The public sector is applying AI and hyperautomation to achieve dramatic improvements in efficiency, productivity and customer service. Image: greenbutterfly/Shutterstock.com
By: Andrew Joiner, CEO, HyperscienceGovernment agencies have historically been labeled as hesitant and slow technology adopters, especially compared to their private sector counterparts. The UC Berkeley Labor Center credits this hesitation to several factors ranging from lack of funding to little internal IT capacity. That’s why it may come as a surprise that the public sector is flipping the traditional script and leading the way with the technology dominating today’s news cycle: artificial intelligence. It can be argued that the government is the vertical leading enterprise AI adoption, rather than the classic enterprise go-to-market organizations you’d expect.
Given that the government is so advanced in this area, now is the time to go all-in on AI. This technology offers numerous advantages, such as cost savings and efficiency improvements, making it crucial to recognize its transformative impact on our society. With the market’s intense focus on AI these days, the public sector is leading by example and provides a path for the private sector to follow in applying AI and hyperautomation to achieve dramatic improvements in efficiency, productivity and customer service. Let’s look at how the government has used AI and what we expect to see in the year ahead.
A Step Above the Rest
AI isn’t new to the U.S. government by any means. It has been applied for years to defense, aviation and intelligence efforts that require incredibly complex security practices and ethical data use considerations.
These national security efforts have paved the way for additional government agencies to kick-start their journeys. The public sector is now mature in its assessment and roll-out of hyperautomation solutions, particularly those with AI in the core of automation operations, allowing agencies to get up to speed much faster.
There are countless benefits available to agencies leveraging AI, including reducing data backlogs with minimal human intervention to speed up constituent response times. This is especially important for departments managing citizen benefits like retired military and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for low-income families. AI helps increase the throughput of immense data sets and allows agencies to better allocate their employees’ time and resources, improving the citizen’s experience as well. In fact, many large government entities have already begun using AI-powered solutions to improve their processes and throughput.
AI’s Real-World Benefits for Everyday Citizens
There’s one government agency that touches nearly every American citizen and manages billions of forms with intricate financial data each and every year. Its data backlog has historically caused month-long delays, chipping away at citizens’ trust in the institution. Enter AI. This agency sought a turnkey technology solution to manage this massive catalog quickly and accurately with enterprise AI software. Sure enough, by adding AI, the agency completed the entire backlog in record time at 99.5% accuracy.
Another incredibly important public sector department that has begun leveraging AI is veteran benefits. One federal agency that supports nearly nine million veterans witnessed a data backlog issue firsthand, with hundreds of thousands of claims in various formats that almost all contained handwritten text. It seemed insurmountable until the agency turned to enterprise AI to automate the claims process. This agency processed over 100,000 claims in three months and now exceeds 96% accuracy and 99% automation. These processes save time and money which can be re-allocated to more important initiatives and help get veterans their much-needed benefits in a timely manner.
Much work has been done, but there are countless other areas where automation can play a key role in the public sector. As recently as September, the State Department encouraged citizens to apply for passports at least six months prior to travel due to processing delays of up to 13 weeks. Unfortunately, legacy technology just isn’t cutting it in today’s fast-paced environment. However, enterprise AI solutions provide the flexibility and adaptability to process these complex documents and distill information into a clear, readable format that saves countless hours on the back end.
These are just a few examples of how the government is innovating from within. Any federal agency dealing with citizen forms and documents has an opportunity to introduce AI to transform output and deliver clear, immediate, and long-term value.
Embrace the Change
The public sector continues to lead the way with modern AI, so much so that corporate entities should seek guidance as they pursue their own hyperautomation strategies. Today, public agencies embracing AI operate much more efficiently with an improved citizen experience. For those who haven’t, now is the time to determine how to get past potential roadblocks and how automating those processes can help.
In today’s climate where misinformation and distrust of public institutions are at an all-time high, the public sector has a huge opportunity (and responsibility) to continue leading the way in responsible, trustworthy AI adoption. We encourage the US government and other leading public institutions worldwide to align and drive AI standards that are based on essential core principles: human centered and socially beneficial, fair and accountable, explainable and transparent, and secure and safe.
While we often think about AI in terms of saving time and money, the real-world impact cannot be overlooked. If we put citizens at the heart of these technology adoption efforts, much good can be done—an important goal for agencies to achieve. We expect to see a boom in how governmental agencies utilize AI for their internal processes and new use cases that weren’t possible years ago.
Andrew Joiner is CEO of Hyperscience. He brings a wealth of experience and proven track record that advances the company’s overall strategy and growth initiatives—at a time in which Hyperscience is experiencing rapidly expanding demand. Prior to Hyperscience, Andrew was CEO of InMoment, a recognized leader in the customer experience (CX) software industry, where he oversaw significant growth and expansion. He has also held strategic executive positions at several other successful technology companies, including HP Software, where he was responsible for driving key innovation, product development, and revenue growth. Before that, he led the high-growth business unit within HP Autonomy, a $1.1 billion market leader in unstructured data applications and solutions, focusing on customer experience and marketing technology. In 2006, his firm Singlecast Technologies was acquired and brought into Autonomy via ZANTAZ.
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