Cloud Workload Security: What’s Hot, What’s Not

Generative AI (genAI) and agentic workflows are roiling technology services markets, overturning the 15-year stability of the prevailing business model. The era defined by time-and-materials pricing, agnostic technology positions, and people-driven business growth is no longer viable. Since the peak growth seen in 2021, the sector has become entirely different.Starting in 2022, four powerful forces began converging to disrupt the services status quo, forcing providers toward radically different choices and reshaping the sector to deliver what enterprises need now.Key takeaways: Learn how four forces shape technology service business models.Find out what separates winners from losers.Explore how, as a buyer of services, you can thrive in a reconstructed services economy.Target audience level: intermediate

Ted Schadler

 

CRM is a critical piece of technology infrastructure that underpins a firm’s ability to deliver next-generation financial services. It connects organizational silos to drive customer and business value. CRMs are integrating AI and adding intelligent agents to boost productivity and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale. This makes CRM an indispensable tool for financial services firms aiming to enhance customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive growth.Despite the benefits, we often hear that financial services firms struggle to justify the investment in CRM modernization, and firms that have done so say that they’re struggling to extract value. This makes it more important than ever to choose the right vendor. But the financial services CRM market is bifurcating, making vendor choice even harder.Key takeaways: Understand the financial services CRM market, key vendors, and common financial services use cases.Learn how AI (predictive, generative, and agentic) is transforming CRM and what it means for financial services firms.Uncover the mistakes that are leading to the underutilization of CRM by financial services firms.Identify the key considerations that should inform financial services firms’ CRM purchasing decision.Target audience level: intermediate and advanced

Alyson Clarke

 

In today's fast-paced digital landscape, businesses must adapt to ever-evolving technological demands. Join us for an insightful webinar where we delve into the importance of business-optimized networks and how they can transform your organization's efficiency and productivity.Key takeaways: Understand business-optimized networks — what they are and why they matter.Discover benefits of optimization — enhanced performance, security, and scalability.Explore real-world applications — case studies and success stories.Learn implementation strategies — practical steps to optimize your network.Target audience level: beginner and intermediate

Andre Kindness

 

The CISO is the arbiter of confidence and protection for the business in a world of geopolitical strife and shifting allegiances; regulatory hurdles and changes to AI and tech; quickly emerging and changing technologies in generative AI (genAI); and constantly evolving cybercriminal activity, including deepfakes. In 2025, five threats will affect security teams more than any other: global regulatory disruptions, high-quality deepfakes, tech exuberance over genAI, job loss radicalization, and genAI-driven extortion. Security pros need to prepare in advance.Key takeaways: Global regulatory disruptions: Data-related policies, regulations, and standards are becoming less aligned between domains and across countries.High-quality deepfakes: Attackers are increasingly using deepfakes because of their ability to cast doubt on security, trust in the media, and brand reputation. Deepfakes impact verification and authentication for almost every user group, including customers, business partners, and workforce members.Tech exuberance over genAI: Enterprise adoption of genAI continues to accelerate as models proliferate, training costs come down, and deployment options increase. But tech and security leaders are learning hard lessons about how different models behave — and the work required to make them secure — as new models emerge.Job loss radicalization: A new economic reality has emerged in 2025 with a flurry of activity that saw job cuts to 4% of the US federal government workforce, massive tech layoffs, and job cuts in Europe. Employees who remain after layoffs are not happy.GenAI-driven extortion: Between continued law enforcement disruption of ransomware gangs and enterprises’ greater focus on business resilience and data backups, ransomware became less lucrative for cybercriminals in 2024. Before genAI, stealing data was only so useful — reviewing millions of emails takes far too much time. Now, with genAI, attackers can perform a quick sentiment analysis on troves of stolen data for extortion schemes.Target audience level: intermediate

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Allie Mellen

, 

Jitin Shabadu

, 

Enza Iannopollo

, 

Andras Cser

, 

Cody Scott

, 

Jess Burn

, 

Jeff Pollard

, 

Joseph Blankenship

 

The ITIL™ framework has been a mainstay of IT operational discipline, emerging as an authoritative inventory of key IT practices in the mid-1990s and enjoying broad adoption through the mid-2000s. But the Version 3 rewrite proposed an unworkable process-centric operating model that leading organizations bypassed in favor of DevOps and related approaches. While Version 4 made some necessary adjustments, the framework is now wholly owned by PeopleCert, who have shut out longstanding partners and increased costs for those seeking to gain or maintain certification. IT professionals have more effective and current guidance available.Key takeaways: Understand why now is the time to find alternative approaches to managing services.Understand the dynamics that are influencing the future of IT service management.Target audience level: intermediate

Julie Mohr

 

If you couldn’t attend RSAC Conference 2025 (or even if you did), the Forrester Security & Risk Team has you covered. Join us for a roundtable on the key themes from the conference, takeaways from the show floor, and insights from some of the biggest sessions.Key takeaways: Learn about the most prominent technology and security themes at the conference.Discover which products and markets are dominating the show floor (and which ones have gone quiet).Hear our takeaways from the RSAC Innovation Sandbox.Explore expo trends: animals, nostalgia, and experiences.Target audience level: all levels

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Sandy Carielli

, 

Heidi Shey

, 

Jess Burn

, 

Jeff Pollard

, 

Alla Valente

, 

Joseph Blankenship

, 

Madelein van der Hout

, 

Andras Cser