AWS Public Sector Blog
Granicus and AWS: Reshaping government service with trusted AI
When artificial intelligence (AI) is implemented correctly in the public sector, the focus shifts from technology to tangible results for both residents and government agencies. Residents receive answers to their questions in seconds, in their preferred language, and with full confidence that the information is correct. For agencies, the benefits are just as significant. Call volumes drop as repetitive inquiries are handled automatically, freeing staff to concentrate on more complex, high-value work that requires their expertise.
This approach expands access to government services, making information available after normal working hours and to multilingual populations and people with disabilities. Ultimately, it improves trust. The relationship between a government and the people it serves becomes stronger when answers are consistent, cited from official sources, and readily available. Solutions like Granicus’s Government Experience Agent (GXA), built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and co-developed with agencies to accelerate their desired outcomes, are already delivering real-world success.
Proof of outcome: How two counties are seeing results
Forward-thinking governments are already demonstrating what’s possible, with clear and measurable results.
For Jackson County, Missouri, the state’s second-most populous county, the immediate need was to address questions about property taxes. The assessment office fields thousands of calls about tax bills, payment deadlines, and property valuations. By implementing GXA, the county gave residents 24/7 access to accurate information. Within the first few months, basic inquiries dropped by approximately 10%. County staff also tested the agent internally, validating answers against their own expert knowledge. “That’s what was really nice,” said Eric Rabe, deputy director of assessment for Jackson County. “Seeing through the testing, we could very quickly see that, yeah, it’s giving accurate, precise information for our county.”
The shift has also transformed how residents interact with the county. “Folks can now ask us a straightforward question and get a straightforward answer,” Rabe noted.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, faced a different challenge. Serving a population of more than 165,000 residents that speak 31 languages proved difficult with just a five-person call center. The government receives more than 310,000 calls annually, but many of those flood departments outside the main call center. The Treasury Department alone had to reassign 3.5 staff positions just to handle phone calls. Wyandotte County set a goal of reducing Treasury call volume by 30%, allowing skilled staff to return to more complex responsibilities. Officials are using GXA to help achieve that goal.
“We did side-by-side testing, letting our staff hear what residents were saying in real time and provide feedback,” explained Crystal Sprague, director of performance and innovation at the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. “That hands-on approach helped build confidence. Granicus also used automated testing tools so we could validate our content before launch. I felt confident that when we went live, it would be right.”
Why governments struggle to achieve these outcomes with generic AI
Many agencies experimented with basic AI conversational tools during the COVID-19 pandemic but found them too rigid or risky for use in government. Even as the technology improved, a lack of control made it hard to achieve positive outcomes. Generic AI tools can make it difficult to consistently deliver the accuracy, accessibility, and safeguards government services require.
The most significant risk is a loss of trust due to inaccurate or non-specific answers. These tools can draw from uncontrolled sources across the internet, leading to a lack of transparency and an inability to cite official government information. Answering a question about local tax assessments with information from a neighboring jurisdiction has real consequences. Furthermore, many generic solutions fail to meet accessibility standards, providing inequitable service to residents who speak other languages or have disabilities.
Finally, a lack of proper guardrails creates serious compliance and privacy concerns. Without them, a generic solution could surface Social Security numbers or other personally identifiable information that government agencies shouldn’t disclose. These challenges demonstrate why achieving better government outcomes requires more than just AI; it requires a platform built specifically for the public sector’s unique responsibilities, along with deep expertise in government use cases to test, refine, and sharpen sources until results are accurate.
Capabilities that drive outcomes
Granicus designed GXA to deliver results through specific capabilities, not just a checklist of features. These capabilities are grouped into three pillars that directly address the challenges governments face.
- Trusted answers at scale
Information must be accurate and verifiable to build resident confidence. GXA uses only agency-approved content to formulate responses and cites the source for every answer it provides. The system also maintains conversational context, allowing residents to ask follow-up questions naturally. The result is an interaction that feels like a real conversation, not a simple question-and-answer transaction. - Accessible service by default
Government services should be available to everyone. GXA provides 24/7 availability so residents can get help outside of normal business hours. With support for 75 languages and adherence to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the platform helps agencies serve all members of their community.
“With 31 languages spoken in our county, making our services available to all was critical,” said Sprague. “We wanted every resident to get the same quality of service.”
- Operational control for agencies
While residents get a seamless experience, agencies gain visibility and control through GXA’s administrative console. Staff can manage approved data sources, set automated refresh schedules, and trigger website re-scrapes when content changes. The console also provides insights into resident engagement, helping agencies identify content gaps and continuously improve service.
“We also needed a solution we could trust,” explained Sprague. “Through the Government Experience Agent’s admin console, we can make updates and see what residents are engaging with in real time. That gives us control and confidence that the information being shared is accurate.”
Secure, scalable, and built for government on AWS
These capabilities are built on AWS infrastructure designed to support the security, scalability, and performance requirements of government organizations. The solution’s conversational intelligence is powered by Amazon Bedrock, which provides access to leading foundation models while keeping agency data isolated and protected throughout the process. To further enhance accuracy and trust, GXA applies a retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) approach that grounds responses in agency‑approved content before producing an answer.
GXA’s data protection approach goes beyond keeping information out of model training. The platform is built on an isolated, encrypted data architecture that keeps each customer’s information securely separated, and strong encryption and fine‑grained access controls help safeguard sensitive government data at every stage.
To deliver this secure experience without compromising speed, the product team collaborated closely with AWS experts to validate the design and optimize performance. Through architectural reviews and iterative tuning, they engineered the solution to deliver fast, consistent response times that align with user expectations for an intuitive experience.
GXA also uses modern AWS compute and storage services for content ingestion and processing, handling documents efficiently and at scale. Continuous monitoring and observability tooling help maintain system reliability and give agencies greater confidence as they modernize how they deliver information and services.
What this unlocks next: From answering to acting
Once governments trust an AI agent to answer questions accurately, the next logical step is letting it safely take action with appropriate approvals and auditability. Granicus is already working to expand GXA beyond web interfaces to voice, phone, SMS, and messaging apps like WhatsApp. The roadmap also includes deeper integrations with other Granicus solutions, such as its Service Request Management platform that will allow residents to create, monitor, and manage service inquiries—like needing help with street plowing or garbage collection—directly through GXA using natural language.
Looking further ahead, Granicus is developing agentic workflow capabilities that go beyond answering questions to reduce service friction for residents and staff. This evolution will make it easier for citizens to interact with the government by cutting down the number of steps required to schedule appointments, submit forms, and process applications. For agencies, it means meeting their business process challenges head-on by using technology to improve staff workflows, drive efficiency, and lower costs through automated tasks. It is all part of a mission to bring governments closer to the people they serve by building on a foundation of trust and reliability.
Want to learn more about how AWS helps public sector organizations deploy AI-driven solutions? Connect with the AWS Public Sector Team today.