The agency plays a vital role in supporting a wide range of public assistance programs through its administration of grant funding, everything from rent assistance to teacher education funds.
In a new interview, EY Market and Business Development Director Quiana Smith and U.S. Public Sector AI Leader Amy Jones discuss how EY partnered with Microsoft to develop a Grants Accelerator solution to help government agencies more effectively manage their own grant programs.
According to Smith, the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic led EY and Microsoft to establish a product-centric model to address immediate needs. The collaboration is focused on developing and acquiring technology intellectual property for government agencies that will support a variety of efforts, including global vaccine administration and health equity. One innovation that stands out is the EY Grants Accelerator, which is listed on the FedRAMP Marketplace. “In the last three and a half years, we've helped government agencies distribute over $2 billion in funding,” Smith said. “We're very proud of that.”
In addition to grants management, the public sector faces other challenges, including funding constraints and a shortage of skilled professionals. “There’s a widespread shortage of not just skilled labor, but the volume of jobs needed to meet the level and expectations of work across government agencies,” Jones said. “And ultimately, we need better automation of decisions to maximize available funding across all funding sources.”
EY and Microsoft will address these issues by creating applications that automate low-value, repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more strategic and creative tasks. EY is also investing in EYQ, an enterprise version of ChatGPT built on Microsoft's platform that has the “potential to increase scale and efficiency of government operations,” Jones said.
Looking ahead, EY and Microsoft are preparing to tackle new challenges by combining their expertise in data analytics, artificial intelligence, generative AI and cybersecurity. One notable initiative is a generative AI project for state and local governments. “EY is bringing our risk and governance expertise to the forefront to help agencies develop responsible AI strategies,” Smith says.
To learn more about the power of technology alliances, please visit: ey.com/en_us/alliances/Microsoft.
This video panel discussion was produced by Scoop News Group. FedScoop and StateScoop, EY will take on the project.
