Called Government Experience Agent, or GXA, the chatbot provides customer service to constituents — for instance, by providing automated answers about fence permits and other issues faced daily by local public agencies — and does so via data and digital insights gained through the company’s more than 7,000 customers.
Granicus reports that the company collects some 30 billion “annual anonymized digital interactions.”
The chatbot also relies on data from outside sources, but the reliance on the company’s own data is “the secret sauce,” at least according to Mark Hynes, CEO of the company, which is probably best known for its communications, community engagement, agenda management and public records compliance software.
Specificity stands as one reason for that, he told Government Technology, using the example of an inquiry about short-term rental housing as an example.
A resident seeking information about setting up an Airbnb might get a relatively general answer from a more generic chatbot, he said, an answer that might include worthless or distracting information such as the history of the short-term rental company.
As Hynes told it, the Granicus product will offer specific information related to permitting, licensing and other rules — info relevant to the resident’s area or unit of government. The Granicus chatbot is much less a wide net that takes in all kinds of information about a certain topic than a spear that produces a more precise result.
“It’s not just another chatbot,” he said. “We understand all the context. We know what questions [residents] are asking, and which content pathways deliver the best results.”
