Solving the Hard Problems IT Leaders Are Facing in 2026

Overview

As 2025 closes, Australian organisations are experiencing a common and growing reality: security, cloud, data, and engineering ecosystems have become too fragmented to support the speed, resilience, trust and AI-readiness demanded by boards and customers.

Multiple clouds, diverse toolchains, inherited legacy infrastructure, and decentralised operating models have created an environment where every team works differently, every project creates drift, and every platform evolves in a slightly incompatible way .

The outcome: higher risk, slower delivery, escalating costs, and an inability to rapidly but safely adopt AI.

Heading into 2026, CIOs, CISOs, CTOs and Heads of Platform are converging around a consistent set of critical problems:

Security baselines are inconsistent across teams, providers, and environments, creating material exposure and audit friction.

AI adoption is outpacing governance models , with data access boundaries, identity controls and platform consistency falling behind.

Identity, secrets and access management have become fractured , spanning legacy AD, multiple cloud IDPs, local service accounts, and unmanaged developer credentials.

Engineering and cloud delivery teams are working in parallel silos , creating duplicated patterns, configuration drift, and unpredictable delivery outcomes.

Regulators and boards are raising expectations , demanding evidence of operational resilience and control maturity while tolerance for variance rapidly diminishes.

This webinar brings senior technology leaders together for a practical, solution-focused dialogue on the capabilities, foundations and governance models that must be strengthened before the 2026 delivery cycle begins.

Agenda

• 11:00 am Solving the Hard Problems IT Leaders Are Facing in 2026(Executive Readiness Summit - Live 2026) As 2025 closes, Australian organisations are experiencing a common and growing reality: security, cloud, data, and engineering ecosystems have become too fragmented to support the speed, resilience, trust and AI-readiness demanded by boards and customers. Multiple clouds, diverse toolchains, inherited legacy infrastructure, and decentralised operating models have created an environment where every team works differently, every project creates drift, and every platform evolves in a slightly incompatible way . The outcome: higher risk, slower delivery, escalating costs, and an inability to rapidly but safely adopt AI. Heading into 2026, CIOs, CISOs, CTOs and Heads of Platform are converging around a consistent set of critical problems: Key discussion points: Security baselines are inconsistent across teams, providers, and environments, creating material exposure and audit friction. AI adoption is outpacing governance models , with data access boundaries, identity controls and platform consistency falling behind. Identity, secrets and access management have become fractured , spanning legacy AD, multiple cloud IDPs, local service accounts, and unmanaged developer credentials. Engineering and cloud delivery teams are working in parallel silos , creating duplicated patterns, configuration drift, and unpredictable delivery outcomes. Regulators and boards are raising expectations , demanding evidence of operational resilience and control maturity while tolerance for variance rapidly diminishes. This webinar brings senior technology leaders together for a practical, solution-focused dialogue on the capabilities, foundations and governance models that must be strengthened before the 2026 delivery cycle begins.

Speakers

• Jerome Walter · Chief Technology Officer (CTO), HashiCorp
• Marc Havercroft · Head of Asia Global Software Development Companies, Microsoft
• Rahul Savdekar · Global Microsoft GTM Leader, APJ, IBM
• Madeline Palmer · Head - Content, Research & Editorial, Factor Madeline Palmer is a seasoned media and communications professional with extensive experience across journalism, broadcasting, and content creation. As the Head of Content, Research & Editorial at Factor, Madeline is in charge of broad range of strategic, editorial, and managerial tasks aimed at ensuring the production and dissemination of high-quality research content across various platforms. Madeline has hosted and moderated dozens of C-Suite roundtable discussions on topics such as GenAI, Fintech solutions, CX and UX insights, Data Governance and ESG. Madeline has also hosted panels at our larger events, on topics from Cyber Security to DevOps. She also oversees the editorial aspect of Factor’s research reports and white papers. Before joining Factor, she worked as a broadcast journalist in a number of major newsrooms across the country. During this time, Madeline covered breaking national and international news, including the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Medibank and Optus data breaches, several State and Federal Elections, the historical AUKUS Agreement, and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, among other stories. Madeline has a Bachelor in Communications and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Broadcasting from Edith Cowan University in Perth. In 2018, she was a finalist in the Brian White Radio Journalism Awards. Madeline was also named a finalist for Young Journalist of the Year Award at the Rural Press Club Awards in 2020. While in 2022, she was also a finalist of the 30 Under 30 Awards from Radio Today.

Partners

• HashiCorp
• Microsoft Corporation Every company has a mission. What's ours? To empower every person and every organization to achieve more. We believe technology can and should be a force for good and that meaningful innovation contributes to a brighter world in the future and today. Our culture doesn’t just encourage curiosity; it embraces it. Each day we make progress together by showing up as our authentic selves. We show up with a learn-it-all mentality. We show up cheering on others, knowing their success doesn't diminish our own. We show up every day open to learning our own biases, changing our behavior, and inviting in differences. Because impact matters. Microsoft operates in 190 countries and is made up of approximately 228,000 passionate employees worldwide.
• IBM At IBM, we do more than work. We create. We create as technologists, developers, and engineers. We create with our partners. We create with our competitors. If you're searching for ways to make the world work better through technology and infrastructure, software and consulting, then we want to work with you. We're here to help every creator turn their "what if" into what is. Let's create something that will change everything.

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