Melissa Kraft is the chief information officer for the city of Frisco, marking a year in July.
The city is known for its high-tech corporate culture and is home to companies including Cardtronics, Lexipol and McAfee, and was one of the first cities to allow drone delivery beta testing. The Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and PGA of America also call Frisco home.
Kraft has served North Texas for more than 16 years, starting in Denton in 2008 and rising to its chief technology officer in 2015. She then went on to be Dallas County’s CIO from September 2020 to July 2023, during which time the county worked on data modernization, a court software transition, and various enterprise projects.
Kraft is a U.S. Army veteran and holds two degrees.
Industry Insider — Texas: As CIO of your organization, how do you describe your role?
Melissa Kraft: My role as CIO is to strategically align our city’s technology infrastructure and services with our broader goals, ensuring that we leverage technology to drive innovation, improve efficiency, and enhance the quality of life for our citizens. I focus on creating a culture of collaboration and integration across departments, with a particular emphasis on using data to make informed decisions and modernizing our processes through emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
As CIO, I am dedicated to nurturing our emerging leaders and driving the continuous growth of our team. I am committed to ensuring that our organization stays at the leading edge of industry trends and technological advancements.
IITX: In your tenure in this position, which project or achievement would you like to highlight?
Kraft: I would highlight our ongoing data program initiative, which includes appointing a data program manager to lead the effort. We are currently working on inventorying our data resources and piloting an AI solution for traffic management in partnership with a local university. This project shows our commitment to using cutting-edge technology to address real-world challenges and enhance our city’s operations.
IITX: What are some of the newer technologies your city uses and/or what is something you are investigating?
Kraft: We’re currently piloting AI-based traffic management solutions, using machine learning to optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion. Additionally, we are exploring the potential of ChatGPT and similar tools to improve internal communication and automate routine tasks within various departments.
IITX: What is your budget, and how many employees do you have? What is the agency’s overall budget?
Kraft: The agency’s overall budget is roughly $780 million with roughly $18 million as part of the Information Technology budget in FY24 with an anticipated increase to $20.6 million in FY25. We have 63 employees. Our department operates within this budget to manage all IT-related initiatives, ensuring that our resources are allocated efficiently to meet the city’s growing demands.
IITX: What sorts of developing opportunities and requests for proposals (RFPs) should we be watching for in the next six to 12 months?
Kraft: We’re focusing on updating our data policies to incorporate AI and other emerging technologies, so there will likely be RFPs related to data management, AI solutions, and infrastructure upgrades. Additionally, we’re looking into expanding our smart city initiatives, so vendors with expertise in IoT, 5G, and related fields should keep an eye out for opportunities.
IITX: How do you define “digital transformation?” How far along is your organization in that process, and how will you know when it’s finished?
Kraft: Digital transformation for our city is fundamentally about rethinking how we deliver services by strategically aligning IT initiatives with our business goals to maximize value.
This transformation is driven by three key focus areas:
- Supporting Major Business Initiatives: We implement and support major technology projects that address unique IT challenges, directly linking our IT efforts to the broader goals of the city.
- Improving IT Operational Excellence: By increasing IT process maturity, we systematically improve our operations, ensuring that our IT services are delivered more efficiently and effectively.
- Driving Technology Innovation: We focus on enhancing our innovation capabilities while minimizing risk, ensuring that our technology investments are forward-thinking and sustainable.
We’re actively progressing through these stages, with various initiatives already underway. However, digital transformation is an ongoing process rather than a finite goal. For instance, we are deploying an Esri ArcGIS indoor solution to expand our city’s digital twin. This enables our organization to consolidate our assets and space information into a single place and provide easily accessible web and mobile apps, for location discovery, wayfinding, asset inventory, and space planning.
We’ll consider ourselves successful when our IT services fully support and enhance business goals, operational excellence is ingrained in our processes, and our organization is well-positioned to innovate continuously.
IITX: How often is the organization’s enterprise catalog updated?
Kraft: We aim to update our enterprise catalog regularly, at least semi-annually, to ensure it reflects our current technological assets and capabilities. We also integrate the catalog as part of our capital and budget planning process.
IITX: What do you think is the greatest technology challenge for municipalities?
Kraft: One of the greatest challenges is balancing the need for modernization with budget constraints. Municipalities often face the dual pressures of keeping up with rapidly evolving technology while managing limited resources and ensuring cybersecurity.
IITX: If you could change one thing about IT procurement, what would it be?
Kraft: If I could change one thing about IT procurement, it would be to streamline the process while ensuring greater transparency from key vendors regarding their government rates. The current system can be slow and complex, which hinders our ability to implement new technologies quickly. By making the process more agile and requiring vendors to clearly disclose their government pricing, we could not only accelerate innovation but also ensure that we’re getting the best value for our investments.
IITX: How might vendors best educate themselves before meeting with you?
Kraft: Vendors can best educate themselves before meeting with me by researching our city’s strategic goals, ongoing projects, and current challenges. They should focus on understanding our initiatives in areas like data management, AI, and infrastructure modernization, and think about how their solutions can support these priorities. It’s important that they also familiarize themselves with government-specific requirements and be transparent about their pricing.
IITX: How do you prefer to be contacted by vendors, including via social media such as LinkedIn?
Kraft: For initial contact, I strongly prefer vendors to reach out via email rather than making a cold call. This allows them to provide a concise overview of their solution. If there’s mutual interest, we can then arrange for a more detailed discussion. LinkedIn is also a good platform for professional networking, but it should be used to complement, not replace, formal communication channels.
IITX: What do you read to stay abreast of developments in the government technology/SLED sector?
Kraft: Meet with key partners at least semi-annually or quarterly depending on what projects we’re working on. Additionally, I’m signed up for various newsletters/sites such as TLDR, BleepingComputer, Gartner, Infotech, and TechTarget.
IITX: What professional or affinity groups do you belong to? Do you volunteer and would you like to share that experience with readers?
Kraft: I’m actively involved in several professional organizations, including ISACA and the Texas Association of Governmental Information Technology Managers (TAGITM), where I stay connected with industry trends and best practices. Additionally, I serve as a board member for the InfraGard North Texas Members Alliance, contributing to efforts that strengthen collaboration between the private sector and government to protect critical infrastructure. Volunteering in these roles allows me to give back to the community and play a part in shaping the future of our industry.
IITX: What conferences do you attend?
Kraft: I attend a couple of conferences throughout the year that include Smart Cities Connect, Gartner IT Symposium, North Texas InfraGard Members Alliance Conference, Esri User Conference, and RTM Government IT Congress.
IITX: What are you reading or listening to for fun? What do you do to unplug in your downtime?
Kraft: For fun, I’ve just started listening to the audiobook How Women Rise. In my downtime, I enjoy watching documentaries like Inside the Mind of a Dog. I also volunteer at various PGA tournaments, which has been a great way to learn about golf and experience the excitement of seeing professionals in action and warming up.
