CXOInsights by CXOCIETY

The Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024 paints a grim picture: there is a growing inequity between cyber-resilient organisations and those that are not. Among 120 executives attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting on cybersecurity, fewer than one in 10 respondents believe that in the next two years, generative AI will give an advantage to defenders over attackers. It doesn’t help that cy...

While the underrepresentation of women in cybersecurity is starting to improve – 20% in 2019 compared to 10% in 2013, that trend isn’t translating in the higher echelons of cybersecurity power. An Altrata report estimates that only 16% of CISOs are women. FutureCISO spoke to Rupal Hollenbeck , president of Check Point Software Technologies, on the long road for women in cybersecurity. 1. What is y...

In 2023, the desire to benefit from tech-driven innovation got a boost in the arm, thanks to the perceived potential of emerging AI technologies. Arguably one of the most talked about tech in 2023 was artificial intelligence, specifically Generative AI. Forrester predicts that enterprise AI initiatives will boost productivity and creative problem-solving by 50% in 2024, and the benefits promised c...

Mary Johnston Turner, research vice president for the Future of Digital Infrastructure — Agenda at IDC says the majority of organizations globally expect to rely on interconnected, hybrid, and multi-cloud strategies for digital infrastructure in the coming years. In Asia, we are already observing the hosting of business applications and data in the cloud becoming the norm for many organisations. A...

In 2019, Singapore announced a national blueprint that would direct the use of AI to transform the economy.  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...

For decades custom applications were the norm. It allowed organisations to create applications that were designed to the very minute requirements of the business. Of course, the downside is that these applications require more time to build, most likely more expensive to maintain, have questionable transparency practices being applied, and someday run the risk of the original developers no longer...

Generative AI may have hijacked its top strategic predictions for 2024 , but  Gartner says CEOs must empower a single responsible executive, such as the CISO, to tackle the challenge of misinformation across the organization. By 2027, 45% of CISOs’ remits will expand beyond cybersecurity, due to increasing regulatory pressure and attack surface expansion. Silvia Ihensekhien,  the director of infor...

Fragmentation, uncertainty and volatility are constants. Anywhere you go in Asia (and the world) these are the same constraints that businesses and their leaders face in the race to remain of value to customers, partners, shareholders and employees. 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 s...

In recent years, the role of chief financial officer (CFO) has never been more challenging as it is fulfilling for those who hold this position. From geopolitical uncertainties to changing market dynamics, from technological innovations that are paving the way for new business models, and from calamitous weather disturbances that are reminding business leaders about the importance of addressing cl...

There are many words to describe the economic environment of 2023 and dull is definitely not one of them.  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...

In a joint Harvard Business Review and Google Cloud report 97% of business leaders surveyed believe that democratising access to data and analytics across their organization is important to business success. The same study revealed that only 60% of these leaders believe their organization is very effective at giving employees access to data and analytics tools. With business leaders now seeing gre...

Gartner’s VP analyst, Bart Willemsen says technology disruptions and socioeconomic uncertainties require a willingness to act boldly and strategically enhance resilience over ad hoc responses. He posits that “IT leaders are in a unique position to strategically lay down a roadmap where technology investments help their business's sustenance of success amidst these uncertainties and pressures....

In a blogpost on Finextra , Thomas French, a senior financial industry consultant on fraud at SAS writes that routine investment in the best technologies to detect and prevent fraud and other financial crimes is no longer a “nice to have” but a matter of necessity. As fraud-as-a-service inflames the industrialisation of fraud, it may be time for organisations in Asia to reconsider the value propos...

Talent shortage continues to persist in many parts of the world including Asia. In Singapore, for example, the shortage of accounting staff is most felt by small accounting firms that struggle to compete with the Big Four accounting firms.  A Gartner survey of finance function employees revealed some interesting conundrums faced by both employers and employees in the finance function. Joining us t...

Digital transformation, automation, and artificial intelligence are all connected through their shared goal of optimizing business processes and decision-making capabilities. Together, they have the potential to bring about significant advancements that were once considered unattainable. Add to all this development, the notion of autonomy in AI and what do we have? A technology that can act withou...

As economies in Asia move towards some semblance of post-pandemic normal, one observable trend is the continuing shift away from traditional cash and cheque methods of payment to a diverse landscape that includes digital wallets, digital currencies and innovative fintech solutions. Propelling this growth of non-cash transactions is a consumer base that is becoming accustomed to cross-border transa...

It is said that the best-run organisations prioritize cybersecurity spending as a business decision first. Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Data Security 2023 reflects the increasing dominance of this approach. As key technologies needed for assessing and quantifying cloud risk mature, we see the continuing emergence of new technologies purpose-built to protect against emerging threats that inevitably ari...

In the WW C-Suite Tech Survey by IDC, 59% of respondents acknowledged that digital initiatives are now co-owned by C-Suite/LOB. More and more c-suite roles are gravitating around technology and CIOs are rising, more than ever, to the call of technology leadership.  Together, they are modernizing their organizations digital core and scaling innovation. Asia/Pacific Japan’s c-suites top tech investm...

Clifford Stoll , author of The Cuckoo’s Egg , an investigation into the hacking of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that led to the capture of hacker Marcus Hess , famously said: “Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don’t let anyone else use it and get a new one every six months.” The paper, How Effective is Multifactor Authentication (MFA) at Deterring Cyberattacks? concludes that...

Forrester predicts that 2024 will usher in the era of intentional AI where gimmicks and technical experimentation of GenAI will give way to more focused and strategic initiatives.  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 i...

The Global Data Centre Outlook report from JLL suggests that the mass adoption of cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) is driving exponential growth for the data centre sector. 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...

The Future of Asian & Pacific Cities Report 2023 entitled, Crisis Resilient Urban Futures, describes countries and cities across Asia and the Pacific as struggling to recover from the health and socioeconomic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the effects of climate change continue to ravage the region.  The report offers guidance for policymakers to address severe disruption...

Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Jen Easterly warns that AI is “ the most powerful capability and weapon of our time ”. She wasn’t being coy nor flippant about it. Calling on software vendors to stop building insecure-by-design products that maximise profits over safety, she commented that “So far the cost that we’ve paid for speed over security is pretty steep but...

In Formula One races, the expression, timing is everything’ carries significant meaning. Drivers and teams need to know exactly how fast the cars are running at certain points around the track. It is a sport where timing is everything and nothing can be left to uncertainty. The use cases for accurate timing have been around for decades. Timing is what enables communication systems to work, time is...

Change is the new normal. Disruption is a natural state anywhere in the world today. How should established organisations address these new conditions, discover new opportunities in the new normal, and transform to lead the shift? Business model transformation focuses on changing the way a company creates, delivers and captures value. In this PodChats for FutureCIO, Ying Shaowei , chief scientist...