From Check-box Training To Continuous Readiness: How One Immersive Customer is Preparing for 2026

From Check-box Training To Continuous Readiness: How One Immersive Customer is Preparing for 2026 

As organizations consider their cybersecurity strategy for 2026, one theme is emerging: confidence alone isn’t enough. Readiness must be proven. Teams are facing faster, more sophisticated threats, including AI-enabled attacks and live disinformation campaigns. Annual check-box training and attendance-based exercises no longer keep pace, especially when programs prioritize completion over real skill development. Being truly ready for 2026 requires moving beyond reactive approaches and focusing on continuous, measurable readiness that evolves with risk.

To understand how leading teams are preparing for what’s next, we asked one of our customers, Swisscom, about where cyber readiness efforts succeed, where they stall, and what truly delivers impact when budgets, time, and attention are limited.

We break down Swisscom’s key takeaways and explore how organizations can put these insights into practice to build teams that are not just stronger, but ready for the evolving threats of 2026.

Investing in Skills for Maximum Impact

When asked how they would allocate an unexpected readiness budget, Swisscom’s top priority was clear: advanced, hands-on labs focused on emerging threats like AI. Teams need repeated, practical exposure to real-world scenarios, rather than assumptions of competence based on completed modules.

Another major concern Swisscom highlighted is the offensive use of AI for disinformation during live incidents. AI-driven campaigns can rapidly generate and spread false information, overwhelming response teams, slowing decision-making, and creating confusion for internal stakeholders and the public alike. Preparing for these scenarios certainly requires baseline awareness, but it also demands realistic simulations where teams can practice separating signals from noise under pressure.

This requirement for realism is front and center of the Immersive One catalog of hands-on labs and live exercises. Tools like AI Lab Builder allow teams to create custom labs and adapt to scenarios in real time, ensuring training remains aligned with current adversary tactics and tailored to address unique skills gaps. 

Breaking Down Barriers to Continuous Readiness

Swisscom also identified a fragmented toolset as a major blocker to moving beyond annual, check-box training. Disconnected platforms make it difficult to manage, measure, and scale readiness programs, leaving gaps in visibility and skill tracking.

By unifying labs, simulations, and performance measurement within a single platform, Immersive helps organizations run ongoing, measurable readiness programs. Leaders can track skill progression, identify gaps, and understand trends over time, creating a holistic view of readiness rather than isolated activities.

Making Readiness Engaging

When it comes to engagement, Swisscom emphasized the importance of hyper-realism. Exercises need to reflect the threats, tools, and pressures teams face daily. Generic scenarios quickly lose relevance, while authentic simulations encourage curiosity, challenge assumptions, and drive professional growth.

Swisscom pointed to one of their most impactful initiatives: the Hacktober CTF during Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The mix of realistic challenges and on-site support kept participants focused on problem-solving and skill-building. Just as importantly, it surfaced gaps in processes, tools, and team communication that could be addressed in real time.

Translating Technical Updates into Business Impact

Reporting cyber readiness to the board remains a persistent challenge. Swisscom noted that discussions too often center on recent incidents or technical metrics, rather than forward-looking risk and strategic impact. Their advice is straightforward: translate technical risk into business outcomes.

Boards want to understand how cyber resilience protects revenue, preserves customer trust, and enables long-term growth. Raw vulnerability counts and tool inventories matter far less than concrete evidence of preparedness.

With capabilities like Dynamic Threat Range, security teams can present clear, data-backed proof of skills, progress, and resilience, tested within an organization’s preferred tech stack. This makes it possible to confidently move from the assumption of readiness to evidence of it.

Moving Beyond Check-box Training

Swisscom also stressed that compliance-driven training often creates a false sense of security. Awareness alone doesn’t change behavior. Real impact comes from relevance, engagement, and connection. People need to care about security, not just complete a required task.

Immersive supports this shift by placing teams into realistic scenarios where decisions have consequences. Active participation replaces passive learning. Teams practice skills in context, see the outcomes of their actions, and build habits that endure. The result is a move from surface-level awareness to a culture of ownership and accountability.

AI Risks and Human Resilience

Looking toward 2026, Swisscom believes internal risk from poorly governed defensive AI tools may emerge before truly advanced AI-driven attacks. Rapid deployment without oversight can introduce new vulnerabilities and expand the attack surface.

At the same time, they highlighted resilience as the most critical human skill for defenders. Staying calm, focused, and adaptable under pressure can’t be taught through lectures alone. It’s built through experience, reflection, and continuous feedback.

From Confidence to Proof

Swisscom’s insights point to a fundamental shift in how organizations must approach cyber readiness and their journey proves that feeling confident isn't the same as being ready. As threats like AI-driven disinformation and supply chain chaos accelerate, the industry is shifting from "check-box" completion to proven, measurable capability.

Don't leave your 2026 strategy to chance. Join us for a discussion with experts from Container 7 to learn exactly how to build a high-performance security culture. Register now. 

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