Aligning Organizational Goals by being Innovative

Travis Cutright, Chief Information Officer at City of Mesa

Travis Cutright, Chief Information Officer at City of Mesa

Travis Cutright is the chief information officer at the City of Mesa, where he oversees a comprehensive IT department and is accountable for addressing the city's technological requirements as well as implementing the smart city strategic plan. In addition, the City of Mesa team is dedicated to providing excellent customer service to front-line workers who interact with residents in a productive manner. For his remarkable leadership, management acumen, and innovative use of technology to generate business value, Travis Cutright was named a Public Sector Finalist at the 2021 Arizona CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards.

What are the key trends and challenges existing in the respace?

One of the larger challenges would be recruiting and retaining talent within an organization when the economy is slowing down, and the private sector is doing some layoffs. However, there's not as much pressure on the market now. I would say that we should approach the retention piece and the recruitment piece from a technology standpoint, and things are continuing to evolve. Secondly, cyber security is also a challenge where cybercriminals are trying to figure out how to get into the organization and hack the data. So we should anticipate that and stay ahead of it. We must not be reactive but be forward thinking and progressive, whether in cyber security, innovation, and infrastructure front.

“Think out of the box. Be innovative minded and take calculated risks, to empower staff to try things and get more engaged workforce and better products”

Is there any project that you have been working on, and what are the measures you took to mitigate these challenges?

We recently worked on upgrading our ERP system and faced challenges in evaluating whether to go with an on-premise or cloud-based solution. However, we were able to mitigate these challenges by taking a methodical approach and thoroughly assessing all available options. Ultimately, we chose a cloud-based solution, and the upgrade was successful without any issues. To ensure the system's reliability, we signed a long-term contract with the vendor and established a partnership with them. Our efforts ensured that the ERP system remained operational and we were able to avoid any potential disruptions.

Would you like to share a piece of advice with your fellow peers so that they can navigate the upcoming challenges or trends?

Building relationships across organizations would be my piece of advice. Also, they should become a business partner with the different departments and understand their needs and how to leverage technology to move their initiatives forward. Think out of the box. Don’t get stuck in the rut of how you’ve always done things because you will limit your options and creativity for the staff and organization. Be innovative-minded and take calculated risks to empower staff to try things and get a more engaged workforce and better products.