From Noise to Action: Building Practical Automation for RealTime Ops Intelligence

​Abstract:
Modern infrastructure generates more data than any team can realistically respond to. Logs, alerts, telemetry, and security signals flood operators faster than they can be triaged—yet most environments still rely on manual response loops, brittle scripts, and disconnected tooling.

​This presentation will walk through a practical approach to building automation that doesn’t just collect data, but converts it into actionable decisions in real time. We will explore how to design lightweight automation pipelines that:

• ​Normalize and correlate noisy operational signals (logs, alerts, system events)

• ​Apply simple decision logic to identify meaningful events vs. background noise

• ​Trigger safe, reversible automated responses instead of human bottlenecks

• ​Maintain auditability and operator trust in automated actions

​Attendees will leave with a practical mental model for building automation that is:

• ​Simple enough to maintain

• ​Safe enough to trust

• ​Powerful enough to reduce alert fatigue

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Speaker Bio:
Sara Spencer is a Principal Architect and cybersecurity engineer with more than 25 years of experience designing enterprise infrastructure, cloud platforms, and security automation solutions. She is the founder of CogniMind AI and creator of VALKERIE™, an AI-native cybersecurity platform focused on automating compliance, strengthening security operations, and helping organizations make better security decisions through intelligent automation.

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Timing:
7:00--7:45 Social Session
7:45--8:00 Announcements & Introductions
8:00-ish Presentation