In this Tyler Tech Podcast episode, Mike Cook, IT director for the city of Redondo Beach, California, shares how his organization is approaching modernization as a foundational shift from aging infrastructure and manual processes to a more stable, automated, and scalable environment. Recorded live at Tyler Connect 2026 in Las Vegas, the conversation highlights Redondo Beach’s journey from legacy, on-premises ERP systems to a modern cloud solution, earning the city a Tyler Excellence Award along the way.

Like many local governments, Redondo Beach was operating with a highly constrained IT team, aging servers, and outdated software across its technology stack. Frequent downtime, mounting cybersecurity risks, and resource limitations made it increasingly difficult to maintain core systems, let alone improve them. Moving to the cloud helped stabilize the environment, reduce operational risk, and eliminate much of the ongoing maintenance burden that had previously consumed the team’s time.

With that foundation in place, the city has shifted its focus to modernizing long-standing workflows that remained largely unchanged for nearly two decades. From manual invoice processing and paper-based approvals to broader document digitization efforts, Redondo Beach is now working to streamline operations, introduce automation, and prepare for emerging AI capabilities in a more intentional and strategic way. Throughout the conversation, Mike offers a pragmatic perspective on modernization — emphasizing the importance of aligning technology decisions with business needs, taking a phased approach, and building toward long-term transformation without losing sight of day-to-day service delivery.

This episode also highlights the 2026 State CIO Priorities Playbook, designed to help government leaders turn strategy into action. The playbook provides practical insights, real-world examples, and actionable guidance across top priorities like AI, cybersecurity, modernization, accessibility, and digital services.

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