AI4Govt’s Data Gateway securely and seamlessly connects siloed government systems and automates inter-agency workflows. As a result, governments deliver better and faster services despite staffing shortages. Government employees are afforded more time to spend interacting with constituents. Furthermore, incumbent government technology companies enhance their software capabilities through greater data integration.
Ni Xu, CEO: Apple Product Manager & Engineer, U.S. Treasury, U.S. Digital Response, MBA from Harvard Business School
Our analysis shows the government software ecosystem has three tiers.
The top tier is constituent-facing software. That is where the government directly interacts with constituents. Some use cases are court e-filings, parks and reaction applications, and 311 requests.
The bottom tier is the government's core data systems. Incumbent gov-tech vendors, such as Tyler Technologies and Accela, dominate this tier. Many companies are disincentivized to integrate with products outside their ecosystems.
We are the middle tier, sitting on top of the existing gov-tech infrastructure, connecting the top and bottom tier, and enabling inter-government workflows inside government among departments. Our product integrates with legacy technology (e.g., SOAP API) and hosts the workflow logic and core data in the cloud for high performance. In summary, we complement the existing government software, not replace them.
Generic workflow/data integration software is designed for modern tech stacks (e.g., Salesforce, ServiceNow) and doesn't integrate with government software. (e.g., Tyler Technologies, specialized government CRMs.)
Most gov-tech companies try to build another closed system with newer technology, but governments can’t easily move away from the software they have invested so much in. Instead, we complement the ecosystem by creating an open government workflow platform on top of the existing systems. We establish ourselves as gov-tech partners. As a result, Tyler Technologies' engineering team has even shared technical documentation and answered our technical questions about their software.
At the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Ni worked alongside the former U.S. Deputy CTO, Nick Sinai, on the U.S. Treasury’s usaspending.gov API. He realized that U.S. governments spend millions of dollars on software, but the end products often fall short compared to their Silicon Valley counterparts. Post business school, Ni had a goal to devote his career to driving social impact and building a successful business. He thought that gov-tech was the right space. Ni started attending gov-tech conferences, volunteering at non-profits, and eventually started AI4Govt in 2021.
We have deployed our product for Mobile, AL municipal court and signed a 4-year contract. Attorneys use our product to submit motions to the court. Our product automatically dispatch motions to the corresponding court clerks to review based on the workflow created by the admin. Clerks review, approve and reject motions. Our product saves all documents in the court's file repository (Tyler Technologies) and notifies attorneys and judges of further actions.
AI4Govt is backed by 19 angel investors, including the former U.S. Deputy CTO, Nick Sinai, and former Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Boston, Mitchell Weiss. In 2022, AI4Govt has been accepted into CivStart Accelerator.