TRICON ENERGY
Running a lean machine DIGITAL REPORT 2021
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
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TRICON INTERNATIONAL LTD
THE LEAN MACHINE www.triconenergy.com
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Craig Wood, Director of Infrastructure and Security
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Craig Wood of Tricon Energy talks about his plans for the commodities trading platform and how the smartest IT and the most committed partnerships are the key to success
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raig Wood believes in Pedal Power. That efficient use of energy driving a cyclist’s legs and converting their movement into the most effective, economic momentum of the wheels. Earlier this year Wood took time out from his role as the Director of Infrastructure and Security at Tricon Energy to endure a 740km cycle ride through the sweltering heat and endless seas of corn in the state of Iowa. Not only completing but surviving such a gruelling challenge was all about the super-efficient use of resources. Craig Wood is keen on what he calls leaness. That’s all about running a business with no unnecessary fat on the bones – just a lean machine. Something a devoted and passionate cyclist would understand. Tricon Energy is also a ‘well-oiled’ superefficient business. That’s largely down to Craig Wood’s approach and how he has navigated the company through the even more challenging landscape of the digital age. Tricon Energy is a Houston TX-based leader in the global trade and distribution market. Its technology ensures its clients can trade commodities such as chemicals, plastics, fertilisers, and unprocessed dry bulk materials efficiently and in real time. Underpinning this commodity trading is Tricon Energy’s commitment to utilising the very best IT and the most rewarding business collaborations.
“ To the board of a company, technology is magic the CIO is a wizard” CRAIG WOOD
DIRECTOR OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY, TRICON ENERGY www.triconenergy.com
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Tricon Energy - Success through super efficient I.T. and partnerships
“ I learned how to use IT effectively and the importance in recognising the differences between vendor relationships and true partnerships” CRAIG WOOD
DIRECTOR OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY, TRICON ENERGY
Craig Wood has a reputation for innovation in the way he manages technological change. He’s been developing leadingedge technologies to get the most effective interaction between businesses and their clients throughout his career. So, how much store does he place in this experience in his role at Tricon Energy? 6
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“I think it's been a very large contributor,” he says. “I come from a small managed service provider. This is where I really cut my teeth with IT services. That was where I learned how to use IT effectively and the importance of recognising the differences between vendor relationships and true partnerships.” Really understanding the nature of risk “With Tricon being a very lean organisation, especially regarding IT services, we have spent a great deal of time identifying and building partnerships to propel us forward in our annual growth and innovation towards digital transformation and risk mitigation of cyber threats, which are evolving rapidly and constantly. “This has led us to adopt a strong industry toolset which educates and informs employees of potential risks to both Tricon and our clients and partners so that we can respond appropriately in today's IT threat landscape.’
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But according to Wood the key to success when detecting and combatting cyber threat is not just about using the best IT for the job. That’s only part of a bigger picture. Wood says mitigating risk is often down to understanding and anticipating simple human nature. ‘No solution or tool is 100% effective to the daily threat evolution, so the first line of defence needs to be employee awareness and diligent communication. “Artificial intelligence catches a good 97% of most phishing threats but that risky three percent can shut down an enterprise and cost millions of dollars, for that reason, awareness is one of the company's greatest assets.”
CRAIG WOOD TITLE: D IRECTOR OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY INDUSTRY: OIL & ENERGY LOCATION: UNITED STATES
1996
Year founded
$7.4bn Revenue (2019)
500+
Number of employees
EXECUTIVE BIO
The lean, mean machine Wood attributes much of Tricon Energy’s early success to what he calls its leaness. ‘Effective IT tool sets can help a company become lean and efficient companies can use those tool sets more effectively. Leaness and using the right technology go hand in hand.’ Wood says matching tool-sets to employees is a balancing act many businesses fail to understand. It’s a movable feast which should be continually under review. ‘I think this has an absolute effect on the technologies you use,’ he says.
Craig Wood is a passionate cyclist. Many of the principles he applies to hard core cycling he equates to his role at Tricon. He is a dedicated, results driven IT Professional with proven success more than 20 years’ experience in directing a broad range of businesses with dynamic infrastructure needs. Detailed focus around industry standards and innovation while participating in planning, design, analysis and responding to executive feedback and business objectives to help manicure custom, effective solutions aligned with business needs complemented by fiscally responsible partnerships and well-managed project execution. Accomplished at leading team members in designing, implementing, and maintaining comprehensive and secure networks, architecture, testing, and ongoing support of complex multisite and global organisations under ITIL standards and governance.
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Why? Because, he argues, there is always a trade-off between the technology you use and the employees you engage to run them. Wood believes that CIOs often face a dilemma – almost a law of diminishing returns. ‘I believe a CIO’s efficiency it goes up until you start spending a certain amount of time on your tool-sets…then you have negative returns. ‘The more time the CIO spends working at that level with the tool-sets the less effective they are in their job and their tasks. ‘The greater the number of tool-sets you have, the more complex the environment, so you either need more employees, and more highly skilled employees.’ Wood says this is the challenge all CIOs face. ‘If you don’t get the ratio right, you face a fall in efficiency. He says the real skill is learning how to measure the tool-sets you have and know how to measure what your staff can support. You need to ensure that you're identifying optimisation and the value in the tools that are available. Just having them isn't enough.’ Waving the I.T magic wand Wood says he is passionate about getting the relationship between the Board of a business and the CIO right too. “It’s absolutely key,” he says. “It’s interesting,’ he says. “I recently heard someone say that, to the board of a company, technology is magic; the CIO is a wizard.”
“ Partnerships are the backbone of building a business such as Tricon Energy” CRAIG WOOD
DIRECTOR OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY, TRICON ENERGY
“The board says: ‘We say we want this outcome’ and the board hears the wizard say: ‘I've got a magic wand, and this is what's going to fix it for you.” Most often regardless of what the CIO actually tells them.” “But if you can't deliver actual outcomes to demonstrate and recognise where there's risk as well as identify that we have additional risk that needs to be addressed and you don't communicate that to the board then the board is going to be surprised, and if that surprise results in ransomware it's going to create a lot of issues.” But according to Wood, that’s only half of the equation space in. The other half is all about looking beyond your internal assets. Again, he stresses that balance is everything. “What you can’t get from that ‘well-oiled’ internal employee mechanism you need to complement with partnerships.” www.triconenergy.com
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True partnerships “Partnerships are at the backbone of building a business such as Tricon Energy,” he says. So how much of a role does Wood have in Tricon Energy’s partnership strategy? A lot. “I don't just influence the process, I make decisions about our technology partnerships.” “This is critical. It is very important to chose the right partner when you're going to run a efficient organisation. Many would argue that every organisation, as far as IT goes, is ‘lean’. It’s often considered a cost centre. One company may see it as a red line at the bottom of the general ledger, another company may see it as a black line and as an aid to empowerment to the business.” “Either way,” says Wood, “IT still has a job in the partnership process.” And, it is partnerships which Wood champions. He is not a fan of vendor relationships. “The partnerships you make are going to determine whether or not you end up with a vendor relationship – which I do not believe in, I prefer to nurture a partnership and grow together.” Wood is sceptical of vendor relationships. He says they tend to miss opportunities and lack true commitment from both sides. A 10
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“ I believe, very much in educating my staff and helping them grow” CRAIG WOOD
DIRECTOR OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY, TRICON ENERGY
good partnership is engaged with what is happening in your company, and is part of the journey. “A vendor may be more concerned with margins my margins? They may not necessarily be interested in a log lasting business relationship, and determine what tool-sets to use and how to best manage them for the betterment of the business rather than the vendor margins.” “Yes, you're going to have to have some partnerships that are less strategic than others, because you need a ‘widget’ to work, but core partnerships must have the core relationships to be successful.” 12
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“With a true partnership you're addressing the situation together that you're encountering and you're both working on to be good custodians of the business.” Wood cites Tricon’s partnership with Long View Systems as a good example of how this relationship should work. “I have a great working relationship with a company called Long View Systems, who is our managed service provider. We work very closely together and I include them in a lot of decision making an input into what we do.” Wood says working within a company such as Tricon Energy requires a very different approach to the old days when
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he was a consultant. It’s about trust and equality within a partnership. “With Tricon we've got motivation that is driven by efficiency and innovation, and we have a subset of tools that that help Tricon. Having to cut away at the tools we utilise limits my field of vision, as far as what technologies are developing, how they are used, and what their impact is. So, my decision-making capacity is limited in that regard. This means I must rely on my partners to give me good information which is not biased towards them.” Craig Wood describes himself as a servant leader. He says trust and
collaboration is everything. “I believe, very much in educating my staff and helping them grow. I do a lot of work to ensure that they can progress. They are the only reason I’m successful and so I make sure I put that first. I empower my employees, so that they can educate and grow and have a clear line of succession.” Wood says this approach is how he can take sleep at night, take vacations and even take time to cycle across an entire state in the heat of Summer.
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