With everything going remote overnight as a result of the pandemic, the urge for collaboration tools went through the roof. As a result, technology consulting firm Slalom LLC has been helping the public sector become data-driven by leveraging tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, internet of things, edge, container, and blockchain on the AWS cloud.  

Being granted the first-ever AWS National System Integrator of the Year – US award confirms Slalom’s commitment to assist state and local government and education customers, among others, extract the information needed for precise decision-making using intelligent document processing, according to Gretchen Peri (pictured), practice director at Slalom.

“One thing that’s really exciting right now is to see the evolution of how our SLED customers are thinking about data …  we’ve been working on integrated visions, justice, healthcare,and eligibility for a long time,” she explained. “And AWS has been a huge part of that … it’s not the journey to get to the cloud; it’s the destination once you get there.”

Peri spoke with Lisa Martin and David Nicholson, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during AWS re:Invent. They discussed how Slalom is revamping public sector computing using the AWS cloud and how it unlocks data using intelligent document processing, or IDP. (* Disclosure below.)

Awakening the public sector with the cloud

Typically, the public sector has often been seen as lagging behind the private sector in many ways, including in computing technology innovation, but Slalom is changing this narrative by offering cloud-based solutions, including enabling seamless budget flows and averting delays, according to Peri.

“There were delays in getting eviction prevention funding out … so making sure that we have the technology to support those outcomes,” she stated. “The federal government is providing a lot of funding to states and local governments, so we’re seeing interesting initiatives like behavioral health initiatives that are meant to address some really serious concerns in our country like nationwide 988 suicide prevention.”

Given that data is not only digital, extracting information from all formats is crucial for optimal results, especially in the public sector, according to Peri. 

“IDP leverages AWS AI services to create intelligent automation solutions that help extract information from printed, digital and paper documents,” she pointed out. “What this does is it lets us unlock the data from those kinds of stale documents and create it into usable formats so that people can make decisions.”

Something distinctive about Slalom’s solution is that it adopts a local model to have an immediate impact on the communities, according to Peri.

“We’re a local model firm, so our consultants live and work in the same locale, which means we’re personally invested in our client’s outcomes, because they impact us directly in the communities in which we live,” she added.

Slalom has been a leader in SLED transformation with an extra emphasis on data, given that the pandemic triggered a ton of digital innovation, according to Peri.

“Data is king and data is queen right now,” she stated. “Leveraging AWS Lex and Transcribe and other services of AWS really helped our SLED clients react to the pandemic and respond to make sure that their constituents were receiving the digital services they needed, and their employees were able to be productive at home.”

Working from a customer’s vision enables Slalom to answer business questions asked by clients using data-driven technology, according to Peri.

“It’s really the breadth of professional services that we provide, combined with AWS’ cloud technologies and services,” she stated. “So what we do with our SLED clients, but with all of our commercial clients, is we say, ‘What is your business strategy and vision, and how do we design the technology solutions by working back from that?”

 Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: AWS Public Sector sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE