Mississippi Celebrates National Innovation Day

Over the last eight years, the state of Mississippi, in collaboration with public-private partner Mississippi Interactive, has built more than 218 services to better serve citizens and businesses. To celebrate National Innovation Day, Mississippi is highlighting a few of the innovative services offered in its expanding catalogue, including MISSI, the ms.gov chatbot.

Utilizing next-gen technologies is a true game-changer when it comes to interacting with the state. These innovative services connect and improve the government experience by leveraging technology to work for the citizens, making their lives easier.

Notable innovations for the state include:

• Ask Mississippi Digital Voice Assistant – this Amazon Alexa skill allows for direct citizen-to-government communication simply by using your voice. Users can ask, “Alexa, ask Mississippi if there are any traffic alerts in my area,” and “Alexa, ask Mississippi for my local news.” The Ask Mississippi platform supports many additional state services including asking for when a user’s driver’s license expires, state facts and even phone numbers to state agencies.
• Virtual Capitol Tour – The augmented reality powered tour of the Mississippi State Capitol transports viewers directly inside the capitol with exclusive access to six historic areas. Users can access the Virtual Capitol Tour directly from ms.gov using a VR headset, mobile device, or computer.
• MISSI, the ms.gov Chatbot – The state of Mississippi’s first chatbot, MISSI, provides support for over 200 commonly searched for inquiries, making government support available 24/7. Accessible from ms.gov and on citizens’ mobile devices, MISSI is able to direct users to what they are looking for, whether it is renewing their hunting license, or helping locate unclaimed property. Since the June 2017 launch, MISSI has helped answer over 5,000 questions, further improving the availability of ms.gov’s citizen support.

All of these innovations were made possible through a public-private partnership between the state of Mississippi and Mississippi Interactive LLC, the state’s digital government services provider.

National Innovation Day serves to encourage children and young people to be creative and innovative. It is observed annually in the United States on February 16.

To see ms.gov’s new technologies in action, visit http://www.ms.gov/Technology.

Twitter: @msdotgov
Facebook: facebook.com/msdotgov
Ask Mississippi Voice Skill: amazon.com/NIC-Inc-ms-gov/dp/B01E62XCZC/
Virtual Capitol Tour and MISSI Chatbot: www.ms.gov/Technology

About Mississippi Interactive

Mississippi Interactive is the official government solutions provider for the state of Mississippi. The company builds and manages interactive government services, including Mississippi’s official website, ms.gov, on behalf of the state. Mississippi Interactive is a wholly owned subsidiary of digital government firm NIC (Nasdaq: EGOV).

About NIC

NIC Inc. (Nasdaq: EGOV) is the nation’s premier provider of innovative digital government solutions and secure payment processing, which help make government interactions more accessible for everyone through technology. The family of NIC companies has developed a library of more than 13,000 digital government services for more than 5,500 federal, state, and local government agencies. Among these solutions is the ground-breaking personal assistant for government, Gov2Go, delivering citizens personalized reminders and a single platform for all government interactions. More information is available at www.egov.com.

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