DAFTER, Mich. – Imagine a world in which tribal leaders and businesses come together to share their experiences and work with each other to solve challenges in the increasingly complex information technology industry.
This is precisely what TribalNet, a technology solutions information group and resource for tribal casinos, government and health care services, envisioned nearly nine years ago when it formed and held its first conference.
”We started with only a handful of people,” said Shannon Bouschor, director of TribalNet. This handful later exploded into a conference with more than 200 attendees and 60 vendors in 2007, a sharp contrast from the 15 to 20 people and five vendors the group counted in its first year.
The group is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, only minutes away from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Bay Mills Indian Community. The location helped pave the way for a solid footprint in Michigan, Bouschor said.
Word spread and other Michigan tribes and businesses signed on to the idea of improving technology and building tribal relationships. The group continues to get noticed by leaders throughout the country.
”You know that these are IT-related folks with a general need to improve IT solutions,” said Rhonda Burish, a senior sales consultant for Digital Scantronics, a Wisconsin document management company.
The group encourages businesses, tribal technology leaders and other interested groups to attend its annual conference. Burish’s company attended the conference last year and plans to attend the autumn conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., if their budget allows.
Bouschor considers TribalNet’s advisory board to be another reason for the group’s continued growth. The nine-member advisory board is separated into a tribal government and member services section and a casino and hospitality subgroup.
The board totals more than 170 years working in technology-related fields with numerous experiences helping shape technology at tribal entities spanning from Arizona to Connecticut. It is headed by Mike Day, who is currently vice president of information technology at Cannery Casino Resorts in Las Vegas and was the director of information technology for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe when he founded TribalNet in 1999.
Day’s vision of bringing tribes and technology together sparked the group’s success, Bouschor said.
Board member Terry Honeycutt has been involved with the group since the beginning and believes TribalNet helped bridge a gap among tribal technology communications where valuable information was scarce and difficult to find.
Susan Kesel, a TribalNet board member since 2007, agrees with Honeycutt. ”In the mid-90s, the ability to talk to another tribe was virtually impossible to do,” she said.
She believes that TribalNet will help tribal casinos remain on the cutting edge as tribes continue to be more receptive to communicating with each other.
”The tribal casinos are more ahead of mainstream industries,” said Kesel, who is also the CIO and vice president of information technology for the Seneca Niagara Falls Gaming Corp. in New York.
Kesel applauds advancements achieved through the Oneida Indian Nation’s cashless casino model and noted that the Seneca Nation of Indians was the first casino entity to use a single-card system among each of its casino properties.
Honeycutt likens TribalNet to a search engine that provides fast, effective results.
”You know, you can go online and search and find thousands of things, but TribalNet makes it really easy to call them up and find a solution,” said Honeycutt, who has personally used the group’s resources while serving as a management information systems director of government programs at the Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico.
TribalNet also provides its members with a directory filled with detailed information on nearly 350 tribes, more than 300 Native-owned casinos and more than 200 technology suppliers. Burish said she found this list very useful and believes it helps set TribalNet apart from other organizations offering similar services.
The directory often serves as a starting point for TribalNet members and helps toward the continuing education of tribal members as the field moves forward, Honeycutt said.
In addition to paying close attention to current trends, the future of TribalNet hinges largely on its commitment to providing a resource that helps tribal businesses more effectively use technology, Bouschor said.
”The biggest thing moving forward is consulting and helping tribes as they start out [utilizing information technology],” Bouschor said. ”We have the knowledge and the challenge is to let people get better at IT.”
TribalNet schedules one-on-one meetings with its clients and is willing to travel to on-site locations to help tribal entities assess technology needs. The group concentrates on information technology department creation and development, system selection, strategic planning and other custom consulting services.
The group also offers a scholarship for American Indian students enrolled in technology-related coursework at an accredited junior, community or four-year college. For more information, visit www.tribalnetonline.com.
