, continuous vendor monitoring, and AI-augmented analytics, ASEAN organisations can break the reactive loop and build resilient, forward-looking risk architectures.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Mark Harris, solutions sales director APAC, for Diligent offers some practice insights and recommendations for how organisations in Asia can move out of reactive cyber habits in 2026.

1.       How are ASEAN enterprises currently measuring the gap between reactive incident response and proactive threat intelligence, and which metrics best validate a shift toward predictive oversight?

2.       Where do traditional third-party risk frameworks fall short in anticipating systemic cyber exposures introduced by agentic AI and cross-border cloud vendors?

3.       How can CISOs operationalise external threat intelligence and regional peer benchmarking to pre-emptively adjust controls before attackers or regulators force a reaction?

4.       What balance should organisations strike between AI-driven automation for vendor assessments and human-led judgement for nuanced, jurisdiction-specific supply chain risks?

5.       Which intelligence-led reporting narratives are successfully converting technical cyber and third-party exposures into actionable board-level strategy across diverse ASEAN markets?

6.       How are divergent regional data and AI regulations (e.g., PDPA, MAS, BSSN, NPC) creating reactive compliance silos, and what unified frameworks can harmonise oversight?

7.       What underutilised data signals or external intelligence sources could transform your organisation from reactive firefighting to continuous, predictive risk management?

8.       As AI-augmented vendor ecosystems become more autonomous, what new governance models will CISOs need to maintain intelligence-led oversight without stifling regional innovation?

This surge, with passenger numbers projected to double by 2043, forces airports to modernise aggressively. 

But as with many industry sectors turning to transforming to capture unpredictable market opportunities, a cornerstone of any transformation is being to tap the data that exists at their fingertips. 

Cxociety Research discourse with the C-suite community suggests that central to achieving any lasting transformation is achieving a unified, data-driven operation. In the case of the travel industry, it is moving away from siloed airside, terminal, and landside management. 

COOs are adopting AI for predictive disruption management and embedding energy optimisation to cut OPEX by up to 15%. The modern airport is no longer a transit hub but an intelligent, seamless, and ecosystem.

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, we are joined by Philippe Arsonneau, Senior Vice President of Infrastructure Segment, Schneider Electric, who will help us make the case for unified, data-driven operations.

1.       Given that many airports currently run airside, terminal, and landside operations separately, what is our roadmap to intelligently unify these functions for complete situational awareness?

2.       With AI able to analyse millions of signals simultaneously, how can we best deploy it to predict disruptions and reduce delays, thereby improving passenger flow during peak travel seasons?

3.       How can we leverage AI-embedded energy management across all our buildings and assets to achieve up to 15% OPEX reduction while shrinking our carbon footprint?

4.       What new revenue opportunities can AI and data analytics unlock for our airport retailers, and how do we integrate these with passenger movement data?

5.       With passenger numbers forecast to double by 2043, how will our current infrastructure and technology scaling plans accommodate this long-term growth without compromising service?

6.       What interdependency models must we develop between airlines, ground handlers, and retailers to manage the growing complexities and traveller volumes smoothly?

7.       No discussion around modernisation and transformation can continue without addressing the security aspects of an operation. As airport modernise, how do we balance the need for seamless digital travel experiences (biometrics, wayfinding) with robust cybersecurity and passenger privacy?

8.       Based on IATA’s January 2026 load factor of 83.9% for Asia Pacific, what key performance indicators should we track to continuously optimise both operational efficiency and passenger satisfaction throughout the terminal?

9.       What is your advice for airport operators striving to transform and modernising their operations in 2026?

While most customers still rely on voice support, organisations are deprioritising it, creating hidden operational drag, rising churn risk, and mispriced ROI. 

Fragmented systems, low agent productivity, and an under-recognised empathy gap further distort financial visibility. 

The result: CX budgets that scale cost without improving retention or value. For CFOs, the critical question is no longer how much to invest, but how to recalibrate operating models, metrics, and governance to restore measurable returns.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, CK Tan, APAC Innovation at ServiceNow, offers some perspective on the Customer Experience Budget Trap: The CX Operational Drag CFOs Aren’t Measuring

1.       According to a new ServiceNow Customer experience report,  80% of customers prefer phone support but only 9% of organisations plan to prioritise it, how should CFOs re-forecast churn given that 52% of customers would switch brands due to poor service?

2.       With agents spending just 44% of their time on resolution and 83% toggling between three to five systems, what is the monthly cost of that 56% operational drag, and why is it missing from CX ROI dashboards?

3.       If 48% of customers cite lack of empathy as a top frustration versus only 28% of executives, what financial provisions should CFOs make for repeat contacts and churn—especially when only 11% have made meaningful AI progress on emotional connection?

4.       Before funding more digital-only CX systems and processes, what baseline must CFOs demand to reduce agent systems from five to one, and how much budget is wasted on workflows that force 40% of customers to repeat information?

5.       When 83% of customers want self-service only for simple tasks and demand seamless human escalation for complex issues, at what point does the absence of empathetic hand-offs outweigh savings from defunding voice channels?

6.       Which three operational metrics often ignored by finance—such as sentiment scores per call or agent system-switching time—should CFOs hardwire into monthly P&L reviews to detect a deepening empathy gap before it impairs customer assets?

7.       Given that only 30% of executives have connected people, data and processes on a unified AI-enabled platform, what would a worst-case 2026 scenario look like for return on invested capital on CX spend?

8.       What specific board-level governance change is required to force the three operational fixes—unified agent desktop, balanced channel investment, and empathy metrics—before better returns become possible?

9.       On the topic of CX budget trap, what is your advice for CFOs to get out of the Customer Experience Budget Trap.

Sensitive data traversing cross-border networks regulated financial systems, healthcare platforms, and critical infrastructure can be intercepted today and decrypted tomorrow—exposing organizations to future compliance violations, reputational damage, and competitive loss.

Challenges are acute: legacy PKI, fragmented hybrid-cloud environments, and strict data-sovereignty rules across ASEAN, India, and Greater China make rapid overhauls expensive and operationally risky.

Risks are immediate—delayed action could render years of stored data indefensible once cryptographically relevant quantum computers scale.

Opportunities, however, are equally real. Crypto-agile architectures (a system, platform, application, or organization can rapidly adapt its cryptographic mechanisms and algorithms in response to changing threats) now allow enterprises to introduce quantum-safe communications incrementally, layering post-quantum encryption alongside existing controls without rip-and-replace projects or business disruption.

Weiling Neo, VP of Product Management at Fortinet, joins us on this PodChats for FutureCISO and explains how APAC CISOs can seize this window to adopt quantum-safe communications today—without disrupting existing security architecture.

1.       Weiling, how is quantum computing changing cryptographic risks for APAC enterprises in 2026?

2.       Why has “harvest now, decrypt later” become a board-level concern across the region?

3.       What exactly are quantum-safe communications, and why do they matter now for CISOs in Asia?

4.       What makes legacy and hybrid environments in APAC especially challenging for this transition?

5.       How can enterprises start adopting quantum-safe encryption without disrupting current security architecture?

6.       What role does crypto-agility play in protecting mixed legacy, cloud, and cross-border systems?

7.       Which industries—finance, government, healthcare, critical infrastructure—should move first?

8.       Can you outline a practical phased roadmap that balances security, compliance, and continuity?

9.       How can organizations layer quantum-safe methods alongside existing controls today?

10.   What immediate, low-disruption steps should CISOs take to become quantum-ready now?

11.   What’s in it for Fortinet along the lines of quantum-safe communications?

AI has evolved from an innovative layer into a source of profound operational and security complexity, where failures in autonomous systems now trigger systemic business risks rather than contained outages, amplified by geopolitical tensions, supply-chain interdependencies, and regulatory volatility.

Ultimately, building digital resilience at scale demands robust governance, continuous monitoring, and sovereign-compliant architectures that safeguard trust, uptime, and compliance—enabling sustainable AI-driven growth without exposing enterprises to unacceptable risk. 

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, John Morgan, SVP & GM of Splunk Security, reveals how machine data and agentic AI help CISOs operationalise real-time observability, bridge talent gaps, and embed sovereign-compliant resilience. From Singapore to Sydney, discover strategies for secure, scalable AI growth through 2027.

Here are 10 key questions for CISOs in Asia in 2026, sequenced to align with the narrative flow:

1.       Why has AI transitioned from a supplementary technology to a core driver of operational and security complexity across Asian enterprises? 

2.       How are AI-related failures increasingly manifesting as systemic business risks rather than isolated technical incidents? 

3.       What machine data strategies have organisations in Asia implemented to create a definitive, auditable record of system, user, and autonomous agent behaviour across hybrid environments? 

4.       Telemetry. How are organisations in Asia embedding real-time observability into security architectures to detect anomalies before AI-driven failures cascade across interconnected systems? 

a.       SIEMs and SOARs have been with us even before AI. What’s different today?

5.       Given the regional investment in security talent consolidation, what expertise gaps remain in organisations’ ability to govern where AI and operational decisions converge? 

6.       How does the convergence of automation, human judgement, and unified data enable agentic AI to transform security operations capabilities? 

7.       In what specific ways can agentic AI accelerate detection, deepen investigations, and support controlled, proportionate responses to incidents? 

8.       What practical strategies allow organisations to operationalise AI at enterprise scale across hybrid infrastructures while sustaining resilience? 

9.       How are regional CISOs adapting to sovereignty requirements across Asia—from Singapore’s MAS guidelines to Australia’s data locality rules—while maintaining unified security visibility? 

10.   How can trust, uptime, and regulatory compliance be maintained as AI adoption accelerates in sovereign, multi-cloud Asia-Pacific contexts?

11.   What should CIOs and CISOs bear in mind as Agentic AI makes its way in the SOC?

From impersonation risks to exploding machine identities, organisations must now treat AI agents with the same rigorous verification, visibility, and governance as human users. The question is no longer if agents will interact — but how securely they will do so.

These and more we will cover in this edition PodChats for FutureCISO with Marco Zhang, solutions engineering director, APJ at Saviynt.

Marco, welcome to PodChats for FutureCISO.

1.       What new identity security expectations should enterprises set when their own AI agents begin participating in always-on directories or cross-platform agent socialization?

2.       Why will AI agents soon require the same robust identity verification frameworks as human users as they begin autonomously interacting across systems, platforms, and even external agent networks?

3.       What does the high-profile impersonation incident on Moltbook reveal about the immediate risks of unsecured machine identities in emerging agent-to-agent ecosystems, and how quickly could similar vulnerabilities scale in enterprise environments?

4.       Why do most organisations still lack basic visibility into the machine identities operating across their cloud, SaaS, and AI environments even as agent adoption accelerates — and what are the hidden costs of this blind spot?

5.       How could attackers exploit AI agents that possess valid credentials to manipulate automated systems, exfiltrate data, or move laterally through infrastructure without triggering traditional security alerts?

6.       As the ratio of machine identities to human identities continues to explode (already exceeding 1:80 in many enterprises), how should CISOs rethink their entire identity fabric to accommodate persistent, autonomous agent sessions?

7.       Why is identity governance rapidly becoming the central control layer that will determine how safely AI systems can interact with sensitive data, applications, and other agents?

8.       What lessons from Moltbook’s rapid rise and security shortcomings should inform how organisations design least-privilege and just-in-time access policies specifically for agent-to-agent communication?

9.       How can AI-powered identity security platforms (like Saviynt) turn the very technology driving agent proliferation — discovery, continuous posture monitoring, and automated governance — into a competitive advantage rather than a liability?

10.   Looking ahead to 2027, when projections suggest AI agents may outnumber human users in many organisations, what single identity security investment will separate the leaders from those facing uncontrolled “ghost agent” risk?

Divya Kumar exemplifies this new breed of finance leader. With over two decades of experience scaling businesses and leading large-scale digital transformations across diverse industries and geographies, she has earned multiple CFO and executive leadership awards. As a board member, keynote speaker, and author of the 2026 book CFO AI Compass, Divya empowers finance leaders to co-lead their organization’s AI agenda while transforming the finance function itself.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2026, join us in this PodChats for FutureCFO as she reveals her approach to leadership as well as her secrets to leading finance in the era of AI.

Part I

1.     In your career, what have been the key success factors that led you to senior leadership roles? 

2.     What mindset shifts prepared you to lead digital and business transformations across Fortune 500s, startups, Capgemini, IKEA, and now Decathlon (no company name)? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Part II

3.     In your book, "CFO AI Compass", you've described CFOs shifting from financial stewards to strategic AI co-leaders. What practical steps and lessons from your IKEA (Digital CFO + Chief Data Officer) and Decathlon roles helped you make this transition and which framework or chapter from your book have you applied the most?

4.     Your early ideas on agile budgeting and analytics-driven FP&A were forward-thinking. How have they evolved with today's AI?

5.     How do you balance rapid innovation adoption h governance, risk, and measurable value across multinationals which operate in numerous countries, like the ones you have worked for? What guardrails or metrics work best in your experience?

6.     With your board experience at IKEA and Decathlon, how has your strategy-finance-analytics experience given you an advantage? (connecting the dots) What's your top advice for finance leaders to gain a seat at the AI table?

Part III

7.     You stress balancing humility with inspiration to foster curiosity and courage. What helps leaders and teams embrace (not fear) innovation?

8.     In your journey as a leader and mentoring women/students, what one key learning do you want emerging women leaders to internalize?

9. IWD thoughts (115 years)?

That’s where the conversation turns to storage. Today we explore how flash storage is evolving from a simple high-performance tier into something far more intelligent: Agentic Flash — systems with embedded autonomous AI that self-provisions, tunes, migrates workloads, detects threats, and optimizes costs in real time.

We’ll examine how this autonomous intelligence is changing enterprise storage demands, how flash can integrate with content-aware capabilities to make RAG pipelines dramatically more efficient, what new governance guardrails are required between humans and autonomous AI, and how organizations can define SLAs and FinOps practices that keep pace with production agentic AI.

Joining us to unpack all of this is Craig McKenna, Vice President - Storage Sales, IBM Technology, Asia Pacific. 

1. What is the current state of AI adoption in APAC in 2026, and how has the shift to autonomous agentic AI changed the demands placed on enterprise storage infrastructure?

2. Beyond GPUs and accelerators, how is the rapid adoption of agentic AI workloads transforming enterprise storage requirements, and how have flash technologies evolved to support these workloads at scale?

3. How can flash storage integrate with content-aware storage capabilities to improve RAG pipeline efficiency as AI adoption drives explosive growth in unstructured data?

4. According to the IBM Institute for Business Value, 83% of executives view effective governance as essential yet only 8% have embedded risk frameworks. What governance guardrails and trust boundaries should exist between human oversight and autonomous agentic AI in intelligent flash storage systems?

5. How can embedded agentic AI in flash arrays help deliver measurable ROI as organizations scale AI workloads?

6. As organizations move agentic AI into production, what changes in SLAs will be needed to guarantee the performance, resilience, and compliance required by these workloads?

7. What FinOps policies and real-time dashboards are needed when autonomous AI in flash storage dynamically moves data between tiers and object storage during unpredictable AI workload spikes in hybrid environments?

8. In Asia’s regulatory environment, how can flash storage systems ensure that autonomous workload placement and data-mobility decisions remain fully auditable and compliant with privacy, security, and data-localisation requirements?

Sovereign AI is no longer about ticking data residency boxes—it's about architecting control into every layer of the AI stack. For CIOs and CTOs, 2026 demands "sovereign-by-design" systems where data, models and decisions stay jurisdictionally compliant without sacrificing performance or innovation speed. 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Chris Wolf, global head of AI for VMware reveals how policy-as-code, runtime guardrails and hybrid control planes turn regulatory constraints into competitive moats—enabling faster approvals, auditable pipelines and resilient architectures that regulators trust and boards back. Join us to discover the technical playbook to make sovereignty your enterprise AI advantage. (source)

Chris, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       How do we define AI sovereignty for our organisation in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, given diverging national laws, sector regulations and cross‑border data flows?

2.       What governance model will give the board, regulators and customers confidence that AI decisions are transparent, explainable and auditable across their full lifecycle?

3.       How can we design “sovereign‑by‑design” architectures that guarantee jurisdictional control over data, models and logs, rather than relying only on static data residency?

4.       Where should we draw the line between sovereign, private and public AI workloads so we can balance regulatory risk, cost, performance and innovation speed?

5.       What metrics and evidence will we use to prove to regulators and partners that our AI systems meet local AI laws, sectoral guidelines and emerging regional best practices by 2026?

6.       How do we enforce policy‑as‑code for AI sovereignty (by country, customer segment and use case) across Kubernetes clusters, virtual machines and edge nodes without creating operational drag?

7.       How do we implement runtime guardrails—such as policy‑aware APIs, output filters and human‑in‑the‑loop checkpoints—that adapt to different jurisdictional rules without having to rebuild apps per market?

8.       How do we technically separate and evidence “control‑plane in‑country, data‑plane hybrid” architectures, so that regulators accept our claim of operational control even when we consume external AI services?

9.       What strategies can we use to localise foundation models (e.g. domain‑specific adapters, parameter‑efficient fine‑tuning, prompt governance) so that sovereign variants comply with each regulator but still share a common core?

10.   What mechanisms do we need to rapidly decommission, roll back or re‑route AI workloads when a jurisdiction updates its AI laws, without causing downtime for critical services such as payments, trading or clinical systems?

11.   Final advice for CIOs on the topic of Sovereign AI by design.

Cyber resilience is now a core financial imperative. By reallocating budgets toward AI-powered detection, validated recovery, and response capabilities—at least one-third of cyber spend per Cohesity predictions—CFOs protect revenue streams, ensure PDPA compliance, safeguard market confidence, and unlock safe innovation. Financing resilience isn’t a cost; it’s the enabler of sustainable 2026 ambitions.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, Eric Brown, CFO and COO at Cohesity shares his views on How CFOs can finance cyber resilience for data-driven growth.

1.       With APAC enterprises accelerating AI and cloud investments for 2026 growth, what emerging data vulnerabilities are CFOs most underestimating, and how are these “data icebergs” creating hidden financial risks?

2.       Cohesity’s recent APAC research shows 76% of organisations faced material cyberattacks with 90% reporting revenue impact—what specific financial consequences (downtime, ransom, churn, regulatory fines) are CFOs now modelling in their 2026 forecasts?

3.       What shifting Board expectations are forcing CFOs to treat cyber resilience as a balance-sheet issue rather than an IT line item? Any one recommendation for responding to this?

4.       From your observations, how are finance leaders beginning to co-own cyber strategies with CISOs, and what governance frameworks are proving most effective? Is this repeatable in APAC?

5.       With 78% of global organisations (per PwC) planning cyber budget increases in 2026 and Cohesity predicting at least one-third reallocation to response/recovery, how should APAC CFOs prioritise and phase these investments without derailing growth initiatives?

6.       What practical checklist can APAC CFOs use in Q1 2026 to audit data risks across hybrid/cloud environments, including ransomware readiness and PDPA compliance?

7.       How can CFOs quantify and measure the ROI of cyber resilience investments—particularly AI-driven backups and immutable recovery—so they can justify them to boards amid tight capital allocation?

8.       Given APAC’s position as the region with the highest volume of cyberattacks globally, what unique regional factors (data sovereignty, sovereign cloud trends, regulatory fragmentation) should Singapore-based CFOs factor into their 2026 resilience strategies?

9.       Looking at organisations that recovered fastest post-attack, what common decision-making traits distinguish “risk-ready” finance leaders from those still exposed?

10.   For APAC CFOs balancing aggressive 2026 revenue growth targets with escalating cyber threats, any advice on making cyber resilience a competitive advantage rather than a drag on innovation?

Every CFO wants to back bold AI and automation plans. However, economic volatility brings the question of where to fund AI projects when IT budgets are already stretched? Rimini Street suggests that the AI budget is trapped inside ERP. 

In PodChats for FutureCFO, Rimini Street CFO Michael Perica shares how finance leaders are rethinking maintenance and upgrading spending to unlock cash for AI and digital innovation. 

If you’re under pressure to fund transformation without breaking the budget, this conversation is packed with practical ideas you can take straight to your next board meeting.

1.       What does Rimini Street mean by “trapped inside ERP”?

2.       How are CFOs identifying and measuring the “trapped” ERP cash within IT budgets, and what metrics best reveal opportunities to redirect spend toward AI and automation?

3.       Based on your experience, what portion of ERP and maintenance costs can realistically be freed within 12–24 months to fund GenAI or digital initiatives?

4.       How do finance leaders weigh the risk–return trade‑offs between extending legacy ERP systems and investing in new AI‑driven capabilities?

5.       What critical questions should CFOs be asking their CIOs and ERP vendors before approving major upgrade or migration proposals?

6.       How can finance teams build a structured ROI framework that links ERP lifecycle decisions directly to shareholder value and capital allocation discipline?

7.       What are some standout examples of APAC organisations that have successfully redirected ERP savings to accelerate AI and data‑driven transformation?

8.       As AI investment decisions converge with cybersecurity, compliance, and operational resilience, how must CFOs redefine their technology investment models beyond 2026?

9.       Any advise Funding AI and digital initiatives without breaking the bank

10.   how finance leaders are rethinking maintenance and upgrading spending to unlock cash for AI and digital innovation.

This autonomous technology could pre-empt lateral movements, reduce alert fatigue, and enable real-time breach containment, bolstering defences for organisations amid high cloud saturation and sophisticated adversarial tactics.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Andrew Kay, Director of Systems Engineering APJ at Illumio, to share with us his views on how CISOs in Asia can use behavioural AI to shields against multi-cloud vulnerabilities.

1.       How are Asian organisations employing machine learning algorithms, such as graph neural networks, within AI frameworks to manage hybrid cloud complexities and mitigate nation-state-sponsored APTs?

2.       What specific vulnerabilities in multi-cloud environments, exacerbated by Asia's high cloud saturation, enable east-west lateral movement, and how can agentic AI utilise behavioural analytics to pre-empt such exploits?

3.       How do AI-driven security graphs, leveraging real-time entity resolution and anomaly detection via unsupervised learning, offer a dynamic topology of workloads, users, and communications to identify subtle deviations indicative of threats?

4.       Amid Asia's exposure to APTs, how can agentic AI leverage multi-agent systems for real-time threat correlation, accelerating decision trees and automating containment protocols like micro-segmentation?

5.       What capabilities might agentic AI provide in tailoring threat intelligence feeds and remediation workflows to specific roles, such as integrating with SOAR platforms for threat hunters or generating compliance-aligned reports for analysts?

6.       What technical risks arise from agentic AI deployment, including prompt injection vulnerabilities or model drift leading to erroneous autonomous decisions, and what mitigation strategies, such as human-in-the-loop safeguards, are suitable for Asian regulatory environments?

7.       Under which conditions could agentic AI interoperate with existing EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) and XDR (Extended Detection and Response) tools to orchestrate automated responses, such as dynamic access controls, in expansive cloud infrastructures?

He goes on to predict that 2026 marks a turning point as agentic AI moves from experimentation to enterprise-wide deployment across financial services.

In this context, CISOs and CIOs in Asia may want to consider prioritising AI-driven identity governance for autonomous environments, in the process treating agentic AI as first-class identities requiring least-privilege enforcement, continuous behavioural monitoring, lifecycle visibility, and human-in-the-loop controls. 

Maturing understanding of regulations will drive compliance efforts to mitigate shadow agents, rogue actions, excessive privileges, and accountability gaps in securing enterprise IT infrastructure.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Matthew Graham, Chief Security Officer for Asia Pacific at Okta, shares his thoughts on emphasising practical, regulation-grounded decision-making on agentic AI adoption.

1.       How ca n we quickly evaluate if our current identity and access management systems are ready to handle agentic AI as independent actors?

2.       What key principles from Singapore’s Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI should we adopt first to set safe boundaries for autonomous agents?

3.       Drawing from our experience with the proliferation of Shadow GenAI, how do we prevent shadow or over-privileged AI agents from gaining too much access and causing unauthorised actions?

4.       What basic steps ensure every agentic AI has its own clear, trackable identity with proper permissions and audit trails?

5.       What practical approaches manage the full lifecycle of short-lived agent identities—from creation and delegation to safe removal?

6.       There is a possibility that many organisations don’t have the experience or capability to follow through your recommendations. How do CISOs and CIOs have appropriate governance for their business and workflow?

7.       How can we add simple behavioural monitoring and emergency stop controls to catch rogue or unexpected agent actions without slowing operations?

8.       Looking forward, how might new standards and Asia’s push for sovereign AI influence our long-term plans to balance safe innovation with compliance?

9.       Agentic AI is predicted to be the IT project of 2026. For organisations that have decided to deploy agentic AI, any security recommendations to ensure resilience?

Yet this imbalance also signals immense untapped potential. Across Singapore, India, Japan, and beyond, women professionals are increasingly stepping into roles as threat analysts, chief information security officers, cyber policy advisors, and entrepreneurs—bringing diverse perspectives that strengthen organisational resilience and innovation. 

While cultural barriers, limited mentorship, and structural inequities remain, targeted initiatives and shifting workplace norms are beginning to accelerate inclusion. 

In an era where cyber threats transcend borders, empowering more women in cybersecurity isn’t just about equity—it’s a strategic imperative for Asia’s digital future.

Jasie Fon, regional vice president of Asia at Ping Identity, shares her journey and experience.

1.            What early experiences or role models first sparked your passion for technology and shaped your career direction?

2.            How have you turned setbacks or biases into opportunities for growth and resilience?

3.            What key decisions helped you balance technical expertise with leadership responsibilities?

4.            How do you approach continuous learning and adaptability in such a fast-evolving field like cybersecurity?

5.            What is your perspective on work-life integration in high-stakes tech roles, and how do you sustain personal well-being alongside professional ambition?

6.            In your experience, what strategies effectively build diverse, collaborative teams while mitigating cultural or gender bias—especially in Asia’s varied business contexts?

7.            How has mentorship influenced your journey, and how are you paying it forward to support the next generation of women in tech?

8.            What legacy do you hope to leave for future tech professionals, particularly young women entering cybersecurity in Asia?

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Grant Case, field chief data officer for APJ, Dataiku, shares with us his views on how organisations in Asia can achieve responsible and sustainable AI-led transformation.

1.       Describe the state of awareness/recognition/understanding of the ethical/responsible use of AI in 2025 (keep it brief)?

2.       How can organisations in Asia assess their current AI maturity to ensure adoption aligns with long-term strategic goals rather than short-term hype? 

3.       What metrics should leaders prioritise to measure the true impact of AI initiatives beyond initial experimentation? 

4.       In what ways can national AI strategies in countries like Singapore and South Korea influence corporate investment decisions and talent acquisition? 

5.       How might fragmented governance frameworks hinder AI deployment, and what steps can be taken to harmonise them across multinational operations? 

6.       What role does workforce upskilling play in addressing employee concerns about AI, fostering trust and reducing resistance to adoption? 

7.       In human-machine collaborations, how can leaders design systems that enhance efficiency while promoting transparency and accountability? 

8.       What strategies can mitigate the risks of informal generative AI usage outpacing formal oversight in fast-moving Asian enterprises? 

9.       Looking ahead, how will sustainable AI practices contribute to competitive advantage, driving not just growth but resilience in Asia's evolving economic landscape?

What does a resilience strategy look like? What should be the approach taken by organisations to achieve machine-speed adaptability in 2026.

For more on this, we are joined by Jonas Walker, director of threat intelligence, Fortinet.

1.       Describe what for you is an industrialisation of cybercrime?

2.       How has this industrialisation of cybercrime in Asia necessitated a shift from reactive to proactive defence strategies?

3.       What role do AI-enabled agents play in accelerating attack stages, and how can defenders in the region counter this by operationalising threat intelligence at machine speed?

4.       Why must defences prioritise refining established controls over novel innovations, and what does this mean for managing dwell times in environments with expanding OT and IoT exposures?

5.       How are botnets and insider recruitment threats amplifying industrial-scale attacks, and what defensive measures should leaders implement to disrupt these?

6.       In recent years, governments around Asia have raised concerns around the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. Can you suggest 1 or 2 practical strategies to mitigate blended threats such as ransomware and data extortion, including essential tools and frameworks like integrated SecOps for automated detection and containment?

7.       In the context of today’s hybrid, meaning human and machine workers, why is identity governance becoming central to defence? More importantly, how can it be enforced in AI-driven cloud environments?

8.       What is the answer to Asia’s perennial security skills gap? How can organisations build specialised expertise in areas like detection engineering and AI operations to support resilient defences?

9.       What practical incentives can Asia’s leaders leverage to disrupt cybercrime ecosystems and enhance accountability, and how can CISOs and CIOs work together to strengthen long-term defence strategies against evolving industrialised threats?

Accenture highlights that AI-powered predictive operations are now table stakes in manufacturing and logistics hubs like Vietnam and Singapore. 

However, Gartner cautions that only 35% of Asian firms have mature data governance to support enterprise AI at scale. 

For COOs, the imperative is clear: integrate AI into core operational workflows while navigating talent gaps and ethical AI frameworks unique to Asia’s fragmented regulatory landscape.

Questions

1.       Define AI as viewed from the perspective of the COO.

2.       How is AI redefining the strategic scope of the COO beyond traditional operational efficiency in Asian organisations? 

3.       In organisations where CEOs increasingly own AI strategy in Asia Pacific, how can COOs ensure day-to-day operations, processes, and KPIs stay tightly aligned with that strategy, including their role in cross-functional AI governance and enterprise-wide AI scaling? 

4.       Which high-value operational domains (e.g. supply chain, customer operations, risk and compliance, manufacturing, warehousing, etc) in Asia offer the greatest near-term returns from generative and agentic AI, and how should COOs prioritise them, including which industries are leading in AI-driven operational transformation? 

5.       What new operating models are emerging as AI blurs the lines between planning, execution, and decision-making, and how should the COO mandate evolve when AI and automation become core to the business model in Asian markets? 

6.       How can COOs redesign operating models to integrate “digital labour” and AI agents alongside human teams, including how leading Asian firms are reskilling operations talent to work effectively alongside AI systems while addressing employee job-fear and skills gaps? 

7.       What new leadership, data, and AI literacy capabilities must operations leaders and middle management in Asia develop to manage AI-augmented teams effectively? 

8.       What governance frameworks are needed for responsible and ethical AI use in operations, ensuring alignment with Asia’s diverse regulatory and ethical standards on data privacy, security, model risk, transparency, fairness, and brand trust? 

9.       What metrics beyond cost savings should COOs adopt to measure AI’s impact on resilience, service quality, growth, and overall business value in Asia’s volatile markets? 

10.   How should COOs structure partnerships with consulting firms and technology providers to accelerate AI-enabled operations without creating long-term vendor lock-in? 

11.   Given constrained budgets and competing priorities for 2026, what capital allocation and business case criteria should COOs apply to scale AI in operations while avoiding hype-driven investments, addressing pressing data governance and infrastructure gaps?

12.   What is Teceze?

13.   What i

Yet, for AI to truly deliver on this promise for business leaders, a critical threshold of trust and security must be crossed. 

The emergence of agentic AI—autonomous systems that can act, access data, and execute tasks—represents both the pinnacle of this potential and its greatest peril. 

With the region's rapid digital acceleration and complex regulatory tapestry, securing these agents from large-scale data breaches and operational disruption is no longer a future consideration; it is the definitive security mandate for 2026. 

The journey from hype to secured value depends on the governance, design, and vigilance we enact today.

FutureCISO spoke to Ray Canzanese, director of Netskope Threat Labs, about the approaches the things that need to happen for AI to deliver on its promises in 2026.

Questions:   

1.       What is the most interesting observation you’ve seen in 2025?

2.       As ASEAN releases its AI Guide and regional regulations evolve, what should be the priority for a CISO building a governance framework for agentic AI in 2026?

3.       Why does agentic AI fundamentally change the cyber risk profile for an organisation, and how does this exacerbate threats in our interconnected Southeast Asian business landscape?

4.       You’ve suggested the first major agentic AI-driven data breach could occur in 2026. What might a typical attack chain look like, targeting a poorly secured agent in a multinational based in Singapore or Hong Kong?

5.       The principle of least privilege is challenging with dynamic AI agents. What are the practical steps for security leaders to implement effective permission models without stifling innovation?

6.       How can frameworks like the Model Context Protocol (MCP) be leveraged to enforce a 'security-by-design' approach for AI agents, and is the industry in our region adopting them quickly enough?

7.       With organisations here often using a mix of global and local AI providers, how should we approach the unique third-party and supply chain risks introduced by agentic AI ecosystems?

8.       Beyond technical controls, what changes in day-to-day security operations (SecOps) are needed to monitor and respond to anomalous agent behaviour in real-time?

9.       How can CISOs effectively communicate the tangible business risks—and secured value—of agentic AI to boards, CFOs, and COOs who are eager for competitive advantage?

10.   Looking ahead to 2026, what one metric will indicate that an organisation in our region has successfully secured its agentic AI initiatives and is ready to scale?

But what does it truly mean to build “AI-ready” infrastructure in a region defined by rapid innovation, diverse regulatory regimes, and intensifying pressure on energy and talent?

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, we are joined by Tejaswini Tilak, VP, Marketing, APAC, Digital Realty, who will share her perspective on Orchestrating the organisation’s AI Infrastructure as viewed by the COO in 2026.

1.       How can we ensure our AI infrastructure investments deliver long-term operational agility and business value amid rapidly shifting AI models, regulations, and market conditions across Asia?

2.       What operating model enables us to efficiently manage both compute-intensive AI training and real-time, low-latency inference—especially as business units demand responsiveness from factory floors to customer touchpoints?

3.       As AI inference moves closer to end users and industrial operations, how must we evolve our edge and colocation footprint to guarantee uptime, performance, and disaster resilience across diverse Asian markets?

4.       Given Asia’s patchwork of data sovereignty laws, how can we standardize data governance across markets while enabling seamless AI operations and avoiding regulatory penalties or business delays?

5.       Beyond raw compute, which operational metrics—such as time-to-decision, energy-per-inference, or cost-per-AI-outcome—should drive our AI infrastructure strategy and investment reviews?

6.       How do we balance the surging energy demands of AI with our corporate sustainability commitments and operational cost targets—without compromising scalability or performance?

7.       What strategic partnerships—with digital infrastructure providers, energy utilities, and technology vendors—are essential to de-risk and accelerate our AI operational roadmap across Asia in 2026–2027?

8.       Drawing from your observations in the market in 2025, what advise can you offer COOs and other members of the C-Suite when it comes to their investment strategies for 2026? 

9.       With 2026 just around the corner, what are you expectations of things to come?

In 2026, with Asia's diverse and rapidly evolving labour markets, the ability to orchestrate this new workforce is paramount to driving productivity, innovation, and agility. As a practising COO in the region notes, “The most successful organisations will be those that can best choreograph their human and digital talent to perform in unison.” 

Mastering this is no longer a competitive advantage but a core operational necessity. In this exclusive interview with FutureCOO, Bhaskar Roy, Chief of AI Products and Solutions at Workato, offers his perspective on the human-AI collaboration as it evolves with maturing use and industry of what the technology can and cannot do.

1.       (Define) What is Human-AI collaboration? (new role: agent manager)

a.       How would COOs define a strategic vision for Human–AI collaboration that aligns with their organisation’s core business objectives and creates a tangible competitive advantage in the Asian market? (operational efficiency - HR, drive growth – sales/marketing, improving customer experience/success)

2.       What new organisational structures and operational workflows are required to support integrated human and AI teams? (teaming up with CIO, upskilling, 

3.       Do you expect human-AI collaboration to diminish the proliferation of operational silos?

4.       Do we apply the same adoption principles used in RPA to AI? (Which specific operational processes and decisions are best suited for full automation, enhanced human judgement with AI insights, or entirely new collaborative tasks?)

5.       What are the most critical new skills—both for human employees and leadership—that COOs (and functional leaders) must develop to thrive in this new collaborative environment?

6.       How do COOs, working with CHROs, ethically manage the transition for our existing workforce, ensuring robust reskilling and upskilling pathways that align with future operational needs?

7.       What key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics can COOs, functional leaders and HR use to measure the effectiveness and ROI of Human–AI collaboration, moving beyond simple productivity gains?

8.       How will the COO's role evolve from managing people and processes to orchestrating a fluid, hybrid workforce of employees, contractors, and AI agents?

9.   Any recommendations for how to design a technology infrastructure that is both scalable and flexible enough to integrate new AI capabilities rapidly as they emerge? (partner to set guardrails, partner to identify the right tech, 

10.   Into 2026, can you share your expectations on the human-AI collaboration landscape as it develops in Asia?

11.   Questions that a COO needs to consider as they look to adopt human-AI collaboration?

Following the case of Singapore’s pivot in 2025–2026 toward containment-first cybersecurity, perhaps there is merit in treating containment as the new paradigm.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, Kenny Ng, Head of Network Business Division, APAC, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, offers his perspective on how containment is the new prevention.

1. Given that third-party digital partners were the primary attack vector in 2025, what is the most effective way to enforce "never trust, always verify" without crippling operational efficiency?
2. Beyond multi-factor authentication, what specific contextual factors—such as device posture, time of access, and requested application—should enterprises use to dynamically grant vendors the least privilege required?
3. For Operational Technology environments, which are often air-gapped or rely on legacy systems, how can enterprises practically implement micro-segmentation to create containment zones without disrupting critical processes?
4. How do security and operational leaders rigorously define and enforce the boundary between corporate IT network and production OT network to prevent a cross-functional breach?
5. With the mindset of "containment, not prevention," what are the key metrics IT and OT should track to measure their success in limiting the blast radius of a potential incident, rather than just counting blocked attacks?
6. How can organisations redesign their incident response playbooks to prioritise the immediate isolation of compromised segments, thereby containing a threat before it can move laterally?
7. What is the business case for prioritising investment in ZTA over traditional perimeter defences, and how can enterprises demonstrate its ROI to the board through enhanced business continuity and reduced operational risk?
8. As organisations implement ZTA, how can they ensure seamless interoperability between existing security investments and new ZTA-enabling technologies to avoid creating new security gaps?
9. How must the roles and responsibilities of IT and OT security teams evolve and collaborate to manage a unified Zero Trust policy across both corporate and production environments?
10. Looking beyond their own enterprise, how can businesses encourage or mandate the adoption of Zero Trust principles across their entire supply chain to strengthen the collective ecosystem resilience?

According to Cybersecurity Ventures, these attacks are projected to cost the world $60 billion annually by 2025, creating pervasive and costly risk. 

In this landscape, a self-defending network is no longer a futuristic concept but a strategic imperative. It represents the evolution from human-led, reactive security to an AI-native architecture capable of autonomous threat detection, isolation, and remediation, ensuring business resilience.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Nick Harders, APJ Systems Engineering Director, HPE Networking, to talk to us about why enterprises must reframe their security strategy around a self-defending network in 2026.

1.       What is your definition of self-healing, AI-driven networks?

2.       How can we effectively measure the ROI of self-healing, AI-driven networks beyond traditional uptime metrics, perhaps in terms of risk reduction or operational expenditure savings?

3.       As we deploy agentic AI for autonomous network operations, what new governance and audit frameworks are required to ensure its decisions remain aligned with business objectives and compliance mandates?

4.       In a region with diverse data sovereignty laws, how can we design our autonomous network architecture to ensure data for AIOps and security analytics is processed and stored compliantly across different Asian jurisdictions?

5.       With AI-powered threats capable of social engineering and polymorphic code, how do we ensure our AI-native defences can adapt quickly enough without generating excessive false positives that disrupt business?

6.       To what extent can we trust predictive insights from our network AI, and what processes are needed for human teams to validate and act upon these proactive recommendations?

7.       Given the increased reliance on AI, how do we protect AI's own infrastructure—the data pipelines, models, and control loops—from becoming a primary target for sophisticated threat actors?

8.       With the attack surface expanding to include every connected user and device, how does a converged NetSec strategy fundamentally change our approach to implementing and enforcing a zero-trust architecture?

9.       As networking and security teams converge, how do we bridge the cultural and skills gap to create unified "NetSec" engineers, and what does their new career path look like?

10.   What is the realistic division of responsibility between human teams and AI agents in a security incident response loop, and where should the final 'kill chain' authority lie?

11.   What strategic, human-centric skills should we be prioritising in the recruitment and training of our next-generation NetSec professionals?

12.   What are your expectations in 2026 and advise for CISOs and CIOs?

Ransomware continues to evolve, targeting critical infrastructure, while supply chain vulnerabilities expose sensitive data—Gartner predicts 45% of global organisations will face software supply chain attacks by 2025, a trend persisting into 2026. 

Cloud adoption amplifies hybrid environment breaches, compounded by espionage-driven incursions, as Verizon reports 25% of APAC cyberattacks motivated by spying, with public administration the most targeted sector. Regulatory mandates demand robust compliance, straining resources in an era of legacy systems and talent shortages.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Aaron Bugal, Field CISO, APJ, Sophos, walks us through some of the coming cybersecurity issues government CISOs as well as those in the private sector, will find important in 2026.

1.       How can government CISOs effectively measure and improve their cybersecurity resilience, moving beyond compliance-based checklists to ensure the continuous delivery of essential citizen services during an attack?

2.       What strategies, have proven, most effective for securing legacy systems that remain critical to national operations, given they cannot be immediately replaced?

3.       With Gartner highlighting that by 2026, 50% of C-level executives will have performance requirements tied to cybersecurity risk, how can government CISOs best align their security metrics with national-level outcomes? 

4.       How can CISOs proactively defend against state-aligned (sponsored) actors who are increasingly targeting digital public services and critical infrastructure for espionage and disruption?

5.       Name one CISO strategy for managing third-party and supply chain risk, particularly as organisations, both private and public, rely on an ecosystem of partners to deliver complex, cloud-native government services?

6.       Given IDC's prediction that by 2026, 70% of organisations will consider environmental sustainability in their cloud purchase decisions, how can CISOs balance security, sovereignty, and sustainability in their technology procurements?

7.       How are government CISOs addressing the critical cybersecurity skills gap, and what new models for talent acquisition and retention must be developed to compete with the private sector? 

a.       How to avoid burnout?

8.       To what extent have CISOs integrated security into the entire application lifecycle (DevSecOps) for their national digital identity and other citizen-facing platforms?

9.       Name a governance and technical framework for the safe and ethical adoption of AI, both to enhance a government’s cyber defences and to mitigate its potential malicious use by threat actors?

10.   How are government CISOs collaborating with regional counterparts and international bodies to share threat intelligence and establish coordinated response protocols for cross-border cyber incidents?

11.   What is that one final advice for government CISOs as their update their cybersecurity strategies for 2026?

Igor Mostovoy, Product Director of CPaaS, 8x8

1.       Who/What is 8x8?

2.       What are the latest projections for SMS fraud costs in Asia by 2026, including the impact of sophisticated threats like AIT on customer acquisition and operational margins?

3.       Beyond direct financial losses, what quantifiable effects do major SMS fraud incidents have on brand reputation and customer churn rates in key Asian markets?

4.       How might artificially inflated traffic and AI-powered scams like smishing affect e-commerce profitability and supply chain operations in logistics?

5.       Are our current fraud defences reactive, requiring developer intervention and causing delays, or can business teams detect and act in real time?

6.       What strategies can finance, and operations leaders employ to maintain customer trust amid rising threats, whilst ensuring secure communication channels during Southeast Asian expansion?

7.       How can we better integrate fraud management across operations, finance, and security teams to dismantle internal silos and enhance organisational agility?

8.       What capabilities are essential for proactively blocking fraudulent SMS traffic before it impacts customers or systems, including the use of no-code tools for non-technical teams?

9.       What role will regulatory changes and cross-industry collaborations play in combating digital fraud and strengthening security in retail and finance sectors?

10.   How would real-time visibility into SMS traffic patterns, powered by behavioural analysis, improve data-driven decisions on marketing spend and channel reliability?

11.   What is the total cost of ownership of fragmented fraud tools compared to integrated platforms, and how can robust defences be leveraged as a competitive trust advantage?

12.   (team sport) Into 2026, what is your advice for CISOs, CFOs and marketeers on the topic Proactive Fraud Defence?

In the boardrooms of Jakarta, Singapore, Tokyo, and Seoul, CIOs are no longer just asking, “How fast can we ship software?” They’re asking, “How sustainably can our developers innovate under mounting pressure—from regulators, customers, and competition?”

Across Asia, digital transformation has shifted from optional to existential. But the hidden bottleneck isn’t infrastructure or cloud spend—it’s developer productivity and experience (DevEx). As regulatory landscapes tighten (think Singapore’s PDPA amendments, Japan’s revised APPI, and Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act enforcement), and as AI-augmented development reshapes workflows, enterprises that treat DevEx as a cost centre are falling behind those that treat it as a strategic asset.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Toh Soon Seah (Sia), founder and CTO, Netgain, discusses why developer experience is a boardroom priority, and how to turn DevEx into a core enterprise value.

1. What is developer experience (DevEx)?
2. Why is DevEx suddenly a C-suite priority in Asia in 2025–2026?
3. How are tightening data privacy regulations—from Singapore’s PDPA to Korea’s PIPA—reshaping the way engineering teams build software?
4. What role does cognitive load play in developer productivity, and why are leading Asian enterprises investing in internal developer platforms (IDPs) to reduce it?
5. Can AI-augmented development coexist with regulatory compliance, or does it introduce new risks?
6. How are companies in Asia embedding compliance into the developer workflow—not as a gate, but as guardrails?
7. What measurable business outcomes (beyond speed) are organizations seeing from mature DevEx practices—e.g., talent retention, audit readiness, incident reduction?
8. Why is “developer onboarding time” now a KPI for CIOs in digitally ambitious markets like Vietnam and Indonesia?
9. How do cultural and operational differences between countries in Asia influence DevEx strategies?
10. What are the pitfalls of treating DevEx as an IT initiative rather than an enterprise-wide value driver?
     
    1. Do you see this trend towards use of platforms a positive step in appdev?
11.  
12. Looking ahead to 2026, what will separate the digital leaders from the laggards in Asia’s competitive tech landscape—code volume, or developer enablement?

The role is transforming from an operational cost-centre to a strategic value-driver, focusing on resilience, efficiency, and strategic advisory. Key issues for 2026 will be mastering data analytics for decision-making, managing currency volatility in a multi-polar world, and integrating sustainability into the core of treasury operations.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Pulat Yunusmetov, director, Zanders Singapore.

1.       What is the function of treasury?

2.       What do you mean by a proactive treasury? 

3.       Since you brought up the topic of the pandemic. What did you experienced or see during the pandemic that triggered this desire to transform treasury to a proactive function?

4.       The pandemic may be over, but we continue to experience economic volatility in the form of the wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, socio-political turbulence in many parts of the world, as well as more pronounced natural calamities in Asia. How have these events impacted corporate treasury?

5.       In 2025, do you think treasury is still an interesting career to pursue?

6.       You have built your career around the treasury function. How would you describe your journey over the years? Drawing from your own experience, what are the career prospects for treasury roles in the years to come?

7.       What skills do I need to have to be good at a treasury role?

8.       In the last couple of years, we’ve noticed an increased curiosity and interest around artificial intelligence as applied to the finance function. In what ways will AI, and its variants – GenAI, agentic AI, AI agents – impact the treasury function and profession?

9.       In 2026, what will be the biggest challenge or challenges facing the treasury function?

10.   What is the business of Zanders Singapore?

This is forcing CISOs to re-evaluate their defence-in-depth strategies, with a pronounced focus on securing privileged access management (PAM) as a critical control point. As organisations adopt zero trust architectures, we are seeing just-in-time and just-enough-access privileges becoming standard practice. But what about the use of AI in identity management?

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Nigel Tan, Delinea’s director of sales engineering in APAC, shares his views on how is AI altering identity and access management strategies?

1.       Before we start, give us the 30-second elevator pitch of who Delinea is.

2.       How is AI Redefining Identity and Access Management?

3.       Please identify emerging AI-driven IAM use cases in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong? 

4.       How do you see Agentic AI potentially changing Privileged Access Management (PAM)?

5.       We may have covered this in the earlier questions, what are the cybersecurity risks of AI-Enhanced IAM? Please cite 2025 incidents on the same topic.

6.       Efforts are underway to come up with regional regulations around AI use. Can we expect something similar around AI in IAM?

7.       Can AI improve IAM for hybrid workforces?

8.       You mentioned earlier about identity access rights that have become dormant. What role would GenAI/Agentic AI play in identity lifecycle management?

9.       Deepfake cases are growing in Asia. How should CISOs prepare for AI-enabled identity fraud?

10.   What skills will security teams need for AI-driven IAM? How about endusers?

11.   What is the future of AI in IAM for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong?

Today, in late 2025, that fear has crystallised into strategy. For forward-thinking CIOs and functional leaders, AI regulation is no longer an obstacle to be circumvented; it has become a catalyst for building a durable competitive advantage—what industry leaders now call “The Governed Advantage.”

In this new paradigm, efficiency is taking a backseat to trust with consumers, partners and investors allocating their capital and loyalty to businesses that demonstrably deploy AI responsibly. 

In a region characterised by disjointed and patchy regulation, winners are those that moved from a mindset of compliance to one of operationalisation – embedding governance into the very fabric of their AI lifecycle and strategy.

CIOs are building targeted use cases—in fraud detection, hyper-personalised customer engagement, or predictive supply chain management—that have built-in governance, proving that rigour enables velocity, not the opposite.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Russell Fishman, Global Head of AI Solutions at NetApp, joins us to share his views on how we can achieve the operationalisation of trusted AI in 2026  

Rusell, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       Name the most important characteristics of a trusted AI as viewed from the POV of a CIO?

2.       What are the top 3 drivers pushing enterprises in the region to accelerate trusted AI adoption?

3.       What are businesses in the region doing right (and wrong) in their current approach to responsible AI? 

4.       Why do we continue to have a data problem?

5.       (Chinese philosophy about risks and opportunity) Why should CIOs see the evolving regulatory landscape in SEA+HK as an opportunity?

6.       Given the evolving nature of the technology and regulation, how should a CIO approach the company’s AI strategy so that it is adaptive, scalable and sustainable?

7.       How should CIOs architect their AI strategy to support innovation while staying compliant?

8.       What role does technology infrastructure, particularly data management, play in enabling this new era of governed AI?

9.       Looking ahead to 2026, what is the single most important action a CIO should take now?

The challenge lies in harmonizing these diverse, evolving mandates across jurisdictions while countering sophisticated threats like ransomware and cloud account takeovers. However, this pressure also creates strategic opportunities. 

Joining us on this PodChats for FutureCISO is Ananth Nag, APAC VP, Rubrik.

QUESTIONS:

1.       How do the latest amendments to the PDPA and equivalent ASEAN frameworks (e.g., Malaysia’s PDPA, Brunei’s PDPO) redefine consent, DPO obligations, and lawful data processing for 2026?

2.       Under the new Cyber Security Act, what designation criteria classify organisations as critical information infrastructure owners—and what heightened obligations follow?

3.       What mandatory incident reporting timelines, formats, and cross-jurisdictional protocols must be embedded into our response plans for countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Singapore?

4.       How should CISOs evolve their incident response and breach notification strategies to align with the operational convergence of the Cyber Security Act and PDPA mandates?

5.       Which sovereign cloud providers and data residency architectures satisfy both national regulations and the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework for cross-border flows?

6.       What evidence of “reasonable security arrangements”—including DPIAs (impact assessment), encryption standards, and privacy-by-design—will regulators demand during audits across ASEAN?

7.       How are third-party and supply chain obligations expanding under these acts, and how must vendor contracts and due diligence be updated to mitigate cascading liability?

8.       In what ways are regulators leveraging AI for compliance monitoring—and how can we ethically deploy AI while meeting emerging governance mandates for automated decision-making?

9.       What penalties (fines, imprisonment, operational suspension) should compliance heads budget for, and what cyber resilience benchmarks (e.g., NIST-aligned) must we certify against to avoid them?

10.   How do we future-proof our compliance strategy amid ASEAN regulatory convergence—through board-level cyber governance metrics, strategic regulator partnerships, and anticipatory investment in ransomware/supply-chain resilience? What is your advise for Navigating the New Cyber Security Act & PDPA in 2026?

For ASEAN CISOs and CIOs, this duality is not theoretical—it’s operational. Regulatory mandates from Singapore’s MAS Technology Risk Management Guidelines, Bank Negara Malaysia’s Cyber Security Framework, Indonesia’s OJK Regulation No. 12/2023, and Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) demand granular control over data residency and access.

With regulation, pressure to innovate securely, and new technologies like AI making their influence known, what is the path forward for CISOs and CIOs to safeguard resilience without double headcount or budget?

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Steve Riley, Vice President and Field CTO, Netskope, shares is perspective on How ASEAN CISOs Are Rebuilding Security for a Borderless Cloud Era.

1.       How can CISOs effectively integrate Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) principles to secure access in multi-cloud environments without impeding business agility?

2.       In what ways might Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA) unify their fragmented security tools across hybrid IT infrastructures?

3.       What role will AI and emerging technologies play in amplifying cloud security risks, and how can CIOs/CISOs mitigate them proactively?

4.       What has worked with regards to how organisations approach use of ZTNA and CSMA?

5.       Any recommendation for quantifying the ROI of shifting from perimeter-based firewalls to a zero-trust + mesh model—not just in cost savings, but in risk reduction?

6.       What long-term metrics should CISOs track to evaluate the success of their cloud security strategy in a rapidly changing Southeast Asian landscape?

7.       Why platforms when it comes to cybersecurity? How does it map to defense-in-depth?

8.       How will we address the increased complexity of managing a distributed security model while adhering to Zero Trust principles?

9.       What would be a realistic roadmap for evolving security posture to embrace both CSMA and Zero Trust?

As we welcome 2026, what would a maturing artificial intelligence present to critical infrastructure, and how should CISOs strengthen their cybersecurity strategies to reflect the evolving technology, regulatory, geopolitical and business landscape in the coming years.

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCISO is Lim Hsin Yin, vice president of sales for ASEAN at Cohesity for her views on the topic of Resilience in Action: Critical Infrastructure Defence.

1.       What is Cohesity?

2.       How robust are enterprises’ data resilience strategies in Asia—including immutable backups, air-gapped copies, and recovery drills—in ensuring operational continuity after ransomware or destructive cyber-attacks? What KPIs are being used to measure its effectiveness?

3.       To what extent have enterprises in ASEAN integrated IT and OT security teams, tools, and processes to achieve unified threat visibility and coordinated response across our entire critical infrastructure estates, especially considering legacy systems prevalent in the region?

4.       How are CISOs continuously re-evaluating and managing third-party and supply chain risks—especially for vendors linked to OT environments—to prevent breaches similar to regional supply chain attacks like MOVEit or airport data centre infiltrations?

5.       What zero-trust and segmentation measures have CISOs prioritised to protect industrial control systems (ICS) and OT environments against increasingly sophisticated hacktivist and state-backed threat actors targeting ASEAN and Hong Kong critical infrastructure?

6.       How are enterprises leveraging real-time, cross-border threat intelligence sharing within ASEAN to detect and disrupt pre-positioning and advanced persistent threats (APTs), as exemplified by campaigns like Volt Typhoon?

Coming into 2026, what are you expecting as far as critical infrastructure defense, and what should operators of critical infrastructure be taking in terms of their defense structure?
 

This is forcing CISOs to re-evaluate their defence-in-depth strategies, with a pronounced focus on securing privileged access management (PAM) as a critical control point. As organisations adopt zero trust architectures, we are seeing just-in-time and just-enough-access privileges 

As organisations mature in their understanding and use of AI, FutureCISO becoming standard practice. But what about the use of AI in identity management?

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Nigel Tan, Delinea’s director of sales engineering in APAC, shares his views on how is AI altering identity and access management strategies?

1.       Before we start, give us the 30-second elevator pitch of who Delinea is.

2.       How is AI Redefining Identity and Access Management?

3.       Please identify emerging AI-driven IAM use cases in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong? 

4.       How do you see Agentic AI potentially changing Privileged Access Management (PAM)?

5.       We may have covered this in the earlier questions, what are the cybersecurity risks of AI-Enhanced IAM? Please cite 2025 incidents on the same topic.

6.       Efforts are underway to come up with regional regulations around AI use. Can we expect something similar around AI in IAM?

7.       Can AI improve IAM for hybrid workforces?

8.       You mentioned earlier about identity access rights that have become dormant. What role would GenAI/Agentic AI play in identity lifecycle management?

9.       Deepfake cases are growing in Asia. How should CISOs prepare for AI-enabled identity fraud?

10.   What skills will security teams need for AI-driven IAM? How about endusers?

11.   What is the future of AI in IAM for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong?

By 2026, we will see the full maturation of trends nascent in 2024. AI and machine learning will transition from pilot projects to the core operational nervous system of high-performance warehouses. Their primary role will be predictive: forecasting demand spikes with greater accuracy, pre-empting maintenance on automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and robotics to prevent downtime, and dynamically optimising inventory placement to slash picking times and maximise cube utilisation.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, we are joined by Ms Vivien Tay, APAC Vertical Lead for Warehousing, Transport & Logistics, Zebra Technologies.

1.       At the operational level, briefly describe the business environment today from the perspective of the supply chain. 

2.       Given the fragmentation of global trade routes, how are organisations in Asia leveraging AI and data analytics to build more regionalised and resilient supply chains to mitigate geopolitical risks?

3.       How are enterprises integrating predictive analytics into daily operations to move from reactive problem-solving to pre-empting issues in inventory management, maintenance, and order fulfilment?

4.       Given that most organisations have existing warehouse management systems (WMS), name one proven approach for integrating new AI-powered software with existing legacy systems without causing disruptive downtime.

5.       Beyond labour displacement, can you share a proven approaches/framework for measuring the full ROI of automation investments, including improved accuracy, enhanced safety, reduced shrinkage, and increased employee retention?

6.       Many technologies fail as they move from pilot to scale, how can organisations ensure that the automation technologies they implement today are scalable and flexible enough to adapt to unpredictable demand cycles and future business growth?

7.       With increasing focus on ESG, how are organisations using automation to measure and reduce their carbon footprint through optimised energy use, waste reduction, and smarter inventory planning?

8.       As operations become more reliant on connected IoT devices and AI, what enhanced cybersecurity measures can be implemented to protect against operational shutdowns and data breaches?

9.       How is investment in real-time visibility technology directly translating into a superior and more transparent customer experience for e-commerce and retail partners?

10.   Our topic is strategic resilience through intelligent automation what is your advise for warehousing and supply chain leaders in 2026?

While AI-driven SOAR and predictive analytics enhance response, over-reliance risks blind spots, especially with regionally biased data. Regulatory shifts in Japan, Singapore, India and beyond demand accountability in AI use, placing CISOs at the nexus of compliance and innovation. 

The rise of cross-border, AI-powered attacks underscores the need for resilient, adaptive security strategies. CISOs must balance automation with human oversight, secure generative AI platforms, and strengthen supply chain defences. 

Success hinges on anticipating threats, ensuring ethical AI deployment, and upskilling teams to operate effectively in an era of intelligent cyber conflict. The challenge is not just technical—but strategic, regional, and human.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Kylie Watson, head of security at DXC Technology, shares her views on AI, automation and the next generation of threats.

1.       Our topic is AI, automation and the next generation of threats. Please describe for us the relationship between all three as viewed from the perspective of a security professional.

2.       How can CISOs ensure the integrity and security of third-party AI models integrated into their core business systems?

3.       In your view, are incident response playbooks used by enterprises in Asia resilient enough to handle AI-powered, self-evolving malware?

4.       What safeguards are in place to detect and prevent deepfake-driven social engineering attacks targeting regional executives?

5.       How can enterprises maintain compliance with emerging AI governance regulations across multiple Asian jurisdictions?

6.       To what extent are organisations auditing training data for bias, leakage, or adversarial manipulation in our automated systems?

7.       Can current detection tools distinguish between legitimate automation and malicious AI-driven lateral movement?

8.       How are enterprises preparing for supply chain attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in open-source AI frameworks?

9.       Are security teams equipped with the skills to monitor, interpret, and challenge AI-driven security decisions?

10.   How can enterprises build adaptive, intelligence-led defences that evolve in tandem with next-generation threats? What is the role of the CISO here?

11.   Coming into 2026, how should CISOs and the security team prepare for the further deepening of the integration of AI into the organisational workflow?

Agentic AI emerges as a promising, albeit complex, answer by enabling autonomous execution of intricate finance workflows.

Its potential lies not just in incremental efficiency gains, but in fundamentally reshaping the finance function's operating model towards greater speed, accuracy, and strategic focus. Success hinges on overcoming significant data, governance, and talent challenges.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, Nikhil Parambath, Regional Vice President, Asia, BlackLine, offers his thoughts and some suggestions for senior finance leaders looking to step out of the shadows of AI and into the real-world possibilities of Agentic AI as applied within the finance function.

Nikhil, welcome to PodChats for FutureCFO

1.       Which specific finance processes (e.g., closing, reconciliation, reporting, compliance) still represent the biggest bottlenecks to efficiency and strategic agility within the finance function in Asia in 2025?

2.       Where have traditional automation tools (like RPA) fallen short in delivering the transformative efficiency gains finance needs, particularly in our complex, diverse SEA operating environments?

3.       From your observation, how would you assess finance leaders in Southeast Asia in terms of their understanding of AI, Generative AI and Agentic AI (framed in the context of 2025)?

4.       For SEA finance leaders prioritising efficiency in 2026, what are the 1-2 most compelling, near-term practical applications of Agentic AI within core finance operations (e.g., dynamic forecasting, intelligent reconciliation, autonomous fraud detection)?

5.       What foundational data governance and integration challenges must SEA finance functions urgently address now to be ready to leverage this technology effectively in 2026?

6.       As AI agents potentially execute multi-step processes autonomously, how should finance leaders rethink internal controls, audit trails, and human oversight mechanisms to ensure accuracy, compliance, and ethical operation?

7.       How can Agentic AI agents be practically integrated with existing ERP systems, legacy platforms, and other best-of-breed finance applications common across SEA businesses without creating untenable complexity or risks?

8.       If Agentic AI takes over complex operational execution, how must the skillset and role of the finance professional evolve in 2026? What does "strategic business partnering" look like in this context, and how do we upskill our SEA teams?

9.       Traditional cost savings aside, what new metrics should CFOs use to evaluate the true efficiency and strategic value delivered by Agentic AI implementations within the finance function in 2026 (e.g., speed to insight, reduction in manual intervention points, improved forecast accuracy)?

10.   Finally, any recommendations for how should SEA finance leaders strike the optimal balance for 2026 and beyond?

The proliferation of AI-powered deepfakes represents an existential threat to digital trust across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. 

Singapore's leadership in countermeasures, including watermarking and advanced authentication, is crucial, yet recent CSA survey data reveals a stark reality: 75% of Singaporeans cannot reliably identify deepfakes, despite 78% believing they can. This confidence gap underscores the urgent need for robust digital identity verification and advanced IAM strategies.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Jasie Fon, regional vice president for Asia at Ping Identity, covers some of the key issues, challenges and opportunities CISOs will find important in 2026.

1.       How severe is deepfake as a threat to businesses, governments and individuals in Asia in 2025?

a.       Should AI take credit for the rise of deepfakes in the region?

2.       How has AI impacted the cybersecurity function at organisations?

3.       In your view, is the (identity and access management) IAM roadmap of most organisations in Asia sufficiently aggressive in deploying phishing-resistant (FIDO2/Passkeys) and continuous authentication to mitigate deepfake-enabled account takeover? (DCI?)_

4.       In your view, do current incident response plan explicitly include procedures for dealing with deepfake-based fraud, extortion, or reputational attacks?

5.       With 2026 coming, does the rise in deepfake threat require CISOs to revise their cybersecurity strategy?

a.       Will this necessitate revising the cybersecurity budget priority and allocation?

6.       How will emerging regulations across ASEAN and Hong Kong specifically mandate deepfake detection and mitigation for customer interactions and internal communications?

7.       How can CISOs, CIOs and CFO effectively measure the ROI and efficacy of their deepfake detection investments across communication channels?

8.       What is your expectation around cybersecurity in 2026? Any recommendations for CISOs and CIOs in the coming year?

Experiments are done, budgets are spent. Now, the C-suite wants tangible results from their AI investments. 

The answer emerging isn't just smarter automation; it's a leap towards autonomy. 

Welcome to the era of Agentic AI. 

To be clear, these aren’t your standard run of the mill tools; they are intelligent, independent agents capable of perceiving complex situations, reasoning through options, and taking decisive action – often without human intervention (but with the option for humans to intervene just in case). 

Agentic AI free your staff from repetitive tasks, can adapt dynamically, and orchestrate decisions at unprecedented speed and scale. 

For the fast-moving, diverse, and efficiency-critical markets of APJ, Agentic AI has shifted from a 'nice-to-have' novelty to a competitive imperative. 

This is the move From Automation to Autonomy, fundamentally redefining how enterprises make decisions."

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Grant Case, chief data officer at Dataiku, for his take on how organisations can use agentic AI to redefine how they make business decisions.

1. What exactly is Agentic AI, and why should APJ enterprises be prioritizing it right now, beyond the initial generative AI hype?"

2. What specific market pressures and business opportunities in APJ are making the adoption of Agentic AI so critical at this moment?"

3. CXOs need clear business value. Beyond efficiency gains, how does Agentic AI unlock innovation and ensure alignment with measurable ROI for executives?

4. Can you share concrete examples of APJ enterprises leveraging Agentic AI today? What specific competitive advantages are they realizing?

5. Diving into the tech: How does Dataiku's Universal AI Platform specifically enable the development and orchestration of these autonomous agents?

6. Autonomy raises concerns. How does Dataiku ensure essential governance, maintain human control, and enable seamless integration of Agentic AI within complex existing enterprise environments?

7. For a CIO looking to embrace this, what does a practical roadmap look like – from establishing the vision to achieving enterprise-wide scale with Agentic AI?

8. What's your advice on starting points? How can organizations begin small with Agentic AI, prove concrete ROI quickly, and then expand capabilities safely and effectively?

9. You talked about the 'Do It For Me' economy. How will Agentic AI evolve over the next 2-3 years to fulfill this expectation within APJ enterprises?

10. What is your advice for C-suites in 2026?

Key challenges include strained local grids unable to meet intense power demands from densified AI workloads, increasing public opposition due to environmental concerns, and complex, uneven regional regulations. 

COOs must navigate costly infrastructure upgrades, such as adopting medium-voltage power distribution and integrating innovative power architectures like solid-state transformers to improve efficiency and reduce losses.

The good news is, COOs who balance technological innovation with stakeholder collaboration will transform their operations, achieve aligned sustainability objectives while supporting the digital economy’s growth in an increasingly regulated environment.

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, Daniel Pointon, group CTO for STT GDC, shares his perspective on How to Achieve Data Centre Sustainability and Regulatory Alignment in 2026 from the perspective of the COO.

1.       Perhaps to start off, give us a short brief of the business of STT GDC.

2.       In 2025, give us a brief around the state of DC operations in Southeast Asia? (13 Gigawatts)

3.       How will AI workload growth influence energy consumption and infrastructure needs?

4.       How are data centre operations taking national sustainability initiatives? 

5.       How do you see Asia regional regulations on carbon emissions impacting data centre operations?

6.       What new technologies can improve both sustainability and compliance affordably?

7.       For 2026, any advice for how COOs can integrate sustainability goals with business growth targets effectively?

8.       Identify 3 best practices for engaging stakeholders to secure public and regulatory support?

While organisations can harness agentic AI to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences, they also face significant challenges, including ethical concerns and workforce displacement. 

Leaders are racing ahead to adopt these innovations, seeking competitive advantages that promise to reshape industries. As they navigate this tipping point, the balance between opportunity and risk becomes crucial, defining the future landscape of work in the region.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Adhil Badat, managing director for Asia Pacific and Japan at Rackspace Technology, shares his perspective on how organisations are pushing forward agentic AI adoption in the quest to accelerate transformation and innovation.

1.       How different is agentic AI from traditional AI?

2.       What is the connection between robotic process automation (RPA) to agentic AI? 

3.       What preparations are necessary for adopting agentic AI?  

4.       What competitive advantages do AI leaders currently enjoy? 

5.       Referring to the Rackspace report, The AI Acceleration Gap: Why Some Enterprises Are Surging Ahead, How will the 250% surge in AI investments affect scalability? 

6.       In 2025, CFOs we spoke to are demanding greater transparency and accountability when it comes to technology investments. What strategies are AI leaders using to maximise RoAI (return on AI investments)? 

7.       Speaking of use cases, in your experience, what are the most impactful real-world applications of agentic AI? 

8.       We’ve heard of AI hallucinations. How about with agentic AI. Is agentic AI also susceptible to hallucinations. And while are on the topic, how can organisations address ethical concerns surrounding agentic AI? 

9.       Generative AI gave rise to a new skills requirement: prompt engineering. What about for agentic AI? What skills will the workforce need when they use agentic AI? 

10.   I mentioned earlier CFOs demanding proof their investments are delivering the promised ROI. How should leaders measure the success of agentic AI initiatives? 

11.   It can be argued that in Asia, Singapore led the way with regards to provide guardrails and frameworks with AI use. Specific to agentic AI use, what regulatory considerations must organisations keep in mind, and how to do so for those that operate in multiple markets?

a.       What about Australia (in terms of regulations)?

12.   Last question, what will Agentic AI evolve into in 2026? How should CIOs plan their AI strategy to tap this next evolution of Agentic AI? 

13.   In my experience, when it comes to technology, the most successful organisations rarely go it alone. For those seeking to maximise the return on their Agentic AI investments, who do they partner with internally and externally?

This transition promises unparalleled agility and efficiency, empowering organizations to enhance productivity while alleviating mundane tasks. 

But not everything is a walk in the park. Given Asia's fragmented digital ecosystems, the rise of agentic AI underscores the urgent need for robust data management, integrated connectivity, and strong governance frameworks to maximize AI's potential – safely. 

Visionary leaders view this transformation not merely as a tech upgrade but as a strategic overhaul, necessitating new leadership styles, accountability, and trust-building. 

Successfully embracing this shift will enable Asian enterprises to compete on a global scale, accelerating innovation, optimizing workflows, and augmenting human creativity with AI-driven “digital employees,” – all while ensuring compliance, transparency, and security in an increasingly complex environment.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, David Irecki, CTO for APJ at Boomi, discusses how agentic transformation will reshape not just the boardroom but the rest of leadership.

1.       What distinguishes agentic transformation from traditional digital automation and why does it matter?

2.       In this agentic transformation paradigm, what is the role of agentic AI and to what extent is it critical to achieving agentic transformation? Why can’t this be done in the traditional approach of digital transformation?

3.       What comprises agentic transformation?

4.       Who should lead an agentic transformation initiative? What experiences, qualifications and expertise must this person have?

5.       What new leadership roles and cultural shifts are necessary to drive agentic transformation?

6.       What practical metrics should be used to guide an agentic transformation initiative?

7.       Coming into 2026, what is your advise for the board, the C-suite and functional leaders as they try to create, nurture an agentic strategy that transforms the enterprise from top to bottom?

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Guru Balasubramaniam, chairman, CIMA Hong Kong SAR Area Committee to share with us his observations and perspective on the finance profession in Hong Kong.

1.       With AI automating core tasks (reconciliation, reporting), which advanced technical skills (data science, predictive analytics, blockchain auditing) will become essential for accountants to remain indispensable in 2025/2026? 

2.       How can professionals effectively navigate the cost barrier of prestigious certifications (CIMA, ACCA, CPA) while managing living expenses in high-growth but sometimes lower-wage Asian economies? 

3.       What innovative learning formats (micro-credentials, AI-powered personalised learning, virtual reality simulations) will best address the severe time constraints faced by working professionals across Asia? 

4.       Beyond technical skills, which critical 'soft' skills (strategic communication, ethical leadership in complex environments, cross-cultural collaboration) will be paramount for finance leaders in Asia's diverse markets? 

5.       How can professional bodies and employers better collaborate to make continuous learning genuinely integrated, affordable, and recognised within career progression paths? 

6.       With ESG reporting becoming mandatory in more Asian jurisdictions, how can accountants swiftly gain the necessary expertise in sustainability accounting frameworks and assurance? 

7.       What strategies are most effective for maintaining the relevance and portability of my existing qualifications amidst rapid technological and regulatory change across different Asian markets? 

8.       How will the rise of alternative credentials (digital badges, specialised nano-degrees) complement or challenge traditional accountancy certifications? 

9.       What ethical considerations and new risk management competencies are emerging due to increased data usage, AI in finance, and cybersecurity threats specific to the Asian operational context? (Future Focus: Ethics & Risk)

10.   What is your advise for finance professionals in the AI digital era?

11.   How should a finance professional approach the fear of losing relevance with AI? (rewrite)

Imagine streamlining cross-border transactions and slashing operational costs, with AI-enhanced payment systems boosting conversion rates by an impressive 17.8%! By leveraging regulatory harmonization across APAC markets and tapping into projected cross-border revenue growth exceeding 30%, CFOs can supercharge their strategic expansion efforts.

The mantra for CFOs and other leaders in Asia may as well be: embrace the change, lead through volatility, and seize the emerging opportunities that will define tomorrow’s economy. 

To tell us more about how we can capture these opportunities, FutureCFO is pleased have as a special guest. Ms. Sarita Singh, Regional Head & Managing Director, Southeast Asia, India, Greater China, Stripe, in uncovering just how finance and business leaders in the region can, not just harness, but drive this future.

1.       We are going to be talking about one of a CFO’s most evolved responsibility – finance management. So our audience will understand your responses, tell us what is the business of stripe?

2.       Given this background of stripe as a global finance infrastructure, how has the landscape of commerce changed for CFOs in Asia since 2024?

3.       What is your view on stablecoin adoption in Asia? 

4.       Given the evolving state of regulations around AI, stablecoins, data privacy and security, how can businesses ensure compliance while capitalising on innovation? 

5.       With persistent volatility and uncertainty as the new normal, what financial infrastructure changes should CFOs prioritise to support cross-border expansion while maintaining cost efficiency and regulatory compliance?

6.       ow does Stripe help CFOs achieve their objectives?

7.       Given your understanding of the financial infrastructure landscape and the challenges businesses will face in the coming year, any advice for our intrepid finance leaders?

8.       On a more personal note, what attracted you to join Stripe?

9.       What can CFOs and businesses look forward to at the coming Stripe Tour Singapore this 20 August 2025 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre?

10.   And for you, what we excites as a delegate to the event?

Click here for more on the Stripe Tour Singapore 2025 event.

1.       What does a "unified AI vision" mean in practice, and why is it critical for CIOs to champion this now? [why AI maturity dipped? – get copy of report]

2.       How can organisations in Asia align AI investments with core business strategy and measurable KPIs to demonstrate clear ROI?

3.       What proven metrics and maturity models can leaders use to track progress toward enterprise-wide AI adoption and competitive advantage?

4.       How should the CIO and CFO jointly measure, report, and justify the business value of AI investments to stakeholders?

5.       How can CIOs foster cross-functional collaboration to break down silos and prevent AI solution sprawl?

6.       What governance frameworks are currently in place to manage AI risks, ensure accountability, and maintain regulatory compliance? What gaps remain, especially in the APJ region?

7.       AI adoption brings cultural and operational disruption. What change management strategies should organisations deploy to build workforce trust and accelerate adoption?

8.       AI risks exacerbating technical debt if not integrated thoughtfully. Based on early 2025 lessons, how can CIOs embed AI into legacy workflows without creating long-term liabilities?

9.       How should CIOs articulate the long-term AI tech debt strategy—and its financial implications—to the CFO and Board?

10.   Into 2026, what is your advice for CIOs and other technology leaders as they build and sustain a unified AI vision across their organisations?

While citizen developers boost agility, decentralised creation brings new risks in the form of shadow IT, fragmented systems, data silo sprawl and data exposure, and compliance gaps.

But with proper leadership, LCNC can empower audit and other teams to innovate quickly while staying aligned with enterprise goals.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Leonard Tan, regional director for Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Greater China at OutSystems shares his observations and perspective on the essentials for LCNC audit workflow builders.

Leonard, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       Briefly give us a state of the low-code/no-code (LCNC) adoption in Asia in 2025. 

2.       What are LCNC Audit Workflow Builders? What are the strategic objectives for adopting these? 

3.       What governance model and policies must be enforced to effectively manage decentralised citizen development of audit workflows? 

4.       How do these LCNC platforms ensure compliance with diverse regional data privacy regulations and regulatory frameworks across Asia? 

5.       How do organisations maintain an up-to-date inventory and ensure consistent oversight of all LCNC audit workflows developed centrally and departmentally? Who should be in-charge of this?

6.       List one proven way LCNC audit tools are adequately integrated with core enterprise systems (ERP, GRC, data lakes) for seamless data sharing, reporting, and end-to-end auditability of critical processes? 

7.       What specific training, support frameworks, and guardrails must be provided to non-IT users to empower them to build compliant and effective audit workflows? 

8.       How can leaders regularly assess and mitigate risks (including auditing the audit workflows themselves for integrity and accuracy) stemming from rapid, decentralised development, and ensure automated compliance reporting? Who should be leading/doing this?

9.       Closing off our PodChats, what key metrics and KPIs will organisations use to track/measure the effectiveness, efficiency, compliance, and overall success of their LCNC audit workflow initiatives? 

For COOs, this is transformative. Agentic AI slashes unplanned downtime by up to 50%, optimizes inventory in real time, and ensures compliance across fragmented regional regulations. Imagine AI agents acting as autonomous supply chain managers—balancing cost, carbon, and speed across Thailand, Indonesia, and India. 

The future isn’t just automation—it’s intelligent agency. Leading manufacturers are already piloting multi-agent systems that simulate, decide, and act. The question is no longer if you adopt agentic AI—but how fast you can scale it. The next competitive edge is self-driving operations.

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCOO is Tony Tay, founder and CEO, AgileAlgo

1.       Give us a brief about AgileAlgo.

2.       To what extent is agentic AI a good fit for process operations?

3.       Which functions or workflows are the biggest candidates for autonomous agent-driven transformation?

4.       What new skills or roles should we develop among our workforce to maximize human-AI collaboration?

5.       What measurable ROI have early adopters in Asia achieved after implementing agentic automation?

6.       What human oversight is necessary to maintain trust and accountability in automated decisions?

7.       Gartner predicts that by 2027 40% of organisations will Agentic AI projects will fail. Other analysts estimate that up to 70% of current systems are hybrid and may be tied to legacy system. How do we ensure agentic AI solutions integrate smoothly with existing IT and business systems?

8.       With technology refresh occurring faster than in the past, how do you see agentic AI reshape core operational processes over the next 12–24 months?

9.   What is your advice for COOs and other functional leaders, perhaps working closely with the CIO and IT teams, to optimise and improve their use of agentic AI technologies?

10.   As for CFOs, how should they approach the adoption of agentic AI?

Agentic AI represents the next frontier in enterprise automation and decision-making. For the CIO, it presents both an opportunity and a challenge: to harness autonomous systems that can dramatically enhance productivity and agility while managing complexity, risk, and ethical considerations.

Getting started requires a strategic mindset, strong cross-functional collaboration, and a willingness to experiment and iterate.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Matthew Tan, principal solution engineer at UiPath, Southeast Asia, to get his perspective on getting started and operationalizing agentic AI.

1.       What are the core differences between AI-powered process automation and traditional RPA, and why does it matter for an organisation’s digital transformation strategy?

2.       In which business units or industry-specific workflows do you anticipate the greatest value from AI agents as applied in automation workflow?

3.       What approach can CIOs use to identify and prioritise high-impact automation opportunities within their organisation? Is this decision-making process a unilateral one exclusively decided by the CIO?

4.       How can the CIO, and whoever he or she is working with, ensure successful pilot implementation before scaling AI automation enterprise-wide?

5.       What steps can the CIO, and partners, use to ensure seamless integration between AI agents and legacy as well as cloud systems?

6.       What governance structures, policies, and controls are essential to build trust and ensure regulatory compliance when it comes to automation using AI agents?

7.       What internal skills and change management initiatives are needed to support agentic process automation (APA) adoption, particularly our use of AI agents?

8.       How do you plan to measure, benchmark, and improve the ROI of AI agents in automation initiatives?

9.       We are midway into 2025, 2026 is almost just around the corner. Any recommendations for CIOs and other leaders as they look to further invest in their use of AI agents?

Businesses face mounting threats from ransomware, advanced persistent threats, and supply chain vulnerabilities, driving demand for Cybersecurity-as-a-Service and managed SOCs. Industry reports highlight a widening gap in cyber resilience and stress the need for urgent action to address cyber inequity and enhance recovery capabilities.

Sean Duca, Customer Experience Chief Technology Officer for Cisco in the APJC regions shares his perspective on the following questions.

1.       How will evolving AI, cloud security, and data privacy regulations across Asia-Pacific affect CISO’s multi-cloud governance and compliance frameworks?

2.       What strategies can CISOs/organisations adopt to defend against increasingly sophisticated ransomware, supply chain attacks, and network-based intrusions?

3.       How do CISOs/CIOs secure hybrid and multi-cloud environments effectively, leveraging generative AI tools to automate identity and access management while reducing manual overhead?

4.       Some say quantum computing is still years away. That said, people are talking about post-quantum cryptography today. Can you share any best practice for implementing quantum-resistant encryption and network security protocols to mitigate emerging quantum computing threats?

5.       How can CISOs ensure robust security and compliance for AI-powered cloud applications and edge computing infrastructure under diverse data sovereignty laws? How should the CISO work with the CIO and the risk/compliance officers of the organization?

6.       Recapping what we’ve covered so far: our topic is Developing a Resilient Cybersecurity Roadmap. Can you offer some recommendations for CISOs and CIOs in developing their resilient cybersecurity roadmap?

Organizations are also prioritizing sustainability and security, with a focus on green cloud solutions and robust compliance frameworks. 

Into 2026, FutureCIO polls suggest that the convergence of AI and hybrid cloud will further accelerate digital transformation and innovation across various industries. Among the key trends we anticipate to arise from these include the strategic adoption of AI-powered hybrid cloud solutions, the rise of AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS), and the increasing use of cloud-native applications and SaaS-based intelligent solutions. 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Sean Flanagan, IBM vice president for IBM Power and IBM Cloud Technical Sales shares his observations of the challenges businesses around the world face as they modernise their operations, supported by hybrid cloud infrastructure that is expected to be secure and dynamically adaptive to evolving demands and regulation.

1.       What are the key considerations for workload placement between on-premises data centres and hybrid cloud environments?

2.       Business leaders are demanding CIOs modernise current infrastructure to take advantage of the promise of AI. At the same time CIOs are asked to make sure new IT strategies support sustainability initiatives. How can we balance AI infrastructure growth with sustainability and energy efficiency goals?

3.       Legacy applications continue to be at the core of many governments and businesses in Asia. IDC found that over 60% of applications in use today are legacy systems. What strategies can we adopt to modernise legacy applications and maximise developer productivity using AI-driven tools?

4.       Are AI-powered tools better than the best experienced technology experts?

5.       CFOs are increasingly focused on cost optimization within their cloud environments, calling for strategies to manage and reduce cloud spending effectively.  How do flexible consumption models, such as IBM Power Virtual Server, support business agility and cost control?

6.       IDC estimates that over 77% of organisations in Asia Pacific operate in a multicloud or hybrid cloud environment. This trend will continue as wholesale transformation and modernisation become essential to evolving business models. Disruptions, both planned and unplanned are inevitable. How can business maximise availability of their IT services?

7.       Given all the innovations to date, including the new IBM Power 11, what advise can you offer CIOs and business leaders in Asia as they look to better optimise their workloads regardless of where the applications are running?   

Drawing on valuable lessons learned, organizations are increasingly adopting a hybrid cloud by design approach. This strategy offers flexibility and scalability while effectively addressing the complex regulatory environments surrounding data protection, ethical technology use, and cybersecurity. 

By leveraging public cloud resources for scalability and securing sensitive data in private environments, businesses can strike a crucial balance between innovation and compliance—an essential strategy for navigating the challenges of data sovereignty.

Recently, FutureCISO spoke with Mark Figley, Vice President of Power Development at IBM, to explore how leaders in Singapore and Malaysia can strategically position their organizations to thrive in this dynamic environment.

1.       Why is it critical for Singaporean and Malaysian business and technology leaders to rethink their technology strategies in today’s fast-evolving digital landscape?

2.       How do IBM clients address evolving business challenges while also addressing requirements around regulatory compliance, data protection, and data sovereignty?

3.       In what ways does IBM (Power Systems) accelerate AI workloads and support large-scale, real-time data processing for enterprises in Asia?

4.       How can hybrid cloud architectures leveraging IBM (Power Systems) ensure zero unplanned downtime and continuous business operations?

5.       Speaking of security, what unique security features does IBM (Power Systems) offer to safeguard sensitive AI workloads across hybrid cloud environments?

6.       CIOs tell us that their technology stack today is complex because of the variety of technologies they have in place – applications, hardware, operating environments, management tools, the list goes on. To close our discussion, how can Singaporean and Malaysian organizations leverage IBM Power’s unified hybrid cloud management platforms to simplify operations, close the cloud skills gap, and accelerate AI-driven innovation?

However, this acceleration introduces significant security risks, including inadequate access controls, unmanaged integrations, and shadow IT, which can bypass traditional compliance protocols. 

AI and automation are increasingly integrated into LCNC tools, enhancing development speed and intelligence but also complicating security oversight. 

For CIOs in Asia, it is critical to proactively embed security early in the LCNC development lifecycle, maintain visibility into decentralized development efforts, and balance governance with innovation to mitigate risks without stifling agility. 

Failure to address these risks can expose organizations to data breaches and compliance failures, undermining digital transformation efforts in 2025/2026.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Jason Merrick, senior vice president of product, Tenable, to talk about critical questions CIOs for business leaders need to address when adopting low code/no code.

1.       Define what low-code/no-code means/is to users and to the application development team.

2.       Current State of Adoption: What is the current landscape of low-code/no-code adoption in Asia, and what trends are emerging?

3.       Security and Compliance: How do we ensure that LCNC platforms comply with relevant data protection and regulatory standards, and what access controls are in place to secure these environments?

4.       Embedding Security: How can security be integrated early in the LCNC development lifecycle to mitigate potential risks?

5.       Inventory Management: What processes should be established to maintain an up-to-date inventory of all LCNC applications and integrations, ensuring visibility and governance?

6.       Citizen Development Oversight: What visibility and monitoring tools are implemented to oversee decentralized citizen development and manage risks associated with shadow IT?

7.       Training and Incident Response: What training and support are provided to citizen developers on secure practices, and what incident response plans exist for vulnerabilities or breaches related to LCNC applications?

8.       Final advice: With technologies like AI, agentic AI, among other things, what is your advice for business leaders and the heads of the development teams as it relates to LCNC adoption in 2025/2026?

Ben Canning, chief product officer at Alteryx, highlights the disconnect between AI ambition and operational data realities, urging APAC enterprises to prioritise foundational data integration over algorithmic hype to unlock sustainable AI value.

Given the importance of data in the function of AI systems, we have asked  Canning to share with us his perspective on how data integration can spell the success or failure of AI adoption.

1.       Briefly give us a state of AI adoption in Asia in 2025. What has worked and what has not worked? (second wave of AI adoption now)

2.       What is the understanding of CIOs and CAIOs/Chief Data Officers when it comes to the relationship between data and AI? What about the rest of the C-suite leadership?

3.       What makes APAC’s data-AI gap distinct from global counterparts, and how can it be bridged?

4.       What metrics have proven data integration’s ROI in accelerating AI deployment?

5.       How do regulatory variances across Asian economies impact integrated data strategies for AI?

6.       How can APAC leaders better align their executive AI vision with legacy data infrastructure constraints?

7.       Our topic is data integration as an enabler of successful AI adoption, given AI adoption trends, data sprawl, AI sprawl, governance issues, etc., what is your guidance for CIOs and CAIOs to ensure organisations are able to better data integration when it comes to AI adoption?

Addressing these challenges requires strategic focus on security, compliance, workforce capabilities, and data-driven decision-making to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Brett Wheeldon, VP, Solutions Consulting, Asia Pacific, SAP Concur, for his take on how CIOs can optimise cloud strategies for value delivery.

Questions:

Strategic Vision

Q1: How can integrated cloud solutions be designed to deliver seamless end-to-end operational excellence across enterprises? (orchestration/press for suite-based approach that focus on outcomes)

Productivity & Innovation

Q2: How can cloud automation be leveraged to enhance employee productivity and improve user experience?

Architecture & Scalability

Q3: What hybrid cloud architecture best balances enterprises’ needs for innovation, data sovereignty, security, and cost optimisation?

Secure Implementation

Q4: What strategies can ensure secure and compliant migration and management of workloads across multi-cloud and edge environments?

Q5: How should CIOs and CISOs address growing cybersecurity risks (e.g., AI-driven threats) in cloud/edge deployments?

Governance & Compliance

Q7: What governance frameworks are needed to comply with evolving data privacy regulations across APAC jurisdictions?

Data-Driven Sustainability

Q8: How can cloud data platforms be optimised to provide actionable insights that support sustainability and reduce carbon footprint?

Talent & Adaptability

Q6: How can we build cloud and AI skills internally or through partnerships to accelerate cloud value delivery?

Future-Proofing

Q9: What measures ensure workload portability/flexibility to avoid vendor lock-in while maintaining performance?

Q10: What strategy integrates AI capabilities within cloud infrastructure to drive innovation without compromising security/compliance?

Q11: Our topic is Optimise cloud for value delivery, what is your final advise for enterprises as they try to leverage technologies like AI and other solutions to optimise cloud for the best value delivery possible?

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Reinhart Hansen, director of Technology, Field CTO APJ, Thales, who will help us navigate the AI imperative from the security perspective.

1.       How can we identify and mitigate the unique vulnerabilities introduced by generative AI?, such as prompt injection and data poisoning?

2.       What specialised AI security monitoring and detection tools should we deploy to reduce breach detection and containment times? 

3.       How do we ensure transparency and compliance with evolving AI regulations like the ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics?

4.       How can we secure AI systems (LLM factories) provided by third-party vendors and manage supply chain risks related to AI data access and processing?

5.       How do we balance the business imperative to adopt AI-driven innovation with the need to defend against increasingly sophisticated AI-powered cyber threats?

6.       How can we foster a security-first culture that promotes responsible AI use and equips security teams with the necessary AI expertise?

7.       What investment priorities and cross-functional collaborations are essential to build a comprehensive and proactive AI security programme that aligns with business objectives?

8.       Name top three recommendations that CISOs and their organisations should take as they lead their organisations into a more AI-immersed operating environment?

Expanding shared services in Asia offers cost savings, process standardisation, and access to skilled talent, boosted by AI and cloud technologies that transform them into strategic business partners. However, scaling risks operational resilience, and exposes firms to geopolitical, cyber, and talent challenges. Leaders—COOs, CFOs, CIOs, CHROs, and CMOs—must balance scalability with resilience by defining scope, integrating systems, managing change, ensuring data readiness, and aligning with ESG goals. Success depends on robust governance, workforce upskilling, risk mitigation, and maintaining customer experience to build agile, secure, and future-ready shared services.

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, Byron Fernandez, CIO at TDCX, shares his thoughts on how to balance scalability-resilience: the shared services conundrum.

1.       Give us a state of the shared services market in Asia in 2025.

2.       Which processes or functions are best suited for centralisation, and which should remain local?

3.       Should leaders build a captive centre, outsource, or adopt a hybrid model?

4.       How do organisations ensure data quality and readiness for migration?

5.       Drawing from your experience, what governance structures and project teams are needed to manage the transition?

6.       Our topic is on scalability vs resilience. How do leaders balance the need for scalability with the imperative for operational resilience?

7.       At the beginning I cited risks that go with any change in strategy. What are the key risks—cybersecurity, regulatory, talent—and how will organisations mitigate them?

8.       Still on the issue of people. how will leaders manage change and maintain employee engagement throughout the transformation?

9.   CFOs have started to be more critical of investments. What financial investments and returns can leadership realistically expect over a multi-year horizon?

10.   How does a shared services strategy support an organisation’s broader ESG and sustainability objectives?

11.   What is your advice for organisations thinking to move to a shared services model?

Song Yeow Chung, CFO of Old Chang Kee Ltd and ISCA council member shares his views and experiences on the topic. 

1. Describe the finance leader’s role pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, post-pandemic, Trump 2.0. 

2. As a finance leader, what has been most interesting to your during these periods of transitions? 

3. In your view, what makes for a resilient and great finance leader?

4. What has been the most challenging aspect of the role in today’s environment?

5. What should future finance leaders do today to lead them to that future position?

6. How do you strike a balance between personal goals vs the company’s goals and aspiration?

7. As a leader, who for you is a role model to emulate/aspire to?

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCFO is Mr Oleg Koslov, head of internal audit at Modern Mills Company.

1.       How can CFOs harmonise financial reporting and compliance across multiple jurisdictions, balancing global standards like US GAAP and IFRS with local tax regimes and regulatory requirements without overburdening local teams?

2.       What strategies and controls are essential to ensure pricing, contracting, and anti-trust compliance in politically volatile or complex regulatory environments such as Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia?

3.       How can CFOs leverage digital technologies, including AI and machine learning, to automate compliance processes (e.g., ESG reporting, transfer pricing documentation) and enhance finance operations while managing risks like data privacy and algorithmic bias?

4.       What approaches best address talent recruitment and development challenges in regions with acute skill shortages or unfamiliar markets, ensuring culturally aligned, high-performing finance teams?

5.       How should finance functions design agile operational processes-such as accounts payable/receivable and payroll-that can adapt to sudden currency volatility, sanctions, and geopolitical risks across diverse markets?

6.       What role should regional or localised finance hubs play in balancing cost efficiency, regulatory expertise, and the need for centralised oversight versus local autonomy?

7.       How can CFOs proactively manage multi-jurisdictional risks related to geopolitical uncertainty, economic volatility, supply chain disruptions, and evolving regulatory landscapes to safeguard financial stability and support growth?

8.       What frameworks and best practices facilitate the integration of finance operations post-acquisition, especially when acquiring specific assets with limited transitional information, to build sustainable, compliant finance functions in unfamiliar jurisdictions?

FutureCISO spoke to Ben Young, Veeam's CTO for APAC to discuss how AI is impacting the cyber threat landscape, most notably in the areas of ransomware and phishing, and what CISO's must revisit as part of their resilience strategy.

Questions covered:

1.       Give us your summary of the 2025 Ransomware Trends & Proactive Strategies report. 

2.       How are ransomware groups adapting to law enforcement pressure, and what does this mean for mid to large enterprises in Asia? 

3.       How is the shift toward data exfiltration (vs. encryption-only attacks) impacting our incident response plans? 

4.       Are we prepared for the legal and compliance risks if we pay a ransom, given new regional/international regulations? 

5.       Do our backup and recovery strategies meet the "3-2-1-1-0" rule? Is this strategy still relevant in the era of hybrid data, AI everywhere, and digital-native workforces? 

6.       Are cloud-based backups and managed services a viable strategy for improving resilience? 

7.       How can organisations reduce dwell time for attackers between infiltration and detection? 

8.       Are current employee training program robust enough to prevent phishing/social engineering breaches? 

9.       Are IT and security teams aligned to ensure rapid response during an attack? 

10.   Should CISOs consider third-party incident response partnerships to reduce ransom payments? 

11.   How will rising cybersecurity budgets be allocated between prevention, detection, and recovery? Any tips on how CISOs can get the budget they need for the organisation?

Regional disparities in 5G and cloud adoption create systemic resilience gaps, necessitating stronger public-private partnerships. Ethical deployment of autonomous response systems and safeguarding AI algorithms against poisoning are critical. 

CISOs must also navigate stringent data localisation laws amidst a cyber skills shortage, balancing AI orchestration with upskilling. Quantifying the ROI of resilience investments in emerging technologies remains a key priority for justifying essential budgets.

Joining me on PodChats for FutureCISO is Sunny Tan, Head of Security Business for AMEA, BT Business

1.       How has the convergence of AI-driven attacks and deepfake technologies reshaped the threat landscape, and what adaptive strategies must CISOs prioritise to counter disinformation and social engineering?

2.       In what ways can blockchain architectures mitigate supply chain vulnerabilities, particularly in securing IoT ecosystems across Asia’s manufacturing and logistics sectors?

3.       How do regional disparities in digital infrastructure—such as uneven 5G rollout or cloud adoption—create systemic risks, and what role should public-private partnerships play in bridging resilience gaps? (mention The Cyber Agile Organisation")

4.       With AI-powered autonomous response systems gaining traction, how can CISOs ensure ethical deployment to prevent unintended escalation during cyber incidents?

5.       What safeguards are necessary to secure AI training data and algorithms against poisoning attacks, particularly as organisations rely on machine learning for predictive analytics?

6.       How can CISOs reconcile stringent data localisation laws in markets like China and India with the operational demands of multinational businesses seeking regional cloud solutions?

7.       Amid a shortage of skilled cyber professionals, should organisations prioritise AI-driven security orchestration or invest in upskilling programmes to build human-machine synergies?

8.       What metrics should CISOs adopt to quantify the ROI of cyber resilience investments, particularly when justifying budgets for emerging technologies like deception platforms or homomorphic encryption?

9.       Final Advise for CISOs given the prevailing uncertainties in 2025? 

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, we are joined by Antoinette Patterson, CEO of Safe Space, to talk about how Silent Burnout is Asia’s Digital Workforce Crisis

Antoinette, welcome to PodChats for FutureCOO

1.       Define “silent burnout,” and why is it particularly challenging for businesses in Asia to detect and address?

2.       Why do traditional Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) and wellness perks fall short in today’s workforce environment? (fire extinguishers)

3.       What are the key signs of burnout that often go unnoticed in hybrid or remote work settings?

4.       How can AI and data analytics be used to identify early indicators of employee mental distress without violating privacy?

5.       What practical steps can companies take to embed proactive mental health support into their daily operations?

6.       Can you share examples of how forward-thinking organisations in Asia have successfully implemented proactive mental health systems?

7.       (We might be repeating this) How does investing in mental wellness infrastructure translate into measurable business outcomes like retention and productivity?

8.       What cultural or regional factors in Asia affect how mental health support should be designed and delivered?

9.       How do you see the mental wellness market in Asia-Pacific evolving over the next five to ten years?

10.   What advice would you give to business leaders and HR leaders who want to move beyond “band-aid” mental health solutions and create lasting change?

However, this transformation faces challenges from diverse regulations, evolving labour laws, and data privacy concerns, alongside issues of trust, fairness, and digital literacy. Successful AI adoption demands a human-centred approach that involves frontline workers in design and feedback, offers tailored training to bridge digital divides, and implements ethical governance to ensure fairness and accountability. 

Beyond productivity, organisations must measure impact through employee engagement and customer experience, investing in people and fostering human-AI collaboration to build resilient, agile teams ready for Asia’s dynamic future.

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, Steven Kramer, CEO and president at WorkJam offers his insights on how AI innovations that are transforming frontline industries.

Steven, welcome to PodChats for FutureCOO.

1. How is artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping the daily tasks and overall roles of frontline workers across Asia’s diverse industries?
2. Name 3 of the most promising AI-enabled tools currently empowering frontline teams, and how do these technologies vary between sectors such as healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and logistics.
3. How do evolving regulatory frameworks in Asia—covering data privacy, labour laws, and safety standards—affect the deployment and design of AI solutions for frontline work?
4. What are the key challenges organisations face in building trust, ensuring reliability, and maintaining fairness when integrating AI tools alongside tools used frontline employees?
5. In what ways is AI enhancing frontline training, knowledge access, and on-the-job learning, and what potential drawbacks should companies be mindful of?
6. How can organisations ensure AI adoption is inclusive, addressing digital literacy gaps and language barriers to prevent frontline worker exclusion?
7. How can frontline workers be more actively involved in shaping AI tools, and what ethical or governance considerations should companies prioritise as they scale AI across large, distributed workforces?
8. Outside of AI boards to ensure better/proper use of the technology, what metrics will be of interest to the CFO and CIO in terms of metrics for measuring the effective of the technology (the impact and return on investment of AI deployments on the frontline, balancing productivity with employee and customer experience)?

In 2025, Southeast Asia's cybersecurity landscape demands that CISOs and CIOs consider integrating cybersecurity with business objectives. 

CISOs must frame cybersecurity as a business enabler, demonstrating ROI through narratives that emphasize resilience, regulatory alignment, and sustained growth in Asia’s hyperconnected economy. In other words, CISOs must articulate their cybersecurity strategies in business terms, ensuring that security is a core element of growth and risk management.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are pleased to have as our guest expert, James McLeary, Group CIO and CISO, Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand.

1.       Define for us what is a cybersecurity posture.

2.       What are the long-term business benefits of maintaining a robust cybersecurity posture, and how can these be articulated to stakeholders? Who are the stakeholders who should be keen/interested on cybersecurity posture?

3.       What role does compliance with regulations play in justifying cybersecurity spending, and how can/should CISOs present this to the board?

4.       Speaking of justification, how can CISOs/CIOs quantify the return on investment (ROI) of their cybersecurity initiatives to demonstrate their value to stakeholders?

5.       Is it possible to align cybersecurity investments to support the broader business objectives of the organization?

6.       Cite 3 (max) examples of how prevention offers tangible ROI of cybersecurity investments.

7.       Cite an example of a successful cyber risk narrative that CISOs can use to illustrate the business value of cybersecurity investments.

8.       IT and OT processes are increasing in complexity, do you anticipate cybersecurity solutions and processes?

As AI accelerates attack sophistication—enabling automated phishing, synthetic identity fraud, and adversarial machine learning—businesses face dual challenges: hardening defences against AI-powered threats while ensuring ethical, transparent AI deployment to overcome employee scepticism. 

In Singapore and across Asia, leaders must prioritise zero-trust frameworks, AI-specific security guidelines (e.g., Singapore’s CSA lifecycle controls), and human-AI collaboration models to close critical trust gaps. 

Organisations that invest in AI governance, workforce upskilling, and proactive threat-hunting agents will gain resilience and competitive advantage, whereas those failing to address AI-driven risks or employee distrust will face operational and reputational fallout.

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCISO is Assaf Keren, CSO, Qualtrics.

Interview questions:

1.       How can organisations implement secure-by-design AI systems that comply with evolving regional regulations, such as Singapore’s CSA Guidelines?

2.       What governance lessons from past tech integrations (e.g., cloud and IoT) can be applied to mitigate risks associated with AI systems? 

3.       What strategies can effectively combat AI-automated attack chains, like multi-modal phishing campaigns, without hindering innovation in defensive AI tools? 

4.       How should cybersecurity teams balance the efficiency gains from AI-driven tools against potential risks like shadow AI deployments and data poisoning? 

5.       How can CISOs bridge the trust gap around the use of AI between leadership and employees? 

6.       Advise for CISOs to build trust.

Mark Blick, CEO of Diginex, shares his obvservations guiding organisations in Asia navigate the complexities of ESG execution.

Proposed questions:

1.       Challenges in ESG Adoption – What are the key barriers preventing businesses from fully embracing ESG, and what strategies can they use to overcome them?

2.       Bridging Market Gaps in ESG Ratings – What challenges do businesses face in securing credible ESG ratings, and how can rating support services address these gaps?

3.       Differentiation in ESG Solutions – In what ways can technology simplify ESG compliance and reporting processes?

4.       The Role of Strategic Partnerships – How do collaborations with major banks and regulators contribute to the acceleration of ESG adoption?

5.       The Future of ESG Investing & Technology – What emerging trends are likely to shape ESG investment over the next 5-10 years?

6.       What is your advice for organisations in Asia as far as pursuing and progressing on their ESG initiatives? Who should be part of the ESG process?

It is tasked not only in implementing advanced backup solutions but also in fostering a culture of data resilience within their organizations. By prioritizing comprehensive backup protocols, these leaders ensure that critical data remains secure and recoverable, safeguarding against potential downtime and financial loss. 

As organizations navigate the complexities of digital transformation, the proactive engagement of IT leadership in backup strategies is essential for maintaining operational continuity and protecting valuable assets in an ever-evolving threat environment.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Qinghong You, Solutions Engineering Lead (Greater China, ASEAN and South Korea), NetApp.

Questions covered.

1.       How is backup evolving beyond just storage (storage is cheap), focusing on data mobility, instant recovery, and AI-driven insights for proactive risk mitigation?

2.       What role does data mobility play in enhancing backup strategies, especially in hybrid cloud environments?

3.       How can enterprises enhance backup strategies with an intelligent data architecture to improve anomaly detection, automation, and cyber resilience against ransomware threats?

4.       What are the key considerations for shifting from traditional backup to an intelligent, always-available data infrastructure that minimizes downtime and ensures seamless disaster recovery?

5.       How do modern backup solutions that integrate AI technologies contribute to a resilient data infrastructure?

6.       Technology, regulation and threats continue to evolve, any last advise for CIOs and those responsible for resilience data protection in 2025.

In what is now a tradition at Cxociety, we begin this year’s series with a dialogue with Wendy Lee, senior director at SS&C Blue Prism to get her perspective on women participation in the technology sector in Asia and how the IWD’s 2025 theme of "Accelerate Action" addresses the challenges and opportunities for women in Asia’s burgeoning tech space.

1.       Professionally, you’ve been in the technology sector for much of your career. Is this an active decision on your part?

2.       You have been in tech marketing for some time now, can you share some interesting lessons in your journey?

3.       In the context of women as active participants and leaders in Asia’s technology sector, how would you describe the progress so far?

4.       What are some effective ways for women in tech to network and build professional relationships that can help them access leadership roles in the industry?

5.       What is your view on mentorship? What has worked and needs more work in this area?

6.       What role do initiatives like the SG100 Women in Tech play in inspiring and empowering women to pursue careers in technology, and how can similar programs be replicated across Asia?

7.       Aspirations aside, what are the key challenges women face when leading marketing efforts for global tech/AI firms in Asia, and how can they overcome these obstacles to achieve success?

8.      IWD’s 2025 theme of "Accelerate Action" is a call to action to accelerate participation by women in leading the charge. What is your advice for women who want to pursue a career in tech?

Recent data indicates that women now represent approximately 20% of CDO roles, reflecting a positive trend towards gender diversity in technology leadership. This shift not only promotes inclusivity but also leverages diverse perspectives essential for driving innovation and success in the digital age.

In this exclusive interview with Shannon Bell, executive vice president and chief digital officer at OpenText, we look at the growing importance of CDOs in the digital transformation of businesses and industries, as well as the role women play in the evolution of the role.

1.       The future of many businesses today is defined by the extent to which they embrace digital. In your view why is this so? Why are organisations being driven to become more digital?

2.       In this digital-first society, what are the qualifications and qualities that make for a successful chief digital officer (CDO)? Do you see an overlap between the roles of a CDO to that of a Chief Transformation Officer? How about Chief Technology Officer?

3.       In your view, are women better suited to be CDOs than their male counterparts? [Please elaborate]

4.       What systemic barriers do women face in advancing to CDO positions within Asian companies?

a.       What role does corporate culture play in either facilitating or hindering women's progress to CDO roles?

5.       How can women leverage their backgrounds in marketing and customer engagement to transition into CDO positions?

6.       How important are female role models in the tech space for aspiring women leaders?

7.       What is your advice for women aspiring to become leaders? Likewise, what is your advice for male leaders in support of future women leaders?

CISOs will do well to prioritize AI and quantum literacy to navigate these challenges. They must invest in post-quantum cryptography to safeguard against "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks and ensure AI defences are robust against adversarial attacks. Managing expectations while ensuring compliance is crucial as CEOs increasingly rely on these technologies for innovation and efficiency. Proactive strategies are essential for maintaining security and trust.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Paul Tan, head of systems integration at Ensign InfoSecurity, talks about the evolving nature of cybersecurity strategies as technologies like AI and quantum computing accelerate their influence in cybersecurity defence and offense, and redefining the cybersecurity profession.

1. Given that AI and quantum computing are rapidly reshaping the cybersecurity landscape, what immediate steps should CISOs in Asia take to ensure their teams possess the necessary AI and quantum literacy to navigate this evolving threat environment?
2. In what ways are you observing AI being leveraged by both cybersecurity defenders and malicious actors, and what proactive measures can CISOs implement to stay ahead of these dual-use applications?
3. Considering the potential vulnerabilities of AI-driven security systems to adversarial attacks like data poisoning, what strategies can CISOs employ to ensure the robustness and resilience of their AI defences?
4. As quantum computing threatens to render current encryption methods obsolete, what is your recommended timeline for organisations to transition to quantum-safe cryptographic algorithms, and what are the key challenges in implementing these systems?
5. With the advent of quantum computing, how should organisations reassess their strategies for protecting sensitive data against "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks, and what role does post-quantum cryptography play in this? Hybrid cryptography
6. How do CEOs' and business unit leaders' high expectations for AI and Quantum computing impact the CISO's role in managing expectations, integrating these technologies into operations, and ensuring regulatory compliance?
7. Let's recap: given what we know about AI and PQC, what is your advice for CISOs in 2025?

The AI market is evolving toward monetization and widespread adoption, focusing on resilience, workforce transformation, and managing regulatory changes. Priorities are being driven toward ethical AI integration, explainability, and advancing modernization, as organizations aim for responsible, compliant, and future-ready AI implementation.

IDC predicts that Asia/Pacific businesses leaders will demand up to 80% success rate of generative AI (GenAI) adoption by 2027.

"The adoption of AI and GenAI in the APJ region is driving a notable shift in business strategies and value creation. Companies are leveraging AI to boost efficiency and enrich customer experiences, opening doors to fresh growth opportunities," says Vinayaka Venkatesh, Senior Market Analyst, Data & Analytics, IDC Asia/Pacific. 

What will AI and GenAI look like in 2025? FutureCIO is pleased to be joined by Kalyan Madala, director and APAC Field CTO, IBM Software, Asia Pacific on the topic of enterprise AI values: From +AI to AI+ in the Asian Century.

1. Architecture

Challenges: What are the key architectural challenges we face in integrating AI and automation into our existing enterprise systems, and how can we overcome them?

Opportunities: How can we leverage AI-driven tools to enhance our architectural design processes, and what specific benefits can we expect in terms of efficiency and scalability?

Risks: With the increasing reliance on AI in architecture, what potential risks do we face regarding data privacy and compliance, and how can we mitigate these risks?

2. Development & Engineering

Opportunities: In what ways can AI enhance our coding and testing processes, and how can we measure the return on investment from these advancements?

Challenges: What hurdles do our development teams encounter when implementing AI and automation in the software development lifecycle, and how can we address them?

Risks: As we automate more development tasks, how do we ensure that quality and security are not compromised, particularly with the rise of AI-generated code?

3. Operations & Reliability

Opportunities: How can AI enhance our incident response and system monitoring capabilities, and what specific tools should we consider in our strategy?

Challenges: What operational challenges do we foresee in maintaining system reliability as we adopt AI-driven automation tools, and how can we prepare for them?

Risks: What are the potential risks of over-reliance on AI for operational decisions, and how can we ensure human oversight remains effective?

4. Data & Analytics

Opportunities: How can we leverage AI to uncover new insights from our data that were previously unattainable, and what processes should we put in place to act on these insights?

Challenges: What are the key challenges in ensuring data quality and governance as we implement AI-driven analytics tools, and how can we address them?

Risks: What risks do we face regarding data bias in AI models, and how can we implement strategies to ensure fairness and transparency in our analytics processes?

With market volatility, digital disruption and regulatory uncertainty appearing to be the norm rather the exception in 2025, finance leaders will be hard pressed to accelerate transformation initiatives up and running fast.

At the heart of this transformation lies data intelligence—a critical enabler of strategic decision-making, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance. As organizations across Asia pivot toward data-driven finance, CFOs are leveraging advanced analytics, AI, and unified data strategies to secure competitive advantages while addressing regional challenges.

To learn more about data intelligence, we are pleased to be joined by Lavan Verma, head of FP&A and Data Intelligence – APAC at ManpowerGroup.

1.       How do you define data intelligence?

2.       What is data intelligence in the context of an organisation (as viewed from the Board and C-suite and operations)?

3.       How does this translate in the world of the finance function? 

4.       What is/are needed to have data intelligence in the finance function (technology, process, etc)?

5.       What are the benefits data intelligence brings to its practitioners? (viewed from a career perspective)

6.       What are the potential challenges for the CFO and finance team in the execution and delivery of data intelligence?

7.       Any best practice in the design, execution and performance of a data intelligence?

We have seen technology evolved rapidly in the last couple of years. What are your thoughts on how these technologies will influence finance in the years ahead? 
 

Companies will harness AI to optimize operations, enhance customer experiences, and foster data-driven strategies. Emerging trends will include the integration of AI in traditional industries, a surge in data governance initiatives, and an emphasis on ethical AI practices. 

This evolution will empower organizations to navigate complex challenges and seize new opportunities in an ever-evolving market.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we talk to Don Ong, head of innovation at Advantest, on how Agentic AI will change the game of business innovation in 2025

Don, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

Establishing Agentic Capability: What steps should organizations take to establish a true agentic capability that allows AI to learn and adapt from internal processes?

Facilitating Information Flow: How can CIOs effectively facilitate and control the flow of information between human teams and AI agents to enhance collaboration?

Capturing Analogue Data: What strategies can organizations employ to capture data from analogue processes, ensuring that Agentic AI has access to comprehensive information for learning?

Data Cleaning and Consistency: What are the best practices for cleaning and organizing data to ensure that Agentic AI can deliver meaningful insights and value?

Measuring Data Quality: What metrics should organizations use to evaluate the quality of their data?

Training Agentic AI: What methods can organizations use to train Agentic AI effectively using their own data?

Overcoming Data Silos: How can CIOs address data silos within the organization to create a unified data infrastructure that supports Agentic AI?

Challenges of Agentic AI: Where do organisations fail in their understanding and implementation of AI?

Recap: Steps that an organisation needs to prepare for the Agentic AI.

Final thought: Your advice for the non-IT people as regards Agentic AI and its value to the employee, the business

The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into financial processes promises to streamline operations and improve decision-making. Concurrently, the growing focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors will influence investment decisions and corporate strategies, requiring finance leaders to incorporate these considerations into their financial planning and reporting. As the landscape evolves, finance professionals must remain agile and forward-thinking to thrive in this dynamic environment.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Andrew Harding, CEO, CIMA, to share with us his observations on Architecting an agile finance function in the age of AI 

1.       How has the roles of management accounts evolved following the pandemic, and in particular the growing adoption of AI and automation in finance functions by 2025?

2.       What challenges will finance professionals in Hong Kong face as they adapt to new technologies and regulatory requirements?

3.       How can finance leaders in Hong Kong effectively balance innovation with regulatory compliance in a rapidly changing financial landscape?

4.       What skills will be most essential for accountants and controllers to succeed in the future finance landscape in Hong Kong?

5.       What strategies should finance professionals take to enhance their value in and around functions like forecasting, risk management, planning and budgeting?

6.       In your opinion, how critical is it for finance teams to integrate ESG factors into their reporting and decision-making processes?

7.       How should finance leaders prepare for potential shifts in global economic conditions that may impact Hong Kong’s positioning in the world market?

8.       What role does CIMA play in supporting finance professionals in Hong Kong to navigate these upcoming changes?

9.       Can you share examples of best practices in management accounting that have led to successful transformations in finance functions?

While chatbots use pattern matching and natural language processing to interpret user inputs and choose the right responses from a set of pre-programmed options, AI agents engage in more complex, multi-step interactions that may span different platforms or services. AI agents take the next step from chatbots moving the needle of engagement between human and machines.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by David Irecki, chief technology officer for Asia Pacific and Japan at Boomi to walk us through the realities of AI agents – what you and I need to know, separating hype from reality.

1.       Define AI agent as understood by most users in Asia (both tech and non-tech)?

2.       What key factors differentiate AI agent hype from reality for organizations?

3.       Since you brought it up, how can businesses ensure high data quality for effective AI deployment?

4.       Scale out issues have been a recuring topic when RPAs came out and it may be part of the challenge with AI. From your experience, what common pitfalls should organizations avoid when adopting AI agents?

5.       One of the promises of AI is improving productivity – at least this is the hope. In what ways can AI agents drive productivity and cost savings in specific industries? Any pitfalls to avoid?

6.       How can AI agents enhance customer experiences across different sectors?

7.       How can businesses maintain accountability and governance while leveraging AI agents effectively?

8.       This 2025, what is your advice for lines of business, finance, IT and security work together to design or architect or transform processes so they can avail of the promise of AI agents without introducing unnecessary risks in the process?

At FutureCFO, we will likely see finance practitioners dabble in emerging technologies in the quest to enhance real-time decision-making, optimise invoice-to-cash and source-to-pay workflows, and allows CFOs to prioritise strategic initiatives over routine tasks. 

Emerging trends such as autonomous finance, predictive analytics, and the application of AI in fraud detection are becoming vital components of this transformation.

Organisations that effectively harness these innovations are expecting to see marked improvements in efficiency, facilitate more rapid adherence to evolving compliance regulations, and remain competitive in a fast-evolving market. 

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we will delve into the practical implications of AI in the finance in 2025. Joining us on this edition of PodChats for FutureCFO, is Charlie Cheah, managing director for Esker Asia.

Interview questions for the podcast interview.

1.       As of end of 2024, what do CFOs and finance leaders in Asia think about AI for use in the finance function?

2.       What emerging trends in AI should CFOs be aware of to maintain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving financial landscape of 2025, particularly regarding compliance and risk management?

3.       How do you see AI impacting advancements in robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline invoice-to-cash and source -to-pay processes for finance leaders?

4.       How can financial leaders effectively integrate AI technologies into their existing systems while fostering a culture of innovation and adaptability within their teams?

5.       How should CFOs evaluate on-going investment strategies around AI? Any suggestions on how to futureproof such investments?

6.       What are the implications of autonomous finance on traditional finance roles, and how should CFOs prepare for these changes?

7.       Anything else?

This imperative extends beyond HR, influencing all functional leaders who must adapt to a rapidly evolving environment characterized by technological advancements, changing workforce dynamics, and heightened expectations for organizational culture.

In this context, it is crucial for leaders across all functions to engage with the pressing challenges of leadership development, workforce planning, and change management. 

By addressing these critical areas, organizations can foster a resilient and agile workforce capable of navigating the complexities of the future. 

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, Ms. Isabelle Claus (KLAUS) Teixiera (TEISERA), Founder and Managing Director, at Business and Human Development Consulting, shares tips to guide functional leaders in aligning their strategies with the evolving demands of the marketplace, ensuring they are well-equipped to drive sustainable success in 2025 and beyond.

1.       How would you describe the HR landscape in 2024? What has been most interesting, most difficult and most rewarding issues of 2024?

2.       A common recognition by IT and finance leaders is the issue of talent shortage. I imagine this is not limited to these two functions. In 2024, how did HR leaders in Asia meet these challenges?

3.       Leaders tell us that change management is an ongoing issue for them. Why is that so?

4.       What strategies can HR implement to create a strong organisational culture that aligns with the company’s business goals?

5.       Coming into 2025, how can HR leaders enhance workforce planning processes to anticipate future talent needs and capability gaps?

By addressing key questions about workplace evolution, leadership roles, technological integration, and organisational culture, businesses can position themselves to thrive in a competitive environment.

In this PodChats for FutureCOO, we are joined by Shan Moorthy, CTO for APAC at Workday to share his views on how organisations can futureproof their workforce modernisation efforts.

Questions for Workforce Modernisation

1.       Describe the workplace of 2024 in Asia and how it has evolved over the years?

2.       How has the role of the CHRO and the COO evolved during this period? How have these changes impacted the relationship between the CHRO and COO?

3.       What role does technology play in workforce modernisation efforts? How can organisations ensure that its HR technology meets current and future business needs?

4.       Given these technologies will become increasingly embedded in workflows, what metrics can leaders use to measure the effectiveness of its workforce modernisation initiatives?

5.    What will the workplace look like in 2025 and what is your advice for functional leaders to prepare for this future? 

This shift enables them to provide real-time insights and drive value creation. Moreover, CFOs will play a crucial role in sustainability efforts, aligning financial strategies with corporate social responsibility. By fostering cross-functional collaboration, they will enhance resilience and innovation, ensuring organizations navigate the complexities of the Asian market effectively.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Izzad Shamsudin, chief financial officer at KPJ Healthcare Berhad to share with us his observations, experiences and learnings in his journey towards becoming a chief financial officer. 

1.       Name the top 3 pathways to becoming a finance leader.

2.       Name 3 essential skills beyond technical expertise.

3.       How do you navigate key career transitions?

4.       Briefly describe the changing landscape of finance leadership. What has been most challenging?

5.       What, for you, has been the most important strategy for success in the C-suite?

6.       What, for you, will be interesting to expect in 2025?

7.       What is your advice for other finance leaders in 2025?

CIOs and heads of infrastructure must recognize the strategic implications of integrating WiFi7 into their connectivity strategies. Higher data rates and advanced features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO) can significantly enhance user experience, leading to improved customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. 

By addressing key considerations—such as security, budget impacts, and staff training—leaders can effectively harness WiFi7 to not only meet current demands but also unlock new business models and opportunities for growth in an increasingly connected landscape.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, Sanjiv Verma, vice president of RUCKUS Networks, APAC, CommScope, discusses key considerations for infrastructure heads looking to tap WiFi7’s promises.

1.       What are the specific business needs that Wi-Fi 7 promises to address within organisations in Asia?

2.       How will the increased capacity of Wi-Fi 7 affect existing network infrastructure?

3.       Provide 1 or 2 best practices for ensuring seamless integration of Wi-Fi 7 with existing applications and services.

4.       What potential challenges should we anticipate during the transition to Wi-Fi 7?

5.       What security measures should organisations implement to protect our network while rolling out Wi-Fi 7?

6.       How will the deployment of Wi-Fi 7 impact the IT budget and resource allocation?

7.       What training will be required to manage and maintain a Wi-Fi 7 network?

8.       What is the projected ROI for upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 compared to keeping what is in place today?

9.       How can businesses leverage Wi-Fi 7 to create new business models or improve existing services?

10.   Can you share views on what we can expect around connectivity in the next 2-3 years?

Coming into 2025, as CFOs face pressure to do more with less while driving growth and maintaining compliance, they are turning to digital solutions and holistic approaches to reshape and modernize financial processes. This transformation goes beyond simply adopting new technologies; it requires a fundamental rethinking of how finance functions operate and contribute to overall business success.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Ms Giselle Arellano-Geronimo, vice president- head of finance, accounting and procurement for Shearwater Health, as she walks us through what it takes to become a transformative finance leader in 2025.

1.       What is a transformative leader? Do you consider yourself one?

2.       In your view, can one be a transactional leader and be an equally transformational leader?

a.       Who is your one role model for a transformational leader?

3.       What metric should one use to gauge whether we have what it takes to be a transformative leader? 

a.       List must have and nice to have qualities.

4.       In building the next generation of leaders, what do you look for as qualities/traits worth building upon?

5.       How do you nurture people to become transformative leaders (even if they are not aware and may not necessarily have the initial desires to be one)? 

a.       How would you address resistance to become one?

6.       Speaking of opportunity, do you agree that everyone, at all levels of an organization, can be transformational leaders for their teams/colleagues?

7.       In closing, what is your advice for others listening to this PodChats on the topic of becoming a transformative finance leader in 2025?

With 71% of Fortune 500 companies still using mainframes, advancing technologies and evolving business drivers in 2024 highlight the challenges posed by neglecting mainframe modernisation that can lead to operational inefficiencies and risks, making it imperative for decision-makers to act decisively in embracing transformation. 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Praveen Kumar, Vice President for Asia Pacific, Rocket Software, who will pontificate on the importance of mainframe modernisation as a business-critical priority in 2025.

1.       How can CIOs align their mainframe modernisation efforts with the organisations’ broader digital transformation strategy, especially as they integrate AI technologies?

2.       What specific benefits can be drawn from modernising mainframe systems regarding operational efficiency and cost reduction?

3.       How should CIOs and HR leaders address the skills gap associated with legacy programming languages as they transition to more modern platforms?

4.       What strategies can they implement to smooth migration from legacy mainframe environments to cloud-based solutions?

5.       How can CIOs and CISOs leverage AI to enhance the performance and security of modernised mainframe systems?

6.       What role do external partners play in facilitating mainframe modernisation, and name one approach to help select the right ones?

7.       What metrics should CIOs use to measure the success of their mainframe modernisation efforts?

Sharing with us his views on just how organisations can do their part to raise community cybersecurity readiness, we are pleased to be joined by Matthias Chia, director of Strategy at the SANS Institute.

What is the SANS Institute in the context of cybersecurity?

1.       How would you assess the level of awareness and interest in cybersecurity among communities in Asia?

2.       In what ways can technology companies collaborate with educational institutions to enrich cybersecurity training?

3.       How can we measure the impact of community engagement in improving cybersecurity awareness and practices?

4.       What strategies can we implement to motivate young people to pursue careers in cybersecurity?

5.       Do you think there is, today, adequate and equitable access to cybersecurity training for all youth, especially in underserved communities?

6.       Recalling NIST’s efforts to partner with public and private organisations, can you elaborate on the role strategic partnerships play in enhancing cybersecurity resilience within local communities?

7.       At the national level, what is the role of public-private partnerships in strengthening national cybersecurity efforts?

8.       We are coming into 2025, any call to action for businesses, governments, and the communities of Asia in general on how everyone can contribute to raising community cybersecurity readiness in 2025?

Available as software, SaaS or hardware appliances, PAM tools manage privileged access for both people (system administrators and others) and machines (systems or applications). 

Gartner defines four distinct tool categories for PAM tools: privileged account and session management (PASM), privilege elevation and delegation management (PEDM), secrets management, and cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM).

It is widely expected that in 2025, PAM will be shaped by advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation, enabling more proactive and adaptive security measures. As regulatory compliance becomes more stringent across various industries in Asia, organizations will be compelled to adopt robust PAM solutions to safeguard sensitive data and ensure accountability. The convergence of hybrid work environments and cloud technologies will also necessitate re-evaluating PAM strategies, emphasizing the need for flexible yet secure access controls.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Phil Calvin, Chief Product Officer, Delinea, shares his views on some of CISOs' approaches when modernising PAM strategies for a security-first world.

1.       How have PAM tools and strategies evolved in the last two years following hybrid work, the shift to the cloud, and more recently the heightened interest in AI, ML and automation?

2.       For those that have already started to embed AI, ML and automation into their PAM strategies, what has worked and not worked?

3.       Any lessons learned when it comes to integration AI and ML into existing PAM implementations?

4.       What metrics should CISOs use to measure the effectiveness of their PAM solutions and practices?

5.       Given the heightened interest around data privacy and protection, but disparate guidelines and frameworks, what steps should CISOs/enterprises take to ensure compliance with regional regulations concerning privileged access? 

6.       How can CISOs ensure that their PAM solutions are scalable as the organization grows?

7.       What role does zero-trust play in PAM strategies and how do you see zero trust evolving in 2025 to PAM implementations?

8.       How do you see enterprises leveraging identity governance to strengthen their PAM initiatives? 

9.       Our topic is modernising PAM strategies for a security-first world, what’s in store for Privilege Access Management in 2025?

Demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) from cybersecurity initiatives can help secure ongoing support from stakeholders, drive informed decision-making, and foster a culture of security within the organization. By clearly articulating how cybersecurity investments protect assets, ensure compliance, and enhance customer trust, CISOs and CIOs can align security strategies with broader business objectives.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Steve Wilson, chief product officer at Exabeam, offers his take on how to demonstrate the business value of cybersecurity investments.

Key Questions for CISOs and CIOs

1. What is the current practice for quantifying the ROI of cybersecurity investments?
2. Is it possible to leverage cybersecurity investments to gain competitive advantage?
3. What metrics can be used to measure the effectiveness of cybersecurity programs?
4. What is a quick win in cybersecurity and what strategies can be implemented to demonstrate quick wins in cybersecurity?
5. How can CISOs/CIOs align cybersecurity goals with overall business objectives?
6. What is the most effective way to communicate cybersecurity risks to non-technical stakeholders?
7. What frameworks or standards can CISOs/CIOs adopt to benchmark their cybersecurity efforts?
8. What partnerships or collaborations can enhance an organisation’s cybersecurity capabilities?
9. We are coming into 2025, how can CISOs/CIOs ensure that their cybersecurity investments are scalable and future-proof?
10. What is your vision in your role as chief product officer for Exabeam?

With the potential for misuse in generating deepfakes, phishing attacks, and automated malware, cybersecurity leaders must prioritize robust strategies to safeguard their digital environments. Emphasizing a proactive approach that includes continuous monitoring, employee training, and the implementation of AI-driven security solutions will be crucial. In this dynamic environment, fostering collaboration between technology developers and cybersecurity professionals will ensure that the benefits of generative AI are harnessed responsibly, allowing organizations to thrive while minimizing vulnerabilities.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Terry Ray, Data Security CTO and Fellow at Imperva, shares his perspective on how to secure the new frontier with generative AI in 2025 and beyond.

1.       We’ve heard snippets of warnings. Perhaps you can elaborate more on the potential risks associated with the misuse of generative AI among organizations in Asia?

2.       Can you share one or two best practices for assessing the effectiveness of existing security measures against AI-driven attacks?

3.       In Asia, how do you see regulations and compliance requirements evolving concerning generative AI and data security?

4.       For organisations in Asia regardless of size, what remains as key challenges with the rise of AI as a cybersecurity tool to protect against cyberattacks?

5.       What are available options for organisations to ensure the integrity of data used to train generative AI models?

6.       Specific to data protection strategies, what role will generative AI play in incident response plans?

7.       What incident response case studies exist that highlight generative AI threats, and what can we learn from them?

8.       Speaking of phishing, malwares and hyper targeting, what ethical considerations should CIOs and CISOs account for when deploying generative AI in security operations?

9.       How will the adoption of generative AI affect organisations’ overall cybersecurity budget and resource allocation?

10.   Any final thoughts for AI in cybersecurity in 2025?

By cultivating an environment where security is a shared responsibility, organizations can better mitigate risks and respond effectively to threats. Encouraging open communication about security practices and integrating them into daily operations enhances resilience. 

Ultimately, a proactive security culture empowers employees to act as the first line of defense against cyber threats.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Ben King, VP for Cybersecurity Trust & Culture at Okta shares his perspective on how to foster a security-aware culture.

Ben, welcome to PodChats for FutureCISO.

1.       Where are enterprises today in Asia-Pacific, when it comes to creating and maintaining an acceptable level of security awareness among staff?

2.       What, for you, is a security-aware culture?

3.       Does it make sense to have a one-person and what role should leadership play in promoting a security-aware culture?

4.       How do organisations measure the effectiveness of their current cybersecurity training programs?

5.       What strategies have worked (not worked) to engage employees in cybersecurity awareness initiatives?

6.       How can organisations integrate security awareness into onboarding for new employees? Is this a job for HR? How and at what point should CIOs and CISOs get involved?

7.       What are the challenges organisations will face in fostering a security-aware culture in a diverse workforce and where hybrid workplace is the norm?

8.       What best practices can we adopt from organisations that excel in security culture?

9.       What metrics should organisations use to track and evaluate improvements in security-aware culture?

10.   Do carrots work better than sticks when it comes to foster a sustained security-aware culture?

11.   Coming into 2025, we can security to continue to take importance for all organisations and functions. What is your expectation in the development of security-aware cultures?

The challenge lies in ensuring that security protocols do not hinder operational agility. Organizations must be able to pivot quickly in response to market demands, technological advancements, or unforeseen disruptions while maintaining a strong security posture. This balance is crucial for minimizing risks and protecting against potential cyber threats that can exploit vulnerabilities during periods of change.

Key Considerations for Achieving Cybersecurity Resilience

To navigate this complex landscape, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and security professionals must consider several critical questions:

Mark Jobbins, Chief Technology Officer & Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Pure Storage

1.       Given us a state of the cybersecurity landscape in Asia in 2024.

2.       How should a CISO define cybersecurity resilience?

a.       What is agility in the context of cybersecurity from the perspective of a CISO?

3.       How should CISOs assess and prioritize risks associated with rapid changes in technology or business operations?

4.       What security frameworks and standards should organisations adopt to ensure compliance while remaining flexible, and without compromising agility?

5.       How can organisations integrate security into their agile development processes without slowing down innovation (or creating unnecessary friction between operations, development and security teams)?

6.       With the threat landscape continuing to escalate threat and both sides (attackers and defenders) having access to the same technologies, how should CISOs architect the company’s cyber resilience strategy to stay ahead of the threat?

7.       Balancing agility with security during periods of significant change, as a Chief Technology Officer, can you share your views/expectations around security and resiliency in 2025?

Choosing between custom solutions, vendor partnerships, or off-the-shelf software presents unique pros and cons. Custom solutions offer tailored benefits but require significant investment, while off-the-shelf options provide quick deployment with less flexibility. Regardless of the choice, prioritizing high-quality, unbiased data is essential for ethical AI outcomes. Implementing robust monitoring processes can mitigate biases in AI decisions. To address the talent gap, CIOs should invest in training programs and collaborate with educational institutions, ensuring their organizations possess the necessary skills to navigate the complexities of AI implementation effectively.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Ser Yoong Goh, head of compliance at Advance.ai Group helps us navigate the complex landscape of AI implementation.

1.           How should a CIO/compliance balance the need for transparency with the competitive advantage of proprietary AI models and algorithms?

2.           Given the evolving state of AI regulations and guidelines in Asia and globally, how will CIOs ensure ongoing compliance as the landscape shifts?

3.           Is it better to build custom AI solutions in-house, partner with external vendors, or use off-the-shelf AI software? What are the pros and cons of each approach?

4.           How are/should CIOs ensuring AI models are trained on high-quality, unbiased data that respects user privacy and data rights?

5.           What processes should be in place to monitor for and mitigate unintended biases or errors in AI-driven decisions?

6.           Given the pervading talent crunch/gap, how should CIOs address the need to have the right talent and skills in-house to successfully implement and manage AI systems? What works in terms of acquiring or developing this expertise in-house?

7.           Mel: Can you share your views on AI guardrails?

At the forefront of this movement are chief financial officers (CFOs), whose role has evolved beyond traditional financial management to encompass strategic decision-making and risk mitigation. 

In Indonesia, CFOs are now expected to be sustainability champions, integrating ESG factors into their financial planning and reporting processes. This includes identifying and mitigating ESG-related risks, allocating resources towards sustainable initiatives, and communicating the company's ESG performance to stakeholders. 

By aligning financial objectives with sustainability goals, Indonesian CFOs can help their organizations maintain a competitive edge, attract investment, and contribute to the country's broader sustainability agenda.

Joining us today on PodChats for FutureCFO is Yohanes Jeffry Johary, former CFO and now managing director at OCS Indonesia.

Questions:

1.       Is sustainable growth a new initiative (in 2024) or something that has been a priority for many businesses in recent years? How is sustainable growth related to the other priority: cost efficiency?

2.       Do you think the CFO is the best leader to drive the two goals: sustainable growth and cost efficiency? What qualifies a CFO to lead these two goals?

3.       What would be the key metrics (financial and non-financial) that a CFO must focus on to drive sustainable growth and cost efficiencies?

4.       How would CFOs integrate new initiatives like ESG and sustainability while driving positive sustainable growth and improving cost efficiency?

5.       Name one key emerging strategy that CFOs can adopt to drive sustainable growth and cost efficiency in today's rapidly changing business environment?

While some of these innovations are still in their infancy, often lacking proven use cases and the expertise to implement them, they present both a challenge and an opportunity for CIOs and CTOs. The question arises: why should leaders invest their attention and resources in these nascent technologies? And in particular, how should CTOs and CIOs approach these technologies in their quest to drive innovation, growth and profitability?

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner, to share with us his perspectives on the business value of AI and other emerging technologies.

Arun, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO. 

Autonomous AI:

1.       Are there specific business processes or functions where autonomous AI could have a significant impact? How do you map this to other efforts like autonomous finance?

2.       Concerns around AI ethics continue to rise (and mature?), can you suggest guidelines that the organisation can use to guide/govern the deployment of autonomous AI systems?

Boosting Developer Productivity:

3.       What tools and practices can CIOs adopt to streamline software development and reduce time-to-market? 

4.       How do we balance speed with quality in the development processes, without dropping the security side of DevOps (DevSecOps)?

Total Experience:

5       Do organisations pay attention to partner and employee experience?

6.   Are there any pain points in current interactions that need improvement?

Human-Centric Security and Privacy Programs:

7.   What technologies can enhance an organisation’s security posture while respecting user privacy?

8.   Is it possible to build a security-aware culture across the organisation? How do you ensure this practice is sustainable as organisations through generations of employees, customers and partners?

Any advice for CIOs, CTOs, and CFOs regarding how they should approach these emerging technologies to extract business value?

As organizations navigate digital transformation and rely heavily on data for decision-making, the partnership between these two roles has the potential to significantly enhance operational efficiency and strategic alignment. 

CFOs bring financial acumen and risk management expertise, while CIOs contribute technological insight and innovation. Together, they can leverage technology investments to drive shareholder value, improve data governance, and optimize business processes. This collaboration is essential not only for successful project execution but also for fostering a culture of agility and responsiveness within the organization.

How to make this work sustainably is the subject of this special edition of PodChats for FutureCFO and FutureCIO. Joining us to share his perspective on the topic is Andrew Seow, Regional General Manager, South East Asia and Greater China, Rimini Street.

1.       Looking back, have these personas worked well together in the past? Why or why not?

2.       What is the secret to getting the two personas, each with its own strengths, weaknesses and priorities, working together effectively?

3.       Not all IT projects, including digital transformation, are guaranteed to work the first time every time. How should each leader approach these projects to minimise failures when such becomes inevitable?

4.       If there is a clash, how should the two roles approach the differences to come out with a solution that is mutually beneficial for the two roles and the company as a whole?

5.       Who is the best intermediary when faced with an escalating clash of personas?

6.       Can you list three actions critical to achieving a strong, and lasting, CFO-CIO partnership?

7.       What is your expectations for 2025? 

According to the Veeam Ransomware Trends 2024, APJ edition, leaders in the region are increasing their budgets for cyber prevention and detection by 6.3%, while spending on recovering technologies will rise by 6.2%. The figures are double the forecasted IT budget increase of 3.5%, according to Gartner.

As organisations in Asia up their cyber readiness postures, it may be critical to revisit some of the issues, challenges, opportunities and options, that organisations will need to address as they look to improve their cyber resilience.

Beni Sia, general manager and senior vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan at Veeam Software joins us on this edition of PodChats for FutureCISO.

1.       Whose job is cyber resilience? We often hear of breaches. In practice, who is held accountable for failure to achieve cyber resilience?

2.       Give us a state of cyber resilience of enterprises in Asia as of August 2024.

3.       Given the state of awareness around cyber threats (and presumably measures taken to mitigate these risks), where are the top three vulnerability points for most enterprises in Asia?

4.       How are enterprises addressing these vulnerabilities? Is this sufficient? 

5.       What can enterprises do better to further lower the cost/risks of attacks like ransomware? Conversely, what are they doing not too well thereby being less effective than on paper?

6.       How can we leverage emerging technologies without introducing new vulnerabilities?

7.       I am aware that cyber resilience, including data resilience, cannot be achieved solely through one’s efforts – that this is a collaborative effort by many, if not all. How can the CISO ensure that they are not introducing new vulnerabilities by engaging with others – 
 In the digital economy, businesses rely on external partners, parties, regulators, and security experts out there.

8.       Finally coming into 2025, what is your advice for CISOs, and other members of the C-suite and board, to ensure the effectiveness of their strategies, frameworks and practices not just against ransomware, but against all threats both internal and external?

AI-powered ERP systems can help address regional challenges such as complex regulatory environments, diverse currencies, and rapidly changing market conditions by providing more agile and responsive financial tools. 

However, challenges such as data security concerns, the need for specialized AI talent, and cultural adaptation to AI-driven decision-making processes may require careful navigation.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Sunil Wahi, Vice President of APAC Solution Engineering, Applications at Oracle, to talk about Intersection of AI and ERP for Business Success.

1.       How can finance function leverage AI-driven cloud ERP tools to provide timely, strategic insights that drive accurate decision-making in the rapidly evolving Asian markets?

2.       How can we ensure the seamless integration of analytics, machine learning, and AI into the organization's core technology stack while maintaining data integrity and security?

3.       In what ways can finance enhance the organisation’s business resilience against regional disruptions through advanced AI-driven planning and forecasting?

4.       How can finance address the skills gap and cultural challenges associated with implementing AI-powered financial systems in our diverse Asian workforce?

5.       What measures should finance take to ensure compliance with varying regional regulations while leveraging AI for financial reporting and risk management?

6.       How can finance optimize current supply chain and procurement processes using AI-ERP integration, considering the complexities of Asian markets and trade relationships?

7.       What strategies can finance employ to maximize the ROI of our AI-ERP investments?

A sustainable talent management strategy is key to building a pipeline of skilled professionals committed to the organization's long-term success. Just what those strategies are is why we are here today.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Vignesh Kannan, vice president, of business process services with the Everest Group.

1.       How real is the talent crunch in the finance function (can you regionalise to Asia)?

2.       Why do we struggle with talent acquisition and retention (particularly post-pandemic)?

3.       What new skills/behaviours will be needed in the finance function? (answer: storytelling)

4.       To what extent will tech, data, and compliance skills impact the talent crunch?

5.       Name a proven strategy to creating a balanced approach in recruiting, onboarding, training and up-skilling finance talent. 

6.       Should finance leaders encourage experimentation among finance teams and do so without introducing friction or uncontrolled risks? 

7.       Name an effective approach for the finance team to collaborate on finance talent management with HR.

8.       What advice to share for finance leaders/professionals for the coming years?

Scaling AI in the workforce involves integrating artificial intelligence technologies to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and create new job roles while addressing potential challenges related to human experience, trust, and job displacement.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Ricky Kapur, head of APAC for Zoom, shares his views on how CIOs can lead their organisations as they scale AI in the workforce.

1.       In Asia, how do you see enterprises, led by the CIO, are arming their workforce with AI-assisted tools to improve productivity and well-being?

2.       What strategies can organizations use to ensure AI integration does not undermine trust and empathy in the workplace?

3.       How can businesses address the potential for AI to perpetuate systemic bias in the workforce?

4.       What are some effective methods for fostering a culture of learning when introducing AI tools?

5.       How can companies ensure data privacy while using AI-driven feedback loops for workforce insights?

6.       How can companies balance the benefits of AI with the need to maintain human connections?

7.       Our topic is scaling AI in the workplace. Can you cite a couple of best practices for ensuring properly scaling their AI initiatives? Any pitfalls to avoid?

The rapid growth of data and the increasing complexity of managing it in the age of AI and hybrid cloud environments present significant challenges for organisations. As AI adoption accelerates, enterprises must rethink their data storage, management, and processing strategies to support performance-intensive workloads like generative AI. 

Faced with mounting pressures to support growth and profitability, how should CIOs architect their IT strategy so that it is able to adapt to changing market conditions, nearly unpredictable technology innovations, and yet to be ironed out regulations around data privacy, security and ethical practices?

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Matthew Hardman, APAC chief technology officer for Hitachi Vantara, to share with us his views on crafting meaningful data strategies for the AI-native enterprise.

1.       [Setting the scene] Where are Asian enterprises today around data management? 

2.       [Data management] How can we streamline data management processes to handle the increasing volume and complexity of data?

3.       [Performance] How are enterprises addressing the need to minimise operational latency while improving data movement in hybrid cloud environments?

4.       [Operations] What’s the right balance between on-premises infrastructure and cloud services?

5.       [Security] How can CIOs ensure data security and compliance across different cloud environments? (multi-public and private plus edge)  

6.       [Compliance] Given the difference in national laws relating to data use, how should CIOs prioritize data governance across borders?

7.       [Scalability vs sustainability] What data strategies can we adopt to balance the need for scalability with sustainability goals in our AI and cloud initiatives?

8.       [The future] Given all the unpredictability that lies ahead, ahead suggestion for CIOs?

Zero trust segmentation emerges as a viable option for enhancing cybersecurity postures, as it addresses the challenges posed by dissolving network perimeters and the increasing complexity of IT environments. 
As Asian companies continue to grapple with cybersecurity challenges in 2024, zero trust segmentation offers a promising approach to fortify their defences against evolving threats.

John Kindervag, chief evangelist at Illumio and creator of the zero trust security model, joins FutureCISO to share his views on the following:

• You are credited with creating the concept “zero trust”. What was the inspiration for this?
• 14 years on, where do you think organisations, regulators and security vendors are as it relates to zero trust?
• Let’s go into zero trust segmentation. What is zero trust segmentation?
• What are the key challenges CISOs and CIOs face when implementing zero trust segmentation?
• What are the potential downsides of over-segmenting a network?
• How can zero trust segmentation be integrated with existing cybersecurity frameworks? 
• Are all segmentation network technologies equal and what questions should CISOs/CIOs/network security teams be looking at to ensure that whatever solution they take is right for their environment?
• What is your advice for CISOs/CIOs concerning zero trust and network segmentation?

However, this transformative technology also presents complex ethical challenges that must be navigated with utmost care and responsibility. 

As GenAI systems become increasingly integrated into various aspects of our lives, fostering consumer trust rises in importance. Organizations are thus being asked to prioritize transparency, accountability, and ethical governance to ensure GenAI is developed and deployed in alignment with societal values and expectations. 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we cover key topics that are coming to the fore in the race to harness the value of AI technology without losing our humanity in the process.

Proactive measures, such as mitigating biases, protecting user privacy, and engaging diverse stakeholders, are crucial to building public confidence and maintaining the integrity of these powerful technologies. 

By embracing ethical principles and establishing robust frameworks, we can harness the immense potential of GenAI while safeguarding the well-being of individuals and communities.

Helping us explore the ethical boundaries of GenAI is Philip Madgwick, Regional Vice President, Asia, Alteryx.

Transparency: How can we ensure transparency in our genAI systems to build trust with consumers?

Data Privacy: What measures are in place to protect consumer data used by genAI technologies?

Bias and Fairness: How do we address potential biases in genAI algorithms to ensure fairness across diverse Asian demographics?

Regulatory Compliance: Are our genAI practices compliant with Asia’s varying data protection and privacy laws?

Ethical Standards: What ethical standards guide the development and deployment of our genAI solutions?

Accountability: Who is accountable for decisions made by genAI systems, and how is this communicated to consumers?

Security Measures: What security measures are implemented to safeguard genAI systems from misuse or malicious attacks?

Cultural Sensitivity: How do we ensure our genAI applications are culturally sensitive and respectful of Asian values?

Innovation vs. Ethics: How do we balance the drive for innovation with ethical considerations in the use of genAI?

Consumer Education: How do we educate consumers about the benefits and risks of genAI?

Finally, what is your advice for enterprises looking to deploy genAI to reduce risk and improve success in adopting/benefiting in the use of the technology?

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, we are joined by Ms Giselle Arellano-Geronimo, Vice President, Head of Finance Accounting & Procurement at Shearwater Health.

1.       In reviewing today’s finance teams via-s-via an organisation’s digital transformation and the call for finance to enhance its value to the organisation and its shareholders, in your view what areas do finance professionals do well today?

a.       What are the key skills that our finance team needs to develop to better understand and drive business value?

2.       How can we leverage AI and other advanced technologies to enhance the team’s financial analysis and decision-making processes?

3.       How can we identify and address skill gaps within our finance department to ensure we have the necessary capabilities?

4.       What strategies can we implement to ensure that our upskilling efforts align with our overall business strategy and goals?

5.       How can we foster collaboration between finance and other business functions to maximize the value derived from upskilling?

Organizations must adopt advanced techniques, such as behavioural analytics and biometric authentication, to detect and prevent synthetic identity fraud effectively. Failure to address this threat could result in substantial financial losses, damage to reputation, and erosion of customer trust.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Johan Fantenberg, Principal Solutions Architect, APJ, Ping Identity, to walk us through what synthetic identity is, how it is evolving with AI assistance, and measures CISOs can implement to counter the rising threat.

1.       What are synthetic identities, how are they created, and who (businesses/industries) are threatened most by these?

2.       Given all the experiences against fraud, all the technologies available today including AI-driven identity management solutions, and measures like AML/KYC, why should synthetic identities remain a concern for enterprises?

3.       Why is it challenging to detect synthetic identities during the account creation process?

4.       How can an organisation protect against synthetic identities created through the combination of legitimate and fake data?

5.       How can behavioural assessment and bot detection techniques be used to identify and prevent synthetic identity fraud?

6.       Who should be in charge of strategies to combat the threat of synthetic identity?

Fast forward to 2024, we see a workforce that demands empowerment from their employers. Talent has reached new levels of mobility and workers know this.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, we look at how technology is reshaping the workforce, and in particular those at the frontlines. To give clarity on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, we are joined by Steven Kramer, CEO and Co-founder, WorkJam.

1.       Define for us frontline workforce?

2.       How has this frontline workforce evolved from before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and now post-pandemic?

3.       WorkJam worked with Forrester on a study in 2023 that revealed digital transformation initiatives were not reaching the frontlines. Can you elaborate more on the research findings? 

4.       What are the true business costs/ consequences of poor frontline employee experience (EX) to businesses, particularly in industries like retail, healthcare, manufacturing and logistics?

5.       What tends to be the characteristics of organisations that have more mature digital frontline practices versus those that have low awareness or maturity? Can you highlight industries, particularly in the Asia Pacific region that has higher or lower maturity? 

6.       The Forrester study was done from late 2022 to 2023, what has changed since then? What are the main drivers for the digital transformation of the frontlines today? 

a.       What impedes companies’ adoption of frontline operationalization technologies? 

7.       What is the number one motivation for companies to invest in employee communication, scheduling, task management and learning? 

8.       What are some of the tangible business benefits (top and bottom lines) for customers/employees? (Dollars and Hearts) 

9.       Who should drive this frontline transformation?

10.   What are your thoughts about AI and its use in technologies for the frontline? 

11.   What is your advice for organisations that want to put frontline transformation as an imperative? In addition to the CEO driving this, how should the organisation come together to make it happen?

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Gaurav Keerthi, head of Advisory and Emerging Business at Ensign InfoSecurity, shares his views on what the amendment bill means to organizations in Singapore, and perhaps to those that operate in the ASEAN region.

1.       Can you give us a background of the CSA-proposed Cybersecurity Amendment Bill? What are the main regulatory changes proposed and new requirements?

2.       What will be the projected effects (both positive and negative) of this new law on Singapore enterprises? [Singapore CCOP]

3.       Outside of the banking and financial services industry who follow stringent cybersecurity regulations, what kind of enterprises (type of businesses) will be most affected by such regulatory changes?

4.       Speaking of compliance, what steps can enterprises take to comply with new requirements and regulations? To what extent will the amendments require changes in how organisations currently cybersecurity practices? 

5.       Singapore has led the ASEAN region when it comes to cybersecurity readiness. How do you see these developments in Singapore influencing other regulators in ASEAN?

6.       Finally, what is your advice for CISOs and CIOs as it relates to processing cybersecurity regulations in the years to come?

However, some innovations like artificial intelligence and even digitalization bring with them new risks in areas like cybersecurity, operational resilience and ethics.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Joseph Lo, Head of Enterprise Platforms at Broadridge, who will share his views on what he sees are key financial services transformation trends in Asia in 2024.

1.       Give us a state of the financial services industry (FSI) in Asia today? To what extent has digital transformation become the norm for these?

2.       How are FSIs balancing the aspiration to go digital against the need to deepen customer connection?

3.       As banks evolve (and mature in their use of technology), some risks get amplified. How are banks addressing the risks that come as a result of going digital/modernization?

4.       The FSI is one of the most regulated sectors. How do FSIs push the boundaries of innovation using emerging technologies like AI while recognizing that any new innovation needs to be aligned with regulation.

5.       Speaking of technology, there is genuine interest in adopting new technologies like AI. How should FSIs, particularly those with legacy systems and technologies in place, safely address the issue of integrating new technologies with legacy ones, while minimizing any potential disruption?

6.       In recent years, we’ve seen a spate of disruptions at major banks in Asia. A number of these due in part to technology and/or process issues. Are systems and processes today so complex, they are leading to unplanned disruptions? What can be done to minimize/mitigate these?

7.       What do you see will be key issues and trends that CIOs need to be aware of in 2024 and beyond?

Gartner VP analyst Todd Kimbriel says government CIOs must find new ways to meet citizen demands for modern, accessible and resilient services, by focusing on sustainable and scalable technology.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Keith Nelson, senior industry strategist for the public sector at OpenText, to share us his views on how to put the smart in government services.

1.       What is Artificial Intelligence in the context of government/public services?

2.       Name some use cases among early adopters of AI in the government/public sector.

3.       What will be the primary challenges of government CIOs in the AI adoption journey?

4.       Some governments (in Asia and around the world) are drafting AI governance frameworks. Can you name three best-in-class frameworks to date?

5.       Gartner’s Dean Lacheca says “a lack of empathy in service delivery and a failure to meet community expectations will undermine public acceptance of GenAI’s use in citizen-facing services.” Do you agree or disagree with this assessment? How should governments go about addressing this?

6.       In the AI adoption journey, should governments focus on deploying AI on backend processes first or citizen services?

7.       What is your advice for government CIOs as they look to adapt/adopt AI-centric solutions and practices in the delivery of government services?

The 2024 International Women’s Day theme of inclusion may be an appropriate starting point in the journey towards parity. Joining us on PodChats for FutureCFO is Marisa Azman, regional chief financial officer for ENGIE South East Asia, for her perspective on the topic.

1.       Looking at the finance function today, how have women participation across the function evolved?

a.       What are the three most common barriers faced by women in corporate finance?

2.       Is gender diversity a real cause for concern in the finance function? 

3.       In which areas are women least visible/prominent and why? (unconscious bias)

4.       Our topic is Filling the Gender Gap. In your experience where are women finance leaders excelling, and how should these successful professionals hone the next generation of women professional leaders?

5.       Can you share an inspirational story of a woman leader in finance?

6.       Going forward, how can/should organisations measure progress towards gender equality?

How will these developments, on top of developments around identity security, and AI in security among other things.

In recognition of Identity Management Day, FutureCISO spoke to Chern-Yue Boey, senior vice president, Asia-Pacific, SailPoint, on the latest trends impacting identity management strategies in 2024.

1.       What is identity management? (identity security)

a.       Why is identity management important to organisations, and to security professionals?

2.       In recent years, how have organisations evolved in their adoption of identity management?

3.       In your opinion, what factors influenced how organisations adopt identity management?

4.       Speaking of looking back, what were the three most important challenges organisations faced in keeping their identity management strategies/practices in step with changing regulations, practices and technologies?

5.       (Speaking of what we don’t know or know little of) With AI now making its influence felt across many parts of the organisation, how should security professionals revisit identity management strategies to reflect the growing influence of AI?

6.       What is your advice/view on how security professionals should bring AI into the cybersecurity practice in 2024 (and beyond)?

Recognising the high expectations CEOs and business unit leaders have on AI puts a heavier burden on the CIO to manage expectations and the reality of integrating an emerging technology into existing operational processes – ensuring that in the interim nothing is disrupted and the company remains compliant with existing regulations.

But deciding how best to proceed means factoring AI into business value, risk, talent and investment priorities? In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Simon Ma, senior director & regional manager for ASEAN at Freshworks, offers his take on how CIOs can best manage AI deployment across the enterprise.

1.       What is your assessment of AI adoption in ASEAN in 2024?

2.       As I understand it, business leaders are expecting much from AI. How should CIOs respond to this perhaps hype-driven expectation of the technology?

3.       In ASEAN, what are the most challenging aspects CIOs will face as they put in place (and execute) their AI roadmap?

4.       Any recommendation for how to integrate AI into existing technologies? And scale AI where it is deemed most impactful?

5.       Speaking of change, given the current worker concerns about AI potentially replacing jobs, any suggestions for how CIOs, HR and functional leaders ensure adoption of AI?

6.       Every new technology will likely have areas of hiccups, including AI adoption. Any suggestions on how to respond to such hiccups?

7.       Looking ahead, beyond the AI hype, what are the trends for CIOs to prioritize in 2024?

In the Asimily report, IoT Device Security in 2024: The High Cost of Doing Nothing, it was concluded that breach tactics continue to evolve, that routers have become the favourite attack vector accounting for 70% of IoT infections, and manufacturing continues to be the top target among industries.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, we revisit the topic of how to reduce IoT risks. Joining to discuss the matter is Barry Mainz, CEO at Forescout.

1.       Can you give the key points of The Enterprise of Things Security Report by Fourscout Research Labs?

a.       What do we don’t know already about the insecurity of IoT devices and technologies?

2.       There are those that claim that breaches can occur by way of unsecured IoT devices. Can you confirm or elaborate on this?

3.       Given the rising level of awareness of the risks associated with enterprise IoT, what is being done? And if none, why?

4.       Where are the areas of IoT that present the greatest risks?

5.       Name 3 questions CIOs/heads of OT and security, need to ask as part of an IoT deployment.

6.       Recapping: Our topic is reducing IoT risks. Given what we know about IoT adoption trends, evolving cyber threat landscape specific to IoT, and innovations in areas like machine learning and artificial intelligence, do we have any hope of reducing IoT risks, and can you name three action items for whoever should be responsible for securing enterprise IoT?

7.       You mentioned about Fourscout coming in to look at an organisation’s asset to check for possible vulnerabilities. How receptive are businesses to this approach?

Finding and retaining talent poses significant challenges and opportunities in Asia and around the world. One of the main challenges is the increasing competition for skilled professionals in the global job market. As economies grow and industries evolve, the demand for highly qualified candidates often exceeds the available supply. This talent shortage can make it difficult for companies to find, attract and retain the right talent for their specific needs. Additionally, cultural and language barriers, as well as differences in labour laws and regulations, can further complicate talent acquisition and management processes.

These challenges present opportunities for companies to explore innovative solutions such as the Employer of Record (EOR) model. An Employer of Record is a service provider that acts as the legal employer of workers on behalf of client companies. This model can help organizations fulfill their talent needs anywhere in the world by leveraging the EOR's expertise in navigating local labor markets, compliance requirements, and administrative tasks. By partnering with an EOR, companies can access a global talent pool, streamline their hiring processes, and ensure compliance with local employment laws. This not only expands their reach but also enables them to focus on core business activities while leaving the complexities of HR and employment administration to the EOR. Ultimately, the Employer of Record model offers a flexible and efficient solution to finding and retaining talent on a global scale.

Jim McCoy, CEO of Atlas HXM reveals the nuissances organisations will face in the quest to acquire the right talent anywhere in the world, and how EORs like Atlas fill those needs.

1. How would you typify or describe the international expansion activities of APAC companies? Are there any distinct trends that you can observe in markets like Hong Kong, China, or Singapore?
2. In terms of challenges. So for enterprises that are on expansion mode, whether global or regional, there's almost always a shortage, crunch in skilled people. With the hybrid work environment, has it complicated the model of acquiring or are using an organization such as yours, the EOR, to fill in the roles that they need?
3. In terms of similarities, or differences in how enterprises in markets like, like Hong Kong, or Singapore, or the less developed markets, like Malaysia, for example, as they start to look at these expansion strategies that they have, are there any unique elements, traits that you're noticing that are unique in the sense that it's unique to Asia, or it's the doesn't matter whether it's a European company trying to expand even within the same region? 
4. Are there any emerging risks that as an organization, Atlas, encounters these days, as you try and employ become as you already are for other organs for your clients, that you're observing in the market now? 
5.  On technology – you mentioned automation, partly to help with the process, but you still need to have the human interface in there.  These days, there's a lot of chatter around AI, for example. And of course, automation is starting to mature a little bit in software automation. What technologies have you observed are becoming more prominent in us as augmenting IE or supporting your atlases business, globally oriented?
6. When you onboard a new client or new customer, what's the most challenging aspect of onboarding a new client to the Atlas way of doing business?
7. So you said, if you have a large multinational customer, client that's expanding the market. And they have existing systems and processes in place where in terms of talent management, and it doesn't sync very well with the way you've set up? How do you negotiate or make the two compatible? 
8. what's your biggest challenge these days? As you know

By embracing diversity and fostering inclusion, companies can better understand the unique perspectives and requirements of their customers, leading to more personalized and tailored products and services.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we look at how inclusive practices play a significant role in building trust and loyalty among customers in Asia. And how by incorporating inclusive strategies in their operations, businesses can tap into new market segments and reach a wider customer base. 

Ultimately, prioritizing inclusion not only enhances the overall customer experience but also contributes to the long-term success and sustainability of businesses in the diverse and dynamic market landscape of Asia.

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCIO is Ms Jacqueline Guichelaar, SVP & GM, Customer Experience, APJ & GC, Cisco.

1.       The IWD2024 theme is inclusion. How would you relate “customer experience” and inclusion?

2.       Specific to IWD2024, to what extent does this sense of belonging, relevance and empowerment exist in your organisation? In your role? In the society/community you live in?

3.       What is the most prevalent obstacle to inclusion (narrowing to CX)?

4.       Drawing from your experience, what can learn in terms of achieving inclusion (narrowing to CX)?

5.       Your role has two faces: internal (marshalling your team) and external (customers and partners) How will you inspire inclusion (in your function/in the enterprise)?

6.       How do you plan to elevate your commitment to inspiring inclusion?

This is known as digital transformation fatigue, and it’s a growing trend as companies grapple to keep pace with constant change.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Peter Man, General Manager, Red Hat Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, to get his perspective on overcoming digital transformation fatigue.

1.       Why are we seeing digital transformation (DX) fatigue?

2.       What are the signs and symptoms of DX fatigue?

3.       What are the most common causes of DX fatigue?

4.       Name some proven metrics for identifying and measuring DX fatigue particularly on employee morale and productivity?

5.       Name three strategies to prevent or minimize DX fatigue in the workplace?

6.       Speaking of leaders, what role does leadership play in addressing this DX fatigue?

7.       Insert Melinda question here

8.       Into 2024, we anticipate continued acceleration, if not updating, what steps do you recommend leadership implement to counter the development of DX fatigue?

The latest IDC FutureScape report predicts that AI and automation technologies will remain central to tech investment initiatives. 

According to Dr Lily Phan, Research Director, Intelligent Automation at IDC Asia/Pacific AI is needed to lower operational costs, reduce staffing pressure, revamp end-user experience, and democratize decision-making power. The adaptability and efficiency offered by AI and automation solutions can provide the technologies that can mitigate staff shortage and economic challenges," she added.

With AI hype still high, Asia-Pacific businesses that are dipping their finder into the technology, they must ask themselves: how do they move beyond experiments and unlock real business value with AI? 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by David Irecki, director of solutions consulting for APJ with Boomi, to share with us his views on the “secret path” to practical AI.

1.       What is the problem that organisations will face as they implement AI?

2.       What do we mean by “practical AI”?

3.       Can we use this practical approach generative AI to accelerate current digital transformation initiatives?

4.       What happens when an organisation is integrating AI into their transformation journey only to realise it's not as easy as marketing makes it out to be?

5.       Looking ahead, what key considerations should businesses prioritize to "future-proof" their AI initiatives and remain competitive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape?

6.       This 2024, what are your expectations around AI including how it is evolving, and the approaches organisations are taking to operationalise the technology into current and evolving business processes?

Just as important, as development teams start to include automation tools in the development cycle, how can they maintain control over the quality of the software, including keeping code secure.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Kelvin Lim, Senior Director of Security Engineering, Synopsys, to talk about navigating the complexities of AI-generated code.

1.      Give us the state of in-house software development today. 

2.      How is software development evolving in response to the rise in AI-generated code?

3.      What are the primary security vulnerabilities inherent in AI-generated code?

4.      What are the key considerations that teams/organisations should consider when integrating AI-generated code into their software?

5.      How will AI-generated code impact DevSecOp cycle? (report Stanford 2022 – development teams code written by GenAI is less secure)

6.      Given the rapid pace of tech innovation, what do you anticipate in the future evolution of GenAI and its implications for software development practices?

7.      Ask Mel – data poisoning impact AI code generation.

8.      What is your advise for use of Gen AI?

With sustainability and climate change high on the agenda for many businesses, a multi-prong challenge of data centres is meeting customers’ net zero emissions goals, and their own targets. What can data centre operators do to save energy while keeping equipment operating on optimum environments?

In today’s PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Terry Miaolo, VP & GM, APAC, OVHcloud, to talk about operational strategies to meet sustainable data centres.

1.       Please give us a State of the Data Centre in Asia today.

2.       Focusing specifically on the operational aspects of data centres, what are the key environmental issues that all data centre operators must overcome?

3.       We’ve seen Governments in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and almost everywhere around the region, including Australia, proposing, if not accelerating national AI strategies. For data centre operators, particularly in Asia, how are they responding to this demand? At the same time, how do you see them fine-tuning their operations so that they can remain on point when it comes to their own net zero emissions targets?

4.       For data centre operators and hyperscalers, what is your recommendation for them to stay ahead, and on course around sustainability practices, while at the same time supporting new business needs and new opportunities such as AI?

5.       What does OVHcloud bring to the table?

6.       For data centres wanting to be more sustainable, what can be their first practical step towards their sustainability journey?

7.       Since we're talking about data centres, the ability to operate them more efficiently and all that, anything that you think we should include?

8.       With the proliferation of new data centres to meet the demands, introduced by a greater need for AI and sustainable operations, what's your forecast like for the data centre market? What will it look like in 2024 and going ahead?

At 62.86%, email remains the preferred communication channel among businesses. According to Statista, people check their work emails 172 minutes a day while Harvard Business Review claims professionals check their emails an average of 15 times a day.

With so much information, undoubtedly, many business-critical and with the proliferation of tools to illegally tap or hack those messages, how are companies such critical assets?

In today’s PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Robert Holmes, group VP of sender security and authentication at Proofpoint to talk about once such approach to protecting such assets.

1. In the context of today’s business environment, what is a DMARC? It sounds very technical. What does it mean for the non-technical expert? Why should they care?

2. In your view, what is the percentage of emails currently using this DMARC protocol? 

3. How do we prepare for this evolving digital landscape? 

4. When it comes to emails, who is in charge of border controls?

5. Is incorporating DMARC going to be an expansive initiative?

6. With AI a force for good and bad, can we rely on DMARC alone to protect email?

7. What is your message to technology, security and business leaders in 2024?

1.       What is AI governance?

2.       What has given rise to AI governance?

3.       What is involved/included in AI governance?

1. Who should be involved in drafting/managing an organisation's AI governance strategy?

4.       Are all AI governance approaches equal? (i.e., can enterprise use the same template to build their AI governance?

5.       What are the critical components of an enterprise-grade AI governance?

6.       Can you cite notable learnings for C-suite leaders and the Board in the pursuit of an AI governance strategy?

7.       Where does AI ethics fit into an organisation’s AI governance strategy?

8.       Can you elaborate on the urgency to build an AI governance framework?

9.       What does IBM bring to the table when it comes to AI governance?

10.   How would an organisation approach vendors, like IBM, to better plan and manage their AI governance strategy?

11.   What is your advice for C-suite leaders when it comes to AI governance into 2024?

On the topic of sustainability, Gartner says in 2024 organizations will begin to highlight and promote direct climate change protections as a key part of their benefit offerings. Just how will organisations address the concerns of employees while complying with shifting regulations around sustainable business practices, as well as execute and sustain their own net-zero strategies? 

Can we finally harness the data we are collecting about employees, customers, business partners, and government regulations to create an environment that is supportive of everyone’s interests? 

Joining us today on PodChats for FutureIoT is Haran Shivanan, CEO of iviva.

1.       Describe the modern workplace in the digital present (post-pandemic).

2.       The concept of a more efficient, more user-friendly work environment has been around for years. What is different about the situation facing employers and employees today?

3.       How do you see sustainability and commitments to net zero impact how businesses plan and operate their work environments?

4.       How can landlords and building operators support tenants’ sustainability objectives?

5.       Property consultant Knight Frank says 2024 will continue to favour tenants as companies prioritise optimising space. What is your advice for landlords and building operators?

6.       What questions to ask when evaluating the technology/solutions towards achieving?

For decades passwords have been the most popular mode of authentication when accessing computing resources including applications and data. However, in recent years, its effectiveness has been called into question given its susceptibility to phishing, brute-force attacks and insider threats. 

Today, it is widely recognised that passwords, even the use of multifactor authentication, alone are not enough to secure users, networks and systems.

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Johan Fantenberg, Principal Solutions Architect, APJ, Ping Identity, to talk about how technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence maybe be influencing the evolution of authentication.

 Johan, welcome to PodChats for FutureCISO.

1.      What are the different types of authentication that have a potential to displace or augment current password methods?

2.      Set a baseline: What is passwordless?

3.      What are the challenges with going passwordless?

4.      How do you address concerns about the feasibility and practicality of implementing passwordless security solutions across different industries and sectors?

5.      Is there a role for AI in the passwordless security marketplace? 

6.      How should CISOs incorporate AI-embedded practices and technologies to enhance their security posture?

7.      Can you cite examples of passwordless authentication?

8.      You mentioned FIDO 2 Alliance early on. 

9.      Cost of deploying passwordless authentication technology.

10.  Looking ahead, what trends do you foresee shaping the future of cybersecurity, particularly in the realm of authentication and access management?

Stress levels are also increased among 55% of respondents to the study, with 86% of respondents who have experienced an increase in attacks over the past 12 months attributing the attacks to the use of generative AI.

To help understand how CISOs and SOC leaders can raise the level of efficiency through insights, we are joined by Nick Lim, VP of APAC for Tanium.

1. In your view, what are the hurdles to SecOps efficiency?

2. Do you see AI (identify which AI variant) can improve SecOps efficiency? Briefly describe how.

3. How does an organisation integrate AI into SecOps without adding further risks with the runaway use of AI tools like GenAI?

4. What are the top 3 areas to consider before bringing AI into SecOps?

5. Summing it up? How do you see AI transforming SecOps?

In this PodChat for FutureCISO, Check Point Software Technologies’ president for APJ, Sharat Sinha, summarises the region’s cybersecurity landscape, its leaders’ concerns and some options for moving forward.

1. How has cybersecurity in Asia evolved since the end of the pandemic?

2. As I understand it, cybersecurity is now an all-of-enterprise concern. And yet, different personas view their involvement and responsibility differently. Among leading organisations in Asia, what is the best practice when it comes to ensuring participation in cybersecurity matters?

3. Given the increased concern around escalating costs (particularly in the use of cloud and now AI), how should CISOs work with CIOs and CFOs to better manage the rising cost of cybersecurity? 

4. Given the many options and pathways to securing the business, what is your advice for CISOs and Boards looking at their cybersecurity options in 2024 and beyond?

It is this diversity of form, function and technology, and the proliferation of multiple standards or protocols that has limited the ability of IT and security teams to integrate the security of IoT technologies into the enterprise.

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is the convergence of connectivity and security helping organizations to achieve a consistent security posture by implementing a decentralised concept where security is provided directly at the source, with the management of all involved components done in the cloud.

SASE promises to bring IoT into the security framework of the organisation. Amit Bareket, VP for Secure Service Edge at Check Point explains the possibility in the following dialogue with FutureIoT.

1. What are the top challenges faced in OT security in 2024?

2. What are the key components of OT security?

3. Should OT security be outsourced? (not sure if relevant to the overall story)

4. For a long time, the security of operational technology has been kept out of the IT’s portfolio. Given the recent rise in attacks against critical and industrial systems, do you see a convergence of IT and OT security and who will lead the charge?

5. How does IoT fit into SASE (and vice versa)?

It doesn’t help that cyber-skills and talent shortages continue to widen, with 52% of public organisations citing this lack of talent and resources as the biggest challenge when designing for cyber resilience.

In the race to develop the next generation of tools and techniques, FutureCISO spoke to Gil Shwed, founder and CEO, of Check Point Software Technologies, for his thoughts on the next evolution of cybersecurity.

1. In your view, what are the three biggest developments in cybersecurity in 2024?

2. How will these developments impact cybersecurity practice and profession in the years ahead?

3. With the maturing of AI, is it time to practice offensive cybersecurity? 

                a. How will this offensive strategy impact the CISO’s team in the performance of their duties?

4. There is an expectation that AI will be embedded in many of the critical business applications. How will this impact SecOps? Any suggestions for CIOs and CISOs to ready their respective teams for this inevitability?

FutureCISO spoke to Rupal Hollenbeck, president of Check Point Software Technologies, on the long road for women in cybersecurity.

1. What is your view of women representation in the cybersecurity space?

2. Estimates put women professionals in cybersecurity at 24%. What is driving this inequality in representation in the cybersecurity space?

3. What needs to happen to encourage greater participation of women in the cybersecurity space?

4. For women aspiring to enter the security space, what characteristics must they hone, qualifications do they need to build?

5. What personal risks should those interested in pursuing a CISO career keep in mind?

6. Any advice for those interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity?

Forrester predicts that enterprise AI initiatives will boost productivity and creative problem-solving by 50% in 2024, and the benefits promised cut across all functions in the organisation, including operations, marketing and sales, customer service, finance and of course IT. 

But exactly how these functions will benefit from Gen AI will likely depend on how well the technology is understood, what types of use cases are adopted, and how well employees embrace the enterprise applications that will eventually be deployed.

What is clear is that the Gen AI honeymoon is fast nearing its end as C-suite leaders get a better handle on the risks that come with unbridled use of the technology. 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Leslie Joseph, a principal analyst at Forrester, answers some of the most perplexing questions that GenAI brings to the table.

1.       What do most organisations in Asia, and its leaders, understand when it comes to generative AI?

a.       How would you compare how leadership and the rest of the company feel about GenAI?

2.       Some contend that GenAI has the potential to democratise data analytics? Can you elaborate on this? 

3.       GenAI is still relevant young. How do you see hardware, software and solutions evolving as AI and ML techniques mature? 

a.       Is the infrastructure of today ready to support the evolving AI technologies?

4.       What measures/safeguards are needed to ensure responsible use of GenAI? (Level 100?)

5.       Do you see GenAI leading to IT team burnout?

6.       What is the future of GenAI? How do you see it driving the future?

In Asia, we are already observing the hosting of business applications and data in the cloud becoming the norm for many organisations. As the trend continues, these same organisations will have to decide whether they can continue to run applications originally designed to run on traditional on-premises infrastructure or to optimise these to run in the cloud. 

Gartner defines cloud-native as something created to optimally leverage or implement cloud characteristics. Such applications share the same cloud characteristics including scalability and elasticity, shared, metered by use, service-based, and ubiquitous because they are built from the ground up as internet technologies.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we delve deeper into the value proposition of cloud-native initiatives, why organisations pursue this and how they do so cost-effectively when the mandate is to continue operating a hybrid environment.

Helping us to shed light on key considerations for C-suite leaders on the topic is Vishal Ghariwala, Senior Director and CTO, Asia Pacific, SUSE.

1.       Define for us what SUSE means by cloud-native initiatives.

2.       Given that the observable trend in APAC is to take the hybrid approach, why would an enterprise pursue cloud-native initiatives?

3.       What strategies can IT leaders employ to foster innovation amidst a highly distributed and heterogeneous Cloud Native IT landscape?

4.       A Forrester-HashiCorp study revealed that in Asia Pacific organisations find a shortage of cloud skills, as a major barrier to pursuing multi-cloud strategies. 

a.       Is this IT talent shortage real in Asia?

b.       Within the realm of mission-critical, end-to-end cloud-native architecture, what are the issues CIOs/HRs leaders find as a struggle in identifying, recruiting and retaining these particular talents?

5.       With technology evolving rapidly, how can IT leaders boost the interoperability and adaptability of their cloud-native solutions?

6.       In light of rising security breaches, what can IT leaders do to enhance the security of their cloud-native solutions?

7. It's 2024, what are your top 3 recommendations for how C-Suite leaders can unlock the value of Cloud-Native initiatives?

The government reports that since then 150 teams have been working on research and development, and 900 startups are exploring new ideas with AI.

In December 2023, the government followed it with version 2 with a central theme of “AI for the Public Good, for Singapore and the World.” 

To help us understand what this means for businesses in Singapore, we are pleased to have with us Lian Jye Su, chief analyst with Omdia.

1.       Briefly describe for us what is the overall aim of Singapore’s National AI strategy.

a.       The NAIS 1.0 was launched in 2019 to establish Singapore as a leader in developing and deploying scalable, impactful AI solutions, in key sectors of high value and relevance to our citizens and businesses by 2030. How have things changed since then?

2.       For business leaders, what are the opportunities this NAIS present to the industry and the company?

3.       For the CIO, how active should he or she be involved in crafting architectures and roadmaps that would support/enable the organisation’s interpretation of the NAIS?

a.       What are the challenges that CIOs must raise to the C-suite and Board as it relates to rising up to the call to support Singapore’s NAIS?

4.       Given the level of interest that business leaders in Asia/Singapore have on AI, what questions should the CIO be asking to (a) themselves; and (b) to the board/C-suite that will help guide the AI deployment for the company?

5.       What can other economies from Singapore’s approach to becoming an AI hub?

6.       Many emerging technologies take time to get adopted. However, what is maybe unique with AI is that it is fast evolving. How should CIOs architect an AI strategy where the technology is evolving probably faster than the use cases can be identified, tested and integrated into existing systems?

With the growing popularity of citizen developers using low-code or no-code platforms, is there a value for custom applications?

Joining us today on PodChats for FutureCIO is Ankit Gupta, practice director at the Everest Group, to shed light on the future of custom applications.

1.       Define for us what we mean by custom applications.

2.       Custom application/coding has decades of practice, particularly during the heady days of mainframes and monoliths. How has it evolved during the era of SaaS and cloud computing?

3.       To what extent do business leaders require IT to continue with custom development (to cater to the perceived uniqueness of business processes) vs using SaaS solutions?

4.       How will standardising on SaaS impact the application team?

5.       What will the adoption of low-code/no-code – the democratisation of programming – mean for the future of application development?

6.       How do you see AI impacting application development? 

7.       Do we still need custom applications in 2024? What conditions?

As we begin the new year, how will the constants of 2024 redefine the environment that CFOs, the finance team, and the rest of the organisation must swim in? We invited Adam Scriven, practice leader for finance consulting at KPMG to share with us his perspective on the role of finance in driving strategic imperatives in 2024. 

1.       From the CFO perspective, what is value creation and how is this being achieved by the finance function?

2.       How do you see the finance operating model evolving to meet the future needs of the business?

3.       Given the ongoing challenge of staffing across the finance function, and the job security apprehensions concerning automation and AI, how should the CFO strategize the introduction of AI and automation to deliver on the promises of operational efficiency and effectiveness, while supporting team cohesion?

4.       Some in the enterprise may see the finance function as a black box outputting reports and recommendations. Is there a proven approach to transparency and data/information integrity?

5.       VUCA will continue to exert its influence enterprise-wide. What is KPMG’s recommendation for creating a cost-effective and resilient finance function?

1.       What cybersecurity strategy has proven to be most effective in 2023?

2.       What is the single most significant learning (for you) in 2023?

3.       As a cybersecurity professional, name one thing that keeps you awake at night.

4.       As a cybersecurity professional, what are your top 3 tips/recommendations for staying relevant in your role as viewed from the perspective of (a) your peers; (b) the company; and (c) the industry?

5.       As a cybersecurity professional, which technology is your biggest concern this 2024 (as it relates to cybersecurity)?

6.       What do you see will be the top 3 challenges of the CISO/cybersecurity profession in 2024?

Recognising the differences in regulation and market dynamics, FutureCFO has approached CFOs from around Asia to discover their learnings, experiences and approaches in handling the myriad challenges that they face in 2023 and their expectations and plans for 2024.

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, Hongrui (Max) Mo, chief financial officer for Asia at MET Asia, for his perspective on the changing role of the CFO.

1.                   In describing the CFO’s role in 2023, where is the focus/priority or priorities this year?

2.                   Do you see a trend among CFOs to outsource certain finance functions to keep the team lean?

3.                   For 2024, what do you anticipate will be the expectations of the CFO and the finance team?

4.                   Among the many priorities of the CFO/finance team in 2024, which in your opinion, will be most challenging?

5.                   Of the many technologies available to finance, which for you offer the greatest value to the function and the company in 2024?

6.                   I understand that talent remains an issue even within the finance function. In your view, which functions within finance are most challenging to fill/retain?

7.                   For those looking to build a career in finance, what is your recommendation?

8.                   What are your expectations for 2024?

2023 remains a particularly challenging period for many CFOs who must grapple with two local wars, one in Eastern Europe and the other in the Middle East, and their impact on supply chains, escalating cyberattacks, rigid labour markets, efforts to adopt sustained ESG strategies in response to climate change, and the business impact of adopting or not adopting fast enough emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. 

With 2024 just around the corner, we have invited Ho Kok Yong, CFO Program Leader, Deloitte Southeast Asia, to share with us his views around innovations, lessons learned in 2023 and what CFOs and finance leaders can expect in 2024. 

1.       What were the three most distinctive challenges for the CFO and the finance function in Asia in 2023?

2.       Name three lessons learned in response to these challenges.

3.       Coming into 2024, what does Deloitte see will be critical issues/challenges to the finance function and CFO?

4.       What is your top prediction for 2024 (as it relates to the CFO and finance function)? 

5.       What are Deloitte’s recommendations/advice to finance leaders to meet these challenges?

With business leaders now seeing greater autonomy in deciding their technology directions, this may have led to the rising adoption of low-code and no-code methodologies for developing applications. Both approaches use visual programming and automation to create software solutions rather than relying on the IT team to write the code for them.

FutureCIO has covered the economic benefits of low-code and no-code back in September 2020. This time around with the growing influence of artificial intelligence, we look at how AI may impact the use of low-code and no-code approaches when it comes to business applications.

Returning to PodChats for FutureCIO is Leonard Tan, regional director for Singapore and Greater China, OutSystems.

1.       Where are we at as regards low-code/no-code adoption/integration in Asia in 2023?

2.       What have been the positive AND negative consequences of low-code/no-code use to the application development teams? [get access to this OutSystems study]

3.       How do you see AI impacting the future of low-code/no-code use in the enterprise? Please view from the perspective of (a) enterprise citizen developers and the IT function; from the (b) developer team to (c) security.

4.       How should the CIO balance the benefits and risks of AI-powered low-code/no-code platforms?

5.       2024 is here. What is in store for low-code/no-code platforms, and how should the CIO and the enterprise view these developments as part of the overall business transformation?

Interestingly, five of Gartner’s top 10 strategic predictions for 2024 have an AI influence on them.

Forrester cautions that AI is not the only dynamic that will define 2024. It predicts that the AI hype of 2023 will give way to a year of practical exploration.

Sumir Bhatia, president of the Infrastructure Solutions Group at Lenovo Asia Pacific, joins PodChats for FutureCIO to explore with us how AI will power the growth objectives of businesses in 2024.

1.       How can AI be utilized to enhance productivity and efficiency in various industries to support economic growth in 2024?

2.       In what ways can AI be leveraged to identify and capitalize on new business opportunities and market trends to create new business models?

3.       What are the potential risks and challenges associated with integrating AI into business growth strategies, and how can these be mitigated?

4.       In what ways can AI be harnessed to streamline decision-making processes and drive strategic growth initiatives for businesses?

5.       How can AI be utilized to drive innovation and R&D efforts, leading to the development of new products and services for sustained growth?

6.       Coming into 2024, as the CEO and the rest of the C-suite call for integration of IT into the current technology roadmap, any recommendations for the CIO and his or her IT team to consider as they look to bring in AI without disrupting business as usual?

As fraud-as-a-service inflames the industrialisation of fraud, it may be time for organisations in Asia to reconsider the value proposition of AI in the fight against fraud. To help shed light on the potential of the concept, we are joined by Mike Foster, president and CEO of SymphonyAI Sensa-NetReveal.

1.       How much of money laundering today inadvertently flows through banks?

2.       What role can AI play in automating the process of monitoring and analysing large volumes of financial data for potential money laundering activities?

3.       Any examples of how AI is being used today in mitigating risks at financial institutions (in Asia)?

4.       What are the potential (a) limitations and (b) challenges of using AI to combat money laundering in the banking sector?

5.       What are the ethical considerations and potential biases associated with using AI in AML efforts at banks?

6.       What is your advice for CIOs, CTOs, CROs and Compliance Heads evaluating AI as a solution to enhance their anti-fraud/money laundering measures?

7.       2024 is just around the corner, how do you see regulators and the financial services industries in Asia stepping up their use of AI in the area of fraud prevention? 

A Gartner survey of finance function employees revealed some interesting conundrums faced by both employers and employees in the finance function. Joining us today on PodChats for FutureCFO is Ms Shannon Cole, senior director analyst, research, in the Gartner Finance practice, to shed on the results of the survey and what the CFO, HR and heads of finance might want to consider to improve the odds of finding and holding on to their talent.

1.       What are the top takeaways from the survey?

2.       Would you say that these five attrition drivers are as much a result of the legacy way of work of the roles (in finance)? 

3.       What can be learned from finance leaders who have excelled in their careers?

4.       Despite apprehensions around the inclusion of emerging technologies like AI into work processes, how should professionals striving to build a career in finance take advantage of these technologies to boost their career prospects?

5.       For HR and finance leaders, what should they do to modernise the finance processes to ensure improved employee morale?

6.       2024 is just around the corner, any last-minute advice for those seeking to build a career in finance?

Add to all this development, the notion of autonomy in AI and what do we have? A technology that can act without human intervention, input or supervision. 

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Greg Statton, Sr. director of AI solutions, Office of the CTO – Data and AI, Cohesity who will guide us in our discussion on autonomous AI agents and the value these bring to the enterprise.

1.       What is an enterprise autonomous AI agent? (emphasis on enterprise)

a.       How is it different from generative AI and retrieval-augmented generation?

2.       What are the benefits of autonomous AI agents?

a.       How does it change the workflow for functions that can use the technology?

3.       How will autonomous AI agents interact with humans? 

a.       How do you see humans collaborating with autonomous AI agents?

4.       What are the risks that come with autonomous intelligence?

5.       How do organisations and their CIO/IT teams ready their technology stack and data for being compatible or ripe for the deployments of autonomous AI agents?

6.       When an organisation decides it wants to introduce autonomous AI as part of its workflow, who is in charge and what skillsets does the person need?

7.       What are some use cases autonomous AI agents today, and how might this progress in 2024?

8.       As CIO/CDO, how do I budget for autonomous AI agents?

Propelling this growth of non-cash transactions is a consumer base that is becoming accustomed to cross-border transactions, e-wallets, instant payments, and QR-code-based solutions. With the Asian Development Bank forecasting the digital economies of the Asia-Pacific region to be worth up to US$1 trillion, how should CFO of corporate entities approach the evolving payment landscape?

In this PodChats for FutureCFO, Edward Metzger, vice president for payments efficiency at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, shares his perspective on capturing opportunities under an evolving payments landscape.

1.       Before we go into the future, let’s first look at the recent past and current situation. How has the payments landscape changed over the last few years, especially after the pandemic?

2.       All of that is great if you are the consumer and merchants. But what about corporate entities? What is the impact of instant payments in terms of how CFOs manage the finances of the organisation?

3.       Given this direction towards instant payments, what are the key challenges that CFOs must grapple with as their organisations move to adopt these instant payment solutions?

4.       Efficiency remains a high priority for CFOs. What does the CFO need to put together as they look to service providers like LexisNexis Risk Solutions?

5.       Coming into the new year, what technology trends and regulations will have the most significant impact on companies?

6.       How should CFOs rise on these trends while supporting growth targets?

7.       How about regulations, are there any trends that will arise as organisations adopt instant payments?

8.       What is your advice for CFOs as they optimise these new trends?

One such is data immutability – a concept that grew in prominence with the invention of blockchain technology in 2008. The concept has since gained traction outside of the confines of its origin including in data protection and cybersecurity. 

So, what is data immutability? How does it impact organisations under regulatory compliance?

In this PodChats for FutureCISO, Martin Creighan, vice president of Asia Pacific at Commvault, sheds light on the topic.

1.         What do you mean by data immutability?

2.         Why are organisations evolving towards data immutability?

3.         How can AI be used to detect and prevent ransomware attacks and enhance data immutability within an organization's data infrastructure?

4.         In what ways can AI be utilized to identify and flag any attempts to alter immutable data, thus providing a defence against ransomware attacks?

5.         How can the integration of AI and data immutability technologies help organizations recover from ransomware attacks and ensure that their data remains secure and unaltered?

6.         What are the potential benefits of combining AI-driven threat detection with data immutability to mitigate the impact of ransomware attacks on an organization's data assets?

7.         2024 is just around the corner. How do you see AI and data immutability evolve in terms of adoption or integration given that cyberattacks will continue to rise in velocity and ingenuity?

Together, they are modernizing their organizations digital core and scaling innovation. Asia/Pacific Japan’s c-suites top tech investments include GenAI, automation and cybersecurity, while top CIO technology priorities include IT and cloud operations, cybersecurity and compliance, and hardware and software support, among other things.

FutureCIO recently spoke to Linus Lai, vice president for Digital Business and Trust, IDC Asia/Pacific, to get his perspective on a number of technology trends and their impact of the enterprise in 2024.

The paper, How Effective is Multifactor Authentication (MFA) at Deterring Cyberattacks? concludes that implementing MFA leads to a 99.22% reduction in the risk of compromise across the entire population, and a 98.56% reduction even in cases where credentials have been leaked. 

To be clear, MFAs can be hacked. Roger Grimes, defense evangelist at KnowBe4, published a 41-page ebook in which he details over 12 ways to hack MFA but that’s for another podchat. 

In this Podchat, we revisit the continuing evolution in password use, and the potential influence of artificial intelligence on both sides of the identity protection fence.  Andrew Shikiar, executive director with FIDO Alliance, joins us once again, to walk us through key findings in the Online Authentication Barometer and what this means to use in Asia.

1.                   FIDO was founded in 2012. Twelve years on, why are organisations/users still relying on passwords to access systems and data?

2.                   How has generative AI reshaped the cybersecurity landscape, particularly when it comes to identity access management?

3.                   How can passwordless authentication methods, like biometrics or passkeys, help protect against AI-driven cyber threats? 

a.                   What makes them (passwordless authentication techniques) more secure than traditional password systems?

4.                   Are there any specific industries or sectors that are particularly susceptible to AI-fueled scams? 

a.                   Why are these organisations at greater risk from AI-fueled scams?

5.                   How can they benefit from implementing passwordless authentication to enhance their security posture?

6.                   2024 is just around the corner. What can we expect as regards how organisations secure access to data and systems?

7.                   As more enterprises use cloud, how should CISOs and CIOs engage their cloud service providers as regards the use of passkeys and other authentication technologies?

With us today on PodChats for FutureCIO is Fred Giron, VP, senior research director at Forrester to help us under how to transition AI from hype to intent.

1.       Forrester sees AI as enabling organisations to pivot into leadership roles. There have been other technologies that we predicted to transform organisations. What makes AI different?

2.       Given the disparity in the level of maturity of markets in Asia, including low levels of data literacy and the scarcity of experienced local staff, how do you see organisations outside of large and MNC companies, capitalising on the potential of AI?

3.       Realistically, what would need to be done (or to happen) for local enterprises to start their AI journey? [click mouse]

4.       Speaking of risks, in many parts of Asia, regulatory frameworks around the use of AI have yet to be set. Will this present adoption challenges for local players in regulated sectors like healthcare and financial services? [click mouse]

5.       Technical debt continues to be a growing concern among non-IT leaders in organisations. Do you see AI adoption as further driving organisations into debt they can’t afford?

6.       Are there any proven approaches to better managing costs (technical debt) without giving up on the AI dream of a better future? 

7.       Any guidance for business leaders looking to balance the benefits and risks associated with emerging technologies like AI, even as they aspire to capture the promises of these yet to be field-tested in commercial environment solutions? [click mouse]

8.       2024 is just around the corner. What are your predictions for AI use in the coming year? 

9.       Do you see AI taking over jobs?

The report posits that the demand for data centre capacity to support AI is growing rapidly, with most research reports indicating that the global data centre market for AI is expected to grow at CAGR 25%+.

Eric Hui, Director, IOT Business Development, Asia-Pacific, Equinix shares his perspectives on the impact of the artificial intelligence boom on data centres in Asia.

1. How is Generative AI impacting the data centre (DC) industry in Asia? 

a. Please identify the top 3 opportunities.

2. What are the technological requirements—design, location, etc.—for AI-ready DCs? What changes should DC operators implement to support the demand? [Segment between hyperscalers and colocation DCs]

3. What are the top 3 challenges in developing AI-ready DCs in Asia, and how do you see the industry managing the (a) challenges and (b) opportunities?

4. How well placed is the DC [hyperscalers and colocation DCs] industry to achieve sustainable growth?

5. DCs have gone through several revolutionary waves: the internet, virtualization, and the cloud. What is the future of DCs? [2024-2026]
6. How do you see security issues/concerns impacting data centre developments?

The report offers guidance for policymakers to address severe disruptions and long-standing development challenges in cities for a sustainable urban recovery in Asia and the Pacific.

The problems and challenges of governments and city developers is nothing new. But with new technologies and lessons learned from other countries, Asia may yet to reap the benefits of not being the first mover.

Jacques Beltran, VP for Cities and Public Services, Dassault Systèmes, shares his views on smarter ways for modernising urban development. 

1.       Give us a state of city growth in Asia. 

2.       Prior to sustainability becoming the buzzword, what were the top priorities of urban planners?

3.       How significant is the impact of climate change on cities in Asia? 

4.       What mindset is needed to make cities sustainable for the long haul?

5.       Beyond mindset, do we have the technologies and skilled/experienced people available/ready to make the change towards more sustainable urban development? 

6.       Can we go into a little bit of detail in terms of what technologies are available today for urban planners?

7.       Describe the challenges urban planners face in Asia in the coming years. What can we learn from global cities when it comes to sustainable development?

In today’s PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Kunal Anand, CTO, Imperva, to discuss how AI is impacting cyber tactics and strategies from both sides of the fence.

1.       What does AI look like when deployed as part of a cyberattack? 

2.       Should we be concerned that AI adoption, including its variants, may be too fast for governance and security processes to keep pace with? 

3.       Any recommendation for how to better keep AI adoption trends in line with an organisation’s ability to manage its risks?

4.       Given that AI will eventually be embedded, if not driving, some cybersecurity processes, how can security teams remain relevant, and of value, to the organisation?

5.       You are a CISO and a CTO at Imperva. What is the benefit of having both titles, and how do you balance the priorities of each role?

6.       In 2024, what will be the unique threat we can expect to see in Asia? And how to counter/mitigate the threat?

The use cases for accurate timing have been around for decades. Timing is what enables communication systems to work, time is essential for global navigation systems to function, and timing is what makes automation possible.

SiTime is a precision timing company supplying industries with oscillators – devices that generate oscillatory currents or voltages by non-mechanical means. Quartz crystals have been used in timekeeping technology including clocks, watches, compute rs and other devices that keep time.

On 19 September 2023, SiTime announced the SiTime Epoch Platform – designed to solve the most complex timing issues in electronics and claiming to disrupt 100-year-old quartz-based technology.

The SiTime Epoch Platform is a micro-electromechanical system-based, oven-controlled oscillator that delivers an ultra-stable clock to datacentre and network infrastructure equipment. SiTime claims that over time the Epoch technology will be extended to other high-growth electronics markets, such as aerospace and defense and industrial controls among others.

FutureIoT spoke to Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president, marketing, SiTime, to discuss precision timing and its significance across a wide expanse of use cases.

What follows is a discussion on the significance of SiTime’s Epoch announcement, and how it changes things when it comes to precision timing.

The Nokia 20203 Threat Intelligence Report claims that 60% of attacks against telecom mobile networks are linked to IoT bots scanning for vulnerable hosts for use in distributed denial of service attacks.

Steve Scheurmann, regional vice president for ASEAN at Palo Alto Networks joins us today to help us understand how organisations can better mitigate against these escalating OT/IoT cyber risks.

Many say the weakest link is humans. I'd argue that it's these IoT devices that have been quietly sitting in the business perimeter. 

1.                   What is the impact of unmonitored and unsecured IoT devices on a system’s cybersecurity, and why is it one of the biggest cybersecurity challenges across ASEAN?

2.                   Why do the majority of ASEAN organisations (82%) see value in having a common team that looks after IT and OT infrastructure and systems? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

3.                   What factors are driving organisations’ focus on securing IoT/OT in their future cybersecurity strategies?

4.                   What are the specific cybersecurity concerns related to 5G-connected IoT devices, and how do organisations plan to address them?

5.                   What steps should organisations take to mitigate cybersecurity risks related to OT? Who should get involved?

6.                   Coming into 2024, more devices and sensors will get added into the enterprises. What is your advise for operations, IT and leadership to better improve the overall organisational security posture?

Business model transformation focuses on changing the way a company creates, delivers and captures value.

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Ying Shaowei, chief scientist at NCS, shares his views on disrupting the foundations of business models and operations.

1.       It is my opinion that some of the new technologies we are seeing today are not designed with the current business model in mind. While some of the solutions have pre-defined problems they want to solve, getting from concept to production is fraught with risk. How can leaders minimise risks and wastage (of effort, resources and time)?

2.       What is the role of governance in the business model of the future? 

3.       Can innovation and governance evolve together as the business model takes shape?

4.       What is the role of leadership in business model innovation?

5.       There are leaders who think first-mover advantage is a do-or-die objective. When does first-mover make sense? 

6.       What is more important as a metric for business success (in the context of innovation)?

7.       Coming into 2024, what advice would you offer to leaders dealing with the challenges of adapting to evolving business models and operations? 

Arguably, the more concerning of the trends highlighted in the report is that 75% of those surveyed believe AI will continue to be used in these cyberattacks and that the vulnerabilities will persist because of a lack of human oversight (57%).

Jeffrey Kok, vice president of solution engineers for Asia Pacific and Japan at CyberArk, joins us on this PodChats for FutureCISO to offer, we hope, counter-tactics against artificially intelligent ransomware.

1.                   Is AI being used as an accelerant for ransomware attacks?

2.                   Given that threat actors can recognise data encryption and exfiltration, what should CISOs and security teams update their approach to make strategies and policies more effective against AI-powered ransomware?

3.                   Would AI make for an effective ransomware negotiator? How to make this happen?

4.                   What is the future of ransomware?

5.                   Our topic is counter-tactics against artificially intelligent ransomware, so how do you stay ahead of ransomware (extortion) irrespective of the technologies?

When asked to identify which risks they are most concerned about when weaponized AI becomes mainstream, 75% cited system/business interruption while 74% pointed to IP or data theft.

Here to share with us the findings of the Cybersecurity: 2023 Board Perspective report, is Yvette Leijins, Resident CISO for Asia Pacific and Japan, Proofpoint.

1.       We are coming into the first-year anniversary of the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. Only months ago, business leaders, even political leaders, are praising the arrival of generative AI or ChatGPT. Why the near-sudden change in tone? 

2.       If GenAI is deemed so risky by the Board, why are 70% of organisations surveyed by Gartner exploring GenAI innovations?

3.       Despite 97% of boards believing cybersecurity budgets will increase, why has this still not translated to preparedness? 

a.       Are organisations spending these budgets correctly on security awareness or is there an overreliance on cyber insurance?

4.       Supply chain attacks – such as the MOVEit incident – are projected to cost businesses almost $46 billion by the end of 2023, yet only 26% of boards view this as a concern. Why are boards still complacent, and what can they do to shore up defences?

5.       When Uber’s former chief security officer was found guilty and sentenced to probation for his role in covering up a 2022 data breach, personal liability became a top concern for boards and CISOs. How far should personal liability extend, and what do CISOs need to consider when having these conversations with boards?

6.       Rounding out our PodChats, what are your expectations for 2024?

Joining us on PodChats for FutureCISO is Jonas Walker, Director of Threat Intelligence, Fortiguard Labs at Fortinet to help us prepare our systems and processes for the eventual arrival of Deepfake. 

1.         In corporate security lingo, what is a deepfake?

2.         Is it easy to create a deepfake version of someone?

3.         We understand deepfakes to scam individuals and Financial Institutions as well, are there any new deepfake scams one should be vigilant about?

4.         Is it foreseeable that someone can authorize the use of his or her deepfake persona for use in various purposes to make campaign calls and to record messages, authorizing someone’s signature and having it reproduced?

5.         What kind of education, in your opinion, can help the digital and non-digital savvy citizens in spotting deepfake scams, given the sophistication level?

6.         You mentioned that police. Will regulations to clamp down Deepfake apps be the only way to go to go in the future? 

7.         What’s in store for enterprises in 2024?

In the past two years, online backups were frequently targeted as part of ransomware attacks. This led to data being deleted or made otherwise unusable to prevent recovery of now-encrypted primary data. Our recommendation is to maintain an immutable, preferably offline copy of backups and test them regularly to ensure viability.

The report concluded that there remains a lack of hardening both in backup environments and storage systems themselves. 

Pure Storage CTO and VP for APJ Matthew Oostveen joins us on this podchat to help us fix storage vulnerabilities and backup misconfigurations before they happen.

1.       Can you name common prevailing myths around Storage, Backup, And Data Recoverability?

2.       Can you identify the three most common storage vulnerabilities in Asia including perhaps backup misconfigurations that leave organisations vulnerable to cyberattacks?

3.       Why are organizations failing to address data backup security risks?

4.       Traditionally backups and recovery fall under the CTO. Given the rise in cyberattacks targeting backups, why should the CISO get involved in data backups? 

5.       Will the adoption of AI and ML tools in backup and recovery processes simplify or strengthen an organisation's security posture?

6.       Can you provide 3 tips to enhance backup and recovery processes to reflect the hybrid workspace that is the norm today?

7.       2024 is almost here. What's your expectations as it relates to backup and recovery technologies and practices, and your advise for responsible members of the organization as it relates to keeping of threats and staying in line with what's available or coming?

One of the revelations of the COVID pandemic is just how reliant we are on ecosystems of suppliers and partners to support the new customer engagement paradigm.

In this PodChat for FutureCISO, Geoff Schomburgk, the Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan at Yubico, will lend his insights into how we can maintain a trusting relationship digitally and online.

1.                   When we think of ‘online relationships’, people tend to think about it in a traditional sense but why should businesses and its employees be wary of their online relationships with suppliers, service providers or even customers?

2.                   Speaking of digital identity, are online service providers generally expected to keep our accounts and personal data secure?

3.                   In the security space, the term security perimeter. How does Zero Trust negate the shortcomings of traditional authentication methods?

4.                   Why are you encouraging a call to action aimed at the providers of online services that they should be doing more to keep their online services safe and secure from predators?

5.                   How secure are passkeys based on FIDO2 standards?

6.                   What does the broad move towards passkeys spell for businesses and end-users in Asia Pacific? 

7.                   What are some key hurdles to a passwordless future, and how could they be overcome? 

8.                   In your opinion, why and how should industries and organizations in Asia Pacific see a wider adoption of and access to passkey security?

9.                   What are the major tech companies doing to make us change how we protect our online relationships?

10.               For CISOs, any best practices for introducing and even demanding from suppliers the use of passkeys? How can they get buy-in from CIOs, IT and the C-suite?

11.               2024 is around the corner. What is your expectation of the security landscape?

But outside of the rhetoric about the holistic benefits to be achieved with transformation, it falls on the CIO to introduce changes in either technology or workflow to facilitate the transformation. 

In today's PodChats for FutureCIO, we are pleased to have Carter Busse, chief information officer at Workato walk us through the realities of automation integration.

1.       Gartner says when it comes to digitalisation, 60% of organisations are struggling to scale digital initiatives. This gap between the desire of leadership to digitalise the business (87%) and making it a reality is widening. Why is that?

2.       How can enterprises get to the next level in their digitalization journey using automation to expedite transformation efforts?

3.       What are some key challenges faced by enterprises in automating complex workflows and processes and how can they overcome them?

4.       Drawing from your own experiences, what key learnings can you share for other CIOs tasked with the same responsibility?

5.       While the principles and technology behind automation are universal, how automation is applied to each department is likely going to be different, and possibly the experiences of affected staff will differ depending on culture and openness to new ideas. 
 As a CIO, what was your approach to minimising tension in the process of introducing automation in workflows/integrating new ways of work into existing operations?

6.       Following the near-universal interest around ChatGPT, how do you see AI supporting both the modernisation efforts of the organisation? Any best practices for the CIO?

7.       Coming into 2024, what do you envision will be the bigger challenges and priorities for CIOs?

In today's hybrid multi-cloud environment where touchpoints comprise of fixed and mobile, virtual and physical, what is the value proposition of SASE?

I had the good fortune of meeting Kunal Jha, Regional Director for Asia, Netskope and I took the opportunity to get clarity on the value proposition of SASE in a hybrid, multi-cloud environment.

What follows is the dialogue I had with Kunal during his visit to Hong Kong.

1.       What problems does SASE solve?

2.       When do I need a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)?

3.       Does SASE make VPNs obsolete?

4.       How has SASE evolved in the hybrid cloud and hybrid work environment?

5.       Are all SASE solutions created equal? What to look for?

6.       How does SASE enable business agility?

7.       Can you avoid vendor lock-in with SASE?

8.       Some say that delivered as a cloud is the single point of failure of SASE. Is this true?

9.       What does a successful SASE deployment look like?

10.   Where does SASE fit in an organisation that has decided to deploy zero trust?

11.   In this hybrid cloud environment, would a SD-WAN or CASB approach make better sense to securing the enterprise? 

12.   What is a cost-effective approach to integrating SASE into an existing network environment?

13.   What advice would you offer CIOs/CISOs as regards SASE?

When OpenAI launched ChatGPT back in November 2022, little did we anticipate the interests the technology would draw from across the spectrum of industries, users and regulators. Beyond the use of ChatGPT to enable more human-like virtual assistants, what lies ahead for financial institutions in the journey towards the democratisation of AI?

Here to talk to us about the possibilities of AI in financial services is Jan Cenkr, Group Chief Information Officer of Home Credit.

1.                   How has artificial intelligence and big data transformed financial services?

2.                   From your experience, what are the most promising use cases for artificial intelligence and big data when it comes to the provision of financial services?

3.                   What are the differences you see between consumers in Asia and Europe in terms of digital adoption? Why do you think this is the case? 

4.                   Are there any best practices that financial services companies should adopt in their use of AI?

a.       Do you see regulation impeding the adoption of emerging technologies like AI?

5.                   With the rise of ChatGPT and large language models (LLM), how do you think AI will continue to transform the finance industry? 

6.                   How do you think the role of a CIO has evolved over time to support business priorities?

7.                   What is your advice for CIOs and C-suite executives who are looking to drive digital adoption in Asia’s emerging markets?

These days AI is getting a revival in the enterprise following OpenAI's launch of Chat Generative Pre-trainer Transformer on 30 November 2022. The large language model-based chatbot, more popularly known as ChatGPT, is making a lot of buzz in the boardroom, at conferences and almost everywhere imaginable.

But as with other emerging technologies, generative AI carries as many risks as it offers opportunities. In today's PodChats for FutureCISO, we are joined by Sanjay Deshmukh, senior regional vice president for ASEAN and India at Snowflake to help us better understand how to secure Generative AI for enterprises.

1.       What are the top 3 pros and cons of letting loose Generative AI in the enterprise?

2.       Speaking of security, given that GenAI is still evolving, how can the CIO/compliance officer mitigate the potential risks associated with this technology?

3.       Does your approach of taking the LLM to the data necessitate the need for a sizeable compute infrastructure on the part of the enduser organisation?

4.       How do you get around local/national data sovereignty regulations if the condition for an enduser to use your LLM technology is to have the customer's data reside in your platform – which could be outside the borders of the customer's country of operation?

5.       For leaders tasked with supervising the adoption of GenAI, how should they balance the desires for innovation, vis-à-vis the opportunities and risks that come with something that is still evolving?

It is interesting to note that in the same survey, 83% of business leaders admit their MarTech platforms don't work very well together and that 73.5% of CMOs in the survey admit to their company lacking a strong culture of data-driven decision-making.

In the post-pandemic digital economy, what is the value of CRM and how will the solution evolve as other emerging technologies like automation and artificial intelligence come into the picture? 

In today's Podchats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Gibu Mathew, VP and GM APAC with Zoho, for his perspective on the evolving state of CRM innovations.

1.       In the context of today's digital economy, what is the purpose of CRM?

2.       With so many advances and learnings around customer experience, is it still easy to lose customer loyalty and how challenging is it to get this back?  

3.       How do you envision AI and analytics shaping the future of CRM, and what benefits do they bring to customer relationship management? In other words, what would an AI-powered CRM promise?

4.       What needs to happen for organisations to reap the benefits of CRM?

5.       What are the barriers to implementing/deploying an AI-powered CRM? How can these obstacles be overcome? 

6.       What is your advice for CMOs and CIOs to improve the ROI of their CRM strategy?

The basic architecture of these products was designed for array-based data recovery before the concepts of virtualisation and containerization were introduced. Even today, backup/recovery is performed on a periodic, preset schedule that is still mostly limited to once per day. 

These daily backups are supplemented with journals, snapshots, and other replicas (e.g., clones) in between backups to improve the recovery point objective (RPO) and the recovery time objective (RTO).

Given our shift to hybrid IT infrastructures, FutureCIO invited Alistair Green, SVP for cloud engineering, Japan and Asia Pacific at Oracle to give us an assessment of where enterprises are today when it comes to Securing and Optimising Hybrid Cloud Backups in Asia.

1.       Where are we today regarding the state of backups and recovery practices and technologies (in Asia)?

2.       Speaking of hybrid, why is it important to secure and optimize hybrid cloud backups and how would you describe the state of backup and recovery in APAC? 

3.       Is not technology and best practices sufficiently mature for enterprises to be comfortable that they are compliant as regards keeping DATA and systems protected?

4.       Can you elaborate on some of the advantages of hybrid cloud backups versus only implementing local backups or cloud backups when it comes to disaster recovery?

5.       Can you describe critical factors for enterprises to consider in choosing the ideal data backup solution, and to move from local backups or cloud backups to hybrid cloud backups?

6.       Given the options of hybrid cloud backups and the technologies behind them, whether it is a combination of public/private cloud services or a mix of cloud service and on-prem infrastructure, what is your recommendation for CIOs?

7.       Coming into 2024, there is growing interest in technologies like generative AI for example, should CIOs be distracted by these technologies as regards securing and optimising hybrid cloud backups?

Today, with more businesses relying on cloud services to conduct business, it is not surprising that the cloud backup market, alone, is expected to grow from US$4.57 billion in 2023 to US$13.85 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 24.84%. 

The primary driver for adopting cloud backup across businesses is the need for agility and flexibility in the face of accelerating innovation and disruptions from competitors due to the increase in cloud adoption.

With so much depending on the cloud, we ask Abhilash Purushothaman, vice president & general manager (Asia) at Rubrik to give us an update on backup strategies for the digital-native economy.

1.       In the digital economy, how important is backup and recovery? 

2.       Given what you just highlighted about innovations in storage and speed, do you think the cloud has made backup obsolete?

a.       Note: Organisations want resilience over recovery.

3.       How do you apply cyber resilience when organisations are adopting hybrid cloud strategies? 

a.       What major trends do you see shaping up in the cloud backup marketplace? 

4.       There are a variety of hybrid cloud backup solutions in the market. There is always a potential for this availability of different approaches to create confusion and in some cases even gaps in an organisation's ability to protect its data.

a.       Do you think it is better for organisations to limit the selection of solutions to a few? (2 pillars/teams: run the business, grow the business)

b.       If yes, how does the CIO/CTO decide what criteria to narrow the window of available offerings?

5.       What is the best way to optimise backup where the IT strategy revolves around a hybrid cloud?

6.       Given Rubrik's experience in backup and recovery events, what trends can we expect in the years to come?

According to CBRE, the strong demand (for data centre capacity) is yielding record-low vacancy rates and the worldwide shortage of available supply is leading to price increases for data centre capacity. 

A Clifford Chance report predicts the data centre industry growth will be tempered by higher costs, slowing economies in many parts of the world, new capacity challenges and increased regulation due to sustainability concerns about energy and water consumption.

CBRE posits this will spur innovations in data centre design and technology as operators aim to deliver the capacity that meets the increased power density requirements of high-performance computing.

Joining us today on PodChats for CIO is Daniel Pointon, Group Chief Technology Officer for ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) to give us an update on data centre trends as viewed from the perspective of a data centre operator.

1.       To help frame our discussion and provide context to your responses, please describe the business of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres.

2.       Reports from analysts and consultants suggest that 2023 onwards will continue to see more organisations going into the cloud. At the same time, we are also hearing of an exodus back to on-premises (owned) data centres for some. Either direction is good news for builders and operators of data centres, would you agree? 

3.       For data centre operators, what do you see are mid to long-term opportunities and challenges?

4.       You are the chief technology officer for STT GDC. When it comes to the business of data centre operators, what is the function of the CTO? How does this overlap with that of the CIO?

5.       In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in data sovereignty. How does the requirement in some sectors for data to stay in-country, impact some of the value propositions of the cloud like economies of scale, the ability to access your data from anywhere, and perhaps not having to worry where it is physically stored?

6.       For organisations looking at either owning/operating their own data centre or co-locating, what are key considerations that the heads of technology (CIO/CTO) and finance (CFO) need to bear in mind?

a.       When does ROI come into the picture when deciding between building your own data centre or hooking up with a co-lo company like STT GDC?

7.       Just out of curiosity, what is the expectation of the life of a data centre these days? 

8.       From the perspective of a company looking to co-locate its compute needs, what would be a prudent approach to ensure a cost-effective, scalable and sustainable critical infrastructure? 

To help us better understand where quantum computing is today and what CIOs need to consider as the technology continues to evolve is Scott Crowder, Vice President, Quantum Adoption, IBM.

1.       Define for us what quantum computing is. And how is it different from high-performance computing and supercomputers? 

2.       What are some of the most recent developments in quantum computing? When will viable quantum computing be available?

3.       How will quantum computing reshape the tech industry?

4.       So security under quantum computing is a real threat?

5.       What can companies do to prepare themselves for this quantum future today?

6.       Beyond working with CISO in the security side of the company, should CIOs start to include quantum computing in their technology roadmap? If not now, when? What conditions/events would warrant its inclusion?

Ran Xu, a research director in the Gartner Risk & Audit Practice says this reflects both the rapid growth of public awareness and usage of generative AI tools, as well as the breadth of potential use cases and therefore potential risks, that these tools engender.

Since GenAI going mainstream is now inevitable, perhaps risk managers can use the very same technology to mitigate the risks that come with the technology. 

Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, director of research at ManageEngine, joins us today on PodChats for FutureCISO, to help us understand our options.

1.       Deception brilliance: How is Generative AI (including ChatGPT) enabling more phishing scams and malicious deepfakes in the enterprise?

2.       Briefly, can you describe how is generative AI being used to attack users? 

3.       What can the CISO/CIO do to better manage the proliferation/use of GenAI by endusers in the company?

4.       Who should the CISO engage to better counter the risks of GenAI? 

5.       What does an updated security framework that incorporates the potential benefits and risks of AI look like?

6.       We are still in the very early days of GenAI as an enterprise technology. Can CISOs ever have a hope of creating and enforcing security frameworks that are able to adapt to whatever new threats come?

7.       Given as you call it, AI is pivotal, are the current generation of security tools/frameworks can handle any threats that come as a result of the use of GenAI?

8.       We are coming into 2024, what trends can we expect as far as the evolution of AI, including generative AI as it relates to security?

The reform will see the government invest in information technology "focusing on mission-critical national systems for hospital billing, drug ordering and dispensation, and the maintenance of national medical databases."

The success of this reform will require collaboration across different health providers and access to patient data is a crucial component. 

In today's PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Leonardo Hutabarat, head of solutions engineering for APJ at LogRhythm, to talk about the opportunities and challenges governments, private organisations, healthcare providers and the public will face in the digitalisation of healthcare. 

1.       Healthcare reform, as in the case of Singapore, will entail the sharing of patient data between healthcare providers – both public and private. What challenges must the system overcome in this undertaking?

2.       What are some factors that will be crucial to the success of such an initiative? Can you cite any learnings from other governments that have implemented something similar?

3.       What needs to be done to build a robust data ecosystem and build citizen trust? 

4.       In recent years, healthcare systems have come under cyberattack. It is puzzling that despite spending US$17.35 billion in 2022 taking advantage of the latest in security solutions and services, healthcare organisations remain vulnerable. 

a.       Why is this continuing to occur?

b.       How can healthcare institutions protect themselves from the risk of cyberattacks and safeguard sensitive patient data?

5.       For CIOs, CISOs and leadership at healthcare organizations – both private and public – any recommendations for getting buy-in and support from stakeholders?

In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Alvin Tan, Singapore-based regional vice president for Tanium, shares his perspectives on the importance of observability as viewed from the lenses of the CIO and CISO. We will also cover approaches IT and security teams need to consider in the race to achieve cyber resilience in the digital economy.

1.       Perhaps before we begin our conversation, it is important for our audience to understand where your organisation is coming from. Can you briefly describe for us what is Tanium?

2.       What is observability from the perspective of the CIO/CISO as it relates to security? Where do these roles converge (and diverge) on the topic?

3.       Define endpoint protection in the context of the hybrid way of work.

4.       What is unified endpoint management (UEM), and where does it sit in the technology stack?

5.       How does UEM help an organisation meet its resilience goals post-pandemic? 

6.       What are the proven steps to modernising endpoint management strategies?

7.   How effective/reliable is real-time security?

8.   Given the evolving nature of threats and the security solutions to tackle these, how can CISOs/CIOs optimise their approaches to security? 

But deciding how best to proceed means factoring AI into business value, risk, talent and investment priorities.

John Hillery, managing vice president in Peer and Practitioner Research for the Gartner CIO Research Group, recommends CIO createa a succinct AI strategy document that synthesizes their vision and potential benefits, audits and mitigates risks, captures KPIs, and outlines best practices for value creation. 

In today's PodChats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Hemanta Banerjee, vice president of public cloud data services at Rackspace Technology to offer his take on AI design and integration considerations for CIOs.

1.       What do leaders and users in Asia know about artificial intelligence (AI) as applied to the business is done? (compare misconceptions vs realities)

2.       Given that AI is still relatively new:

a.          Where is the starting point for understanding the value of AI to the business?

b.          When (and where) is the right moment to introduce AI in the workflow?

c.           How do I ensure I am able to integrate into the current business process/workflow/technologies without disrupting how work is done?

3.       Given that a business is comprised of multiple functions that operate independently of each other but share a common business objective (drive customer value, generate revenue, grow). Following an AI PoC, how would you scale AI across the rest of the organisation? 

4.       What would be the next step in the discovery process of what AI can be to my business?

73 years later, our fascination with the possibilities of AI has seen companies spend US$136 billion in 2022 alone. Grand View Research forecasts spending on AI to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.3% from 2023 to 2030.

Perhaps a sign of things to come is the US$300 million (dollars) that McDonald's spent to acquire a Tel-Aviv AI start-up, Dynamic Yield, presumably to provide a more personalised customer experience using AI.

To help us navigate the possibilities that AI promise is Srinivasan CR, chief digital officer with Tata Communications.

Srini, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       Describe the current state of AI adoption in Asia Pacific and why it's critical for businesses to implement AI.

2.       Name one critical challenge businesses will face in their AI journey.

a.       Data maturity is a requisite

b.       How far is Asia in their data maturity

3.       Name one strategy, organisations need to prioritise to build momentum and scale their AI efforts.

4.       Name one business and operational value that edge computing offers (as a key advantage) for organisations implementing AI.

5.       What is the most exciting trend you are looking forward to materialising in 2023/2024?

6.       What should the CIO do to help materialise the value of AI?

These tools are also commonly used to train new employees on software used in-house. Some DAP offerings are made specifically for other popular software applications, with companies making multiple DAPs tailored for certain products. However, many digital adoption platforms are customizable and can integrate over any application necessary. Because of this, digital adoption platforms are also a popular customer self-service software option.

Joining us today on PodChats for FutureCIO is Vivek Behl, digital adoption officer from WalkMe to share his perspective on Overcoming resistance to digital transformation adoption.

Vivek, welcome to PodChats for FutureCIO.

1.       Organisations going through digital transformation are not necessarily achieving desired outcomes, with some unwilling to adopt a new way of doing work. What's the rationale for that? 

2.      Can a digital adoption platform be applied to greenfield applications and existing applications?

3.      In your experience, what drives an organisation to incorporate a DAP into its tech stack? Is it the organisation’s intention to digitally transform, or is it implemented upon hindsight when organisations realise that both existing and new employees are not adapting to their existing work applications?

4.      In implementing a DAP, we're effectively introducing a new layer of software on top, doesn't that introduce latency in terms of how the application performs and the backend? 

5.      Identify some of the most common challenges in terms of matching expectations with the realities when it comes to implementing the DAP and executing the digital adoption plan.  

6.      Beyond the alignment session that you mentioned as part of the process for onboarding the digital adoption platform. Can you name any other best practices for ensuring a successful adoption of the DAP?

7.      For CIOs trying to decide on the digital solution or approach to take, what questions should they be asking?