"You cannot expect to meet the challenges of today with yesterday’s tools and expect to be in business tomorrow"

Arun Goyal
SVP & Head - IT
MPS

Arun has 25 years of experience in successfully leading different IT Infrastructure and software projects. Business strategist; planned and managed multimillion- dollar projects aligning business goals with technology solutions to drive process improvements, competitive advantage and bottom-line gains.

Challenges in technology to meet enterprise needs in 2013 and expectations

The big challenge in technology is to have an IT infrastructure agile enough to keep pace with the ever increasing demands of business. Technology providers need to provide solutions which can handle exponential growth and usage of mobile devices, ever increasing growth of data in the enterprise and need for adaptive business applications. Big data, cloud computing, social business, and mobility are causing digital disruption across many industries. Social media and mobile technologies have shifted the balance of power and influence to the consumer.

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

Despite the advances in network security, viruses and malware continue to plague the IT environment. We need a security solution which would be versatile enough to be compatible with multiple platforms and yet robust enough to ensure fool proof security. We are lagging behind on having our IT Infrastructure with a centralized management of network and domain architecture, like having a centralized monitoring and alerting system, IMS servers, the single sign- on technology and the extended enterprise network with the centralized application servers in a clustered environment. To build this kind of centralized enterprise management network architecture we have planned to reconcile and consolidate the complete network architecture of all locations of MPS to a centrally managed NOC with complete monitoring and alerting systems.

Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment

Disruptive innovation, big data, BYOD, hybrid cloud computing model, virtualized platform hosting applications which are accessed through thin clients and mobile devices. BYOD is a big challenge to the CIO. One big advantage for the communication of voice and data through some of the smart phone is a very cost effective collaborative networks for VOIP/ accessing the alert messages/ online chatting/ MRTG reports on mobile etc. Big security issues arise when companies support BYOD. The first is data loss protection. Almost any MDM system can take care of that threat through device wipe and device lockdown features, but many employees don’t want MDM software wiping their personal device or locking it down. Some MDM platforms address employee's concerns by offering containerization.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

Businesses have made it clear that they want IT to provide more services at lower costs and with less complexity. It’s a good time to introduce IT automation solutions and services that promise reduced downtime, improved IT staff productivity and the agility to adapt to changing business demands. IT must demonstrate that automation will transform daily, often- manual IT tasks- ranging from maintenance and change management, to security policy enforcement and software upgradesinto intelligent, proactive management practices. “IT automation enables an IT organization to move toward a servicesoriented model, where IT spends much more time helping drive the business forward.

Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs

Look at each day as a new opportunity to be your very best. Set high goals, be honest, never say no, and work with people who share your passion for doing their best. Timely update ourselves with latest technologies and trends available in the market. You cannot expect to meet the challenges of today with yesterday’s tools and expect to be in business tomorrow. We need to shift our focus from ‘automating business needs’ and ‘keeping lights on’ to becoming the ‘business transformer’.