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CXOCIETY (read "society") is the platform for senior business, technology, finance and operations executives to discuss, share and discover the latest in technology, process and people innovation."CXOInsights" by CXOCIETY is the repository of shared insights and experiences by the best, brightest and most experienced professionals globally. Subscribe to "CXOInsights" by CXOCIETY to keep abreast in the latest in all things innovation.

  1. PodChats for FutureCISO: From Bias to Boardroom: How women are leading Asia’s cyber defences

    JAN 18

    PodChats for FutureCISO: From Bias to Boardroom: How women are leading Asia’s cyber defences

    As of 2025, women represent just 24% of the global cybersecurity workforce, with figures in Asia lagging behind at under 20%—a stark reminder of the persistent gender gap in one of the world’s most critical and fast-evolving sectors.  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?

    19 min
  2. PodChats for FutureCIO: Responsible and sustainable AI-led transformation in Asia in 2026

    JAN 17

    PodChats for FutureCIO: Responsible and sustainable AI-led transformation in Asia in 2026

    In 2026, Asia's AI landscape is characterised by unparalleled leadership in adoption, with some organisations, like Baidu (China), SenseTime (Hong Kong), Naver Corporation (South Korea) and Grab (Singapore) surpassing global peers in generative AI deployment and employee engagement. Yet, true transformation demands responsibility and sustainability: balancing rapid innovation with robust governance, ethical workforce integration, and scalable strategies that deliver enduring value amidst diverse national policies and economic dynamics. 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?

    25 min
  3. PodChats for FutureCISO: Practical defence strategies against industrialised cyber threats

    JAN 16

    PodChats for FutureCISO: Practical defence strategies against industrialised cyber threats

    Traditional defences fall short in the region's rapidly digitising landscape, with vulnerabilities in cloud, OT, supply chains, and critical sectors like healthcare. For CIOs, CISOs and CROs, the industrialisation of cyber threats requires pivoting to practical defence strategies against industrialised cyber threats that operate like efficient enterprises, powered by AI agents and automated workflows compressing attack lifecycles to minutes. 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?

    24 min
  4. PodChats for FutureCOO: The new operating agenda for Asia’s COOs in 2026

    12/25/2025

    PodChats for FutureCOO: The new operating agenda for Asia’s COOs in 2026

    In 2025, AI is reshaping the COO’s mandate across Asia, shifting focus from process efficiency to strategic orchestration. According to McKinsey (2024), 68% of APAC operations leaders report AI-driven automation freeing up 20–30% of planning capacity, enabling greater emphasis on resilience and innovation.  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

    22 min
  5. PodChats for FutureCISO: What needs to happen for AI to deliver on its promises in 2026

    12/18/2025

    PodChats for FutureCISO: What needs to happen for AI to deliver on its promises in 2026

    As we approach 2026, the promise of artificial intelligence across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong is palpable, driven in part by aspirations for unparalleled efficiency and innovation.  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?

    24 min
  6. PodChats for FutureCOO: Orchestrating Your AI Infrastructure: The COO's 2026 Playbook

    11/19/2025

    PodChats for FutureCOO: Orchestrating Your AI Infrastructure: The COO's 2026 Playbook

    As we move into 2026, AI is no longer a strategic experiment—it’s the engine of operational transformation. Across Asia, COOs are stepping beyond traditional oversight roles to become chief orchestrators of AI infrastructure: the complex, dynamic backbone that powers everything from real-time customer insights to autonomous supply chains.  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?

    17 min
  7. PodChats for FutureCOO: Human–AI collaboration and workforce orchestration

    11/15/2025

    PodChats for FutureCOO: Human–AI collaboration and workforce orchestration

    For the modern COO, the future of operational excellence in Asia hinges on perfecting human–AI collaboration and workforce orchestration. This is not about mere automation but about creating a synergistic ecosystem where human intuition and machine intelligence coalesce.  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?

    28 min
  8. PodChats for FutureIoT: Containment is the new prevention

    11/15/2025

    PodChats for FutureIoT: Containment is the new prevention

    As IoT adoption accelerates and cross-border supply chains deepen, the region faces escalating risks from fragmented regulations, AI-driven malware, and legacy infrastructure gaps. Traditional prevention models are faltering against sophisticated, fast-moving threats. Instead, governments and enterprises are shifting toward containment-first frameworks—rapid isolation of compromised nodes, segmented supply chain networks, and resilient recovery protocols. This reckoning reflects Southeast Asia’s dual reality: digital economies expanding at breakneck speed, yet exposure widening. By embracing containment as the new prevention, the region positions itself not to eliminate breaches, but to survive and adapt within them. 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. 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?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?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?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?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?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?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?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?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?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?

    17 min
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CXOCIETY (read "society") is the platform for senior business, technology, finance and operations executives to discuss, share and discover the latest in technology, process and people innovation."CXOInsights" by CXOCIETY is the repository of shared insights and experiences by the best, brightest and most experienced professionals globally. Subscribe to "CXOInsights" by CXOCIETY to keep abreast in the latest in all things innovation.

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  • Creator
    CXOCIETY | FutureCIO FutureCFO FutureIoT
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    476
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    Clean
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    © 2026 CXOInsights by CXOCIETY
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