I started in the position of IT Director two years ago and at that time our network was extremely fragmented. We knew in order to provide better service and move forward with other business goals that we had to make some infrastructure improvements across the entire enterprise. To achieve our objectives, we instituted a fiber network backbone and deployed virtualization technology to improve high availability and disaster recovery capability. We run IGT at our two larger properties and this fall will be pushing that out to our smaller sites virtually, another project that falls in line with our goal of having a coherent enterprise-wide network.

The tribe’s first hotel is in the process of being built and is slated for opening early 2014. I have had the opportunity to be involved in this project from the beginning. Communication amongst C-level executives and decision makers has been key. We are also opening a new gaming board of director’s office facility which will house the Board Members and C-level casino operations. We will be tying this building into our network and new phone system as well as installing meeting room equipment, software and set up for video conferencing.

Our best practice standard for managing multiple projects is to assemble teams that include key members of our department, and Operations as well as relying on vendor partnerships. Setting clear goals and having this collaboration is extremely important and sets us up for successful project execution. We have a busy few months ahead!