Managing Desktop Configurations While Giving Users Exceptional Flexibility

Mark Davison, VP & CIO, Delek US Holdings

Challenges in technology

The biggest challenge facing technology is its adaptability by business members. Not necessarily with new technology but with technology that currently exists. Resistance to change is still very high in various business units and IT will have to continue being the change agent, driving process discipline and continuous improvement.

That being said, there are opportunities for new technology advancements that I would add to my wish list like consistent and simplified security integration for mobile devices including smart phones and tablets. Secondly, simplified integration to enterprise software solutions is necessary.

No particular solution seems to serve the needs of the end to end process and makes it difficult to achieve some form of "best of breed" design. Each interface shouldn't be a unique opportunity. Last on my wish list is electronic wallet. Customers want it and retailers want to utilize it, but the industry is slow to respond.

The areas in business environment where solutions do not yet exist or not up to the mark, and which if existed, would've made job easier

I have always dreamed of a solution that acts as a "Black Box Broker" handling any interface of any solution. It would easily be configurable and independent of a given product. Every solution implementation requires integrations which are the number one cause of failure of a project if they are not accounted for properly. The second thing that keeps me up at night is the inability to manage desktop configurations while giving users exceptional flexibility. We currently allow users some administrative rights which opens up the door to potential security issues. We need technology that moves away from the PC as the basic platform to a new solution that offers similar features and characteristics.

Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment

One trend is the use of mobile technology by our customers. More and more of them want access to information on demand. This especially impacts our business as we strive to provide more personalized services. The need for electronic payments is huge as people want to get away from carrying so many forms of credit. The other trend is the use of big data. Data sets are getting larger, more data is readily available, and more people want access to it.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

Over the past decade, publications have described how the CIO needs to become the trusted business partner; integrating activities with the direct needs of the business. That trend has not changed. In fact it has amplified to the point that the CIO must become the "agent of change" and "business process champion". This is an extremely difficult and precarious position as many business owners don't want to change or develop the internal disciplines necessary to become more functional and efficient.