Given that the notion of automating mundane, repetitive tasks is one of the low hanging fruits to be picked by adopters of AI, the public sector would appear to be an obvious happy hunting ground for providers. It’s got an operating model that is highly regulated, hidebound with process and procedures, and, all too often, clogged up by a paper chase that seems unlikely ever to clear.
So rather than getting constituents to engage with fed-up call center operatives to deal with queries about why the bins weren’t collected this week or to report a sofa that’s been abandoned on the side of the street, why not leave that up to an AI agent to deal with? Salesforce research suggests that 90% of 11,750 global respondents when polled said they’d use an AI agent to interact with the public sector.
The huge – enormously, toweringly huge – proviso here is that public sector organizations need to be totally on top of their game when it comes to deciding what can be left to agents and what needs to be dealt with by human beings. The general public already complains about having to deal with a faceless bureaucracy when engaging with, for example, local authorities. How much worse could that be when faced with dealing with ‘a bot’?
The client for almost every public sector service is going to be a human being and often a human being in distress or great need. Such individuals cannot be fobbed off to an AI agent when they desperately need to talk to someone in authority who can help them try to pull their lives back together. Sadly there will be beancounters in the public sector who will seize upon the cost-cutting promises afforded by agentic tech as the main benefit. That’s a battle that constituents across the world will need to fight on a case-by-case basis as and when it is encountered.
The State of IT in the Public Sector, published earlier this year by Salesforce, gives some indication that this ‘human intelligence – and particularly human empathy – still matters’ message is understood. Some 81% of pub sec IT leaders said that they are using or planning to use AI agents, but the report cautions that the application of the tech needs to be handled with care:
While constituents are comfortable with AI helping out on routine tasks, for now they prefer to deal with people when critical decisions are involved. AI agents help agencies allocate staff for those real-world discussions. Guardrails for human involvement and escalation ensure stakeholders and constituents receive personalized and empathetic support, maintaining trust and satisfaction. The human-AI partnership delivers optimal outcomes, combining the strengths of both to achieve mission success.
Automate away!
That said, there are clearly vast swathes of the public sector’s day-to-day business that can greatly benefit from a bit of automation. It was no surprise then to see that the next stop on Salesforce’s ongoing rollout of vertical versions of Agentforce was indeed the public sector. As per the official blah blah, Agentforce for Public Sector brings benefits including:
Simplify enforcement and reduce risk: Based on relevant regulations, an AI agent can support compliance officers and inspectors by recommending specific code violations, helping with regulatory fee calculations, and creating documentation. From flagging violations to generating follow-up emails, agents with Compliance Management actions help cut down on administrative work.
Speed up response and spot trends: Agencies can use digital labor to summarize and analyze constituent complaints, identify related past issues and recommend next steps based on relevant policies and regulations. By grouping similar complaints and flagging frequent pain points, agents with Complaint Management actions can resolve issues faster and surface valuable insights to guide policy and service improvements.
Find and hire top talent, faster: Agencies can speed up hiring and reduce recruiting administrative burdens with AI-powered resume matching and candidate engagement. With Recruitment Management actions, recruiters can tap agents to help them understand qualifications at a glance, share candidates with hiring managers, and email applicants automatically to speed up hiring decisions and improve the applicant experience.
Recommend a job position to an applicant: Helps job seekers discover the most relevant job opportunities based on their skills, experience, and goals. By recommending job postings that best match their profile, the agent can increase application conversion rates and reduce time spent searching for jobs.
Help constituents apply for benefits: Enables constituents to converse naturally with an agent, in all supported languages, to ask about applicable benefits and eligibility criteria. This helps constituents receive the assistance they need in a timely manner, while also enabling faster application processing, reduced error rates, and increased policy…
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