For many years, IT users have suffered a difficult relationship with cyber security. Even if they understand the need for it, many regard security as a burdensome overhead that is too difficult and time-consuming for them to manage. Over the years the industry has gradually responded, and sought to achieve security technologies that are increasingly automated, less-intrusive, and more usable. The end results - examples of which include automatic updates, preconfigured protection, and frictionless technologies - are all good things, and have delivered a net gain in terms of protection. But to what extent have we really succeeded? To what extent has cyber security become something that end users regard as convenient and acceptable? And conversely, to what extent does security now get remembered and actively considered? Could we even be at risk of automating it out of our list of concerns? This talk examines the issues, and considers the need to carefully balance the provision of cyber security so that, while we may not always see it, we don’t forget that we need it.

DevOps is one of those large fluffy words which means a lot of different things to different people, so in this presentation Tim will help guide you through why organisations are doing DevOps, what they are looking to gain from it and lastly, how they are doing it. He will draw on various customers he has worked with over the years - both big and small - to present the common problems that they are having to solve and the various different approaches that they used to tackle them.

Tim will also look to explain how words like "shift-left", "CI/CD pipelines", "VSM", "Cloud" and "Infrastructure as code" are simply looking to optimise value-stream deliveries in a repeatable and automated fashion. The key takeaway from this presentation is that DevOps is a journey and like any journey will have many paths that one can take. There are however, common themes and challenges that people will encounter and it is these that we will look at.

This is a second chance to hear Nigel's talk on Agile ITAM, which was held back in March but which we weren't able to record. In his talk, Nigel will provide us with a practical guide to establishing ITAM capabilities and practices across agile organisations. The presentation details the journey from a traditional centralised SAM/ITAM approach to one that is decentralised, focused on co-worker engagement, and driven by risk assessments and business value generation. The framework delivers fast-paced continual, incremental improvement in an organic and adaptive manner, leading to new, unforeseen benefits.

We are unfortunately unable to record this session, so don't miss your only opportunity to hear Nigel speak on this important topic!