Advancing Municipal Innovation through Strategic Technology

Eric Hayden, MBA, Director of Technology and Innovation and CTO, City of Tampa

Eric Hayden is the Director of Technology and Innovation and CTO at City of Tampa, bringing four decades of public-sector experience. He leads citizen-centric digital transformation, resilient infrastructure, cybersecurity initiatives, and high-performing teams to modernize municipal services and deliver lasting community value. Hayden shared his expert insights and guidance for the 2026 edition of Govt CIO Outlook. 

1. Prioritizing Technology and Innovation in a City Environment

At the City of Tampa, every initiative competes with other essential services, so prioritization must be uniform, transparent, and tied to resident impact. I focus on three anchors: mission alignment, operational value, and risk reduction. For example, if a project measurably improves safety, service delivery, or access for residents, it rises to the top. If it reduces long‑term cost or technical debt, it earns strategic weight. And if it mitigates operational or cybersecurity risk, it becomes non‑negotiable.

I also rely on structured intake and governance. I lead a centralized IT department with technology and business experts assigned to each department. Departments articulate their needs, and we understand them as if we belong to their decision-making circle. In addition, we evaluate those needs through a citywide lens—shared platforms, reusable components, and enterprise standards. This prevents one‑off solutions and ensures that limited resources create the greatest collective benefit. The goal is simple: invest in the work that moves the entire city forward, not just one corner of it.

2. The Role of Data‑Driven Decision‑Making

We completed our citywide data strategy in 2025. Data is the backbone of modern municipal service delivery. It gives us the ability to see patterns, anticipate needs, and measure outcomes instead of relying on intuition or tradition. In Tampa, data helps us understand resident behavior, optimize field operations, and identify where services are falling short. We use data and geospatial analytics often when deploying service teams.

“Data gives us the ability to see patterns, anticipate needs, and measure outcomes instead of relying on intuition or tradition.”

Operationally, data allows us to deploy resources more intelligently—whether that’s adjusting 911 response models, improving traffic flow, or identifying bottlenecks in permitting. It also strengthens accountability. When leaders can see performance in real time, they can make faster, more confident decisions. When we answer to the public, we want answers the public wants to hear when they ask questions.

Most importantly, data levels out insight. When departments share information, they stop solving problems in isolation and start solving them as a unified city. This is a very slow culture change. Each department is uniquely qualified to work independently, but modernizing our organization begins with transforming independent thinking into citywide thinking.

3. Modernizing Legacy Systems While Protecting Security and Trust

This is one of my personal areas of attention, having spent more than twenty years leading our data center and continuity of government teams. Legacy modernization in government is never a “rip and replace” exercise. It’s a careful, staged transition that protects continuity while moving the organization toward a more resilient future. My approach starts with understanding mission dependencies—who relies on the system, what processes it supports, and what risks it carries. From there, we build a modernization roadmap that blends incremental upgrades with targeted replacements. Roadmaps help fortify business plans and long‑term funding strategies. We rarely can pay for everything at once, so we position critical elements of our infrastructure to align with available budgets across several years.

Security is embedded from the start. Modern platforms give us stronger identity controls, better monitoring, and more consistent patching. But trust is just as important. Residents and employees need confidence that the systems they rely on will work every day. That means parallel operations, rigorous testing, and clear communication.

In a multi‑platform and multiple data center environment, modernization succeeds when people barely notice the transition—because the service simply becomes faster, more reliable, and more secure. This is expected in our service portfolio.

4. What Makes Cross‑Department Collaboration Successful

Trust in IT leadership by all departments is key. Citywide initiatives only succeed when departments feel like partners, not passengers. Collaboration works when three conditions are present: shared purpose, shared language, and shared ownership. I recently spoke at a senior staff meeting where I thanked every department head for inviting us into their inner circle of business decision makers. It was a small gesture but sincere because I would never wish to push shadow IT efforts underground. I speak for the city and also for the departments where I can add value in moving their initiatives forward and securing funding.

Shared purpose means everyone understands the “why”—how the initiative improves service delivery or reduces friction for residents. Shared language means translating technical concepts into operational terms so departments can engage meaningfully. Shared ownership means involving departments early, giving them a voice in design, and ensuring they see their fingerprints on the final product.

In my experience, collaboration accelerates when technology teams act as facilitators rather than gatekeepers. When departments feel heard and supported, they lean in. When they feel dictated to, they resist. The most successful projects are the ones where every department can say, “We built this together.”

5. Fostering a Culture of Innovation within Constraints

In far too many cases, steady change requires a successful organizational culture. Transforming culture is often required before any internal change can be adopted. There are many articles written on the types of cultures within organizations, and I recall one from Harvard Business Review in 2018 that categorized eight areas of focus: Caring, Purpose, Learning, Enjoyment, Results, Authority, Safety, and Order. At the time, Results and Caring styles of organizations were the top-ranked successful organizations studied. For others, there are reasons each succeeds, and based on future initiatives, CEOs and department heads could map out plans to shape the organization to best implement major changes.

For us, government isn’t about chasing trends—it’s about solving real problems in smarter ways. Our leaders can foster innovation by creating safe spaces for experimentation while maintaining the guardrails required by regulation, budget, and risk.

This starts with mindset. Leaders must signal that continuous improvement is expected, not optional. Small pilots, rapid feedback loops, and cross‑functional working groups allow teams to test ideas without committing the entire organization. Clear governance ensures that innovation doesn’t outpace security or compliance.

Our budgets are always a constraint. However, constraints actually sharpen innovation. They force us to prioritize platforms over point solutions, reuse components, and design with scalability in mind. And when employees see that innovation leads to better outcomes—not more work—they become champions of the culture.

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